The Glow is Wearing Off: Good and Bad about Windows Phone 7, Part One

[Jason Dunn]

<p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/wpt/auto/1287697566.usr1.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Now that I've had a few days to spend with the Windows Phone 7 prototype device,&nbsp;I'm personally having some of the WP7 "glow" wear off - that happens with every new gadget though, and I'm glad it does, because it allows me to be more objective about what works well and what doesn't. <MORE /></p><p>Something I've noticed today after making and receiving about 10 calls in total: I really miss having a hardware button for the phone. With every single Windows Mobile/Windows Phone I've had over the years, there's been a physical button to end the call, and a physical button to start a call. That speed of access has been important, especially when it comes to ending a call. When a call ends, I'd immediately take the phone away from my face, press the call end button, and put it in my pocket in one motion. When a call ends on Windows Phone 7, I take it away from my face, wait about 1.5 seconds for the screen to go from off to one, then tap the End Call button. It's not a very big button, and the fact that I have to wait for the screen to turn on is irritating.</p><p>This isn't a deal breaker, and maybe for one-button phone users (iPhone, etc.) this is normal, but for me it seems sub-optimal. I thought initially that there must be a better way - surely one of those three buttons re-maps to perform another function when the phone is in call mode - but, nope, all three buttons hold their original function. That's probably a good thing overall, but it does make ending a call more of a process than it should be - it doesn't feel fast or fluid.</p><p>Another thing I'm not fond of is how the reminder snooze function works - my reminders trigger 30 minutes in advance by default (that's something you can configure in Outlook), but often I don't need to leave until 15 minutes before some appointments. Ideally I want to snooze the reminder for 10 or 15 minutes, or even five minutes before the start of the appointment if it's a conference call. The snooze function is hard-coded to five minutes though, so every five minutes I have to snooze the reminder. The current system is too binary and simplistic - I'd like to see, at minimum "5 Minutes before Start" added as an option that would be remembered.</p><p>On the plus side, the integrated Bing search is just killer. I was downtown today, and wanted to stop at a local store called The Camera Store. I pressed the search button, typed in "camera store", two seconds later the results showed up (I was already on the Local view), I tapped on the first result, then tapped the phone number. That's stupid easy and incredibly fast. That level of integration is superb and shows off what happens when a company that owns a search engine and a mobile OS think hard about how they should work together.</p><p>Also worth noting: the integration of multiple sources of information for a contact (Facebook, Windows Live, Outlook) is very slick. When you look at the contact details, underneath some pieces of info - such as birthday - it tells you what the source of that info is. It's smart enough to handle duplications as well - somehow I was one day off for my wife's birthday in Outlook, but the info was correct in Facebook - so it shows me both. Nice!</p><p>That's it for now - more later...there's some ugliness with the Zune music client that needs some&nbsp;explaining.</p><p><em>Jason Dunn owns and operates&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com/" target="_blank">Thoughts Media Inc.</a>, a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys&nbsp;<a href="http://photos.jasondunn.com/" target="_blank">photography</a>, mobile devices,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.jasondunn.com/" target="_blank">blogging</a>, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, his wonderful son Logan, and his sometimes obedient dog. He's thankful his MVP lead worked hard to get him a loaner Windows Phone 7 device for a week.</em></p><p><em></em><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//ppct/auto/1240336793.usr1.gif" /></p><p><strong>Do you enjoy using new hardware,&nbsp;<a class="iAs" href="http://www.digitalhomethoughts.com/news/show/93798/dell-s-inspiron-mini-10-reviewed.html" target="_blank">software</a>&nbsp;and accessories, then sharing your experience with others? Then join us on the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com/reviewteam.php" target="_blank">Thoughts Media Review Team</a>! We're looking for individuals who find it fun to test new gear and give their honest opinions about the experience. It's a volunteer role with some great perks. Interested?&nbsp;<a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com/reviewteam.php" target="_blank">Then click here for more information.</a></strong></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//ppct/auto/1240336793.usr1.gif" /></p><p>&nbsp;</p>

[Brent372]

Just my .02 on the end call issue.
I use a BT headset and the answer / end button on it would be my way of hanging up.. although I agree that the lack of hardware buttons is a poor choice.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

I really miss having a hardware button for the phone. With every single Windows Mobile/Windows Phone I've had over the years, there's been a physical button to end the call, and a physical button to start a call. That speed of access has been important, especially when it comes to ending a call.

