Hi All,
It's all great to hear Microsoft officially announces the "Windows Phone 7 Series". Another Mobile OS, put there to compete with other OS's.
But I want to know one thing =>
Am I the only one that find the general UI of "Windows Phone 7" unattractive, "nothing special" and bore-some?
The moment I saw the "Start screen", I said to myself: "Damn, is this the UI Microsoft wanna use to show its competitiveness to other OS's??? ". From my point of view, the look of winmo 6.5.3 on the freshly announced HTC HD mini is WAY BETTER than that of Windows Phone 7.
This is just my opinion, now, what's your opinion about the UI?
johnlujl123 said:
Hi All,
It's all great to hear Microsoft officially announces the "Windows Phone 7 Series". Another Mobile OS, put there to compete with other OS's.
But I want to know one thing =>
Am I the only one that find the general UI of "Windows Phone 7" unattractive, "nothing special" and bore-some?
The moment I saw the "Start screen", I said to myself: "Damn, is this the UI Microsoft wanna use to show its competitiveness to other OS's??? ". From my point of view, the look of winmo 6.5.3 on the freshly announced HTC HD mini is WAY BETTER than that of Windows Phone 7.
This is just my opinion, now, what's your opinion about the UI?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would disagree. I like the visuals. On the contrary, the look is NEW and NOT FAST!!
Everyone has there opinions and taste. I honestly love what MS has done with the revisions. I think visuals are truly innovative and elegant. The animations are uncanny. I do agree the home screen is dull and boring, but the rest of the OS is vibrant. Here's some screen shots from my post. Head over to my post to see the rest, there's like 20 more photos...: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=634429
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"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
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I do like it as well...looks fresh but whether it is good to use on a daily basis remains to be prooven!
And BTW: the look of the new SenseUI Builds really annoys me! til Version 2.1 everything was fine...but the new ones??? No way.
I won't talk about looks here, because that's personal taste.
Moreover, what counts is functionality - how easy and fast it gets the job done.
This is easily and by far the best and most well thought through UI I've ever seen.
I particularly like
- the ability to pin pretty much everything to the first page (but unlike Sense, as many things as you want), whether it's contacts, programs or whatever
- the things you pin to the first page not being static, but also showing information - a very clever way to bring together the iPhone's icon-based home screen with Windows Mobile's information based home screen.
- the navigation through the pages, with the text on top going out of the screen to show you that there's more you can discover by swiping left/right
- the panorama backgrounds on all the screens (cover arts in music, a random picture in photos etc.)
- the ability for third party developers to integrate their stuff (like additional social networks or streaming services) into the hubs (I hope there will be a lot of freedom for third parties to do so!).
- the seamless integration of all kinds of services in general, whether it's Exchange, Windows Live (finally!!), Facebook...
I also particularly like that some good concepts from previous Windows Mobile versions have been preserved:
- long press menus
- softkeys
- quick search through any list (in WM6.5, it was the keyboard icon, now it's the required search button)
Those enable a consistent UI throughout all applications, contrary to the mess you find on the iPhone, where important buttons like "back" are in different places depending on the application you're in.
What I do NOT like:
- The all applications list: That should be a grid, cause there's lots of wasted space there.
- There seems to be no easy way to get to the music controls while music is playing in the background.
- Apparently there is no easy way to switch between running applications, this seems to work much like WM6.5, with the back button taking you to the application you used before. This is a mess, the back button should open some kind of task switcher instead.
I love the new start menu in Windows Phone 7. Titanium didn't display enough information on the home page, requiring you to hover over items to see information. Windows Mobile 6.1 today screens were too small to tap. Sense is either functional (icons for quick launching) or informational (clock), but never both at the same time. Why doesn't the launch icon for Messenger show me the latest messages I have? Why don't my contacts' icons show me the latest interaction I had with them?
Windows Phone 7 adds all of those in a simple, attractive UI. You can give a Windows Phone 7 to any person and they'd probably be able to use it, but give Sense to a person and they might not. (you might think the contrary... I thought Sense was easy to use, until I saw my peers struggle with it and typing on the keyboard... on a HD2...)
Agree with you all!
Yes, you guys are right! Looks are personal taste!
But right now, which OS would you choose, out of the following: Windows Phone 7, WebOS or Android?? My choice goes to Android!
freyberry said:
What I do NOT like:
- The all applications list: That should be a grid, cause there's lots of wasted space there.
- There seems to be no easy way to get to the music controls while music is playing in the background.
- Apparently there is no easy way to switch between running applications, this seems to work much like WM6.5, with the back button taking you to the application you used before. This is a mess, the back button should open some kind of task switcher instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure how important the applications list is going to be going forward. With the way apps can integrate into the "hubs" I think you will not be using this list very often.
I'm hoping the music controls function like the ZuneHD. The ZuneHD has a dedicated media control button that brings up a screen overlay when pressed. This overlay allows you to pause/play, skip/fast forward/rewind and increase/decrease volume. Also, on the ZuneHD, you can pause and play a song by tapping the album art.
I am very eager to see how the multitasking works/doesn't work when they show the SDK at MIX next month.
Overall, I love the UI. It seems like an evolution of the ZuneHD to me.
johnlujl123 said:
Yes, you guys are right! Looks are personal taste!
But right now, which OS would you choose, out of the following: Windows Phone 7, WebOS or Android?? My choice goes to Android!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android, of course. WP7 is OS for feature phones (dumbphones) just like iPhone OS is.
johnlujl123 said:
Yes, you guys are right! Looks are personal taste!
But right now, which OS would you choose, out of the following: Windows Phone 7, WebOS or Android?? My choice goes to Android!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android
I actually have three upgrade eligibilities this year. If the rumor about the SE X10 coming to ATT is true, that will be one of them. I will also wait and see what Android phones HTC sends to ATT.
I will also, without any doubt, reserve one of the upgrades for WMP7. I had very low expectations for MS and WMP7 but I was very impressed with what they showed on Monday. I can't wait for MIX to see the rest.
Of course, I'm a phone whore so I am never completely satisfied anyway!
In my opinion I think the UI looks awesome. It's unique, fresh, new, & looks like nothing else (excluding the Zune HD). the start menu & the App list look a little bit dull but the whole Hubs system just looks wonderful. I like the new idea of the context menus. WinPho 7 is not evolution from the previous WM, it is Revolution.
From a UI perspective I really like the thought behind it. It's pretty much a directory structure that's self organizing with a 'splash' screen for each directory. I have alot of applications stored on my wm device that I store over various folders. Directories are a good way of organizing sizable amounts of information. This UI is basically an improvement to that age old structure, putting some transparency on this structured yet intuitive setup.
It's visually impressive, yet does not have that bells and whistle feel that can get stale.
But I take objection to their comments that a phone is not a PC. That's the wrong message to send. A PC just stands for personal computer...you can't get more PC than a handheld device. It's clearly a PC, the message they should send is that it's not a desktop, it's not a laptop, it's a handheld device. While still a PC you expect a suitable UI to pair with each version of a PC you interact with.
From a marketing perspective, I think the windows phone 7 would mesh well with their 'I'm a PC' marketing campaign. A commercial seeing someone working on a desktop/laptop and then using mobile office, and exchange to take that to your phone would be a great commercial to make.
