Review: Windows Phone 7
As we all know, smart phones are already hip, working as robustly as a computer, integrating all your processes into one unique system, it is necessary to now for top manufacturers to take advantage of such technologies. The most popular trend right now when it comes to the smart phone industry is the system ecology or the operating system that is running on the phone. We got Apple’s popular iOS, and of course Google’s Android Phones. There are also upcoming systems like the OS for the Blackberry Playbook and the HP WebOS. Of course, Microsoft, leading software giant will not let this opportunity to pass and that is why they ventured forth with the Windows Phone 7. Here we will tackle elements regarding this operating system and how it fairs in the smart phone wars.
Let us start with the visuals, the interface and how it looks and feels. You might have probably seen and maybe have scanned the menu and the different functions of the Windows Phone 7 already. The company uses the Metro UI and it has some 2D blocks all stacked on the screen. It is quite more sophisticated than 2D since a single page is made up of different layers. That means it is undeniably cool that there is depth on the screen but it does not distract at all to the features that are currently being presented in particular layer. Of course, the cut off text is as popular as ever nut it makes the screen all the more complex without going overboard. It is just an added detail for the whole set up.
Dealing with the speed and responsiveness to touch, the Windows Phone 7 does have a very intuitive and fast response to physical commands. When you compare the response rate and accuracy to the iOS4, you will be really surprised of how well this fares in that department. The interface has been made to really appeal to elevate the user experience to a whole new level. The interface is very cohesive, solid and well designed to fit in to the needs of mobile users out there. There are no lags at all and transitioning across the screen is very smooth. Sometimes though, the animation or effects can get a bit tiring. We just want the application to run once you click it, no more spinning features every time there is an opening or closing application.
The Windows Phone 7 can be divided into 3 sections. There is the tile area where you can find programs and applications that will give you glimpses of what they are, the list of application and hub pages. So navigating across the interface is really quite smooth and easy though some may not be too keen about the long press to access some menus. You can say that the long press is like a secret key. Try it out and see what it can offer you. You might not be used to it yet since we normally do short presses on other OS, but as you get used to the idea, you will find that it is actually quite functional and useful to some extent.
It is still a question if the tile setup of the applications and programs exude user functionality at its best compared to the simple grid system of Android and iOS. In fact, the tile set up can be disadvantageous if you have tons of applications and the one that you need is t the very last section and you have to across to find it. Sadly, there is no search option which is too bad since if you have this tile set up, you would want to pair it with a small code to enable faster search. Though it is fun to scroll or swipe across a smart phone, you would not want to swipe all the time just to get your application. Sadly, there is nothing you can do about the set up. It is like scrolling across the list of programs and finding it yourself instead of being able to increase functionality by shuffling the pages.
If there are notifications, the Windows Phone 7 reveals a drop down notification screen. The top menu is where most radio connections are seen as well as other controls like volume and battery. Other details of the interlace would be those subtle animations. The great thing now is that there are updates to address some weird omissions to the Windows OS core. One is the copy and paste function (will be included soon) and the most irritating would be the lack of multitasking. This is probably the most important aspect for many people so that while they are doing one thing, they can just scale it back, return and see that it is still running. It is sad especially if you play a game and have to scale it back for a moment. You have to save it and settle with the save point instead of being on that exact point that you prefer. Nonetheless, the UI is robust, and Microsoft has to be lauded for creating a system that is quite good for mobile phones.
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