opinion

Review: iOS 5.1 vs WP 7.5

April 23, 2012 | By andrewbares

For one week, I purchased an iPhone 4S and used it as my primary device, in order to see how Windows Phone compares to its main competitor. Some things were far better on Windows Phone, and some things were far better on iOS. Here is what I found:

Interface – Winner: Windows Phone
Windows Phone hands down has a far more intuitive and easy to use interface. I actually expected the iPhone to be ahead of the game here, since Apple is always known for making things simple and dumbed down, but most of the iPhone’s features are incredibly hidden and impossible to discover without reading instructions.

I was convinced that the iPhone had NO background media controls for current playing music, since the controls are hidden in places where a common user would never look. To skip a song from the lock screen, you have to press the home key twice. To skip a song while using the phone, you have to double-tap the home key and then swipe left on the multitasking pane. If it took me forever to find out about these, I can imagine average users truly struggling.

Also, the iPhone’s stolen version of swiping left to view pictures from the camera is completely unintuitive, since NOTHING tells you that it is possible. Windows Phone, on the other hand, gives you visual clues everywhere. The interface of Windows Phone is unmatched in terms of ease of use and being intuitive.

Apps – Winner: iPhone
There are simply more apps on iOS than there are Windows Phone, and most of the popular ones (PayPal, Photosynth, Wells Fargo, Draw Something) are on iOS and not on Windows Phone. Also, the multitasking in iOS is far faster and better controlled. Apps will almost always open instantly from the home screen since they simply resume the version stored in RAM instead of restarting like in Windows Phone. Continue reading →

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The rise and rise of anti-Windows Phone articles

April 17, 2012 | By Surur

Over the last 10 days there has been a dramatic increase in Dvorak-like inflammatory articles about Windows Phone 7, I think likely associated with the high profile of the OS due to the Nokia Lumia 900 launch, but also in particular related to the Verge Nokia Lumia 900 review, which got in excess of 2,500 comments.

Rather than dissuade unnecessarily negative articles, the response simply provoked more of them, resulting in articles such as ZDNET’s “Windows Phone’s many problems: Should Microsoft give up?” which concludes with “While two negatives added don’t always make a negative, unfortunately two poops just land you with one giant poop.” The rest of the article is of similar quality.

Continuing on the faecal theme, Gizmodo asks “Dear Windows Phone: Get Your Sh*t Together”, again a rather empty article complaining “Windows Phone is rotten with broken windows, while Apple keeps the paths in its walled garden pristine.”

Another example was the Techcrunch article accusing Windows Phone of being a haven for porn.

I will not be linking these articles, because the last thing I want to do is drive more traffic to articles which are clearly just designed to inflame Windows Phone 7 fans.

In fact I would suggest when readers come across such inflammatory articles not to leave a comment and then go back and check the response, which just gave the author 3 free page views (the real goal), but to find the author on their social network and let them know your displeasure directly there.

At least they will not be paid for how many tweets they receive.

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Diablo 3 Guide is now available in the windows phone marketplace. Prepare for the upcoming Diablo 3 release!

April 16, 2012 | By denhamsolutions

Want to prepare for the upcoming release of Diablo 3? Diablo 3 Guide is now available in the windows phone marketplace. The guide includes everything you need to know to get ready for the upcoming release on May 15th.

Diablo 3 Guide has the following features:

Class Skill Calculator. Plan out how you will build your character. Save as many character builds as you want!
Full class list and descriptions
Detailed active skills and related runes
Detailed passive skills
Full list of armor & weapons
Upcoming features after May 15th release: Detailed walkthrough, Bestiary, Updated armory and many more…

Give it for free!

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MS acknowledges that other phones can smoke WP

March 27, 2012 | By andrewbares

After the Smoked by Windows Phone chaos (which resulted in Sahas finally receiving her reward), The Verge gained access to Microsoft’s employee guide on how to defeat other phones in the contest.

In Microsoft’s guide, they warn employees that Android phones have “widgets that can, if properly configured, display the weather and other information in real time.” This is identical to Windows Phone’s live tiles, and provides the same ease-of-access to live information, which levels the playing field between WP7 and Android for the weather contest. Microsoft continues to discuss how other phones could win in the other contests, but let’s discuss something more important…

How can Windows Phone improve?

From what I see in this contest, every single smartphone is nearly as fast as the other. It truly comes down to milliseconds (or disabling a lock screen in one scenario). Since Microsoft knows where its competitors can match or beat Windows Phone, they hopefully will focus on these weaknesses in the future!