Microsoft is missing the picture with that overly simplistic comment.
If I could carry the power of my desktop with me, I would just need different display devices with the appropriate UI to interact with my PC. That's really the destiny of computers...well not even to carry the hardware, but to just have different methods of display and interaction with a single device. So you can sit down at a kb and mouse, or pick a up a multitouch display, or take a handheld on a train with you but still have common storage, and processing.
Great UI.
But I am not happy that it requires a minimum of 1GHz processor. Even then the graphics rendering especially the Album scrolling is not very fluid. That was very cleary observed in Joe's Demo considering that he hand only a handhul of pictures. My iphone has @3500 pictures and I can scroll through it like water flowing across the screen.
This version of WP7 is not my favorite. I like the other betas.
chiks19018 said:
Great UI.
But I am not happy that it requires a minimum of 1GHz processor. Even then the graphics rendering especially the Album scrolling is not very fluid. That was very cleary observed in Joe's Demo considering that he hand only a handhul of pictures. My iphone has @3500 pictures and I can scroll through it like water flowing across the screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And this was a demo of pre-release software. I wouldn't put any weight behind the peformance that was shown in the demo. It will almost certainly be much improved before the RTM.
naplesbill said:
And this was a demo of pre-release software. I wouldn't put any weight behind the peformance that was shown in the demo. It will almost certainly be much improved before the RTM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I definitely hope that is the case. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Rim1Flex said:
This version of WP7 is not my favorite. I like the other betas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about "accidentally" uploading one for the HD2?
freyberry said:
How about "accidentally" uploading one for the HD2?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It won't work it needs 2GHz processor. You will have to overclock,haha just kidding.
My biggest concern with this new OS is the "need" to integrate with social networks. I'm by no means interested to see the status messages my friends/collegues post on facebook, twitter, linkedin, myspace etc. Also, WM7 is pointing towarsds xbox live integration, which will -as I understood- in basics also be used as a new "Microsoft hardware only" social network.
Another thing that bothers me about the new UI is that it looks slowish, even in a demo.. Doesn't look too appealing yet so far!
Related
The development of this project has come to a stop.
I'll post any future update here, in case the project will resume.
Thanks for your support.
------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE 03/12/08 - Images added + Lock Screen Demo
Hey all,
i've been following the board for a little. I'm an lucky Omnia owner and i really love it, particularly it's versatility.
I just regret the lack of cool interfaces (put Manilla 2d aside, it's awesome, but it's like having an htc device on our phones, not very exclusive).
Here are some quick layouts of an idea I had today, it's practically just eyecandy stuff, maybe not the top usability around but, you know, in our life we must satisfy ourselves...
So here they are, a portrait and a landscape view of what's laying in my mind:
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"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
the home screen design:
the lock device screen:
-the audio profile control
- Programs folder
- Contacts page
the idea is to have a spinning wheel of icons, that allow to navigate between the main ambients of a mobile shell when tapped, just like SPB mobile shell or manilla, only more "graphic". The thing is conceived to be touch driven, with hrizontal sliding to spin the icons wheel and a vertical slide to access a secondary menu.
Actually the design phase is still underway, more screens will come.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OMNIA USERS ONLY
>>>HERE<<< is the FIRST RELEASE OF THE SCREEN LOCK, coded by DeimosLP at MoDaCo.
Just unzip it everywhere you want and launch OmniLock.exe.
THIS ISN'T MEANT TO BE USED EVERYDAY at the moment, probably it drains battery very fast, haven't tried yet on long usage times.
A few notes about it:
- this is somehow a mockup since not everything has been implemented properly and we are still working on performance issues
- the main goal of this release is to get feedback and new ideas so we can improve the usability
what has been done :
- clock+date
- missed calls counts/sms count/mails count
- swing to unlock
- fade out on unlocking
- cool breathing "swing" logo
- fade in/out of the clock digits
what remains to be done:
- phone status and audio profile integration (as seen in the design)
- xml configuration file
- close the application on incoming call
- a lot of code cleaning/performance fixing
- interact with Speleomaniac's launcher
Cheers.
Hellbender.
this is a neat idea, here's what i think would make it even more practical for use and won't just fall off after its been developed. Cuz the problem with good ideas is that they aren't good enough to keep and people always switch back to some other interface...
here's my thought:
Take the portrait pic you have posted for example... Maybe you should shift that Spinner of tabs closer to the top of the screen, then have a spinner on the bottom half of screenshots of running programs, something like taskfacade or visualtaskswitch in the spinner style as well!! I think that would be freakin AWESOME and would really be functional from that front screen.
Its simple, attractive and would be incredibly functional... what else would ya need?
So yeah, 2 spinners, one of tabs, one of screenshots of open tasks (maybe even a zoom animation when you tap on an open task, just like visual task switcher)
whatdya think?
Yah, the idea is to have differente spinners of icons layered vertically (the green arrow pointing up means you can go up another level).
In landscape view looks difficult to have the secondo wheel visible, but the portrait version could be more useful with more than one visible at a time.
About the open task switcher, that would be awesome! I thought about it but i didn't want to push it too far from the beginning, but i agree it would be really useful. And i agree about zoom animation.
The only problem right now is that i need a programmer to do the "dirty" job, cause i'm just a designer, i don't have the knowledge to do that.
Still waiting for a sign
Cheers.
Hellbender
maybe, when you turn landscape, the icons just twist 90degrees, and the spinner becomes up/down, rather than left/right...
I'm a designer too, so i feel your pain... I throw together some wicked ideas but can't seem to find someone who will put it together... developing is VERY time consuming Wish i knew how
it will be difficult to remove the window bars and softkeys while keeping the touchflo.
This will have to be done in C++ (basically rework the whole frontend.) -meaning we need to know alot about each API to be able to create a flawless frontend that works with WM6.0+ backend
This will be quite a project.
I like how it looks
Integration will be the most beneficial way and with the best performance
zeezee said:
...Integration will be the most beneficial way and with the best performance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm prone to get to an accomodation with the Os limits, could be great just having that with bars, i tought it was cool without, but not essential. Performance are, indeed, crucial.
This is ment to be kinetic, so it must be as quick as possible mantaining a cool appearance. Initially i proposed an app made in flash lite thinking that could have some os interface tweaking overridden with a fullscreen app (and keep things easier for me to animate), but i suppose it isn't performing like a full c++ app.
Still looking for a coding partner
S2P
The album selection in the S2P software is somehow similar to what you are looking for, maybe you could ask it's developer for some help.
Please make it customizable: Let each one chose what software each icon is gonna open. It's easier if each icon opens a panel where you can configure any plugin you want. Make it a Launcher.
Great Idea!
dmro said:
The album selection in the S2P software is somehow similar to what you are looking for, maybe you could ask it's developer for some help.
Great Idea!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know, i'm sure he follows these boards, so if he haven't gave a word here it is because he doesn't like the project, or have no time to spare. I don't want to bug anyone to take a part on my project, that's not a job.
dmro said:
Please make it customizable: Let each one chose what software each icon is gonna open. It's easier if each icon opens a panel where you can configure any plugin you want. Make it a Launcher.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's what it mean to be right now. And i thought that customizable icons/apps was a must feature, cause everyone uses his fave apps for everything, and it's difficult to write an entire suit of applications with this visual approach, many tasks would bel impossible.
hellbender_it said:
Don't know, i'm sure he follows these boards, so if he haven't gave a word here it is because he doesn't like the project, or have no time to spare. I don't want to bug anyone to take a part on my project, that's not a job.
