Microsoft fights back with Windows Phone 7 Series

Christmas? I would've thought christmas was about 6 months too late!

By Penguat on 15 Feb 2010

The Zune app does look very slick. The address book also looks slick, but the home screen looks bland and fussy at the same time.

With Windows 7 for the desktop, Microsoft went back to basics for many of the icon designs, especially on the task tray. That looks basic, yet elegant and smart.

If Microsoft had done something similar with the home screens, it might have worked, but they mix live updated images and album art with flat icons, they clash horribly.

The transitions between the different screens look very swish, but time will tell whether that actually works or not - my Touch Pro looked very swish, until I started to load data onto it and run apps on it, then it slowed to a crawl and I ended up pretty much single-tasking the phone to keep it responsive - something that Apple's iPhone does automatically.

As some Android owners have found out, multi-tasking isn't always a plus on a phone - as some Android users have found out.

Microsoft have always had design guidelines, often more comprehensive than Apple's. I've been using the Windows GUI design guidelines since 1988. The problem is, Microsoft have never really enforced or encouraged strict adherence to them, like Apple do, which is one of the reasons that Windows can look such a mess. Just look at all the utilities which use custom window title bars! They might look cool and slick alone, but when mixed with normal apps and other utilities, it is just a mess.

If Microsoft start pushing for devs and partners to follow their standards, it can only be a good thing for the user, in terms of a unified user experience.

I am still in two minds, some of the screens look really impressive - address book, search information, Zune - while other parts look either bland, noisy or gimicky.

If Microsoft want to get devs to follow their standards, they should set those standards in concrete and follow them themselves!

I can't wait to get my hands on one. My Touch Pro was better, in terms of functionality and compatibility than the original iPhone, even if the interface wasn't as slick, but the iPhone improved with the 3GS and iPhone 3 software and Microsoft haven't had a comeback.

The iPhone works better with Exchange than many Windows Mobile devices now (I have a 3GS and the Touch Pro still) and are easier to use than Blackberry, whilst being almost as slick in their communications with Exchange - all of our users are switching to iPhone over their old Blackberrys.

By big_D on 16 Feb 2010