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Mobility & Wireless


The VAR Guy Review: Windows Phone 7 Mango Mostly Impresses

  • Written by Dave Courbanou 1
  • December 2, 2011

Not too long ago Microsoft shipped me another loaner phone to test out Windows Phone 7 Mango. Well, it’s been put through its paces again, and this time, it’s definitely improved. But Windows Phone 7 still isn’t without its quirks. Read on for the re-review of Microsoft’s mobile smartphone operating system …

Most people are already familiar with Windows Phone 7, so I’ll break it down like this:

I love Windows Phone 7 Mango because …

It’s snappy. It’s snappy as all get-out. I can’t get over how snappy it is. I tap, it goes. I touch, it moves. Transitions are fun and friendly. It’s right on par with iOS in terms of responsiveness. I don’t know if it’s possible, but it seems as though Microsoft has made Windows Phone 7 snappier than I remember in December 2010. It’s also very visually pleasing: After staring at a grid of icons all day in Android and iOS, it’s nice to use something that doesn’t feel like a matrix of apps and widgets. The large two-by-two tile display has been overhauled, with Microsoft incorporating more live tiles, and that certainly makes life more pleasant.

Microsoft also incorporated multitasking and copy-paste, two big absent features from the Windows Phone of last year. It now has an Android-style cut-and-paste GUI, and like all mobile OSes, it works pretty much the same: tap and hold, drag around your quote bars. Multitasking has also taken a cue from Android: hold down the “back” button and you’ll be greeted with a wall of applications currently running. Swipe through them and tap the one you want to get back to.

I also took the time to take advantage of Microsoft’s voice-activated Bing search. It’s not Siri, but it nailed exactly what I said every time and plugged that into Bing. Everything from, “What’s the weather like in Amsterdam?” to “Who is Herman Cain?” and even, “How many cups are in a gallon?” came up perfectly. The only bummer is, you’re getting web results. Bing doesn’t relay the answer to you over a soothing digital voice.

Microsoft has also made Mango way more social network- and GMail-friendly. Facebook, Twitter and GMail all integrated with ease, including incorporating my contacts and then appropriately deleting them after I removed a social networking or e-mail link.

Overall, Mango made me feel much more at ease leaving my iPhone at home and toting around Windows Phone 7 for my daily tasks. Awesome.

Why Windows Phone 7 Doesn’t Work for Me

In iOS, when you want to go back to the top of a screen, say, after browsing a really long web page, you tap the top of the screen and the page automatically scrolls to the top. It’s hard to find this feature in a lot of other mobile OSes, in fact, I’ve yet to see it at all. Windows Phone 7 could really benefit from this, especially since its inertial scrolling has considerably less “momentum.”

This may be a personal preference, but I’m still not a fan of swiping to the left or right to change the “mode” of the application I’m in. In the Metro interface, for example, users change from their Twitter Timeline to their Twitter Mentions by swiping the entire screen to the left. Keep swiping to the left, and they’ll make it back to Timeline mode. I’d rather just tap a button, which makes it easier for hopping between modes that aren’t directly next to each other.

And Windows Phone 7’s lack of a central notification menu is irksome. The lock screen has been greatly improved to show many more notifications, but third-party apps get no place on the lock screen. Plus, after unlocking the phone, users are at the mercy of their live tiles to tell them what information they’ve missed, which, once again, is especially irritating if your third-party apps are way at the bottom of the home screen. Which leads into my other issue: Windows Phone 7 still only supports two app access modes: Users have either their home screen, with the 2 x infinity tiles, or the app list, with the infinitely long list of applications alphabetically sorted. This is hardly efficient and truly the biggest drawback.

The Bottom Line

Can I recommend Windows Phone 7? Absolutely. The Windows Marketplace has gotten so much better in the last year — every iPhone app I needed was either already on Windows Phone 7 or was available in an easy-to-use and familiar equivalent. That’s incredibly good news for anyone worried about switching platforms.

