LG's Windows Phone 7 Series Early Prototype 103
suraj.sun writes to tell us that Engadget got an early look at the new Windows Phone 7 series early prototype (and included a video). "The QWERTY slider is the first branded Windows Phone 7 Series device the world's ever seen, and while the hardware and software are both obviously early, we can tell you a few things about it: it's just a hair thicker than an iPhone or Nexus One, there are dedicated hardware camera, volume, and power buttons in addition to the back, home, and search buttons dictated by Windows Phone 7 Series, and we noticed a five megapixel camera with a flash on the back, along with a headphone jack. Can't say much apart from that right now, since things are so early and everything is subject to change, but things are certainly moving along."
Another miss (Score:2, Insightful)
I've not seen a lot of the Win 7 Mobile UI but what I have seen suggests that Microsoft can't quite bring themselves to abandon desktop Windows style design elements in favor of things more appropriate to the small screen of a handheld.
This [lukew.com] sums it up well. If you put those same screenshots next to an Android phone you'd have the same result. Win 7 Mobile wastes a lot of space and spends a lot of time looking whizzy, without really accomplishing anything. Animating every action was forgivable 10 years ago in bad powerpoint presentations. It isn't any longer.
Re:This is News? (Score:4, Insightful)
FAR less information than this, routinely gets posted in the Apple section.
Worst. Name. Ever. (Score:5, Insightful)
Who names this stuff? Windows Phone 7 Series? Microsoft has virtually unlimited resources. How can their marketing be so awful?
Re:Worst. Name. Ever. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Do not want! (Score:3, Insightful)
Android hit the nail on the head when it comes to device usability.
The programming structure that allows applications to easily call parts of other applications has delivered what I see as unprecedented inter-connectivity between mobile applications, which has increased mobile productivity for me on a personal level.
Example: I was out of town and looking for a Bank of America ATM. BoA has a mobile application for online banking that allows me to do all the usual things that I can do from my computer (see balances, transactions, do transfers between accounts, etc).
The application also had a location search. The application was able to grab my position from GPS and do a search for ATMs nearest to that location, display the results within the application using an instance of google maps. From there, I was able to select navigation and was asked if I wanted to complete the action using google navigation or telenav.
That type of action with start-to-finish prompting and inclusion from the device is the new standard in mobile usability as far as I'm concerned. Not too long ago I would have had to find the location online and type it into my navigation application manually, and depending on previous device the online search may have been quite tedious.
Now from what I've seen, WP7S seems to take that idea to the Nth degree, with a slick interface designed around that level of mobile productivity and usability.
I love the android platform, especially its "open-ness" (the degree of which varies depending on which device manufacturer and mobile network provider you go with), but I am certainly willing to reserve my judgment of WP7S until I can go hands-on with a device.
Holiday season this year will be interesting as my carrier (sprint) was listed as a launch partner for WP7S, and also looks to be launching an amazing 4.3" screen/1ghz processor android phone, both just as my upgrade comes up. I want the android phone, but I also want to see what WP7S has to offer before I make any decisions.
Re:Solid Clock Display (Score:5, Insightful)
I would say if it is half as popular as the Zune, Microsoft has nothing to worry about.
If it's half as popular as Zune, Google/Apple/Nokia/Palm/etc have nothing to worry about.
Dreadful UI experie (Score:3, Insightful)
I can't stand the WP7S UI, it just seems irritating. It's designed so nothing fits on the screen, even the date displayed on the pic in the article is truncated. To access anything you'll need to move horizontal and vertical.
It reminds me back in the days of 14" monitors. I remember that in Linux I could set up X to use a much higher resolution than the monitor supported and then you'd use the mouse to pan around the screen. I hated that then, I hate it now.
Make things fit on the screen where possible, scroll only when necessary.
Microsoft is just trying to look fancy with no thought on usability. You'd get tired of all this very quickly.
Monopoly means... (Score:2, Insightful)
Let us consider: Microsoft is normally ridiculed for inferior products, yet frequently has dominant market share. So how is Microsoft marketing a failure?
Because Monopoly means you don't necessarily have to market (or market well), most customers are forced to come to you, like it or not.
For instance, there are still a fair number of people that MUST have Windows Mobile phones because that is what the corporation will buy for them.
Re:Worst. Name. Ever. (Score:1, Insightful)
Poorly prosecuted monopolistic practices?
Re:Worst. Name. Ever. (Score:2, Insightful)
This may be changing...
Its not a popular point of view here on slashdot, but I had a zune and thought it was far superior to the ipod. It was cheaper, had an FM tuner, and the software was IMHO easier to use than itunes, did all the same video things as an ipod, and was easy to use as an external hd. I never really understood why there was hate for the Zune on /. aside from the typical MS animosity.
But the Zune never achieved the Ipod's popularity, even though my friends that had them loved them. I stopped using mine when I got an iphone 3gs, but my gf still uses hers when working out as it is far lighter.
My point is that MS's marketing couldn't make the Zune a success, and they only had middling success pushing their windows mobile devices even though about 3 years ago, they sucked just as bad as all the other locked down and buggy crap that palm and others were pushing.
One could say that MS either hasn't done a good job with their marketing since the 90's, or that they have never had much success pushing anything other than pure software, aside maybe from video game consoles, and input devices.
Re:Another miss (Score:5, Insightful)
Aren't you forgetting about Symbian?...
You know, that smarthpone OS which almost has more marketshare than all the platforms you mentioned, combined...
Sorry but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Linking to Engadget is barely allowed at /.
Linking to Engadget stories with lame ass videos that don't even show the product is punishable by ruler slaps!
Nokia avoids key markets. (Score:3, Insightful)
Nokia wasn't allowed in one market (Score:4, Insightful)
First - yeah, US market is important but...don't overestimate its importance in relation to the rest of the world. It's quite atypical market. Look how well Nokia is doing in the rest of the world anyway, with them being the only major cellphone manufacturer that's very profitable (others are either out of the market, struggling financially, or mobile phones are far from vast majority of their business; RIM might be an exception - though do they sell phones or corporate/carrier service?)
Secondly, it's not much of a mystery why Nokia isn't really present in the US - several years ago (when mobiles really started becoming more than voice + sms) it refused excessive castration of its phones, which was demanded by US cellphone carriers...and there you go.