I've been moaning about this for a while, if you've noticed. This isn't just WP7, it's just about every modern smartphone out there.

[Jason Dunn]

I've been moaning about this for a while, if you've noticed. This isn't just WP7, it's just about every modern smartphone out there.

It might not be so bad if the software were more finger friendly and the call screen appeared immediately after the call...I prefer hardware buttons, but I think it could be OK if the software were better.

[Paragon]

It might not be so bad if the software were more finger friendly and the call screen appeared immediately after the call...I prefer hardware buttons, but I think it could be OK if the software were better.

Once WP7 has been out for awhile and people start hacking it they may find a way to fix this. In Windows Mobile there was away to change the delay in ending a call. If memory serves me correct is was 2 seconds, and you could take it down to a half second if you wanted to.

Dave

[Janak Parekh]

It might not be so bad if the software were more finger friendly and the call screen appeared immediately after the call...I prefer hardware buttons, but I think it could be OK if the software were better. ... which is exactly what the iPhone does. It's fast enough (fraction of a second) that when you lift the phone from your ear, the screen's on by the time you get it anywhere near a position to press the button, and it's one massive touchscreen "End Call" button at the bottom. I've never, ever had trouble with this.

WP7 should be able to fix this in software, right?

--janak

[TheBigCheese]

It's good that Microsoft got local search working but will they ever fix the iPhone and Windows Mobile 6.x versions? On both, a local search always shows places 2-5 miles away and sorting by distance always does nothing. You usually have to scroll down and click on "more..." several times to find a place nearby.

I'm in Philadelphia and wanted to find a post office. It onlyu showed places in New Jersey and after scrolling through several; pages, I found one a half mile away but in fact there is one only 2 blocks from where I was standing and it has been there for at least 25 years!

Too bad Microsoft never fixes bugs as I reported this over a year ago and frequently since. I wonder when they will stop updating the WP 7 apps and operating system???

[Jason Dunn]

Once WP7 has been out for awhile and people start hacking it they may find a way to fix this. In Windows Mobile there was away to change the delay in ending a call. If memory serves me correct is was 2 seconds, and you could take it down to a half second if you wanted to.

I wouldn't hold my breath - Windows Phone 7 has more in common with a Zune HD than it does with any previous Windows Mobile phone. Although clever people do tend to find a way to accomplish certain things, so who knows. But I think the days of registry hacking and whatnot are likely behind us (for better or worse).

[Jason Dunn]

WP7 should be able to fix this in software, right?

Yes, this is definitely something they can tweak and adjust over time - and there's even a chance the delay is from the prototype hardware I'm using. Hard to say...

[TimeHunter]

From my very early days with WinMo (Motorola MPx-200 anyone?) on through to v6.5, the appointment snoozing function is something that has always defaulted to only delaying the alarm another 5 minutes. I've always had to fix it with either some third party tool or a few registry judo chops.

Android has the same "issue" but there is a great couple apps that handle it well. I have never used an iPhone and never integrated my dear old gen 2 iPod Touch with Outlook, so I don't know if it exists there also.

And I doubt it will ever be addressed because it isn't a glory feature, so it isn't going to get any love.

[Jason Dunn]

From my very early days with WinMo (Motorola MPx-200 anyone?) on through to v6.5, the appointment snoozing function is something that has always defaulted to only delaying the alarm another 5 minutes.

Hmm. Well, I've used Windows Mobile/Windows Phone exclusively for years and at some point, on some phone (I'm thinking perhaps my Samsung Jack) I was able to specify the snooze time. I really don't think I'm making it up. :D

[Fritzly]

I wouldn't hold my breath - Windows Phone 7 has more in common with a Zune HD than it does with any previous Windows Mobile phone. Although clever people do tend to find a way to accomplish certain things, so who knows. But I think the days of registry hacking and whatnot are likely behind us (for better or worse).

I am not so sure; the Zune was not hacked because very few people were interested in the hardware; hopefully Wp7 will see a broader acceptance. If so..... it will be hacked. The only question will be how long it will take.

[Gerard]

I don't remember WM6.5 reminders clearly as it's been a year or so since I started using WM6.5.3 on an Elfin, then on a Kaiser. But with WM6.5.3 (of which I know you do not approve, owing to its unofficial use through XDA-dev), the standard Calendar snooze options are these:

Dismiss All
Remind 5 mins before
Snoose 5 minutes
Snooze 10 minutes
Snooze 15 minutes
Snooze 1 hour
Snooze 1 day
View Item

I've poked around in settings and cannot find any way to change those defaults, and to be honest I'd like some user-defined additions to be possible. But View Item takes care, if a bit awkwardly, of the need, for example, to snooze for 90 minutes. My dim recollection is that something like this was possible under WM2003SE, WM2002, and the original PPC.

