Develop Bugs

Top 3 third party applications

What are your top 3 third party applications that you would love to have on your Windows Phone 7 Series? Most used applications for your daily routines, works, entertainment, what not ... Top 3 applications that you have in mind when asked about mobile applications.
Interesting to know so we could see what users expect to have on WP7 in terms of application.
It does not have to be Windows Mobile 6.x applications. If you think certain iPhone / Android / BB / Symbian apps thats fine.
I start with my top 3:
1. Offline navigation software
- like TomTom, CoPilot, iGo.
2. Opera Mini
- I just love the speed, thats all.
3. Good Facebook client
- Microsoft has one for WM6, but I expect much better than that. I read that iPhone version is better.

I basically use my phone for calls, messages and development... being last one like the only reason why I didn't keep my cheap old Nokia phone. Sometimes I'm using weather, GPS, reading emails or google for this or that but that's all and I'm just happy that I just can do such things whenever I would need them. I'm not really a crazy apps freak....

Got to be iGo as one of them for me!

gogol said:
3. Good Facebook client
- Microsoft has one for WM6, but I expect much better than that. I read that iPhone version is better.
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Click to collapse
The OS comes with great facebook integration already built in, no need for an app!
My top apps are:
FPSeCE (Playstation Emulator)
Spacetime 4.0 (Graphing Calculator Software)
Pandora

I know that, but I have doubt with that Facebook integration.
Not that I am saying it is not good, but from what I saw ... the integration is split into 2 hubs ... People hub where you can see status update of your Facebook friends and Photo/Pictures hub where you can see Facebook photo albums of your friends.
With dedicated Facebook app, all those will come in the same flow of information.
Well, not a big deal really, because I am using http://touch.facebook.com via web browser (Opera Mini).
Kloc said:
The OS comes with great facebook integration already built in, no need for an app!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

gogol said:
Not that I am saying it is not good, but from what I saw ... the integration is split into 2 hubs ... People hub where you can see status update of your Facebook friends and Photo/Pictures hub where you can see Facebook photo albums of your friends.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which, IMO, is the best approach possible. Heck, I might even start using Facebook this way. Why would I need that information in a separate application? Why would I want to view photos in anything but a photo viewing app? Or where else do I need contact information apart from the contact app?
Also, this approach theoretically should aggregate information from different networks in a way that makes sense. I mean, if you are a member of both Facebook and, say, Linked-In, would you really want two separate applications to handle data from these networks?

1.Opera Mobile 10
To read 3 different newspapers each morning on my Omnia II and have all my desktop bookmarks synced OTA to my phone. Been using Opera since v3.0 or so, love it.
2.GSPlayer
to listen to somafm.com !
3. Googlemaps
Works good enough, could be done much better (font size can not be set !) and leaks 2 DC's each time you start and stop it. Have to take another look at bing maps soon

Coreplayer!!!!!!!!
IGO
BattClock (used to display battery info)

For me, if I can reduce time spent then I will choose that way.
Instead of going into 2 hubs to read status updates AND photo updates, I would prefer to just go once to look them all
Like I said, this is not a big deal because there is facebook website itself which can be accessed via web browser.
Probably because I use facebook a lot
Oh yes, the idea of multiple social network integration is nice, dont get me wrong. Probably just because of that, I would start using Twitter! Atm I am only using FB.
vangrieg said:
Which, IMO, is the best approach possible. Heck, I might even start using Facebook this way. Why would I need that information in a separate application? Why would I want to view photos in anything but a photo viewing app? Or where else do I need contact information apart from the contact app?
Also, this approach theoretically should aggregate information from different networks in a way that makes sense. I mean, if you are a member of both Facebook and, say, Linked-In, would you really want two separate applications to handle data from these networks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Top applications: 'Real' Map-reader/GPS, Ebook reader,
Well, I might not be a typical user (and actually one of the things I liked about 'Windows Mobile Classic' was that it had a diverse ecosystem, catering for non-typical users!) but these are the two apps I use most:
1) A GPS/map-reader that works with real maps (i.e. topographic maps such as, in the UK, the Ordinance Survey series)
- so ideally, Memory-Map will port their software to WP7
2) An ebook reader that can read EPUB and TXT formats
- actually this is such an important use-case for me that I wrote a program to do it (see this thread). I expect to start porting it to WP7 just as soon as the SDK becomes available.

Windows Phone 7 is a paradigm-shift in how phones operate. Apps will no longer be individual screens, but will be subsumed into the overall user interface. Facebook is the most obvious example of that. If you take Tomtom, for instance, it will be peppered all over the phone in any of the following ways;
People Hub: Select a person and then hit the menu option to navigate to their home or workplace
Calendar Hub: Select a Calendar Entry and then hit the menu option to navigate to the Location of that entry.
Bing Search: Hit a search result to be navigated to its location if it is a real world place like a pizza restaurant, for instance. Once Tomtom is installed, instead of just the one option to be directed there by Bing Maps, you'll have a second option as well to navigate there by Tomtom.
Only once you're actually on the road will you get the Tomtom screen up with the 3D view of the road. The rest of the Tomtom UI will be embedded into these hubs.
I'd expect Twitter, Google Maps, Flickr etc to all melt into the phone's UI as simply extra menu options.
I think this is largely why the App list accessible from the home screen is so basic - it won't be the usual way to start an app. Normally the app will be called from a menu in part of one of the hubs. In this way, apps will organically feel like just an extension of the phone's usual functionality. Heck, I can even see the Photos hub doing something like footprints and recording the GPS coordinates, so you can use the Tomtom menu item in there to navigate to the place in the photo!
This is going to be totally awesome. And I think it's partly why the question of "Does it multitask" isn't so clear-cut...

I use my phone as a phone and as a PDA so most of what I need is already there (calendar, alarm, agenda, Excel, etc)
1) But I have to have an ewallet. I use SPB at the moment and fully expect them to port it to WP7.
2) I also would like some ereader that handles most file types (EPUB mostly).
Could care less about the whole Facebook/Twitter thing. Just hope they don't get in the way of how I use my phone. Will have to wait to see how the interface can be changed. If I have to have Facebook/Twitter in the middle of my processes I will probably not get a WP7 phone.

donnaw said:
Could care less about the whole Facebook/Twitter thing.
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Click to collapse
Sorry that doesn't make sense? Do you mean you could NOT care less?

I would like to see all my apps on it I hope I will be able to port them!