It's what it mean to be right now. And i thought that customizable icons/apps was a must feature, cause everyone uses his fave apps for everything, and it's difficult to write an entire suit of applications with this visual approach, many tasks would bel impossible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would presume he didn't see your thread since the first time you read it, it looks to be about some special interface for the omnia, and he doesn't own one. Just PM him anyway.
I would suggest you change your thread name to one which attracts the attention of the appropriate people.
I would love to see development for this project, and I'll do my best to help, I have an omnia, so atleast I can BETA test it out and provide feedback or w/e required.
Akshay
Something like flShow Carousel...
Click on the different examples...
http://www.flshow.net/carousel_examples.php
That would be awesome
EDIT: And make it for all devices!!!!
WildSioux said:
Something like flShow Carousel...
Click on the different examples...
http://www.flshow.net/carousel_examples.php
That would be awesome
EDIT: And make it for all devices!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly, same concept, but touch driven and with inertia. Very cool examples.
About the all devices subject, well if that depends on me i can make the graphic assets for every platform i think, with the given time obviously.
hellbender_it said:
Exactly, same concept, but touch driven and with inertia. Very cool examples.
About the all devices subject, well if that depends on me i can make the graphic assets for every platform i think, with the given time obviously.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know anything about coding for PPC/WM. But I have used the above examples of flShow Carousel that I posted above for a website.
Aside from the flash in that, it uses XML. Since dazzlingdaz built a GUI using only XML http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=407900 I wonder if its possible to implement the flShow XML in that somehow?
BTW, the flShow Carousel uses inertia as seen in the "Mouse Interaction" example.
EDIT: I just noticed this on the flShow website...
Stand alone applications
The Carousel can be used in stand alone applications (like Delphi and C++ applications). Provided that you know how to embed flash movies in applications (and you also know how to handle fscommands issued by the movie), you simply have to associate fscommands to your photos:
<photo href="fscommand:mycmd" target="myparm">path/image.jpg</photo>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have seen some here developing apps under C++ Lets make this happen. With my limited knowledge, I could try helping with some XML code.
mhhh... I'm thinking about a c++ fullscreen app embedding a flash application, this could keep things easy especially when porting the app on other devices (flash lite friendly), so resizing the movie to different resolutions should be like a snap, and the c++ base would allow to access device parameters that are not accessible directly from flash.
Furthermore using flash will allow more control over animations and visual quality from the design side.
Could that be a way?
hellbender_it said:
mhhh... I'm thinking about a c++ fullscreen app embedding a flash application, this could keep things easy especially when porting the app on other devices (flash lite friendly), so resizing the movie to different resolutions should be like a snap, and the c++ base would allow to access device parameters that are not accessible directly from flash.
Furthermore using flash will allow more control over animations and visual quality from the design side.
Could that be a way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no easy way of doing. Either you do it complicated in C++ or you do it with C++ and complicated flash.
zeezee said:
There is no easy way of doing. Either you do it complicated in C++ or you do it with C++ and complicated flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right, i'll stop talking about things i don't know.
Things are moving a bit at MODACO
http://www.modaco.com/content/i900-...to-build-a-new-graphical-interface-for-omnia/
There's an interface demo done by a guy over on MoDaCo which is pretty decent for a quick mockup
http://www.modaco.com/content/i900-o...ace-for-omnia/
There's an interface demo done by a guy over on MoDaCo which is pretty decent for a quick mockup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just posted a skinned version.
A little UP cause i'm slipped past the tenth page ...
*bump*
A li'l help from the guyz at xda would be appreciated, things are really moving at modaco and I'm sure they wouldn't mind a little hand from the xda experts.
http://wmpoweruser.com/windows-phone-7-ui-makes-iphone-look-like-a-dinosaur/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQBpiLudT40
Saw this post and absolutely loved it. It's very true. If you think about it, the iPhone UI really is ancient and extremely primitive and really brings nothing exciting or innovative to the table.
Many times when I talk to people about phones seriously I sometimes refer to the iPhone "UI" as the iPhone "List of Apps". There really is very little of a UI to speak of; if I were to design a phone UI, the last thing I would think of trying to pass of as a UI is a list of apps that offers little to no information at a glance, and Apple was really the first company to do this.
If any Apple fanboy wants to challenge me on this, I usually only need to ask them if their device is jailbroken. More than likely, most iPhone users that are serious about their phone are running services that in some way provide what WP7 will be providing it's users: ease of access to information that matters most, a beautiful UI (usually iPhone users try to get as close to "beatiful" as possible with themes), and intuitive interface.
I'm glad that people are recognizing how little of an interface the iPhone actually has, and I can't wait for the launch of WP7 to start opening people's eyes to how fun and productive it can be to use a phone.
djcaston said:
the last thing I would think of trying to pass of as a UI is a list of apps that offers little to no information at a glance, and Apple was really the first company to do this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess which modern smartphone OS is the closest to this? Is it Android? Meego? No... it's Windows Phone 7!
These tiles waste screen real estate like it's their job, and barely display any info. Compare it to Android and tell me it's not a step back.
He mentioned turn-by-turn navigation using Bing and that's the first I've heard of it supporting that. I figured at some point it would but not at launch. Can anyone confirm this?
Ren13B said:
He mentioned turn-by-turn navigation using Bing and that's the first I've heard of it supporting that. I figured at some point it would but not at launch. Can anyone confirm this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bing has offered turn by turn navigation for a while now on wm6.5.... I'd assume it will also on wp7.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
Pickx said:
These tiles waste screen real estate like it's their job, and barely display any info. Compare it to Android and tell me it's not a step back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes the tiles are large but the vertical scrolling it does makes that a non issue for me. Just flick your finger and you can get to anything you have pinned quickly.
If you don't like that then I'm sure someone will make a hub with a familiar grid layout you are used to for launching applications and whatever else similar to what htc did with sense on WP7.
zarathustrax said:
Bing has offered turn by turn navigation for a while now on wm6.5.... I'd assume it will also on wp7.
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I know I use it all the time. That mention on the video was the first I've heard of it on WP7 and that functionality seems like it would be something that Microsoft and the reviewers would have mentioned by now.
Pickx said:
Guess which modern smartphone OS is the closest to this? Is it Android? Meego? No... it's Windows Phone 7!
These tiles waste screen real estate like it's their job, and barely display any info. Compare it to Android and tell me it's not a step back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The icons in the iPhone UI are static images that display zero information. The tiles in WP7 display some information, and the lock screen also displays information. The purpose of the tiles is to show you a small amount of information, and tease certain data to make you click on the tile and look at more status updates, foursquare check-ins, tweets, whatever it is the application handles. Its far better than nothing, so I wouldn't say it's very bad at all.