Allow the user to disable the lockscreen – I and many other users do not have passwords on our phones. A lock screen is truly a waste of a swipe every single time you want to use your phone. Your homescreen has all the information the lock screen has and MORE. Why not get your users to the content faster, and keep the “chrome” out of the way? Phones don’t pocket dial people anymore thanks to the intelligent use of proximity sensors.
Make the Facebook picture upload instant – Currently on Windows Phone, when you go to upload a picture, there’s a 2-3 second data upload where the phone says “Uploading to Facebook…”. Instead, Microsoft could make this instant, and do the picture upload in the background. This would make the experience faster and get the user on with their life.
Add more features to the Facebook integration – I heard about one contest where the MS employee asked the contestant to update their Facebook cover photo. Either the MS employee misspoke, or the contestant heard incorrectly, but Windows Phone completely lacks the ability to update your timeline cover photo. If Microsoft is going to tout that everything is integrated in Windows Phone, they better integrate *everything*.
Make apps start faster – I was quite shocked when I compared the loading speeds of common apps like Engadget and Twitter to my friend’s iPhone and Android devices. The apps I looked at all loaded incredibly faster. I dread opening the Facebook app since it is so slow (but it’s necessary since Windows Phone’s integration lacks numerous things). Developers may be partially to blame, but Microsoft can certainly help improve loading speeds.

The rest of Microsoft’s Smoked by WP guide… Continue reading →

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Reader response to ZDnet’s James Kendrick’s article: Windows Phone: The Passionless Platform

March 16, 2012 | By adriel623

Hi WMPoweruser readers, I just created this video response to Mr. Kendricks article because I felt in my opinion and I’m sure you will agree with me, that Windows Phone is a passion-filled and passion-driven mobile platform. Please excuse the low-quality recording as I put this together on my Laptop, the moment I read both articles.

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Hands on video with the new Google app

March 7, 2012 | By andrewbares

The new Google search app is essentially useless. The only new thing it brings is voice search, and we’ve already got that in Windows Phone.

In fact, Windows Phone’s voice search has been far more accurate than Google’s app in my experience.

Otherwise, the Google app is simply a search box that displays an embedded IE9 window with the results, instead of generating results in a nicer, more app-like format as Bing does.

The worst part is that you can’t open links in the full Internet Explorer so you’re stuck using the annoying embedded browser window. There’s no sharing links, no opening links in different tabs…. it’s terrible.

You should either visit google.com from Internet Explorer or use Bing Search instead of this useless app!

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Baconit version 1.8 now available.

March 7, 2012 | By Quinn Damerell

Baconit is a metro-style Reddit app which has just been updated to be even more amazing. The major attraction to this particular update (version 1.8) is a brand new Image Viewer for easier navigation of photos within your chosen subreddit. Upon opening, you’ll see a larger view of the image which you can then pinch to zoom, drag to pan, and double tap to rest. All the functionality you already know and love, such as up voting, down voting and navigating to the comments, are accessible from this panel as well. You’ll also experience endless image scrolling and the ability to save images to your phone!

Additional Changes Include:

Added landscape support for subreddit, web page, and comment viewers, as well as submit a link
Added story domain in to story list
Added orientation lock
New comments are tracked on stories that have been viewed
Fixed long self-text / comment cut off problem
Improved web page viewer
Improved up vote and down vote hit boxes

You can view all changes, as well as sneak a peak at the coming 1.9 update, here. You can download the free version or support development through a $1.99 donation.

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Editorial: Windows Phone needs to support TD-SCDMA to succeed in China

February 22, 2012 | By illegaloperation

Windows Phones are about a month away from its official debut in China. As a result, I feel a compelling need to discuss the mobile phone industry in China.

There are three mobile network operators in China: China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, but just listing their names doesn’t give a sense of scale.

In January 2011, China Mobile had 589.28 million subscribers while China Unicom and China Telecom had 169.7 million and 94.1 million respectively. China Mobile is the world’s biggest mobile network operator. Clearly, China is a huge market that Windows Phone can take advantage of, but there are complications.

In 2009, the Chinese network operators began rolling out their 3G networks, but each use a different mobile standard. China Unicom uses W-CDMA UMTS and China Telecom uses CDMA2000 1xEV-DO: both of which are currently supported by Windows Phone.

China Mobile, on the other hand, uses TD-SCDMA which is China’s homegrown 3G standard. TD-SCDMA is use by China Mobile and no other mobile network operator. As a result, only a few models of phones run on this network. iPhone, for example, operates on China Unicom’s and China Telecom’s 3G networks, but not on China Mobile’s 3G network.

If Windows Phones do support TD-SCDMA, this leaves them to compete with only a handful Android and Symbian devices (and one BlackBerry) and to tap the user base of the world’s biggest mobile network operator.

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Do we need more than 5 multi-tasking cards?

February 12, 2012 | By Surur

windows-phone-mango-multitasking-270x437 Mango brought a version of multi-tasking to Windows Phone 7, and at the time Microsoft decided to provide only 5 cards, but indicated they were willing to review this based on user demand.