I love opera and youtube

giggles33 said:
I love opera and youtube
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Click to collapse
Opera should be made redundant by the new version of IE contained in WP7S. Youtube will become a subsumed service as part of the Pictures & Videos hub in the UI, and will simply be another source of video from the cloud, in the same way that Facebook posted videos are. I would also imagine that the Bing search engine will return Youtube hits.
Basically, be prepared for apps to function in an entirely different way to what you're used to - they will become simply extensions of your phone's functionality - many apps will be able to avoid having their own screens at all and instead rely on the hubs to provide their input/output.

Jim Coleman said:
Opera should be made redundant by the new version of IE contained in WP7S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not likely that we'll see a version of Opera on WP7S as it's impossible to do a decent browser engine in managed code, because alternative browser makers will be the last to get access to native APIs (if ever), and probably IE will be much better than what we have now, but alternative browsers will not be made "redundant" by this. I can bet IE won't have text reflow, for example, which I personally love and severely miss when I try to use iPhone's Safari.

vangrieg said:
I can bet IE won't have text reflow, for example, which I personally love and severely miss when I try to use iPhone's Safari.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You would lose that bet.

I would like to see Skype on Win Phone 7

Making competitors (Opera must earn a lot of money with their OEM deals) redundant is just plainly impossible nowadays without some sort of "deal" made. It's really very interesting what will happen soon.

"My first 10 days with Windows Phone 7"

I found this post on WP Central from a user by the name of "StrkerGT" and I have to agree with his findings and needs.
StrykerGt:
I jumped on the wagon on November 8 and got the Samsung Focus. I sold my iPhone 4 and I decided to keep it knowing that there are a lot of things missing on this OS but I know (if Microsoft really cares) will fix as soon as possible… Here is my list on the things that I consider missing in the telephone. I put them in order of FIX THIS NOW!!! to what I like in the future.
FIX THIS NOW!!!!!!!
• Visual Voicemail – Whoever decided to release the OS to the market without this should get fired right now! Come on Microsoft it is 2010 (almost 2011) this feature alone makes the phone look outdated. Please fix this a.s.a.p. I love to show off the telephone until someone asks to see the vm. This is inexcusable on this type of smartphone. Shame on you Microsoft!
• Global Address List - we have an Exchange Server 2003 (We have plans to upgrade to 2010 next year) in my company and it’s a pain to look for the contacts. Try to tell your boss about how awesome is the Windows Phone 7 OS and then tell him that in order to access the contacts on the GAL he has to put the address manually! This is something like the Visual Voice that has to be fixed now!
• HTML 5 – When I noticed that Microsoft put an already obsolete version of IE on the new Windows Phone 7 software without support for HTML 5 I said like in the WP7 ads, “Really?!” How come Microsoft that is telling everywhere that they are committed to HTML5 didn’t include it on the WP7 OS. Again, Microsoft, Really?!
• VPN Support - again come on!
• Marketplace Search – Hey Microsoft how about this, on the Marketplace put an option in Bing to filter what you want like apps, music etc. I hate to do a search for an app and get a bunch of other stuff like album, artist, song etc. The way you do it on the games hub is excellent please do the same in the Zune hub. I don’t go to the Zune hub to look for apps.
• Some kind of multi-tasking is much needed on this telephone Microsoft, get to work on this.
• SkyDrive Access I love the Skydrive concept but is completely ridiculous that I can put the files on the cloud but there is no way to access my documents directly on the phone. Something like Dropbox would be great.
• A favorite list for your contacts is a must, I really like the way this phone organize the contacts, but you always have that special list with contact you use more like family, friends etc. I don’t like to scroll to several work and business contacts to get what I need.
• Back Up/Restore – Please do something quick about this, there is no way to back up your settings, saved games, outlook configuration (certificates) downloaded apps etc. You have to re-download and re-configure everything every time that you reset your phone.
• Save Camera settings – It’s absurd to set everything every time that you use the camera. I feel like I have to put a flash bulb every time that I use the camera.
The things I want to see soon:
• I noticed that the telephone only vibrate once when you get a phone call. This is not good Microsoft. It should do both in case you have your telephone in the pocket or in a place with too much ambient noise.
• I’ll like to see the battery percentage on the notification bar. (I know the telephone already shows that information through one of the hacks but it will be great if I can see it easily.)
• Easier way to find the IP and MAC address. Again, (I know the telephone already shows that information through one of the hacks but it will be great if I can see it easily.)
• Add vibration to the Alarms
• Disable keys when playing games or at least pop a menu asking if you want to quit the app like the Facebook app.
• Run downloaded app directly from Marketplace
• Open file from any applications - example, open PDF files from Homepipe
• Unified Inbox or a mail Hub
• IE Address Bar in landscape mode
• Answer phone call when swipe up the lock screen
• Drop-Down notifications
• Outlook notifications (notification bar at the top, i.e. like receiving text messages)
• Volumes controls for Music, Notifications, Games, Alarms, etc.
• Market Place updates need to show what the update changes are.
I think that’s all for now, I’m planning to keep this phone because I know that this platform has a lot of room to grow but there are some things that have to be addressed now to put this platform on par with what other are already offering.

wsantiagow, your list is interesting and I agree with the vast majority of your points.
Especially this one:
wsantiagow said:
• SkyDrive Access I love the Skydrive concept but is completely ridiculous that I can put the files on the cloud but there is no way to access my documents directly on the phone. Something like Dropbox would be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But I think most of them are on the way.... (I hope so)

wsantiagow said:
• Global Address List - we have an Exchange Server 2003 (We have plans to upgrade to 2010 next year) in my company and it’s a pain to look for the contacts. Try to tell your boss about how awesome is the Windows Phone 7 OS and then tell him that in order to access the contacts on the GAL he has to put the address manually! This is something like the Visual Voice that has to be fixed now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine works just fine. If you hit the search button in the People Hub you have an option to search the Exchange server. The same option appears when you're addressing an email message. We use Exchange 2007. Maybe it's 2003 that doesn't support it.

jeffgeno said:
Mine works just fine. If you hit the search button in the People Hub you have an option to search the Exchange server. The same option appears when you're addressing an email message. We use Exchange 2007. Maybe it's 2003 that doesn't support it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No 2003 does not support it. Only 2007 and 2010 does.

...
• I noticed that the telephone only vibrate once when you get a phone call. This is not good Microsoft. It should do both in case you have your telephone in the pocket or in a place with too much ambient noise.
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Really?"
10 char...

