Anyone going to buy a Windows Phone 7 Device?

[capsulecorpjx]

Well, for starters... it doesn't require to be held using the grip of death. Also, from what I hear, the tiles update themselves automatically, so you don't need to actually open the app to get the updates. I'll probably give them a look once the hoopla has settled down some. I still have a year left on my contract, so I'm in no rush at the moment.

-tg

>> Windows 7 phone
>> Hoopla

LOL

[dilettante]

What did I do to deserve that?

I suspect it was aimed at those of us who have been using non-VS.Net tools to develop for Windows Mobile for years: Java, C, NS Basic, Basic4PPC, etc.

[i00]

I had a good look at WP7 the other day and must admit I still prefer HTC Sense on the HTC android phones... I think that all other android phone providers have done it so much worse than HTC though...

I really didn't like the look and feel of the WP7 interface, android appears much cleaner to me ... and i don't like how the home screen seems a little "off balance" as it's to the left of the screen to make space for the little arrow on the right.

Android got it right when it comes to multi-threading on mobile OS's... it's such a shame that Microsoft took a step towards apple and away from their previous mobile platforms in this regard.

Also from previous experience windows phones have had really bad update support... i.e. "Oh to bad you just brought a brand new wm6.1 phone ... a week later 6.5 is out you need to buy another phone; sorry".
Never had that problem with android ... 1.6 phones are upgradeable to 2.2 (prob from earlier versions too - i just have not had earlier versions to test with), and the support from "community releases" are great.

Looks like I will be sticking with my Desire for a little longer .

Kris

[i00]

Actually they don't. In most cases (most apps other than audio or voip apps) they stay in background a very short time (if they don't ask for extension, and that buys them just a little more), and they have lower priority access to system resources. From background they switch to suspended state where the state is preserved but the application doesn't execute any code. So no battery drain there.

Actually ... he was referring to an iphone... they suspend instantly on the iphone 4 (except for certain apple apps)... so they suspend as soon as they loose focus, there is no buying more time ... if you jailbreak you can program certain apps to not close at all though...

Kris

[Lord Orwell]

Android got it right when it comes to multi-threading on mobile OS's... it's such a shame that Microsoft took a step towards apple and away from their previous mobile platforms in this regard.

Kris

since the iphone has been monkey-stomping every other phone out there in sales (don't compare oses), maybe they are trying to make their setup exactly like the iphone. The core requirements are similar to an android phone's, and it's not really that hard to bog down an android phone or have so much stuff running in the background your battery goes bye-bye. I wish there was some way to configure the signal polling when looking for a signal. I had an option for that on an old phone i had, and android doesn't seem to have the option. If you are in an area of no signal, they kill the battery by constant network polling. My old phone had a setting to where it would poll every 5 minutes.

[baja_yu]

Actually ... he was referring to an iphone... they suspend instantly on the iphone 4 (except for certain apple apps)... so they suspend as soon as they loose focus, there is no buying more time ... if you jailbreak you can program certain apps to not close at all though...

I know he was referring to iPhone. And no, they don't suspend instantly. Apps can continue to run in the background for some aspects, namely background audio, location awareness and voip. Other than that there is a mechanism to request additional time to complete a finite length task in the background by using the beginBackgroundTaskWithExpirationHandler: and endBackgroundTask: calls.

[i00]

I had read the spec at http://www.macworld.com/article/1504...ng_iphone.html ... and yes i admit some things can keep running ... but only under very limited circumstances

[Nightwalker83]

I might! It could come in handy if I decide to learn coding for Windows 7 Phone.

[dilettante]

Windows Phone 7 BizSpark by a guy involved for years in phone development on a number of platforms.

[stlaural]

I finally decided to get my hand on a "HTC 7 Surround" Yesterday. I like a lot, but I admit that there's still some things that annoy me and that I hope will get fixed.

For some reason if you have a contact from facebook, that is also a contact from Windows Live those two contact gets "linked" together, which I have no problem about, but once they are linked, it seems I can't add phone numbers to it, the only way I found is to unlink them, add phone information and relink them.

I also hope tethering will be there someday and that we will be able to use our devices as storage device if we wish to.

It also does a lot of things automatically, like importing all friends from facebook and MSN as contacts, but what if I didn't want to do that. I've got lots of friends in both but maybe I don't want them in my PHONE contacts. I can't event delete a Windows live contact from the phone without deleting it from Windows Live!

I still like the OS and the device though.

[stlaural]

I kinda don't really care that I can't easily get the mac address for WiFi as I can get it using my router but I don't understand why exactly Windows Phone 7 CAN'T connect to a WiFi network that is NOT broadcasting its SSID. My WiFi network is protected enough that I don't mind broadcasting the SSID but I'd still like to have the option if I want to.

There's also no way to change the Live ID you entered the first time. Well, you can reset all settings, but that also means loosing anything you already installed on the phone. So if you have multiple Live IDs (Windows Live accounts) make sure you use the right one at the first time.