But the modus operandi is different with WM7, as the Bing button's simplicity points out. The user is not being asked for their initiative, their input. The user is being 'predicted' or 'anticipated' at every turn. As the failure (or so it seems to some of us) of the Back button for non-native (and developing 'native' apps is forbidden outside the Microsoft campus, right?) apps shows, the user's notions of what should be happening with this OS are really not of concern. The treasure trove of value for Facebook links and the like, that's the focus. It's a marketing-driven way of doing things, replete with ads where possible.

One could say that such a perspective is somewhat cynical... but is it, really? Seems to me that the whole package points to a sort of joining mentality, rather than independent device usage. EVERYONE should snooze alarms for 5 minutes. That way we're all on the same wavelength. EVERYONE should use MS native WP7 apps, not third-party apps. The Back button's behavior will inevitably reinforce this behavior. Need to end a call? Do it the way MS thinks it should be done. And if you have an app to end calls more efficiently... well, better hope they are accepted for distribution through the only official channel. Will third party batteries also fail? It wouldn't be the first time for such a gambit, the way some printer manufacturers seek to control use of ink, allowing only their heavily over-priced cartridges. I'm not big on consipiracies and such, but the strategy here is quite plain, isn't it?

[aicon]

...the appointment snoozing function is something that has always defaulted to only delaying the alarm another 5 minutes. I've always had to fix it with either some third party tool or a few registry judo chops...

I believe that with WM5 - 6.1 you could click a drop-down somewhere in the notification to select the snooze period similar to Outlook on your desktop. Don't have any old device to check now tho'...

The HD2 has the same 5 minute only snooze and it really irritates me.

[Gerard]

Just dug out my old Toshiba e830, which runs WM2003SE, plugged it in for the first time in months, and set a test appointment. (Wow, the default OS date is July 1, 2004 - this thing is really OLD!) Sure enough there is a pop-up with buttons Dismiss and Snooze, and a drop-down menu with snooze time options:

5 minutes
10 minutes
15 minutes
30 minutes
1 hour
2 hours
8 hours
1 day
1 week

The 1 day option would be useful for an everyday alarm I suppose, without bothering to go into Alarms and set a repeating alarm or a recurring appointment in Calendar, especially if the repeat number wasn't yet known. The 1 week I could see being useful for Tasks, or using Calendar like Tasks which is what I've always done. Anyway, the menu items are slightly different between these OS versions 6 years apart, but the essential element, user-selected snooze options, remained the same right up until the 'last' Windows Mobile OS version, WM6.5.3.

Aicon; it seems with the HD2 that HTC decided to customize the snooze options, perhaps anticipating WP7? For what it's worth, a guy at XDA-dev has received quite a lot of donations towards expenses and time involved for making WP7 run on the HD2. I don't know how far along he's got so far.

[Doug Raeburn]

Yes, I definitely recall the options for the snooze time with earlier versions of Windows Mobile. That's because I've missed them tremendously as I've dabbled with other platforms.

As far as I can tell, the iPhone doesn't snooze at all. When you get an alarm, you can cancel it or view the appointment, at which time you can go in and change the alarm to simulate "snoozing". Certainly far less convenient than just selecting "5 minutes before", which is what I used most of the time with WM and continue to use with desktop Outlook. And this is not improved even with Pocket Informant for the iPhone, which is otherwise extremely nice and a huge improvement over the stock Calendar. I know that Alex has been stymied to some extent by the closed nature of the iPhone and the inability to interact with and/or control some aspects of system level functionality. However, that has improved lately on the iPhone side and PI has leveraged the improvements to actually write to the iPhone calendar directly, rather than having to sync through Google. Who knows, maybe updated alarm options will be available sometime.

The Blackberry Bold 9700 that I use for work has a similar setup to WP7 as reported by Jason. With the standard calendar, you can set a single default for snooze and you're stuck with it. Default is 15 minutes. Once again, PI to the rescue. PI provides custom snooze (5, 10, 15, 30 minutes, etc.) which helps quite a bit. Sadly though, given PI's WM roots, they haven't seen fit to include the even more useful "5 minutes before" option for the BB. I've posted a feature request for that a couple of times but it apparently hasn't sparked much interest. No complaints in general about PI for BB, though... again, it's a huge improvement over the stock Calendar on that platform as well.