Visual voicemail as #1 missing feature? Really? What does it even do? I have an iPhone 4 at this time, and don't notice anything special about voicemail here. Am I stupid or what?

vangrieg said:
Visual voicemail as #1 missing feature? Really? What does it even do? I have an iPhone 4 at this time, and don't notice anything special about voicemail here. Am I stupid or what?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WiKi - "Visual voicemail is voice mail with a visual interface. Such an interface presents a list of messages for playback and may include a transcript of each message."
You may not notice anything special about it but try having a telephone that does not support it and you are trying to find a message from 100 voicemails. Non visual voicemail phones have to dial a number to get your messages and go one by one to find the one you are looking for.

wsantiagow said:
WiKi - "Visual voicemail is voice mail with a visual interface. Such an interface presents a list of messages for playback and may include a transcript of each message."
You may not notice anything special about it but try having a telephone that does not support it and you are trying to find a message from 100 voicemails. Non visual voicemail phones have to dial a number to get your messages and go one by one to find the one you are looking for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny how we survived before visual voicemail was available...

efjay said:
Funny how we survived before visual voicemail was available...
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Click to collapse
Yeah and it's even funnier how we survived before smartphones were available...
Thanks to the op for post this here.

StrykerGT said:
Yeah and it's even funnier how we survived before smartphones were available...
Thanks to the op for post this here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe here in the US visual voicemail is a carrier feature. T Mobile has it and my wife and I hated it. Some people love it, but we are not two of them.

addicus said:
I believe here in the US visual voicemail is a carrier feature. T Mobile has it and my wife and I hated it. Some people love it, but we are not two of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on T-Mobile. How do you get visual voice mail?
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App

Maybe it is a carrier feature because I don't have anything of the sort on my iPhone here. I can get a text message notifying me about who just left a voicemail and a number to tap and listen to the thing. Can't imagine when this wouldn't be enough. Rarely even have voicemail on - if I'm not available people text me, send emails, or use a gazillion of other methods to keep in touch.
Guess the love for answering machines is just a local US thing.

addicus said:
I believe here in the US visual voicemail is a carrier feature. T Mobile has it and my wife and I hated it. Some people love it, but we are not two of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are Windows phones 7 right now with this feature on other carriers? EU or in the US? If that true then I'll change the list and put the blame on AT&T. I just hate to have to dial a telephone number hear a recorded message with options, press key to hear the voicemail in sequencial order press more keys to delete o hear it again. This is ridiculous, its the same method of any cheap flip phone out there since the last 15 years. AT&T support this on the iPhone since day one so I don't see why they won't allow it for this telephones.

vangrieg said:
Guess the love for answering machines is just a local US thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the contrary, I hate them, that is why I don't want to go through one everytime I get a message.

hicube said:
I'm on T-Mobile. How do you get visual voice mail?
Sent from my HTC HD2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should be preloaded on your HD2 if you still have the stock rom, otherwise you need to find a cab for Windows Mobile, however if you have Android on your HD2, then it should be in the market place under Visual Voicemail, has a magenta colored logo

StrykerGT said:
On the contrary, I hate them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just turn voicemail off completely then.
Trust me, your life will only be better. Those who really need to tell you something or have you call back will easily find a way to communicate. Those who just waste your time won't do it.

wsantiagow said:
WiKi - "Visual voicemail is voice mail with a visual interface. Such an interface presents a list of messages for playback and may include a transcript of each message."
You may not notice anything special about it but try having a telephone that does not support it and you are trying to find a message from 100 voicemails. Non visual voicemail phones have to dial a number to get your messages and go one by one to find the one you are looking for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
$2.99 a month for this on Vzw ? I guess I'll stick with the old method.
After insurance, Data, text messages, taxes and all the other crap vzw charges me with...

I like my Focus but the iPhone 4 kicks it ass in every way except reception. I can't imagine Microsoft is sitting on it's collective hands doing nothing and hopefully there's an upgrade that's pretty inclusive of everything you've mentioned, hopefully it's soon and hopefully we don't get jerked around by the carriers again, as usual. Patience is a virtue, especially when you own the latest and barest. That having been said, however, with a little more than 2 weeks left to evaluate the Focus, I think I'm keeping it and selling the iPhone, the main reason being potential. The iPhone is close to running out of steam while WP7 has a huge amount of potential.

wsantiagow said:
WiKi - "Visual voicemail is voice mail with a visual interface. Such an interface presents a list of messages for playback and may include a transcript of each message."
You may not notice anything special about it but try having a telephone that does not support it and you are trying to find a message from 100 voicemails. Non visual voicemail phones have to dial a number to get your messages and go one by one to find the one you are looking for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you even want to save 100 voicemails? Listen to voice mail......delete voice mail.

TomH123 said:
Why would you even want to save 100 voicemails? Listen to voice mail......delete voice mail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Often for business you need it as "proof"...at least with the company and customers I work with...

Mango vs iPhone 4S

This thread is dedictated strictly to specific advantages / disadvantages / differences / similarities of Mango compared to the iPhone 4S.
READ THIS ENTIRE POST BEFORE POSTING IN THIS THREAD
Both platforms have strengths. Both have weaknesses.
It will also be dedictated to differences in some core applications.
Some applications are not available to both platforms. Those will also be identified.
I will be reserving the first 5 posts to update specific differences.
I will also be reserving the next 5 posts, in case I want to expand to additional differences or comparisons.
I currently own an LG Quantum with Mango and an iPhone 4S. The Quantum is my personal phone. The iPhone was provided by work. I am not restricting the comparison to 1st generation Windows Phone hardware, but it is all I have to test with. Mango is Mango though, with few exceptions.
I actually really like both phones.
Post #2 dedicated to advatages of Windows Phone.
Post #3 dedicated to advatages of iPhone 4S
Post #4 dedicated to application differences.
Post #5 dedicated to application availability.
Please post replies with information you would like to see added to the posts.
Please post replies with other things you would like to see compared.
Keep all posts on topic. Be respectful. Do not bash other users or their posts.
I do not have an Android device. This thread is not a comparison to Android. Posts about android will be considered off topic and should not be responded to.
Keep in mind the forum rules and rule 15 regarding staying on topic.
As I discover information, I will update the 1st 10 posts as needed. Also, based on user posts, I will update the 1st 10 posts, if I am able to verify the information.
This thread is about specific advantages and disadvantages. So, when posting, please provide specific details. It is also intended to not be opinion based. Some opinion will be unavoidable, but facts should always be given. When posting for something to be added, it is also helpful if you can come up with the line to add to describe the advantage. I can usually do this, but copy and paste is alot easier.
Again:
This thread is about identifying specific advantages / disadvantages / differences / similarities between the two. Specific being the key.
General statements serve no purpose and only clutter the thread. There are 11000+ views of this thread. If everyone posted general opinions, the thread would quickly lose value and no longer be maintainable by me. I would be forced to close it or not maintain it.
I welcome and encourage posts that identify specific advantages / disadvantages / differences / similarities between the two platforms. Of course the first 10 posts should always be checked first to see if they have already been identified.
Thanks
JVH3

