Windows Phone 7 Technical Preview recap

Technical Preview units of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 take landed in the hands of a number of tech writers. The hands-on fourth dimension these writers spent with the Technical Preview devices provided a proficient bit of insight on Windows Phone vii. After spending about of the solar day reading their observations, a few conclusions quickly come to light.

Throughout the reviews the positives and negatives on the Technical Preview units were fairly consistent. We found a lot of what we already knew, some affirmations on what nosotros suspected and a few new things.

Follow the intermission to see what we pulled from the hands-on time these fortunate few take shared with u.s..

Equally Mal mentioned earlier, we'll let the review stand for themselves. Agree or disagree, these reviews represent each individual writer's observations and impressions. Each did a proficient chore of pulling what we've seen on Windows Phone 7 over the past few months under one roof and offering constructive observations. That being said, hither is what we saw that stood out amongst these reviews..

Positives

The overall experience for the Technical Review units were positive. Matt Miller over at ZDnet, on the overall user interface, wrote,"There is swiping and panning, elements that flip in and out and zoom in and out dynamically, and motion control that is more fluid than ANY smartphone user interface I have ever used before." This is consistent with everything nosotros've seen so far with Windows Phone 7.

The WP7 Hubs too drew high marks too. Bonnie Cha of CNET commented, "it was admittedly wonderful to be able to practice and so many things from ane place, without having to launch several different apps..."

Vincent Nguyen from Slashgear, on the Hubs, wrote, "On the confront of things, pulling together like content is inappreciably a bad idea, and the galleries – with their mixture of local and online media – work well. What's defective is breadth and customization." That may be ane of the largest hurdles Windows Mobile users will have to overcome, the lack of customization. Y'all can alter the color patterns only beyond that Windows Telephone 7 will rely more on substance than style.

By no means does Metro lack mode but coming from a system where cooked ROMs to third party user interfaces such are bachelor, Windows Phone 7 could come beyond with a little vanilla taste to it.

Other positive comments included:

"Microsoft is clearly-and finally-heading in the correct mobile direction" - PCMag

"It (WP7) looks similar a substantial comeback for Microsoft" - Wired.com

And the more interesting comments:

"I await forward to Windows Phone 7 with a dash of excitement, and a heaping cup of wariness. Tinkering with Windows Phone 7 is like finding out that the footling daughter who was kind of a punk to yous in second grade somehow managed to abound up kind of cool — and to peak it off, she's really sort of hot." - MobileCrunch

Email and something new

The hands-on observations confirms that Windows Phone 7 will sync with multiple Exchange Servers and electronic mail sources. Some aren't fond that y'all can't pull everything into ane In-Box. Each account gets its own In-Box with in plow requires a split up tile if you want to pin it to the Start Screen.  This can clutter your Start Screen speedily.

Asides from the lack of a unified In-box, email was well received as was the calendar and browser.

While most of the information presented in these reviews confirmed what we've seen over the past few months, one new feature emerged, "pocket to picture", that is connected to the camera push button. As described by Paul Thurrott, "This button is particularly genius, because it connects to a new software characteristic in Windows Phone that Microsoft calls "pocket to picture." So even if you've locked your phone, you can tap this button and take a flick, about instantaneously." This will be very useful in capturing those spontaneous moments in life that nobody will believe happened unless you bear witness them a picture.

Some mentioned the hardware specs that confirm the lack of expansion retentiveness and that devices will accept a minimum of 256mb RAM and 8gb of storage. Cameras will have a flash/lite and devices will have a minimum of five hard buttons. A hardware keyboard is optional and allowed which volition open the door to allow manufacturers to go beyond the "black slab" design.

Negatives

The reviews of the Technical Preview Windows Telephone 7 weren't without criticism. BGR stated, "We liked using the OS in general, though the experience for u.s. felt a little as well much like our time using the Microsoft KIN 2". There are similarities betwixt Windows Phone 7 and the KIN merely is information technology WP7 taking from the KIN or the KIN taking from Windows Phone vii? Could the KIN take been an elaborate (all be it expensive) exam of the social networking features present in Windows Telephone seven?