The problem with the android UI is that it doesn't really offer a unified, organizaed homescreen. The homescreen is a collection of different widgets, applications icons, and notifications that run across the top menu bar. If you ask me, it's a very unorganized way of dealing with things, and it's part of the reason that android still seems unfinished and not very polished in comparision to other phone operating systems. Where everything is unified and organized on the WP7 homescreen, you have a collection of jumbled information on the android homescreen.
Haha, this is so true. Ever since I got my zune HD I've been saying this, it is so ironic that Apple used to market the Mac because 'windows looks like a spreadsheet' when that is exactly what iOS looks like.
chex13 said:
Haha, this is so true. Ever since I got my zune HD I've been saying this, it is so ironic that Apple used to market the Mac because 'windows looks like a spreadsheet' when that is exactly what iOS looks like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same with iTunes. It's such a boring, non innovative program. Zune works much better and is a lot more exciting
djcaston said:
Same with iTunes. It's such a boring, non innovative program. Zune works much better and is a lot more exciting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree with you. I am use zune (software) for some time, and i just love it! not because I 'm just another geek, but cause it's just works fine!
djcaston said:
The problem with the android UI is that it doesn't really offer a unified, organizaed homescreen. The homescreen is a collection of different widgets, applications icons, and notifications that run across the top menu bar. If you ask me, it's a very unorganized way of dealing with things, and it's part of the reason that android still seems unfinished and not very polished in comparision to other phone operating systems. Where everything is unified and organized on the WP7 homescreen, you have a collection of jumbled information on the android homescreen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can say the exact same thing for WP7. The homescreen is a collection of Tiles, application icons, and notifications that run across the top.
For those that don't understand that a Live Tile is the exact same thing as a Widget on the homescreen look below. The only difference is what happens when you click on them.
Android Widgets (pick one)
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
WP7 Tiles (showing the same info as a widget would)
janneman22 said:
i agree with you. I am use zune (software) for some time, and i just love it! not because I 'm just another geek, but cause it's just works fine!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One of the things that I absolutely love about the zune software that a lot of people don't even consciously notice is that you can browse by artist, song, or album instantly, from the same screen.
See, with iTunes, you have to pick what you want to alphabetize by on the regular spreadsheet view, or you can pick album view and only view by album, or artist view and only view by artist.
With the zune software, when you're looking at the collection screen, you can choose to go through alphabetically by artist, album, or song, all from the same screen at the same instant, or you can change the sort order and order them differently.
Other great zune innovations include:
- the search bar, which searches not only your collection, but the marketplace at the same time
- the quick search thingy - if you're in the artist section and start typing, it'll take you to the artist that matches what you're typing, just like when you type in explorer
- Zune Pass, which allows you to stream the entire song, any song, on the zune marketplace, or through their web interface, and soon through WP7!
There are more but I don't feel like listing them right now
If you don't have Zune get it now and find out for yourself!
vetvito said:
You can say the exact same thing for WP7. The homescreen is a collection of Tiles, application icons, and notifications that run across the top.
For those that don't understand that a Live Tile is the exact same thing as a Widget on the homescreen look below. The only difference is what happens when you click on them.
Android Widgets (pick one)
WP7 Tiles (showing the same info as a widget would)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In some ways, what you say is true, but I disagree with you because of the way that the information is presented. For me, the reason I like WP7 better is because it provides a far greater level of organization and unification. Everything is arranged in tiles, and they all follow a similar visual style, and are sized in multiples of the standard block size. The end result may be the same information, but the way that it is organized and arranged looks MUCH better (IMHO) than a whole bunch of widgets that are different sizes, different visual styles, different fonts, and are ultimately not all pulled together. To me the end result looks like an unfinished and rather ugly operating system, like android.
I think HTC recognizes this and shares my view as well, which is why they provided sense for android. By placing sense over the rest of android, they can present a phone that looks much more "finished". I'm sure that when HTC puts there name on a phone, they want to make sure that the operating system is up to par as well, since thats what the user will be interacting with while they use the phone. Apparently, while they thought android was good, they didn't think that it was good enough visually, which is where sense comes in.
That's what gives WP7 it's wow factor; it's so well put together.
djcaston said:
In some ways, what you say is true, but I disagree with you because of the way that the information is presented. For me, the reason I like WP7 better is because it provides a far greater level of organization and unification. Everything is arranged in tiles, and they all follow a similar visual style, and are sized in multiples of the standard block size. The end result may be the same information, but the way that it is organized and arranged looks MUCH better (IMHO) than a whole bunch of widgets that are different sizes, different visual styles, different fonts, and are ultimately not all pulled together. To me the end result looks like an unfinished and rather ugly operating system, like android.
I think HTC recognizes this and shares my view as well, which is why they provided sense for android. By placing sense over the rest of android, they can present a phone that looks much more "finished". I'm sure that when HTC puts there name on a phone, they want to make sure that the operating system is up to par as well, since thats what the user will be interacting with while they use the phone. Apparently, while they thought android was good, they didn't think that it was good enough visually, which is where sense comes in.
That's what gives WP7 it's wow factor; it's so well put together.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totaly agree.. not to mention the adverage user will not know how to really customize their phone so wp7 answers this challange..
^ huh? You pin a tile,app, and bookmark to the Start screen the exact same way as you would on Android.
Did you notice that the discussion wasn't about function, but about visual design and consistency.
I don't like android because it's terrably inconsistent, and it feels unfinished. That you more or less need Android 2.2 with JIT activated to even come close to the performance of WP7 or iOS doesn't make things better.
^huh, what loads faster a text only web page or one full of different graphics and pictures?
vetvito said:
^huh, what loads faster a text only web page or one full of different graphics and pictures?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This day in age? There isn't much difference with high-end hardware, which is what we will be dealing with in WP7. Additionally, it matters much more whether the OS is efficient and highly optimized to handle things like graphics and animations, which, from the testing thats been conducted by several well respected blogs and individuals, seems to be the case with WP7
Also, calling WP7 UI text only isn't a fair assessment. It's very heavy on animations and has dynamic images and backgrounds. It also pulls data from the Internet so to make UI fluid you need to really master asynchronous APIs all around the place. It feels lightweight but it's not as light as it seems.
*NEWS* Version 1.12 is up on Marketplace! Version 1.13 with social goodies is coming real soon!
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Howdy! I need some feedbacks from you guys
At the time I was coding this app, there wasn't any decent shows tracking app out there, so I decided to give back the WP community a little, hence the born of Prime TV.
[Functionalities wise...]
What's new (in version 1.12)?
65% faster load and resume time
Shake to change tile image (paid users only)
Image gallery for shows
More screen captures/images for episodes
Change default genre for shows grouping
Much more stable saving and loading mechanism
Fail safe mechanism to detect missing shows and automatically re-add them
Grouping options and alphabetical sorting option for tv shows
Live tile notification (paid users only, for now)
News feeds integration (general news on main page, show specific news on show page)
Auto mobilized browser for reading news (faster load time and to conserve bandwidth)
Search for missing high quality background on show page (see video)
The core is pretty similar to other apps.
You can follow shows (US, UK, Anime etc) as long as it's in thetvdb.com database.
My efforts in this app are to make it lighting fast and smooth transitions between pages.
It also supports auto timezone correction, so if you're in Australia but following US series, you'll know when it will air on local time.