Mango Advantages
1. Pairing with blue tooth headsets and car stereos is more consistant. Although the iPhone 4S supports A2DP to play music. The iPhone 4S will not automatically pair to play audio through my Pioneer 7000BT. My Mango phone does. The iPhone does automatically pair to support phone calls through bluetooth. There are also some A2DP devices that the iPhone fully supports, but not all. Even when my iPhone 4S is paired with my car stereo for music, the car stereo controls do not work to control the track. This is because the iPhone 4S does not support AVCRP for many devices.
2. Large tiles make it easy to operate with one hand using your thumb. Live Tiles also have larger text making things easier to read. Clicking the icons on an iPhone is not as easily done in a one handed if you have big thumbs.
3. The people hub. A whole post could be dedicated to this. Post dedicated to the People Hub There was also a good write up on this at wpcentral WPCentral - People Hub Overview
4. A back button. Many screens on the iPhone put a back type button on it. It generally is in the upper left. It does not usually say back. And it is not always there. It is up to the app dev to put it in.
5. Many common tasks do not require a seperate app. See Post #23 for some examples. Most of these tasks have free apps available for iPhone, so it is not a huge advatage. But the integration of all this is very nice on Windows Phone 7. Facebook, Twitter, Linked In.
6. Choice of hardware. Some phones have a physical keyboard, such as the LG Quantum. No iPhone has a keyboard. The new Nokia 900 has a screen that is also good in sunlight like the iPhone.
7. Linked Inbox or multiple linked inboxes for selected accounts without linking all accounts. You can keep your work email in a seperate pinable account than all your personal accounts. This is very useful so the indicator will let you know if you have an email that is for work. And other non work emails will increment the indicator on the other tile or tiles.
8. Picture hub - Gives access to all you pics, including facebook pics and facebook contact pics. There was also a good write up on this at wpcentral WPCentral - Picture Hub Overview
9. Me hub - lets you update facebook status and see facebook updates that you care about.
10. (this was a duplicate, so I removed it, but left it in it's place rather than renumber)
11. Browser allows pinch to zoom when rendering a site usintg HTML5 and Canvas. (Tested with both using a site internally developed at the company I work for.) Ironically the web application was designed for the iPad. I can actually use it with Windows Phone 7, but everything is too small on the iPhone to be useful. I cannot share the URL. Work would not like that. Of course, since it is targetting the iPad, it works well on it.
12. Seperate list that shows unread mail. iPhone only gives and indicator by each unread message. This makes reading your unread mail easier.
13. Live Tile indicators for email and messages are not unread messages, but amount of new messages since you last pressed the tile to see the messages. (I don't need to mark 50 messages as read to get rid of the notification). Seeing the list is enough to clear the indicator. You can still see which ones have not been read.
Some advantage pointed out by sayonical here Post 31
14. Micorosoft Office is included at no extra charge.
15. Turn By Tap directions. Although you need to tap, it will recalculate if you deviate from the route after a tap.
Some OEMs such as HTC and Nokia provide applications built in to do tap free Turn by Turn directions. With the iPhone a 3rd party not built in app is always required to accomplish this.
Both HTC Locations and Nokia's app also provide offline navigation.
HTC Locations offline mode is free for 30 days, but Nokia's app is free with a Nokia phone.
HTC Locations online mode may be free after the 30 days. Someone that is using it for more than 30 days or can no longer use it after 30 days, please post so I can update this.
16. Bing integrates alot of functionality, such as barcode reading, music identification, applications for your search, local scout. (There is a Bing app for free for the iPhone by Microsoft, but it's included with Windows Phone)
17. Ability to edit meeting notes to meetings that you did not create. The edits are for you only, but do make the update in exchange. Post 41
18. SIP Keyboard (on screen) is bigger and changes the display to reflect the case A vs a, so you know what you are going to type. Useful when entering passwords.
19. Built in AM/FM Radio. Data is not needed to get music. Useful when at work on a company plan with data limits and WiFi Restrictions. Also useful an health clubs to listen to the audio for the TVs. Also, see Post 41
20. Automatic word suggestion when typing. Shows a list of words to pick. The iPhone automatically corrects words and suggests a single word.
21. Tell Me - It has similarities to Siri, but there are some things Siri does better, just like there are some things Tell Me does better. I am putting this as an advatage for both. I will use a post to outline some differences.
22. Zune Pass
23. Unlimited Sky Drive space for Photos for Free.
24. Ability to directly share a photo in Facebook, while viewing the photo and not first being in Facebook. details: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20815029&postcount=99
25. Ability to set the fetch frequency and enable or disable push email on a per-account basis. iPhone fetch frequency is a setting for all accounts. With the iPhone, you can have multiple push accounts and multiple poll accounts. But the poll accounts all poll at the same frequency. With Windows Phone, I can have one account poll every hour, another poll every 15 minutes, and another be a push account.
26. (For Windows users only) Pictures taken on a Mango phone display properly on Windows computer's default programs. Windows 7, Vista, and anything earlier do not properly support the rotational information in the EXIF information on jpegs. It does actually support EXIF, just not the rotational information when rendering. iPhone uses EXIF to set the rotation. Also, no web browser other than Safari supports EXIF for orientation. Although the fault lies with Microsoft for viewing in the OS, the result is extra work to make the pictures taken from an iPhone display with correct orientation on Windows machines. Other programs can be used to view the pictures and there are lossless ways to rotate them. Nonetheless, it is still additional work to view them on Windows computers. Less work for those you share with is an advantage.
27. Ability to use full website without being redirected to a mobile version. On the iPhone, some sites redirect you to the mobile version. And there is not a way to use the full version unless the site provides a link to it. Not all sites provide this. There are apps for the iPhone (JourneyLite and Mercury are 2) that allows full browsing after telling it to simulate IE9.
28. Multiple User Groups - link to post with details - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=21419216&postcount=153
29. Bing Maps can find some old established addresses correctly that the iPhone Maps cannot. (note Bing Maps is available for free on the iPhone, but Siri and most, in not all, integrations will not use it). (I will edit this if anyone can post a verifiable address that Bing incorrectly finds, but the iPhone maps correctly finds.) discusssions on this start here
30. Ability to snooze an appointment. With the iPhone, if you have a meeting scheduled for 2:00 PM and are set to be reminded 15 minutes before, you will get notified at 1:45 PM. But there is not way to snooze for 10 minutes and get notified again at 1:55 PM.
31. Rescheduled appointments from Exchange work properly. The iPhone asks if you want to rescheule the meeting or all meetings, even though the original rescheduler defined this when rescheduling.
...
more to come