More importantly, if it came down to it and I couldn’t have my precious, precious iPhone, I think I’d go Windows Phone 7 over Android. Why? Because of the “closed” system and snappy interfaces. My day-to-day tasks require my device work every time, all the time, without fail. In other words, reliability is paramount. Android is fun, no doubt, but with the range of OEMs and unpredictable update patterns, I’d feel safer with Microsoft’s OS than Google’s. Even if it doesn’t exactly win over the average consumer heart, Mango is more than worthy of being a key enterprise mobile player and definitely has was it takes to compete with the big boys.

Nice update, Microsoft.

Tags: Agents Cloud Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Mobility & Wireless

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7 comments

  1. Avatar Alex December 3, 2011 @ 9:54 am
    Reply

    Its all about marketing and what is considered cool.

    Blackberry, asides from the server failures is the best phone for e-mail and I think no one can argue against that. It has just been unfortunate with those technical problems and I think that was just the coup de grace. Use an iphone, android or windows phone for your work e-mail? No way! (I am currently using a windows phone for my work after I got scared of the blackberry problems and I have to say I don’t like it. Same experience from friends using androids or iphones)

    Android , i-phone and windows phone ? They are all the same, full of apps that in reality you don’t really need. I mean cmon do you really use all those apps or you just download them as a past time?

    Internet browsing? They are all the same

    Gaming? All the same. Maybe blackberry loses on that one. I have to say that Microsoft has been really cheeky with the “Xbox Live” support on its windows phone. Do not think its an xbox or it has anything to do with Xbox. It is just the same mobile phone games that you find in all platforms.

    After all it is all about marketing and image. Blackberry is not “cool” anymore. iphone is “cool” and expensive. Android is for geeks or people who want to save money vis a vis the more expensive iphone. Windows phone is for people who want to “look different” from the crowd.

  2. Avatar WP7 December 3, 2011 @ 10:55 am
    Reply

    Alex, you are completely missing the point about what Xbox Live support means. It means that you can play Xbox live games on your phone and your points accrue as if you were playing on the Xbox. You can also do a whole load of other stuff with Xbox Live on your phone, like messages, avatar editing etc. And remember that Xbox Live on WP7 is about to get a whole load more powerful because you’ll be able to control your Xbox console with it very soon.

  3. Avatar Jack December 3, 2011 @ 11:22 am
    Reply

    Wrt Rim they still need more time to absorb the full advantages from the purchase of TAT (The Astonishing Tribe) who are really really good at UX design. http://tat.se/

    It seems like RIM still struggles to get the organization to accept and absorb the new paradigm while keeping the RIM advantages.

    It is my view that privacy will become increasingly important for users and companies, and that should be a huge asset to RIM, simply because a smartphone is a massive challenge wrt protecting information.

    Most people seems concerned about trojans etc and tend to forget that there are already massive access to personal and business information embedded into the devices.

    Companies are loosing control by trusting Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook +++ with their entire contact list +++, and the operators (ATamp;T, Sprint, Verison) are potential trouble too.

    These companies tend to view their users as sheep and they are basically right. We – as smartphone users – are cattle or sheep, and extremely naive as we silently accept access to our information.

    RIM caved in for the Indian authorities wrt access and that was a significant blow to the reputation of RIM in this respect.

    Most likely RIM still is the solution that best protect their users, and as long as they keep this position they have a justified position in the market.

    For sure – that’s why I won’t write off Rim.

    I still believe that Lumia compete against Titan and not really Android or iPhone. WP is still bricked into a WP segment where they have to be really careful launching new devices.

    A new unit will cannibalize other WP units and reduce WP profitability rather than expanding the total volume of the smartmo market.

    Android and iPhone still expands the market despite Samsung now challenges the profitability of HTC, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG.

    WP has to break out from their segment and become a part of the general smartmo market before they can grow.

    I believe Microsoft and OEM’s biggest mistake is the launch strategy (or apparent lack thereof).

    The Titan and the Lumia should have been launched and made available in the shelves at the very same time throughout the world. That should have happened when they launched Mango. The combined pressure would have worked far better than the drizzle tactics they are using now.

