Windows Phone 7, I've got one! Yaaaaay me!

I recently got a Windows Phone 7 and wanted to share my thoughts with you on the OS and the phone.  The phone I got is the Samsung Omnia 7.  At first I was thinking of getting the LG optimus 7 but boy am I glad I went for the Samsung.  

The screen is truly superb.  The colors are vivid and even when using the phone in full sunlight the screen is more than readable.  I believe that Samsung uses a special manufacturing process in their Super AMOLED screens to make them more readable in the outdoors.  

Also performance wise this phone is truly amazing.  The 1 GHz processor is more than capable of running the WP7 operating system.  Even when browsing heavy sites, I have yet to see this phone flinch.

The build of the device is also very solid.  The back is made out of aluminum, so the phone feels expensive.  The slider on top of the phone to cover the micro usb port is also good instead of the cheap plug that some devices use.  One negative point this phone has is the power button that is positioned on the side of the screen.  Especially when making a phone call this can be truly irritating.  I only have the phone for five days but I’ve managed to turn it off by accident more than enough.  Also the battery life is pretty disappointing.  When the phone is in use for a full day while using 3g and wifi turned off, the battery is dead empty at the end of the day.

Overall I think Samsung has delivered a really neat device, so what about the OS?

The Samsung Omnia 7 runs the Windows Phone 7 operating system, hence the 7 in Samsu…  never mind. At the beginning it’s a real change from what I was used to (mainly Symbian and Android).  The design is basic but very clean.  I was very skeptic about the tiles on the home screen and I thought all the fuss about it was nothing more than a hype.  Yet I must say that it really is very fun to use and very innovative.  They give you a sense of personalization and interaction.  What does disappoint me is the main menu.  The main menu in Windows Phone 7 is nothing more than a listbox with the datatemplate set to a stackpanel with an image on the left and a textblock on the right.  Ok… I get it, you want to keep it basic, but damn that’s reaaaaaaallyy basic.  Maybe it’s a good thing they kept the games you’ve installed under the Xbox live hub, so the list doesn’t get to long. 

This brings us to the hubs.  Hubs are groupings of data / application.  One good example of this is the peoples hub.  Not only can you view people you know from Windows Live, Facebook, ect.  You can also see their status updated, make phone calles, see their profile, write on their wall, email them.  In essence everything you want to do with a person, you can do in the peoples hub.  Using this concept, I think Microsoft makes WP7 very accessible to users and allows them to distinguish themselves from the competition.  I let my girlfriend play with the phone for 10 minutes (under strict supervision surrounded by white pillows while glued to the chair) and she had no problem navigating and using it.

For business users this OS offers a nice integration with Exchange.  One can synchronize everything from contact to tasks to meetings, but that is more of a requirement than a feature these days.  PDF and office documents are viewable by using either the office hub or adobe pdf reader.

Other applications are available for download using the marketplace.  It is apparent that the marketplace for Windows Phone 7 contains allot less apps than on the IPhone of for Android.  The most obvious apps are their like adobe, youtube, facebook, ect.  But you can’t help it but feel the market place is still a bit empty.  It also strikes me that there are allot of applications available for programmers like a mini ‘C# in the cloud compiler’ or a programmers guide to .NET.  Could this mean that the majority of the WP7 users are .NET developers at this time?   The good thing about a less crowdy marketplace is that the applications that are available are of pretty good quality and you have to filter out less nonsense.  It is also the perfect moment for developers to start Windows Phone 7 development because the competition is less fears then oooh let’s say the app store where It’s a struggle to get you app noticed. 

Conclusion

I’m really glad I’ve got this phone.  I respect the competition but I wouldn’t trade my WP7 phone for any android or apple device out there.  The device and OS is lighting fast and rock solid.  Hopefully this Thursday I get to play with the WP7 developer license and start deploying custom apps to the phone. 

I’ll keep you posted!