iPhone Advantages
1. The 4 column grid lets you see more applications at once. The pages of apps to launch also makes it so it is easy to find the applications that you have.
2. Applications are very mature on this platform. Some include additional features or details not in the Windows Phone version.
3. There are more applications available. They are normally cheaper as well.
4. The physical switch to turn off the sound.
5. Battery life. With WiFi on and in use all day on my iPhone, I still have 75% charge. My Quantum has had WiFi and BlueTooth turned off and only has 50% power left. This may be a gen 1 vs gen 2 issue for Widows Phone 7 devices, but it is all I can compare. Maybe some new Titan users can comment.
6. iPhone allows any type of background process. This means that any app, such as Glympse can update send your location while in the background. It also means that features in some apps will not be present in the Windows Phone 7 version that do this, because Windows Phone does not allow this. See Post #142 for details.
Items 7 to 16 were identified by Vetvito here: Post #34
7. "Cut" - both have copy and paste.
8. Games: In game voice chat - able to trade game items with other players
9. browser has a forward button and find on page function (confirmed to not be in Win Phone 7)
10. Integration with all apple products including apple tv
11. Video MMS - iPhone can send and receive. Windows Phone 7 can receive them and play them, but it can not send them.
12. notification bar with widgets and unified notification access from the lock screen
13. Basic photo editting is built in.
14. iTunes Match - 14, 15, and 16 described here: Post #40
15. emoji icons
16. Safari Reader - removes distractions, such as ads and makes it mpore like a pdf.
17. Massive amounts of hardware made specifically for iPhones which ensures full compatiblity.
18. Compass is perfect on the iPhone. Often times, it is incorrect on my LG Quantum. Maybe someone can comment on a Gen 2 Windows Phone 7 or a different model to see if it is better.
19. Landscape support when playing music.
20. Siri - It has similarities to Tell Me, but there are some things Siri does better, just like there are some things Tell Me does better. I am putting this as an advatage for both. I will use a post to outline some differences.
21. Music - shake to shuffle - takes you to a different song if you don't want to listen to what is playing. (can't use back arrow to go back to the song though)
22. Better backup and restore system. (backs up more than just purchased apps and everything can be in iTunes or the iCloud by user choice).
23. On January 1st there will be no YouTube player for Mango that supports HD video.
24. Ability to enable and disable location services on a per-app basis in settings.
25. Setting up caldav and subscribed calendars in iOS is a snap, where that capability doesn't exist on WP7. CalDav link for those that don't know what this is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CalDAV
26. Able to view Comcast video on demand through the xfinity.tv app. Although with a Blast Extra subscription many shows available on your laptop will not play through the app. More Details: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20830665&postcount=111
27. Able to Stream Dish Network video with an app from the DVR if the DVR receiver is new enough. Ability to use DirectTV Nomad app with $150 additional hardware to get direcTV videos onto the DirecTV DVR
28. Safari on the iPhone 4S renders some mobile sites with slightly incorrect HTML or CSS better for the user where some mobile sites are not usable in the mobile version by Windows Phone 7.
29. Ability to take screen captures, which is very useful when asking for help or illustrating steps.
30. Ability to group programs into folders
31. iMessage - this allows iPhone users to text message iPhone users without counting as text messages. This spans carriers. There are many free messaging programs available to all platforms, so this is not a huge advantage. Windows Phone 7 delivers free messaging through Facebook integration so long as the users are friends on Facebook. Pick your evil here. To text for free using the built in solutions, with the iPhone friends all have to support Apple or on Windows Phone friends all need to be friends on Facebook.
32. Outlook Syncronization through USB. This is not possible with Windows Phone. Windows Phone requires over the air syncronization, such as with an Exchange Server or gmail or Windows Live. Many don't consider this to be a huge issue, since there are plenty of free over the air solutions and the growing trend is to not tie devices to a PC. (the cloud is the future). But if you feel strongly that you need to tether to Outlook, Windows Phone will not do that.
33. iCloud syncronization with other devices - With Apple products, iCloud will automatically sync apps, music, video to all devices registered with the Apple Id.
34. Better pixel density and resolution.
35. FaceTime is built in - (Video Messaging for iPhone to iPhone or other Apple product such as an iPad). Advantage is not great since Skype and Tango are free and available on all major platforms. FaceTime is only available for Apple products.
36. PhotoStream - streams pictures from the phone over WiFi to your computer. Full resolution is preserved. With Windows Phone - Sky Drive, it syncs over the air and does not require WiFi, but it adjusts the pixel resolution (I need to verify whether this is configurable).
37. Ability to open links from a page in a new tab without navigating switching to the tab. (considering dedicating a post to browser advantages and disadvantages) Safari for iPhone vs IE for Mango
...
more to come

Application differences
Windows Phone 7 applications tend to use the Metro UI to be consistent with the platform.
The iPhone tends to be consitent with the way iPhone applications run.
Facebook
Seemed to be pretty much the same on both.
The iPhone app does give easier access to the features and might let you do more.
Twitter
Seemed to be pretty much the same on both.
Foursquare
Seemed to be pretty much the same on both.
Glympse
Windows Phone 7 does not update your location when the app is not the foreground application.
iHeart Radio
Seemed to be pretty much the same on both.
Tango
Seemed to be pretty much the same on both.
Angry Birds
Seemed to be pretty much the same on both. iPhone has more versions and levels.
Flashlight Apps
Both have Flashlight apps that work identically. See post #14 for a link to download the Windows Phone 7 app (Flashlight-X) that works just like iTorch4.
Note: This requires an LED flash. All iPhones have and LED flash. All Windows Phones have a flash, but LED is not required. If a flashlight app is required, make sure to get a phone with an LED flash.
LG Panorama Shot vs Dermandar - Both are free apps to create panoramic pictures.
On the iPhone, you can do a full 360, are just any interval in between. It will also create a 3D type viewing of the area. But both make excellent panoramic pics with no visible problems near the stitching.
Yelp (finds nearby businesses)
Seems very similar on both platforms. iPhone wanted alot more info on the start that can be skipped.
DirecTV (Not Nomad)
Both are pretty similar and let you do the same things.

Application Availability
This is not going to include all applications. There are almost 50,000 available for Windows Phone 7. There are more available for the iPhone. I am not going to include apps that are alternate interfaces to other services.
Available on iPhone, but not Windows Phone 7
Most versions of Angry Birds.
Available for Windows Phone 7, but not on iPhone
Availbable for both
Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Glympse, Shazam, Tango, You Tube, Angry Birds, Flixster, Fly Delta, Adobe Reader
Apps for Google Voice, Pandora, Skype
Games
There are games available only for Windows Phone 7, that are not available for iPhone.
There are games available for iPhone that are not available for Windows Phone 7.
I am not going to list them for either.
Updates:
Since MetroRadio works for Pandora on Mango, I removed Pandora from the list of unavailable apps.