    Further, the Lumia and Titan should have outspecced or at least been at par with the very best Androids at launch. When Google launched ICS (Android 4), they did it with hardware to match.

    The drizzle works fine for Android too. Because they already “own” the market. It keeps the buzz going. For WP it’s different because they actually need to break into the smartmo market. They don’t own it, thus drizzle won’t do. (I expect to see a completely different strategy when MS launches W8 pads.)

    Relevant for the user experience or not – consumer purchases are trigged by specs, and “it works very well as a unit despite being lower specced” is not a excellent argument, although it should have been if disregarding changes i requirements in later editions of the software.

  4. Avatar Alex December 3, 2011 @ 6:12 pm
    Reply

    WP7 I understand what you saying and yes the avatar and scores are interesting but I still cant see any link with an Xbox console. Before buying this phone I saw a video of harvest and I thought: “Hey there must be some good games on the windows phone, besides its an Xbox”. The least i expected before buying the phone was something like a portable Xbox, like a psp. Maybe I did not do my research but then again if they tell you it has an Xbox live built in, what will you expect? Good not fit to description until the new update or WP8 comes out.

    However, do not get wrong, I have a soft spot for my HD7 phone and I would be very happy to see it taking over i-phones or androids.

  5. Avatar Runningman December 4, 2011 @ 2:30 am
    Reply

    It was great to read a review that was based on using the phone instead of just reading off a spec sheet.

    You mentioned the biggest drawback for you was the lengthy app list. You can open any app with the voice activated “Tell Me” feature which I understand does not work with Apple’s Siri. As well, you can hit any letter in your app list to jump to your letter of choice to open your app.

    I find your comments on Android very interesting. I find Android to be a train wreck that hasn’t happened yet. Every smartphone platform has risks but it does seem that Android is like leaving all your windows and doors open with directions to your valuables. I guess time will tell on how smartphone security plays out.

    I think over the next year and beyond gaming will be one of the big draws for WP7. The integration with Xbox is fairly basic at the moment but the possibilities are amazing. Xbox sales are going through the roof as people find out that it does so much more that games. With the major update coming this week, it will almost replace a set top box with its new multimedia streaming capabilities.

    I hadn’t done much gaming since the days of “Pong” and I do not want to admit how long ago that was. My wife now refers to herself as a WP7 widow as I am focused on a new match of Need for Speed or Rise of Glory.

  6. Avatar Jack December 4, 2011 @ 9:37 am
    Reply

    Trojans and rogue apps is really not the big issue. Apple/Microsoft/Google/Facebook+++ is. They are the ones getting their hands on “all” information.

    The risk from rogue apps is far easier to control. Sobriety is enough to keep that under control.

    There’s a coupple of things I dislike about Androids.

    – The app market is a mess – when filtering or searching I get tons of crap apps that obviously got nothing to do with the “thing” I was searching for.

    – Android is in very much need for TISSA (Like every platform)
    http://mobile.engadget.com/2011/04/19/ncsu-teases-tissa-for-android-a-security-manager-that-keeps-per/

    In terms of snappiness and specs I do not believe that is really an issue for any platform anymore. It’s a promo/debate thing.

    Updates I believe to be a mostly US specific problem induced by a.o. Blur and how the US market (doesn’t) work – with carrier specific phones.

    Naturally, we have price plans in Europe too, but that’s very much an option. Without a price plan (or when it expires) we can easily swap carrier – keep the phone and number and so on.

    I believe the market is far more competitive in Europe. I can use my abb in 9 countries and a call cost the same wherever i go in those countries.

    Wrt OEM’s and updates++ it is very simple. Sony Ericsson messed up with their first UX and had no plans for updates. They took a severe hit, changed their UX and implemented a new philosophy for updates. Same goes for LG – they loose money by obtaining a poor reputation wrt updates.

    Updates = significant competitive factor, and if you intend to buy Android on monday you will get updates for 18 mnths.

  7. Avatar BMT December 4, 2011 @ 5:54 pm
    Reply

    Ah. Windows Phone 7 – the gaming kin phone for enterprise users.

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