In the future releases, I've planned to include
Notification system (Graduated)
Mark as watched (Graduated)
Preview trailer (In current version - beta)
JumpList to group episodes by Season number and/or air date (Graduated)
Support more languages (I only know 5 so I might need help from you guys
Social integration (twitter/facebook)
News integration from tv.com etc. (Graduated)
[So the questions are...]
I'd like to hear some feedback from you guys
What do you think about this app?
As a developer or user, what do you like to see in this app?
Don't be shy, request any features you like! I listen to everyone that has something to say!
You can find version 1.10 on Marketplace, and version 1.11 has been submitted for certification just a moment ago (26 April).
App is fast and the layout is pretty sharp, so points for that.
Some negatives: you need "feedback" to let you know you've added a show after you searched it. Right now you tap it and it adds, but you don't know that till you backed out of the search.
The app crashes in trial on a second launch, erasing my 2 saved shows--not sure if that's a limitation or not.
At $0.99, it's not yet there. You might be better offering a "lite" free version with basics (what you have now) and then a paid $0.99 with notifications, etc. Right now though, TVShow Lite is more stable, useful and free even if yours seems a tad faster and nicer (background image).
Hey malatesta, thanks for the feedback.
Sorry about the crash, I investigated into that and it's a bug.
Version 1.2.1 has been submitted with tons of bug fixes, even faster (framerate from 45 to 58) and better transitions.
I'm thinking of making an ad-supported free version with all current functionalities. And ad-free version with notification, mark as watched etc this week. I'm revamping the search page, adding something like "top shows", and of course the "feedback" you mentioned, thanks!
Also I'm thinking of removing the "aired" section, what do you think?
I played with the trial as well
The overall design is nice and pleasing and i like the backgrounds. I cannot comment on the loading since I could only load 2 shows and that's certainly not enough to say anything about loading time/transitions.
I agree with malatesta, when adding from search, you need some sort of way to let me know I have added it - also I would do away with the tap-add, just have a button that specifically adds, because you can imagine the accidental tapping would add a show and that would be annoying.
Panorama view is fine so far. I would personally expect to have only the most important things in pan view: my tv shows - upcoming - missed/aired (although only useful if i can track/check off episodes) - and maybe new/upcoming tv shows
I would also leave adding and news to the bottom as visible buttons and every other function should be hidden in the ... slideout menu
i like clean panoramas that contain only whats really and immediately useful, so that ^ is why i would not prefer to have a panorama page for every function
also the calendar-type view of the date is fine and i would say 24hr format is better, and it would get rid of the am-pm that sits off to the right
and last, i'm personally against ads i avoid apps with ads (except perhaps only to test and then buy or not), they destroy the whole design of the app, so if you want you can make a trial app with very basic functionality (have a look at other apps to see what is considered basic)
this is especially true since your layout is great and pleasing, any ads would make it look horrible
cheers
@nick109, hey thanks a lot for the comment! I'd like to invite you to be official tester of upcoming releases, what do you think? I develop this everyday it's just the annoying certification process that's slowing it down. But having said that you'd have to have a developer account or jailbroken phone to sideload the app though.
I too avoid apps with ads, I don't think putting ads is the way to go. So I'll consider putting ads seriously, at most it'll only appear in trial mode, definitely no way in paid mode.
Currently I'm implementing "mark as watched" feature, so that aired section could be useful. And also JumpList (like in People app you can select the alphabet and quickly jumping to a group) to group episodes by season number and by air date.
Time formatting is really troublesome here, I'm also changing the format according to user preference, e.g. what you set on your phone (region and languages), so this app will have a consistent look and feel.
Lastly, these days seems like social integration is the only way to make app popular, sadly But I'll make the app more solid before adding news/twitter etc.
Again thanks for your reply.
sure i'll gladly test it as best i can and inform you of any bugs i come across
and yes i will have to sideload it
and speaking of ads, i noticed google has released their sdk for wp7, and their design is actually quite great and fits well with the metro ui
news here
I bought the app (1.0) but it's still telling me i am using the trial version and i am unable to add multiple shows... already tried reinstalling/re-buying, no luck. any suggestions?
General suggestions:
- live-tile support as the "all-white" tile does not look so great (would have payed even more for the app with live-tile)
- fix for the "trial mode not being removable"
- maybe a link to "buy app" from within the app to fix the issue?
- as I have a LOT of shows i follow, maybe some way to rate shows or prioritize these
- confirmation once a show was successfully added
really looking forward to some updates and hopefully a fix to my issue!
cheers!
@nick109, thanks! I saw that as well, will definitely experiment it when critical features have been implemented/improved.
@pencilcase, I'm so sorry! I just investigated into that issue and it was totally my fault, an update (1.2.1) is on the way, i think it'll be approved tomorrow. Fortunately I revamped the trial system, it's still only 2 shows allowed on trial, but it won't have that nasty paid version issue. Again I'm sorry.
Good suggestions @pencilcase, I was thinking of using the settings page to allow collection sorting, like according to added time or rating. I have tested adding 20 shows, including America's Next Top Model which has 15 seasons, and it doesn't slow down version 1.2.1 at all.
I'm working on version 1.3.0, which has "Mark as Watched" and grouping system. Today I even bought a $149 developer library (from telerik) just to improve this app! Hopefully you guys will like it!
i gave the 1.2 version another go, i added simpsons which has a lot of seasons and episodes, and it did not lag, so very good on that
i also added Terra Nova, or tried to, but the app didn't respond by adding it, give it a try and see if it happens to you as well
yes, focus on the critical stuff for now, and in the future if you could keep in mind to have a setting to refresh background on each launch, that would be a nice eye candy
@nick109, currently my implementation is to cross reference thetvdb.com and tvrage.com database to find matching series. So that I could pull information from both databases and integrate them together.
That's actually why some series appearing on the selection couldn't actually be added, e.g. if information couldn't be matched.
I'm thinking to go with tvrage.com, they have more solid database, almost 99.99% uptime. And updating mechanism is simpler, plus I could actually implement video trailer for each episode with that database.
I'm implementing this on version 1.3, and a major UI overhaul is coming!
By the way, what do you mean that refreshing background on each launch? Currently it's getting the background of latest upcoming episode. E.g. if The Vampire Diaries has the latest upcoming episode it'll be the background of that, so at first glance you'll instantly know the latest upcoming episode. And if you delete that show (by tap and holding on "collection"), the background will be refreshed to the next upcoming episode.
ah i see now : )
and yes if from tvrage you could implement trailers that would be really nice!
looking forward to it
hey nick109, check out the preview video below, what do you think?
aha now you've done it! good work. have you sent this for approval yet?
thanks! no i haven't. there's still a couple of things i need to do, like manual timezone adjustment, because i don't live in a country with daylight saving, so i don't understand time property as well as others.
as a user, it'll be very frustrating that a tv show tracking app shows all kind of incorrect time, so i'm working on a page for "settings" to manually adjust each tv show.
at the same time i'm also working on live tile notification what do you think of the mockup live tile image below?
good idea for the time part, should help with non local TV series
The live tile looks great - I suppose it will update the picture too? Else I think the today part is unnecessary since it's understood
The new interface looks quite a lot to TVShow !