Similarities
Positive
Both easily let you sync with an Exchange server. (Email, Appointments, Tasks, and Contacts)
Both let you easily find and install apps.
Both autmatically notify you of application updates.
Both let you text message by voice.
Both have ways of streaming music and video.
Both have built in maps with navigation.
Both will give you weather updates.
Both support HTML 5.
Both give fast access to the camera when the device is locked.
Both support and have multi player games.
Both have Google Voice Applications.
Negative
Using either Bing on Mango or Maps on the iPhone to find nearby locations often times does not find the closest option. Each is better or worse depending on the location. iPhone is better in some areas and Bing is better in others.
BOTH still lack the ability to create complex repeat patterns for appointments.

Differences
Swipe left on iPhone to get to search. On Windows Phone 7, there is a search button.
Live Tiles vs icons. It seems that some icons do update on the iPhone, such as the Calander, but the weather icon always says 73 degrees. On Windows Phone 7, the tile shows the temp.
iTunes verses Zune.
Press the button to then launch camera without unlocking verses pressing and holding the dedicated camera button.

iTunes vs Zune
iTunes
Create ringtone by converting to m3a and renaming to m3r. Then drag to Tones.
Backs up all apps to your computer from the phone.
File-Add File to Library or Add Folder to Library. No way to remove a folder. Must remove songs 1 at a time.
Zune
Create ringtone by setting genre to Ringtone.
All app purchases will automatically restore if you need a replacement phone or restore.
Backs up phone OS to computer when updating. Not sure about settings and accounts.
Easy to add and remove directories for Zune to automatically add to it's library while keeping the music in the original location
Both
Easy to make and manage playlists.
More to come.

Reserved for future comparisons 4
Reserved for future comparisons 4

Reserved for future comparisons 5
Reserved for future comparisons 5

The People Hub in Mango
This will be dedicated to the People Hub.

Nice to see you here on wp7
nice and clean thread for now.
lets hope it will stay like that, we don't want a war here.
do you need this post place to ?
if yes I can remove it for you.

ceesheim said:
Nice to see you here on wp7
nice and clean thread for now.
lets hope it will stay like that, we don't want a war here.
do you need this post place to ?
if yes I can remove it for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want to keep this thread objective and clean. So many are lopsided and become war zones.
I have enough posts reserved for anything else I may want to add
I've had my Quantum since the end of August. And work just gave me an iPhone 4S, so I figured I'd do a side by side comparison.
Coming from Windows Mobile and custom ROMs, I did not expect to like either, but have found both to be very good.

You can find, on MarketPlace, apps that not blinking the camera led flash.
One example : http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/2638b778-5eab-45f1-a511-a08e1dbde751

dada051 said:
You can find, on MarketPlace, apps that not blinking the camera led flash.
One example : http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/2638b778-5eab-45f1-a511-a08e1dbde751
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice tip. I am installing and testing it now.
Tested and verified. I am updating the post now.

I believe that it exists exclusive app in marketplace in the US.
Arcane's Tower Defense is an exclusive WP7 game.

Wp7 certainly feels smoother and the apps that aren't simply ports seem to run smoother on wp7. Words by post for instance is much smoother on wp7.

Nice objective comparison!
I own a quantum as well and I love it.
Perhaps one difference you can point out is that on wp7 you have choices of different hardware (like a physical keyboard if that's important to you)

I think Angry Birds on iOS/Android has significantly more levels.
Foursquare for iOS5 allows for the Radar feature (http://blog.foursquare.com/2011/10/12/the-real-world-now-in-real-time-say-hi-to-foursquare-radar/) which, like Glympse, won't be possible until Microsoft provides a background location service.
Other apps affected by the lack of background location services include GPS and the run tracker type apps.
Maybe you should include a section about multitasking in general.

great idea for a post it can help a lot of people who may or may not want to switch

Why no 3rd party PIM or email apps on WP7

As above. Can't because there is no demand, can it? One of the big let-downs for me coming from PalmOS and Agendus is the really week Calendar app. Let's not get into the bizarre two week limit on past events! I also miss the tweakability of ChatterEmail. But that was then ...
So why no PIM or email apps? Is it a programming issue? Is the WP market entertainment, not enterprise? Will it change with Apollo/WP8?
Just wondering.
PS: other than that I love WP7. Just hoping for more.

truthfully the built in is so good and i use exchange so i never really thought about it. I also have yet to see anyone but you so far ask for it, so i am not thinking the demand is there yet. I have see in the marketplace a few task and calendar apps though.

ROCOAFZ said:
truthfully the built in is so good and i use exchange so i never really thought about it. I also have yet to see anyone but you so far ask for it, so i am not thinking the demand is there yet. I have see in the marketplace a few task and calendar apps though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PIM was very useful on WM, I don't understand why there is no demand for it? I guess it is what it is, Don't want to even ask because I don't what to hear some [email protected]$$ fanboy comment about that feature is so 1999 or something.

The real reason is that everything is sandboxed.
You don't have direct access. You used to just import poutlook.dll Then you could send an email. It would go into the phone's outbox for the account you wanted to send with. It would get sent on the next sync.
Now, you will be asked if you want to send the mail.
Also, I don't think there is any way to programatically get at the content of your emails. This is actually a good security piece. Imagine a dev writing a pretty cool app. You use it. Only months later you find that the content of all email messages on your phone were being sent to the dev while you used the app through a http post.
This is the why. Now, Microsoft could provide controls that would access this information.
Back in Windows Mobile, I wrote an app for users of Sense that also used the Facebook tab that would go through all of your contacts that were linked to Facebook. It would let the user update the contact with the Facebook pic. It used poutlook.dll.

