Windows Phone 7: What to Expect

Windows Phone 7 may well be the operating system that rescues Microsoft from its self-imposed irrelevance in the smartphone market. While the Windows Mobile OS was acceptable during the days when smartphones were the prerogative of few outside the corporate world, it failed to keep up with competitors as the devices’ popularity spread to the population generally.

The most significant event in broadening the appeal of smartphones was Apple’s introduction of the iPhone, now in its third incarnation as iPhone 4. It made the once intimidating devices easily usable by a broad range of consumers and substituted multimedia entertainment for much of the boardroom formality. Subsequently, other manufacturers have scrambled to add ever more broadly appealing functionality to their phones. The proliferation of devices using Google’s Android OS has raised the stakes even higher. In the meantime, WinMo tried but failed to keep pace.

There are still many unanswered questions, but there are high hopes surrounding Windows Phone 7. The first may well be associated with its name, which has led to the widely held conception that Microsoft is now making a device called the Windows Phone. In reality, Windows Phone 7 is the name of the OS that powers devices made by a number of manufacturers. In this article, we’ll introduce you to the new system and help you decide if it’s right for you. At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don’t Have To.™

Start with Live Tiles

The Start screen of Windows Phone 7 is simplistic to say the least. Indeed, you may well get the impression that there isn’t much going on here at all. Ultimately, however, that’s the beauty of the user interface. Nothing here is set in stone and you can add or remove icons, or tiles, very easily. Sure you’ll see all the usual suspects like the calendar, email and messaging programs. Icons for apps that come preinstalled, or that you may choose to add, also show up here. The difference is that you can add just about anything you like by simply pinning it to the Start page. This includes things like individual webpages, playlists, pictures or maps so that you can access them in a hurry without having to launch associated applications. This feature is at the heart of Microsoft’s ad campaign claiming to get you in and out and back to life.

Live Tiles are not the static icons that have become so familiar. They can automatically display information like appointments, news and weather, or friends’ Facebook status. The information is dynamic and refreshed wirelessly so that it’s current and available at a glance. Information displayed on the tiles can also be displayed in a list view. It isn’t as new and modern looking as the tiles, but it allows for displaying more data on the screen at once.

The Hub of Your World

Windows Phone 7 is organized around six hubs which typically display as tiles on the Start screen. They represent related information and include the People Hub, Pictures Hub and Camera, Games, MS Office, Music and Videos, and Marketplace.

The People Hub contains all of your contact information. It automatically integrates the contents of multiple address books so that you can easily find who you’re looking for. Accessing the information for any individual is simplified by the ability to simply tap their photo. Conveniently, Facebook contacts can be excluded from the integration so that you don’t end up with an unwieldy address book based on largely casual, online contacts. The People Hub even contains a Me Card, which allows you to update your own Facebook status in a flash.

Pictures Hub and Camera allows you to take pictures pretty much instantly even if the phone is locked. Microsoft requires that all Windows Phone 7 devices have at least a 5MP camera and video recorder. The hub houses your entire collection and is the place that allows you to share them with friends. The Games hub’s name gives away its main purpose, but it also allows you to connect to the Xbox LIVE service so that you can play with friends from anywhere.

The Office Hub houses mobile versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint. You can view, create or edit Word and Excel documents, but PowerPoint documents can’t be created on the phone. The application also contains OneNote Mobile to allow for quick notes that can be saved or synced wirelessly. It can include voice clips and video.

The Music + Videos hub is particularly appealing. It’s essentially a full-function Zune player integrated into the phone. It allows for downloading or streaming music with a Zune Pass subscription as well as for loading music from your computer. It also includes an FM radio and the ability to watch videos. Fairly obviously, the Marketplace hub is the place to obtain music, movies and apps but also includes the ability to shop at sites like eBay.

What’s Missing

Windows Phone 7 is a pretty complete package, but there are a few notable absentees, due largely, we presume, to a marketing priority to be available for the holiday buying season. The shortfalls are likely to be remedied in the relatively near future.

Among the most surprising is that the copy and paste capabilities aren’t available in the MS Office application. We’ve been critical of others for this deficiency and were surprised that Microsoft followed suit. We’re also disappointed that tethering capability isn’t available at this time. We’ll also have to wait for integration with Twitter and MySpace.

Windows Phone 7 is a major step in the right direction. We had essentially written Microsoft off in the world of smartphone operating systems as WinMo fell further and further behind the likes of iPhone, Android and BlackBerry systems. Only time will tell if the public accepts the OS and makes these phones competitive. Some people believe that the effort is too little too late, but we believe that it offers a great option that we’d hate to lose.