It does seem to be a bit of a shame that MS would blindly follow the competition with more limited functionality than before with WM. One would think that they'd include previous versions of WM in the investigation of functionality of competitive devices so they could identify and perhaps keep features such as the snooze function which was superior even to current competitors.

[mas98110]

I understand that people rely on the WM smart-phones for calendaring, alarms, etc.
but don't you find that not being able to remove an SD memory card is a deal killer. It is for me. I love my Wizard running WM 6.0 because I can switch cards one of which has my entire encrypted office files, (because of a legal requirement) and movies and music on the others.
Now, I'm looking at the HTC HD2 and hacking it with a smooth ROM. I just don't get where MS is going to sell a whole lot of these?

[Sven Johannsen]

but don't you find that not being able to remove an SD memory card is a deal killer?
No, actually I don't. I do use memory cards but typically the biggest one I can afford when I get a new device is what goes in it and never comes out. Eventually when the device has been retired for a long time I think about the memory card and wonder if it could be usefull in something else. Usually it is so behind the current standard I drill a hole in it and use it as a XMas ornament.

I think switchable media has it's place, but the average consumer, which is the target here, isn't going to think this is a big deal, if they even realize this used to be common. Managing removable media adds a level of interaction, that many don't want to get in to on a phone. Personnally the physical size is a bit of a deterrent. CF was OK. SD not horrible. I really don't like juggling micro-SDs the size of my little finger nail. So, I understand your need, but I don't think this is going to be a big deal for the majority, unless someone convinces them it is a big deal.

[mas98110]

Your assessment is absolutely correct, the general public doesn't even understand how these phones work. My thought was that since the iPhone is everyone's favorite, MS could used removable memory as a selling difference.
Looks like MS is banking on the "Cloud" as a future income earner.
You are right about me not being the typical user I'm off the chart when it comes to buying electronics;researching till the product is old and the new model is in.
Can't help myself... I grew up poor

[flatlander_48]

Another thing I'm not fond of is how the reminder snooze function works - my reminders trigger 30 minutes in advance by default (that's something you can configure in Outlook), but often I don't need to leave until 15 minutes before some appointments. Ideally I want to snooze the reminder for 10 or 15 minutes, or even five minutes before the start of the appointment if it's a conference call. The snooze function is hard-coded to five minutes though, so every five minutes I have to snooze the reminder. The current system is too binary and simplistic - I'd like to see, at minimum "5 Minutes before Start" added as an option that would be remembered.

I've never liked the way this is done in Outlook. Sounds like WP7 is a Great Leap backwards...

[Eriq Cook]

After almost a solid month of use, I've gone back to using my "Classic" TouchPro 2 running 6.5.3. The WP7 OS is great CONCEPT and much faster/snappier, but there are way too many small but extremely useful features that were completely wiped out in WP7.

No dedicated hardware button for ending calls is downright irritating, and the lack of reminder snooze options, inability to sync Outlook tasks and show more than one upcoming appointment on the Calendar tile is plain silly :confused: If I'm going to pay $400-$650 for a WP7 device, don't make us go backwards. Improve on what we had before or leave it alone.

I think I will be selling my HD7 and give a serious look @ Android now. I'm sure Microsoft will address a small amount of requests over the next few months in updates, but I highly doubt they will bring back all the small but very useful features that made Windows Mobile so great for us business & power users.

MS did a great job with the concept for WP7, but it still has a ways to go to become the definitive smartphone platform again.

[mas98110]

You were brave to buy the new Win Phone 7. I too was waiting to stand in line for the new phone but quickly found out it would not work for me. Why? no hot swap SD cards & no Active Sync. What the hell was Microsoft thinking.
At this point their best shot is to promote the Xbox feature to gamers.
I'm still waiting for the HTC HD2 to drop in price to "free" CarToys has it at $29.00 after signing up for a 2 year contract extension.

[mas98110]

I'm sorry to hear your experience with the WinPhone 7 was not good. I did get the HTC HD2from Car Toys for $29 only after I learned that T-mobile was no longer carrying the HD2. I really love the phone and the ability to sync outlook.
Battery life was awful until I deactivated HTC Sence and replaced it with SPB Mobile Skin. I learned about this battery drain problem from the folks on this site and I want to extend a big thanks to all who manage and moderate these posts.

Thanks for your time and energy and Merry Christmas.