ROCOAFZ said:
truthfully the built in is so good and i use exchange so i never really thought about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Built-in so good? I don't think so. Good as far as it goes maybe. I too use Exchange, that's the backend. It's the presentation of the PIM data that is so lacking.
Needs more views. Today summary. Ledger view for day. 5/7 day week view. A proper month view, with readable text and icons. Templates, filtering. Ability to duplicate events. Tasks in the tile. Lots of little things. When I think what could be packed into my little 320 X 320 Centro display ...
Have a look at the features in the iOS and Android versions of PocketInformant or Agendus.
While I'm at it, the email app needs customisable notifications per mailbox.
JVH3 said:
The real reason is that everything is sandboxed.
You don't have direct access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The more I look, the more I'm getting that message. Just have to see what the future holds.

conorn said:
Built-in so good? I don't think so. Good as far as it goes maybe. I too use Exchange, that's the backend. It's the presentation of the PIM data that is so lacking.
Needs more views. Today summary. Ledger view for day. 5/7 day week view. A proper month view, with readable text and icons. Templates, filtering. Ability to duplicate events. Tasks in the tile. Lots of little things. When I think what could be packed into my little 320 X 320 Centro display ...
Have a look at the features in the iOS and Android versions of PocketInformant or Agendus.
While I'm at it, the email app needs customisable notifications per mailbox.
The more I look, the more I'm getting that message. Just have to see what the future holds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
PIM is only needed for sms and history. Exchange or hotmail backs up the rest when you put contacts in unless you don't have a data plan. And if you want it all backed up... here yah go (only for stock roms)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1346276
by xda themselves
Next
Needs more views. Today summary. Ledger view for day. 5/7 day week view. A proper month view, with readable text and icons. Templates, filtering. Ability to duplicate events. Tasks in the tile. Lots of little things. When I think what could be packed into my little 320 X 320 Centro display ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me break this down for you...
Duplicate events... go to the event, scroll down, hit more details. press occurs, Choose once, everyday, every weekday, every saturday, every (Day number) of the month, ever month day (as in yearly)
For Tasks in the tile - while on agenda,
Week view? for someone that has a lot of appointments, weekview is never readable, same with month. At least in month you can tell there is an appointment and click on it.
For tasks tile that syncs with exchange try this one - http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/3455bef8-895d-49d6-9c71-131a8fd0106a
They do however show in agenda once you have opened the task

ROCOAFZ. Maybe you don't understand what I was trying to explain (BOTD). Also, please don't be so defensive, I'm not trying to diss WP. I'll be in for the long run. But if I see (IMO) a weakness I will point it out. And to me the functionality in the Calendar app is poor. Especially when other parts of the OS are so good.
Responding to your points ...
Firstly, forget about Exchange, etc. I'm not talking about backing up. I'm talking about the presentation and management of the data. I don't care where it's stored. Could be local, could be cloud - doesn't matter.
Secondly, when I use the term PIM, I mean it in the broadest possible way. I want to manage my personal info. Traditionally, on PDAs, that meant calendar, contacts and tasks. Smartphones have replaced PDAs, so now I want my current smartphone to do this at least as well.
Thirdly, the intent of the original post was to query why there are no 3rd-party PIM-type apps available for WP7. There are for iOS and Android, even BB. There were for WM6 and PalmOS. Why not WP7? A couple of replies confirmed what I suspected. The OS doesn't provide the access programmers need. Everything is very hands-off. Maybe this will change in future releases. there are indications that this may be so.
Finally, some specific comments -
ROCOAFZ said:
Duplicate events... go to the event, scroll down, hit more details. press occurs, Choose once, everyday, every weekday, every saturday, every (Day number) of the month, ever month day (as in yearly)
For Tasks in the tile - while on agenda,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I'm talking about duplicating existing appointments. Not recurring events, i.e., I had a meeting today at 2pm. We agree to meet again on Friday at 4pm. All other details the same. Previously I would quickly duplicate the event, update the date/time and I'm done. Now I must create from scratch. I right-click drag in Outlook, Google Calendar has Duplicate in More Actions - so it's not just me.
ROCOAFZ said:
Week view? for someone that has a lot of appointments, weekview is never readable, same with month. At least in month you can tell there is an appointment and click on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My choice to decide, but at least give me the choice. In month view I want to see better indicators. Maybe the smallish Lumia 800 display is at fault, or my chosen theme, but I really have difficulty noticing the existing (pretend) indications and they give no indication of what's there (task, appointment, all-day event). There is plenty of room to show boxes and bars for an 'at a glance' overview of my time. Especially in landscape view. BTW, what happened Categories?
ROCOAFZ said:
For tasks tile that syncs with exchange try this one - TaskTask
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. That, and some others, look interesting. But comes back to the issue raised by others. The only way to get at the tasks data is to go direct to the server. Shouldn't have to do that. It does work though, but should be in sync with inbuilt, not duplicating functionality.

conorn said:
Responding to your points ...
Firstly, forget about Exchange, etc. I'm not talking about backing up. I'm talking about the presentation and management of the data. I don't care where it's stored. Could be local, could be cloud - doesn't matter.
Secondly, when I use the term PIM, I mean it in the broadest possible way. I want to manage my personal info. Traditionally, on PDAs, that meant calendar, contacts and tasks. Smartphones have replaced PDAs, so now I want my current smartphone to do this at least as well.
Thirdly, the intent of the original post was to query why there are no 3rd-party PIM-type apps available for WP7. There are for iOS and Android, even BB. There were for WM6 and PalmOS. Why not WP7? A couple of replies confirmed what I suspected. The OS doesn't provide the access programmers need. Everything is very hands-off. Maybe this will change in future releases. there are indications that this may be so.
Finally, some specific comments -
No, I'm talking about duplicating existing appointments. Not recurring events, i.e., I had a meeting today at 2pm. We agree to meet again on Friday at 4pm. All other details the same. Previously I would quickly duplicate the event, update the date/time and I'm done. Now I must create from scratch. I right-click drag in Outlook, Google Calendar has Duplicate in More Actions - so it's not just me.
My choice to decide, but at least give me the choice. In month view I want to see better indicators. Maybe the smallish Lumia 800 display is at fault, or my chosen theme, but I really have difficulty noticing the existing (pretend) indications and they give no indication of what's there (task, appointment, all-day event). There is plenty of room to show boxes and bars for an 'at a glance' overview of my time. Especially in landscape view. BTW, what happened Categories?
Thanks. That, and some others, look interesting. But comes back to the issue raised by others. The only way to get at the tasks data is to go direct to the server. Shouldn't have to do that. It does work though, but should be in sync with inbuilt, not duplicating functionality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1st, not being defensive, just pointing out the way others like myself do it. What i say may or may not work for your situation but it's good to see another way to do it.
For contacts, calendar and tasks - without exchange - they are synced to the cloud hotmail. You don't need to back them up in that case. Last time i hard reset my phone, i didn't even restore via Zune. I put in my hotmail account. That brought in my local contacts and birthdays + vet appointments for my dog. i then synced facebook. That brought in all my friends. then exchange which brought my work contacts, email calendar, tasks ect. You have to get a windows live when you 1st bring up the phone. It is an automatic backup. Now what i did lose was my app list and saved games + contact history.
For apps go to https://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/my under get my apps and you will find a list of everything you purchased or got for free. you can send each app to your phone from there. So only thing is lost is contact history and saved games. Zune sync brings back pictures and music. I wanted to change what i had on my phone and didn't care to keep the exisint pics since they were on my pc anyway so i opted not to do this.
But if you want full local backup i highlighted a homebrew way to do it that doesn't require you to be unlocked.
Tasks - for your example, if you created the event, i normally would just edit it and change the date. Granted it's not copy but does the same functionality, unless you need a record of the event that passed.
I have a Titan so my display it pretty big. I probably could show a week view but on some weeks there are so many appointments that it would have to be bars. They should allow month view to zoom into calendar even if pinch to zoom to satisfy everyone.
Categories i didn't miss because i didn't use them but someone else asked me about them before purchasing a phone. That is when i noticed they were not there. Instead of categoris, i add to the subject.
example = Meeting with consumer - Billable
Instead of a billiable category which i can't do much with i add the text because outlook will allow me to search for it. at the end of the week when i bill out, i just enter in outlook's search (i do billing from pc) billable and it will show all my Billiable appointments in a list with time and date. it works way better that way for me. I haven't quite figured out what people use categories for yet though but i do know that they are not on the phone. Probably because each calendar has it's own color.