I bought 'Prime TV'and 'TVShow' and I prefer TVShow largely because he has already 'live tile' (which are updated every night without restarting the application) and converting local times for foreign TV shows. And it has more feature like : subtitles, translation, recaps, pictures
message edited
theoce2n said:
Howdy! I need some feedbacks from you guys
At the time I was coding this app, there wasn't any decent shows tracking app out there, so I decided to give back the WP community a little, hence the born of Prime TV.
[Functionalities wise...]
The core is pretty similar to other apps.
You can follow shows (US, UK, Anime etc) as long as it's in thetvdb.com database.
My efforts in this app are to make it lighting fast and smooth transitions between pages.
It also supports auto timezone correction, so if you're in Australia but following US series, you'll know when it will air on local time.
In the future releases, I've planned to include
Notification system
Mark as watched
Preview trailer
JumpList to group episodes by Season number and/or air date
Support more languages (I only know 5 so I might need help from you guys
Social integration (twitter/facebook)
News integration from tv.com etc.
[So the questions are...]
I'd like to hear some feedback from you guys
What do you think about this app?
As a developer or user, what do you like to see in this app?
Also do you like thetvdb.com database better or tvrage.com?
[Special treatments for XDA...]
If you guys like, I can probably release beta versions to some testers before it hits Marketplace, working on this alone I just can't seem to catch every bug
Don't be shy, request any features you like! I listen to everyone that has something to say!
You can find version 1.0 on Marketplace, and version 1.2.1 has been submitted for certification yesterday (even faster and more reliable).
I've set up a static website just for viewing pleasure, check it out at http://nineverse.com/.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You interested in making an app release thread in the Apps and Games section?
mine seems to not be saving shows i add anymore (FIXED by reinstalling)
any news on the new version with live-tile support? really looking forward to that
theoce2n said:
hey nick109, check out the preview video below, what do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks guys to steal the design of TVShow...
I recently jumped the ship from iOS to Android, and being dissapointed by the "Android-Experience" (Overall esthetics, User-friendliness, etc etc..), I was considering changing to WP7. Would it be possible for someone to list the major pros & cons of WP7, 'cos I haven't been able to try it out yet.
Thanks in advance.
Sent via my magical HTC Wildfire S.
For me its about the user interface and the stability. To give you an idea - I have an iPad and was an iPhone user from the first until the 3GS. I then used a Nexus One for 18 months.
Windows phone offers a better interface than iOS in that it puts emphasis on the information rather than pointless Chrome and interface elements like buttons etc. Its the only mobile OS thats actually innovative in its approach to displaying info.
In terms of stability it knocks the socks off of android because the thing actually does what it says it will all of the time. With Android i always feel like its hit and miss.
However what i will say is that the quality and the reach of the apps needs to improve. now Ms has sorted out the multi tasking and notifications service with Mango it will take some decent competitive apps to keep me here as i have been flirting with Android again recently. ( for example the Twitter app has no notifications, birdsong aint bad but only polls every 5 minutes).
Hope this help!
Jay
I dont want to spam, but i am a Android Xperia Neo (2.3) and a WP7 Mango (with the HTC Trophy user) and i recomend you to see this video I made up youtube.com/watch?v=NNo13-LUlHo (if it inst allowed than i will remove the link). Well i prefer WP7 because of its estability and interface and smoothness. Sorry for my bad english
Jay_uk1185 said:
For me its about the user interface and the stability. To give you an idea - I have an iPad and was an iPhone user from the first until the 3GS. I then used a Nexus One for 18 months.
Windows phone offers a better interface than iOS in that it puts emphasis on the information rather than pointless Chrome and interface elements like buttons etc. Its the only mobile OS thats actually innovative in its approach to displaying info.
In terms of stability it knocks the socks off of android because the thing actually does what it says it will all of the time. With Android i always feel like its hit and miss.
However what i will say is that the quality and the reach of the apps needs to improve. now Ms has sorted out the multi tasking and notifications service with Mango it will take some decent competitive apps to keep me here as i have been flirting with Android again recently. ( for example the Twitter app has no notifications, birdsong aint bad but only polls every 5 minutes).
Hope this help!
Jay
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Notifications aren't a problem, I don't really use them. What really interested me was how all the "essential" stuff seemed accessible really easily, and that the whole GUI is clean/optimised.
Kim
Sent via my magical HTC Wildfire S.
omnomnomkimiiee said:
Notifications aren't a problem, I don't really use them. What really interested me was how all the "essential" stuff seemed accessible really easily, and that the whole GUI is clean/optimised.
Kim
Sent via my magical HTC Wildfire S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will be on to a winner with WP7 to be honest. It certainly presents the information in a far better and more innovative way than any of the competition and certainly works far more reliably.
The only caveat is that up until you have Mango - the live tile updates are terribly unreliable. (These are the widget-type tiles on the start screen)
Jay
WP7 is pleasure to use but is at an earlier stage in its life than ios or android, it has the potential to be a leading smart phones but I'd wait a few weeks to see if mango manages to push us to the forefront ?
Yeah, I was gonna wait a month or two to see how Android fares with me, and then eventually jump ship ... again
Sent via my magical HTC Wildfire S.
yup can't go wrong with wp7 everything is much faster and cleaner while android and iOS are just offering specs and graphics, wp7 is offering real usability and features.
Pro:
The performance is superb. No Android phone (even with dual-core) can match Windows Phone's. Apps rarely crash and rarely lags.
The whole WP OS UI carries a unified theme and even 3rd party apps seem to use the same theme.
The OS itself is very integrated. Many features that come build in to the WP OS are separate apps on other platform.
Con:
Lack of customization. You don't like how the WP OS looks? Too bad.
day2die said:
Pro:
The performance is superb. No Android phone (even with dual-core) can match Windows Phone's. Apps rarely crash and rarely lags.
The whole WP OS UI carries a unified theme and even 3rd party apps seem to use the same theme.
The OS itself is very integrated. Many features that come build in to the WP OS are separate apps on other platform.
Con:
Lack of customization. You don't like how the WP OS looks? Too bad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OS's look is the first reason I'd move to wp. The integration astounded me, we're only seeing it appear in iOS 5 (I'm a beta tester), and as for Android ...
I'd heard of the hardware stability, that'd be a definite plus+. Can't wait to try it out !
Sent via my magical HTC Wildfire S.
I look at WP7 as having the best of both iOS and Android.
On one hand you have the Android approach of different handset makers and a choice in hardware. Like Apple, Microsoft is showing tight control over the OS. So between two WP7 handsets you aren't going to see a huge difference in terms of how the OS performs. The biggest problem I have had with Android in the past is how the user experience is vastly different between two phones, especially when hardware manufacturers start skinning the OS.
You honestly can't go wrong with WP7, especially with the Mango update around the corner.
omnomnomkimiiee said:
Would it be possible for someone to list the major pros & cons of WP7, 'cos I haven't been able to try it out yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What type of user: "consumer" or business or both?
Your level of computer skills: basic or proficient?
CSMR said:
What type of user: "consumer" or business or both?
Your level of computer skills: basic or proficient?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
User: both, private/business 30%/70%
Computer skills are rather mediocre in the ms/linux world, I'm more of an os x guy.
Sent via my magical HTC Wildfire S.