After many months of using Mango our readers have likely developed an opinion based on experience.

In my case I would like the number of cards available to be increased tremendously, to around 20. There is a significant difference between relaunching an app via the multi-tasking interface vs the start screen, with the first taking you back where you left off, while the later restarting the app from scratch.

I often find that simply checking my email accounts and twitter will be enough to kick the app I am currently using from the multi-tasking list, which can be annoying if it is a wordpress post I am writing for example, losing the changes I made.

Also, even if I left an app in the morning, it still does not mean I would not prefer to return where I left off rather than relaunching the app from scratch again.

Are our readers happy with the current number of cards, or would you like the number to be increased? Let us know below.

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After Windows Phone 8 leak, Microsoft needs to reassure Windows Phone 7 buyers their phones are upgradable

February 4, 2012 | By Surur

Some have speculated that the recent Windows Phone 8 information was a controlled leak, to reassure the market that Microsoft was still in the game.

I am however relatively sure it is not, due to the very real Osborne effect the news is having on Microsoft’s current handsets. I have come across many comments over the last 2 days of people saying “I was going to buy a Nokia Lumia 900, but now I am going to wait to see what Nokia can do with Windows Phone 8”.

The danger is seriously disappointing sales which suck the momentum that is slowly building in Marketplace and with Nokia’s new offerings.

The damage is already done for those who insist on waiting for HD screened handsets, but for the majority who are merely not wanting to buy a handset which will not run the latest OS in a mere 9 months Microsoft can do a lot simply by announcing that current generation handsets will be upgradable to Windows Phone 8.

As long as the silence continues doubt will grow, and sales will suffer.

Are our readers hesitant to upgrade to pre-apollo handsets, and would you be reassured if you knew they were upgradable? Let us know below.

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Apple’s education event has huge ramifications for the Windows 8 tablet

January 19, 2012 | By rush24

appletextbooks

I hate to admit it, but I was very impressed by the Apple’s education event today. Following along the event via the Verge.com live blog, it was clear that the guys from Cupertino have created a compelling set of products with iBooks 2, iBooks Author and a revamped iTunes U app that will indeed change the education landscape. Its not that these ideas are new, Apple has just found a way to offer them to the masses in a more user friendly format that millions of users will flock too. Apple, in one fell stroke has just outmaneuvered their rivals by creating a new lucrative and integrated ecosystem in the learning field that neither Microsoft or Google posses a completive alternative. What’s more as is customary with Apple, the products are available now rather than a few months down the road giving them an enormous first mover advantage.

So how does this affect the Windows 8 tablet? Even with the success of the iPad and iPhone, Microsoft still dominates the education field whereby a majority of the PCs being Windows based in conjunction with Microsoft office products.This announcement turns the whole paradigm on its head. If more schools decide to adopt the new Apple system, why would any student need a PC when all their textbooks and school assignments are accessible via iPads? Furthermore, with a version Microsoft Office for the iPad in the works, its evident that the long running PC advantage finds itself on shaky ground. Imagine also a student getting their project done and presenting it to whole class wirelessly via airplay (via a compatible projector or simply an Apple TV connected to a regular projector. The possibilities are endless!

Continue reading →

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Prediction: 2012 Will be the Year of Windows Phone

January 18, 2012 | By robtiffany

Windows Phone 7.5 is running fast out of the gate for 2012. The stunning mobile operating system from Microsoft was the talk of CES in Las Vegas this year. The accolades streaming in from the world’s most influential newspapers, magazines, reviewers, and tech bloggers are unprecedented.

The Nokia Lumia 900 won the Best of CES award in the Smartphone category and it’s no surprise. Before listing off the impressive specs, just look at this gorgeous piece of hardware. Looks matter…trust me. Windows Phone is already the most elegant mobile operating system. Breathtaking industrial design is the other half of the equation. When paired with iconic hardware, it’s like pairing your favorite Walla Walla Cabernet with your favorite steak.

I can’t count the number of reviews and comments stating that Windows Phone on the Lumia 900 has surpassed the iPhone. If you follow the U.S. wireless market, then you know that things like 4G LTE network speeds, large screens, front-facing cameras, and dual-core processors are the current drivers of smartphone sales. The Lumia 900 addresses three of those drivers with support for AT&T’s 4G LTE network, a 4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack display, and a front-facing camera for video calls. It’s powered by a single 1.4 GHz processor and if you’ve paid attention to all the reviews in the press, you’ve heard that Windows Phone runs circles around its dual-core competitors. Better software design, better engineering, more efficient algorithms, and optimized coding techniques means you can do more with less. Last but not least, the Lumia 900 comes with an amazing 8MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics.