Thanks again. But, really, I have no issues with backing up, syncing, etc
Yes, I do keep old events. Which is why I can't believe you can only go back two weeks. Thank goodness for web access.
Second half of post is interesting. I may just have to change my habits. Certainly the idea of using different calendars for colour coding sounds good.

conorn said:
Yes, I do keep old events. Which is why I can't believe you can only go back two weeks. Thank goodness for web access.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm i never notice that. In the hotmail calendar it goes back further. I always thought it followed the email since i have it for a month but i never look back that far.
I didn't know if you knew this but if you change IE to Desktop version in settings you can do full outlook web access with all calendars including shared. (i know this works on 2010 exchange at least). One thing the iphone can't do as you are locked to mobile version and Outlook has no link to change out of it.

Am I the only one who likes S-Voice better than Google Now?

I know neither are perfect but when I give a local phone command like play music or a certain song S- Voice usually does it automatically. Google Now just always wants to search the web or make me scroll to a (tiny) button and choose what I want to do. Any tips to getting Google Now to "get a little smarter"?

I don't get Google Now yet. I mean I have it, I just don't "get it". The cards kinda put me off, so I haven't taken the time to explore what it really does for me.
I liked being able to press the search button (which my S3 doesn't have ) and Google Voice Search would pop up and I'd tell her (yeah, her) to do something and she would do it (usually).
Google Now seems a bit more complicated.

I've been using Google Now for a while now and I've found it to be very convenient. I love the fact that it will remind me when my favorite football (soccer) team plays a day before on the days I forget. It's pretty awesome IMO how it gives me an ETA for my commute to and from work without having to look up anything. It also does that for any place I look up (Store, Company, etc) with a shortcut to navigate. I was skeptical at first but it has found it's way to integrate into my everyday life.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

I looked into it a little bit and I've come to the conclusion I don't lead an interesting enough life for Google Now to be useful. I (more often than not) know where stuff is around me, I have apps that tell me the weather and my teams' scores, and public transit is pretty consistent for me.
So there you go.

I can't really get the hang of either of them. Can either of them place phone calls or open apps?
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk 2

There both agreviting. I mean try telling it to send a text message, damn thing just twist your words. It's making me think my spoken English was recently learnt through rosettastone. I end up arguing with it....
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda premium

I use Voice Search (not Google Now) because the cards put me off.
Usually I'm looking to do something specific and I don't need a bunch of cards coming up.
I found that S-voice was less accurate and slower than Voice search for everything. VS will make calls, search, search phone, send texts...etc.
I hated on S-voice that it had to repeat back what it was doing....make sure that's what I wanted and then do it....the process took longer than VS by 3X.

bud951 said:
I know neither are perfect but when I give a local phone command like play music or a certain song S- Voice usually does it automatically. Google Now just always wants to search the web or make me scroll to a (tiny) button and choose what I want to do. Any tips to getting Google Now to "get a little smarter"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
N95
Ditto here. I did find personalized recognition under settings so you can try that to see if it helps, and IIRC, you can choose the apps that it has access to.

I pretty much only use the (new offline) Google Voice search/commands, too, and ignore the Google Now cards, because they're not useful often enough in NYC. Weather and extreme weather alert cards are nice, but the subway and commute stuff doesn't really help me, and I don't give a sh1t about the new movie & sports cards.
Maybe more user-relevant cards from apps will show up in the future, though.
(Still, S-Voice sucks.)

The fact that google now doesnt have full control over the apps yet is the kicker. I think it will be able to do this and then it will be the king. But for asking google search type things its better than S voice, but S voice can control the apps....combine the abilities of the 2 with the speed of Google Now and it will be great.

wiz4769 said:
The fact that google now doesnt have full control over the apps yet is the kicker. I think it will be able to do this and then it will be the king. But for asking google search type things its better than S voice, but S voice can control the apps....combine the abilities of the 2 with the speed of Google Now and it will be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google voice is the best of both worlds...it has app control and it's fast on voice searching.
It's S-Voice without the annoying slowness and GNow without the stupid cards popping up.

wiz4769 said:
The fact that google now doesnt have full control over the apps yet is the kicker. I think it will be able to do this and then it will be the king. But for asking google search type things its better than S voice, but S voice can control the apps....combine the abilities of the 2 with the speed of Google Now and it will be great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't part the problem that Google Now uses DIFFERENT commands to do things? (I just updated to the v7 version and I can set a time with the same prhasing as S Voice, but it actually sets an alarm for 10 minutes later vs S-Voice's bringing up the timer part of the clock.)
In S Voice you would say, "set a timer for ten minutes" and it brings up the stop watch and asks you to start it. (mine usually times out before I can say 'start')
In Google Now you say, 'set a reminder for ten minutes ' and it does set the alarm for the time.
What I LOVE is that Google Now can look at my calendar and where my next appt is and tell me (in advance) how long it's going to take to get there, reminding me to leave. This of course requires that you put the information into the location portion of your appts.
There's a set of 2 vids on Youtube with Google Now's 67 commands and search types.
http://youtu.be/fHkhp6BwnGo and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8ePUYp6HPU&feature=share&list=ULh8ePUYp6HPU

Lol man! i think you are alone in this one!! google now is so much better to anything else!! it really knows you!!

kjpedro said:
Lol man! i think you are alone in this one!! google now is so much better to anything else!! it really knows you!!
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+1 Google Now hands down
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

Can someone explain me how Gnow works and what it can do never used it
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

I never use neither of them.
I hate Google Now throwing all the sports thingy wasting my battery, memory, and data.. Though, S-voice don't spend any data, I feel like it's wasting battery and memory.
I'll use G-Now/S-Voice when phone can stay up for 3days with heavy usage