Pros:
WP7 is fast & stable
Does what it does very well
You can get in & get out fast
Integration
No "real" need for flashing custom ROM's
The UI is clean & easy to read
Cons:
If you're like me & like "hacking" your device, Mango killed Homebrew (Hopefully we'll find ways around this)
Customization (If you like the UI exactly as is, not an issue for you)
Lack of choices in certain functionality
3rd party apps are a bit immature
In the end I suggest going to your local carrier's store & playing with a display model or if a friend has one play with it. The best thing about WP7 is it's performance. Someone said that touching the screen is like touching the pixels. This is a very good analogy, because what ever you do (in most cases), the device reacts to your inputs almost instantaneously. You can't really see any lag except in maybe some 3rd party apps & especially homebrew, but with homebrew, that's performance issues of the hacks currently being used. The last couple days I've been playing with my ex's Android & it feels so slow. Granted it's a cheap no name $50 Metro PCS one, but still. When I try to scroll throw the apps list, it takes a few seconds for my touch inputs to actually be displayed. The screen has a delay of input of scroll to it actually scroll. Everything I try to do takes so long to do.
Than again, I don't understand why she even has an Android device or smartphone in general. She never setup a Google account, which i had to do to access the market for an app for her. She wants to record a couple voicemails. So, I installed a call recorder app for her. She never setup her home screen. It has 5 "tabs" or what ever their called on Android & she only has the stock icons on the main tab & a music player on another. Nothing else setup.
As for 3rd party apps on WP7, yes they're a bit lacking, but I hardly ever use any. I have a few games & 3rd party apps installed, but most of what I do is handled by the core WP7 functionality.
EDIT: Just a little correction to the person who mentioned Chrome. WP7 does indeed have the "Chrome" element of the UI. The Status Bar at the top that auto hides is Chrome & so is the Menu Bar. It just auto hides & in some apps, isn't there at all (aka fullscreen mode).
drkfngthdragnlrd said:
Pros:
WP7 is fast & stable
Does what it does very well
You can get in & get out fast
Integration
No "real" need for flashing custom ROM's
The UI is clean & easy to read
Cons:
If you're like me & like "hacking" your device, Mango killed Homebrew (Hopefully we'll find ways around this)
Customization (If you like the UI exactly as is, not an issue for you)
Lack of choices in certain functionality
3rd party apps are a bit immature
In the end I suggest going to your local carrier's store & playing with a display model or if a friend has one play with it. The best thing about WP7 is it's performance. Someone said that touching the screen is like touching the pixels. This is a very good analogy, because what ever you do (in most cases), the device reacts to your inputs almost instantaneously. You can't really see any lag except in maybe some 3rd party apps & especially homebrew, but with homebrew, that's performance issues of the hacks currently being used. The last couple days I've been playing with my ex's Android & it feels so slow. Granted it's a cheap no name $50 Metro PCS one, but still. When I try to scroll throw the apps list, it takes a few seconds for my touch inputs to actually be displayed. The screen has a delay of input of scroll to it actually scroll. Everything I try to do takes so long to do.
Than again, I don't understand why she even has an Android device or smartphone in general. She never setup a Google account, which i had to do to access the market for an app for her. She wants to record a couple voicemails. So, I installed a call recorder app for her. She never setup her home screen. It has 5 "tabs" or what ever their called on Android & she only has the stock icons on the main tab & a music player on another. Nothing else setup.
As for 3rd party apps on WP7, yes they're a bit lacking, but I hardly ever use any. I have a few games & 3rd party apps installed, but most of what I do is handled by the core WP7 functionality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u earned a thanks from me. I do believe that th apps will get better once the mango ones hit the marketplace. I rarely use them tho as like yourself almost everything I do can be done in the OS on its own
I am on mango, here is my list:
Pros:
Smoothness
The live tiles (I know it sounds like the windows phone catchphase but mango upped the info and style of them and made them a powerful tool)
Social network intergation (having the people and messaging hubs allow you to do 80% of the stuff that you do on it I.E. Facebook and having the cache locally instead of waiting for an app to pull it live from the site.
Search and bing vision, audio, local scout (having it all at your fingertip)
Tellme! The voice command is awesome and I sometimes use it to show off =)
Metro UI, simple and clean and easy to look at
IE it is the smoothest browser around, no checkering
Cons:
Customization
Playing app catchup (mango should fix it and see a lot of ports from iOS and android very soon)
Video scrubbing
No way to bring back toast notications
The biggest thing is once you start use wp7, it grows on you and you find ways to do what you want and most of the time it is a better way than on any other device.
hardcoreplur said:
The biggest thing is once you start use wp7, it grows on you and you find ways to do what you want and most of the time it is a better way than on any other device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is probably one of the best descriptions I've heard about WP7 & couldn't be more true. While WP7 is not perfect. It does indeed grow on your & 99% of what you need to to you can figure out how to do in some ingenious ways. It is a beautiful thought out OS.
omnomnomkimiiee said:
Notifications aren't a problem, I don't really use them. What really interested me was how all the "essential" stuff seemed accessible really easily, and that the whole GUI is clean/optimised.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GUI and the essential smart-phone stuff (email, calendar, contacts, social media integration) work really well. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised!
Bad things you'll discovered compared to iOS is lack or apps, and lack of google maps and other google services. Remember WP7 uses Bing, which is very USA-centric, and Microsoft keep regions very cut off from each other. So if you do live in France as your avatar suggests, you may find several features (such as maps and local scout) don't work, and the French app store may be pretty sparse (and no you won't be allowed to access the UK or US one).
I 2nd that. WP7 as far as services go is a worse experience outside the US, & something you should look into before making a decision.
Many people complains about the need for Zune Sync instead USB Mass Storage. I am the opposite one - I like this better. Why?
You are sure, that the phone will play the music or movie (converting 1.5 hours long movie took 3 minutes on my PC).
Also, when you are watching movie on phone, then close it somewhere during the movie, sync the phone to PC and open the movie in PC (through Zune), it will continue where you left off - that is something that without Zune Sync can't be done.
I use Zune for listening to music anyway. Just drag & drop the music on icon of your phone and once you connect it, it synces all the changes and adds music and what not.
And major PRO for WP7 is the UI. Best UI around. UI designed for phone from beginning, that is not just rows and columns of icons.
according to microsoft, windows8 will be for phones, desktops, tablets, everywhere windows lives now. after watching 3-4 demos on youtube there are a few things that makes me wonder about:
1 filesystem access - it shows the table accessing a usb stick and drag/drop copying
2 explorer (the file explorer)
3 full desktop shell as an app
4 wireless status as a widget
5 a much more customizable 'home' or whatever its being called now
if you've seen the videos, or had your hands on one - what do you think the possibilities are for wp7 evolving into a full blown OS like what is being demo'd as windows8 ?
do you think wp8 will be a registry restricted (mild restriction to prevent confusion) version of windows 8 ?
would you be interested in a full blown (non-phone specific) wp8 handset, essentially a desktop in your pocket, able to use a keyboard and mouse with ?
is the tablet version (form factor) more appealing as a full OS, instead of a phone (form factor) to you ?
