[Noir]

Initially, my posts for wp7 felt the OS wasn't lackluster and initially my review was negative for a few reasons. I think the biggest thing is that the presentation was a teaser and true Q n A wasn't explored (like adobe pdf/epub support, integration in business side/oem manufacturers). However, in viewing the information ad nauseum, I think I am starting to appreciate what microsoft has done and why many are saying they are switching apple and droid for this.

I think the first big thing was the dismissal of an application system. There are too many darn applications in my eyes and it does make things complex. Apple's main campaign was there's an app for that. Similarly, droid and windows mobile followed (with windows you can argue started the trend) with their respective app stores to capitalize on the application system. In many ways, this meant that there were various applications and user customizability to your hearts content. But it made things complex and the flow of communication seemed very difficult. For instance , facebook and myspace have different applications based on the same contact! In many ways, HTC has improved on this system with integration of social networking rise integrated within htc sense, but still very little is done on microsoft's end. The hub system is actually very complex, but very simplistic in that almost all of the information you need to know is a gesture or two away. That is a mindblowing aspect of wp7. The hub makes it so that information isn't disconnected across platforms and are focused instead to meet the users needs. That is extraordinary.

Another thing that stands out is the fluidity. Macosx, android, webos, symbian, and the like seem to mimic each other in gesture control and even animation. There lacked a lot of originality in the mobile phone arena. At this point, there needs to be heavier cohesion of things and maintaining originality with simplicity. Microsoft has done that for the entire operating system. This has a lot of rammifications to OEMs as it gives them more freedom to roam. I recall seeing a new "sense" that HTC began to petition for patent process, and when I initially saw the design, it made absolutely no sense to me. Now that I see wp7, I can definitely see that Microsoft and HTC are working closely to make an ultimate experience for the end user at the sake of simplicity. I also see other developers taking this stand and going back to the lab for the sake of windows mobile.

Consumer support is something that I have to give microsoft much credit for. They stepped it up in the consumer sector with their kiss attitude about not making things not fantastically pretty, but making element of the ui easy to access without multiple clicks/gestures/modifications/whatever. Right now, microsoft is broadening its demographic for the almighty dollar, and so far, people are listening.

This isn't a truly rosy picture, though. There are some gripes that i have with wp7. For one thing is the lack of device uniformity. Chassis 1 specs are at a higher end, and yet Toshiba is releasing a definitive wp7 with 256 mb ram. Does that make sense? No, but it does show that wp7 can run on lower ram requirements. The emphasis that microsoft has on uniformity is dismissed when I see and compare a toshiba device to an htc (where there is a lot of ram/rom on the latter and not so much on the preceding). All that makes me realize is that there may be other experiences to wp7.

So where does that leave us?

I think microsoft just wanted to wet our whistle of the biggest things wp7 can do. Its not ready for prime time and undeniably so its not. But I think MIX10 will give us a lot more details and as users we can determine whether we want to switch. Personally, I was anti wp7 for a moment, but then thinking of it, I can only say I want to continue watching the progression of wp7 for the fall.

What would be nice is a global strategic release of the software and hardware (something we didn't see with wp6.5). So all that said, I think I may jump ship just to get a new experience thereof. All in all, time will tell of the changes made. I think maybe there should be some time. I can definitely now see wp7 phone in the htc hd3 and the hd2 too despite the no search button requirement. I have a lot of questions at MIX and I hope they will be answered. But so far, I went from totally hating it when I think about it, its not so bad