The HTC Titan II came to the CES party guns-blazing with a monster of a smartphone. It tics all the required boxes needed for sales by delivering a massive 4.7 inch screen, support for AT&T’s 4G LTE network, and a front-facing camera. The 1.5Ghz Snapdragon 2 processor gives this superphone all the horsepower it needs.

Joining the camera arms-race with the Lumia 900, the Titan II comes equipped with a whopping 16 megapixel camera that can capture 720p video. If you’re looking for a giant phone that can go head-to-head with the Galaxy Nexus, this is your device.

2012 is already shaping up to be a great year with compelling hardware matched-up with Windows Phone 7.5, but what else does this platform need to make my prediction come true? Oh yeah, apps. Do you remember back in the 80′s when DOS-based PCs from IBM and Compaq gave Apple IIs and Macs more than they could handle? It might not have been eye-catching, but DOS had more apps that allowed consumers and companies to be successful. In the 90′s, Windows ran away with the computing market with the Mac, Linux, NeXT, and OS/2 unable to compete in the app department. Why do you think this was the case? I know a big reason was because Borland and Microsoft made better and easier-to-use development tools for Windows.

With 50,000+ apps in the Marketplace, Windows Phone is surging forward and now sits in third-place behind the iPhone App Store and the Android Market. Aside from developers betting on the success of a platform, they need development tools, emulators, and programming languages that make it easy for them to be productive. When I look at the velocity at which new apps are being added to the Windows Phone Marketplace, it tells me that Visual Studio is making a big difference.

In my job, I have to work with the development tools for all the major smartphone platforms and I can tell you without drinking any Kool-Aid that the competition isn’t even close. Most iPhone developers I know find that learning Objective-C from the NeXT operating system to be a daunting task compared to modern, high-level languages like C# and VB. While the world is full of Java developers, the complexity of cobbling the necessary tools together needed to build for Android apps is a real productivity killer. Just running Eclipse on JDK 1.6 sucks the life and performance out of my fast Windows 7 laptop. Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone is free and the emulator + SDKs all download and install together making the whole process fast and simple. Apps get access to all phone sensors, a local database (SQL Server Compact), and Metro design.

Better productivity means faster time-to-market which means more apps for Windows Phone.

If you’re a web designer/developer, Internet Explorer 9 is alive and well on Windows Phone 7.5. This means you’re no longer held hostage to the highly-fragmented WebKit mobile browser platform. You get a hardware-accelerated, amazingly fast browser with support for more “fully-baked” HTML5 standards like Web Storage, Geolocation, Canvas, Audio and Video.

The lightning fast-Chakra JavaScript engine supports ECMAScript 5 which means your DOM interactions and Ajax web service calls will blur the lines with native apps. When you retrieve data from the cloud or your on-premise servers via Ajax, you’ll now be able to persist it offline in Web Storage. Support for CSS3 means things will be beautiful, 2D transforms will occur, and media queries will give you responsive design.

So here we stand with the best smartphone operating system, best hardware, best development tools and the best mobile web browser. I’m certain that Windows Phone with its army of app developers, OEMs and Mobile Operator partners will be marching to victory this year.

Be fearless,

Rob

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Blackberry putting itself up for sale, will Microsoft nibble?

January 16, 2012 | By Surur

RIM is having a pretty horrible year, with its Blackberry market share plunging in USA, and even upstart Windows Phone looking to overtake it in mind share if not market share (and that’s coming also).

No wonder rumours that the company has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to ‘explore strategic options’ (analyst speak for find us a buyer) has boosted the stock price by nearly 4% last week – the company would be better off under nearly any management than their bumbling dual CEOs.

However the question is if anyone wants to buy RIM – its market cap is already lower than the combination of its cash and assets, making the company a real steal already, but still no-one is taking a bite.

Of course one company which has always been in the running is Microsoft, mainly due to the natural affinity Microsoft has with RIM’s business customers. In fact at a market cap of $8.34 Billion is is in the same ballpark as Skype, which Microsoft purchased in October 2011.

However owning a major OEM like RIM would certainly interfere with Microsoft’s relationship with their other big partner, Nokia. There is however a very simple way around this – a joint venture between Microsoft and Nokia. There have been previous rumours of the two companies investigating such a deal a few weeks ago, and with RIM nearly 30% cheaper than it was 3 months ago the deal must once again be looking attractive.

Of course RIM by itself may not be enough to convince MSokia to buy, but the prospect of the company and its patent trove being scooped up by Google must make the deal seem almost inevitable.

The best deal would see Nokia managing RIMs business while Microsoft works on the back-end integrating Blackberry support into Exchange, and then working on transitioning Blackberry OS to Windows Phone 7 over the course of a few years.

What do our readers think? Is the deal inevitable? Let us know below.

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