^ why ?
hmmm
...I believe that a lot of peoples are having problems to understand:
- WP7x is the OS for smart phones
- Windows 8 is the OS for tabletts and desktop PCs with the possibility to interact - but only to a certain extend - with WP7x It definitely won't replace WP7x. and the features you are mentioning will not be build into WP7x. At least not for the time being or if so, only via some homebrews by our xda-developers friends..
Yeah the OP got somethings wrong there. This is what MS envisions:
Phone: Windows Phone 7/8
Xbox: Xbox metro dashboard (coming this fall)
PCs (including desktops, laptops, slates/tablets etc.): Windows 8
What Windows Phone 7/8 and Windows 8 will have in common is probably the way apps are written (at least C# or VB + XAML) and the interactivity using SkyDrive.
Windows 8 will of course things like File access and the traditional desktop, but WP will not and there is no need to do so.
A phone should stay a phone and a PC should stay a PC.
Sent from my GT-I5800 using XDA App
FTC said:
...I believe that a lot of peoples are having problems to understand:
- WP7x is the OS for smart phones
- Windows 8 is the OS for tabletts and desktop PCs with the possibility to interact - but only to a certain extend - with WP7x It definitely won't replace WP7x. and the features you are mentioning will not be build into WP7x. At least not for the time being or if so, only via some homebrews by our xda-developers friends..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is correct.
slimshady322 said:
Yeah the OP got somethings wrong there. This is what MS envisions:
Phone: Windows Phone 7/8
Xbox: Xbox metro dashboard (coming this fall)
PCs (including desktops, laptops, slates/tablets etc.): Windows 8
What Windows Phone 7/8 and Windows 8 will have in common is probably the way apps are written (at least C# or VB + XAML) and the interactivity using SkyDrive.
Windows 8 will of course things like File access and the traditional desktop, but WP will not and there is no need to do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, do you have any links for future reading ? (Thanks used)
Based on what I've read, I don't think the OP has really missed anything, but may have misinterpreted the timetable. Even Paul Thurrott has made that same speculation.
Microsoft is planning to have a single ecosystem for all platforms (including phones). They have stated as much. Whether they will "get there" with Windows 8 is doubtful, but they will get there.
One common speculation is that, as a first step toward ecosystem unification, Windows 8 will be able to run any WP7 app (and, presumably, some Windows 8 apps will also run on phones).
I don't really have any links, but it seems obvious that MS is trying to get their metro interface into all their devices (Xbox, PC and phone). The similarities should be striking.
As others have said, Windows 8 will not be on phones, but their will be things shared for example with SkyDrive, you can upload your photos from WP7 and you can also directly view photos from SkyDrive (and other locations) on Windows 8. Xbox uses SkyDrive to save game files etc.
I personally doubt that Windows Phone 7 app will run on Windows 8. If you look at the current developer tools, there are a lot of differences between WP7 and Windows 8. Yes, they both can use C# + XAML so you can share code, but you will have to do device specific changes.
MS might make this easier in the future but some adjustments will probably have to be made. If they simply made some kind of WP7 emulator for Windows 8, things would not fit the entire screen and you might see too many pixels.
And finally, yes I have also heard the rumor that MS wants to have one OS for all devices: the PC (including tablets), the Xbox and phones.
However, this is still far off and will not be coming in Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 (Apollo). It has been rumored to be the masterplan for way ahead (like 2016 with Windows 9, Windows Phone 9 and the third Xbox (however these things will be called)).
But what works right now are all the live services. For example I could add a contact on my WP7 and then have their numbers etc. available on my Windows 8 slate without the need to manually transfer the contact over.
I would love the OP's dream come true but I don't think so. It doesn't look like WP8 will go Android route (but what do we know in the end).
There are enough people in MS industry thinking better what users want than users themselves and claiming that a phone should be dumb enough.
What I see from Windows 8 previews I'd say it can be amazing OS anyway.
slimshady322 said:
I personally doubt that Windows Phone 7 app will run on Windows 8. If you look at the current developer tools, there are a lot of differences between WP7 and Windows 8. Yes, they both can use C# + XAML so you can share code, but you will have to do device specific changes.
MS might make this easier in the future but some adjustments will probably have to be made. If they simply made some kind of WP7 emulator for Windows 8, things would not fit the entire screen and you might see too many pixels.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Building a wp7 emulator into Windows 8 would not be that difficult. Running a WP7 app could create a rectangle in the center of the screen that matches the dimensions of a WP7 device, and darkens the remaining screen while the app has focus.
slimshady322 said:
And finally, yes I have also heard the rumor that MS wants to have one OS for all devices: the PC (including tablets), the Xbox and phones.
However, this is still far off and will not be coming in Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 (Apollo). It has been rumored to be the masterplan for way ahead (like 2016 with Windows 9, Windows Phone 9 and the third Xbox (however these things will be called)).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is kind of what I was thinking too. Not for Windows 8, but very likely for Windows 9 (or maybe they could accomplish it in a ".5" release, but I doubt that).
The point is, assuming WP7 survives the next few years (which is looking much better as Mango gets closer), there will be a time when Microsoft has a single OS that spans all devices.
RoboDad said:
Building a wp7 emulator into Windows 8 would not be that difficult. Running a WP7 app could create a rectangle in the center of the screen that matches the dimensions of a WP7 device, and darkens the remaining screen while the app has focus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it would work but it would be just like iPhone Apps on the iPad, webOS phone apps on the Touchpad or android phone apps on an android tablet.
Working, but not looking very good.
I have currently one app in the windows phone marketplace and I would like to bring it to Windows 8 as well but I will do some adjustments. Just one example:
Many apps feature lists that are scrollable vertically (like the contacts list). Tapping on one item opens up another page with details.
On the phone this works fine, but on Windows 8 there would be a couple of problems:
1) Windows 8 rather has lists that you scroll horizontally (the new Grid View in the developer tools)
2) You would waste a lot of screen space. A better solution would be to have a split view with the list on the left and the details on the right. Thus, the list would stay visible.
Acutally when writing about this I though of a very good example: the settings in WP7 and Windows 8.
WP7:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
A list of the different things you can scroll and tapping brings you to the selected item (as seen on the right)
Windows 8:
The list is only on the left and you can still see the list while opening up single item.
TL;DR: Basically what I want to say is that while WP7 app might work on Windows 8, it would be better if developers for Windows 8 (and there are many) were to adjust their apps to make them work better on Windows 8.
I don't think Windows 8 needs WP7 apps, many apps will probably be ported and adjustments will be made and there will be many Windows 8 developers that did not develop for WP7.
RoboDad said:
That is kind of what I was thinking too. Not for Windows 8, but very likely for Windows 9 (or maybe they could accomplish it in a ".5" release, but I doubt that).
The point is, assuming WP7 survives the next few years (which is looking much better as Mango gets closer), there will be a time when Microsoft has a single OS that spans all devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would really like MS to do this, but is has to be done good and not the way webOS or Android did it.
One app could then be written for all devices and all the app would have to do is adjust itself according to screen size. You could share most code for all version and only have some layout changes that depend on the resolution.
We can dream, but MS has been screaming the same story for over a decade.
The touch optimized part (basically "what looks like wp7 atm) of Win8 will be on tablets, pcs and phones. While the non-touch optimized part will be exclusive to pcs.