So IMHO its a good OS, with minor flaws that I hope will get fixed in the upcoming updates. I clearly do not regret getting one and I am pretty sure I will enjoy developing personnal, maybe free, apps for it.

[stlaural]

FYI : In order to be able to sync with an exchange account Active Sync must be enable on your Exchange account. So have your sysadmin do that before you try to sync or you'll keep getting the "Error Code 85010004"

[stlaural]

I regrouped all the small things about Phone 7 that annoyed me in the last few days and posted that on my blog. So for those interested : here it is.

[baja_yu]

There's an Edit post button here you know, you don't have to make new ones ever time

[stlaural]

I know, but if people are following the thread they won't get notified for an edited post, right ?

Anyway, I'll be back when Windows Phone 7 gets updated

PS: I'll use "Edit" next time, I didn't mean to "bump".

[Lord Orwell]

I kinda don't really care that I can't easily get the mac address for WiFi as I can get it using my router but I don't understand why exactly Windows Phone 7 CAN'T connect to a WiFi network that is NOT broadcasting its SSID. My WiFi network is protected enough that I don't mind broadcasting the SSID but I'd still like to have the option if I want to.

There's also no way to change the Live ID you entered the first time. Well, you can reset all settings, but that also means loosing anything you already installed on the phone. So if you have multiple Live IDs (Windows Live accounts) make sure you use the right one at the first time.

So IMHO its a good OS, with minor flaws that I hope will get fixed in the upcoming updates. I clearly do not regret getting one and I am pretty sure I will enjoy developing personnal, maybe free, apps for it.

that's nothing new. android works the same way. This is because your contacts are stored on line.

[stlaural]

It might not be new, I still don't think it should behave this way. I should be able to delete contacts from the phone without deleting them from my Live account. And if I decide to change the Live ID I entered I should be able to do so, I should simply be asked "Do you wish to keep actual Live ID contacts on this device?". But this is just my opinion, and that won't make me stop using the device :-)

I think there's always some place for ameliorations though.

[baja_yu]

Actually Android makes a collection of contacts, offline and on. For example, John Doe in my address book can be linked to phone contacts, Google, Facebook... upon choosing Edit I can chose which contact to edit, they don't all have to be affected.

[stlaural]

You know what, I just checked again and it seems I can actually edit a contact that is linked. I should have seen that, I can't understand how I missed it. My Bad

So the only issue I still have about contacts is the fact that I can't delete a Windows Live contact from the phone without actually deleting it from Windows Live.

[gep13]

So the only issue I still have about contacts is the fact that I can't delete a Windows Live contact from the phone without actually deleting it from Windows Live.

Personally, I like that.

It means I can keep all my contacts up to date, and correct, whether it is on my phone, in hotmail, or in Outlook. A change in one place, means a change in them all.

Gary

[Lord Orwell]

Personally, I like that.

It means I can keep all my contacts up to date, and correct, whether it is on my phone, in hotmail, or in Outlook. A change in one place, means a change in them all.

Gary

surely there is a way to only show contacts with phone numbers? my android phone has custom folders i can put on the desktop. One for example will show only contacts with phone numbers. Another will only show facebook contacts with phone numbers (and they dont have to be in my address book).

[gep13]

surely there is a way to only show contacts with phone numbers? my android phone has custom folders i can put on the desktop. One for example will show only contacts with phone numbers. Another will only show facebook contacts with phone numbers (and they dont have to be in my address book).

Hmm, on that one I am not actually sure. There is certainly a way to filter Facebook contacts to only those that exist within your Hotmail contacts. I would have to check if there are any other options.

[stlaural]

Yup, There is a way to filter facebook contacts but not Live contacts. I agree with you that any Live contact that I edit on my phone should e updated on my Live account though, syncronisation is great, I just think I should be allowed to decide which of my Live contact I want to have on my phone at anytime.

[gep13]

Ah, ok, I see what you mean. Agreed, this would be a nice to have, perhaps based on Groups of contacts?

Gary

[stlaural]

Yeah could be based on groups, or something very simple like, list all the Live contacts you have with a check box, then you could simply check all the contacts you want to sync. These contact could then be found in the people tile and any changes would be sync. But its just a "Nice to Have" :P

On an other note, I hope to have some time soon to give a look at silverlight and developping on Phone 7, that should be interesting.

[gep13]

Agreed.

I have a few ideas for it, and based on the work I have seen Dean working on, it really is something that I want to sink my teeth into.

Gary

[DeanMc]

Yay me

Links in my sig for anyone wanting to check it out. A warning though, Iam between comments at the moment. Having said that I do try to write neat code.

[gep13]

Yay me

You are like famous now!! Can I have your autograph?

[Lord Orwell]

since it's a new platform, could you legally clone apps that run on other platforms?

[gep13]

since it's a new platform, could you legally clone apps that run on other platforms?

On that one I am not sure. I remember hearing some arguments in the press about a clone of Angry Birds, which has been popular on Android and iPhone.

Gary