While nosotros knew of the strong Facebook integration with WP7, just about anybody noticed the lack of Twitter and MySpace integration. With the popularity and dependency many have with Twitter, we agree that WP7 needs to at least add Twitter into the mix (Edit: Twitter will be bachelor, just through Microsoft's Alive services which human activity as a proxy and of form in that location are no less than four confirmed third party Twitter clients in the works. --Mal)

Other criticisms that rang with consistency was the lack of cut/paste, multi-tasking with third party apps, and the inability to apply the WP7 equally a USB drive.

Microsoft has all but guaranteed cutting/paste is heading to WP7 only the "when" is notwithstanding a mystery. The lack of this feature was a major criticism of the iPhone and to encounter Microsoft omit the feature doesn't exercise the crusade much good. While yous might be able to hold a Windows Phone seven in either paw without dropping calls, not being able to cut/paste will definitely put a target on Microsoft's back.

Mult-tasking has been beaten like a dead equus caballus and if a need develops for a third party app to have multi-tasking, I'm sure the possibility will be taken under consideration. Windows Mobile users have gotten used to having apps run in the background (sometimes frustratingly so) and it will be another aspect to grow accepted to.

The inability to use the internal storage equally a USB drive will put more pressure on the cloud services that are to exist associated with Windows Phone 7. I volition miss the convenience of accept a portable, expansion carte that can become from telephone to phone. Hopefully, Skydrive will practise the flim-flam.

The unknowns

While these reviews have shed a smashing bargain of lite on where Windows Telephone vii development is at, at that place are yet a lot of unknowns associated with Microsoft's new effort.

Cloud systems will play a large part in Windows Telephone seven every bit will the Windows Phone 7 Live, the companion website to WP7. Very piffling is known about this piece of the puzzle beyond what is should do.

And then y'all have the wireless providers. How much breadth will they accept with Windows Phone 7? Will we see any bloatware to muck things upward? Will everyone offering a Windows Telephone seven device or will the initial launch be restrict to a few or atypical provider?

So there's the hardware questions of what will the final devices expect like and who will offer them. We know HTC, Dell, LG, and Samsung are on board but who will be first?

Overall thoughts

I recall Matt Miller summed things up nicely in his opening sentence. "Welcome back into the smartphone arena Microsoft, it looks like you have a serious challenger entering the ring and I will definitely exist purchasing a device every bit before long every bit I tin.". I'k sure he won't be alone in line when Windows Phone 7 finally hits the shelves.

While virtually were impressed with the progress Microsoft has made, everyone recognized that work is still needed. And that shouldn't be such a surprise being that they were reviewing preview devices that hasn't been fully developed.

WP7 is a piece of work in progress and what progress that has been made is impressive. Fan of Windows Phones or not,For Microsoft to start with a make clean slate and have a working device in the easily of developers in such a short time is impressive.

In that location is a measure of anticipation amidst the writers on whether or not Microsoft tin pull this off. Matt Buchanan of Gizmodo writes, "If everyone can practice this, rebuild an empire from less than zip, it'due south Microsoft. Patience is maybe Microsoft's greatest virtue, but sheer greed is what it needs right now. Making Windows Phone something that people desire to purchase is going to require the most herculean effort the company'due south fabricated in a long, long time." Microsoft shouldn't see the Fall launch equally a finish line for Windows Phone 7 but rather ane leg of the journey. I agree that patience is needed from Microsoft but it'due south also needed from the consumers and market.

Consumers shouldn't expect to come across a finished, complete production with no room for improvement (or growth) when Windows Telephone 7 hits the shelves afterwards this year. What we should await is a functional device that is a strong foundation for Microsoft to build upon. Based on what we've read in the reviews of the preview devices, that expectation should be easily met.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-7-technical-preview-recap

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