Intentionally provocative headline. He says it is a reasonable alternative if he had to switch but not good enough as it stands.
It's not provocative, it just leaves off the conditional at the end.
Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone
31–40 of 66 posts
Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone
#32... also it runs internet explorer bringing the pains of having to do non-standard web development hacks to the mobile world too. So from my very selfish perspective, I really hope, Windows Mobile will never really take off so that I don't have to really deal with Internet Explorer Mobile.
Windows Phone 7 uses IE9 and that is a darned good browser. I dont know what browser Windows Mobile uses but its irrelevant since Windows Phone 7 replaced it.
darned good browser.
Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone
#33The apps will come and they will be better designed. I do not know if anybody here has tried the Microsoft developer tools but they are more advanced than anything even Apple has. Expression Blend for example is something Android developers need badly. I hope that with Adobe letting go of Flex that Google is going to poach a lot of their IDE team like they did with Chet Haase. What they are missing was a more open AP…
I have a love-hate relationship with WP7 development.
On one hand, we have Visual Studio, a built in phone emulator, the .Net platform and excellent documentation/tutorials. It's almost stupid how easily you can create fairly advanced "form based" applications with WPF. Games are fairly straightforward with XNA. The build in emulator works with VS like a dream, dropping in and out of breakpoints, etc.
I could gush all day about the development environment.
However, App Hub (the place to actually publish your app) is an absolute nightmare. Built entirely in Silverlight, it is buggy, clunky and unintuitive. There is basically zero documentation, descriptions are vague or just wrong. Stats about your app are at least a week delayed and are not detailed. You can only see reviews for your app in your local market (e.g. US market). My app has a few reviews from England, but I have to use a third party tool to view them.
I could rant all day about App Hub.
Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone
#34Two months ago my contract was up with AT&T, so I decided "What the hell, I'm going to purchase an iPhone(4)!". So I did. Turns out, after all the hype I was completely underwhelmed by it. It's not that it's a bad phone, it's great. It's just that the general OS feels tired to me. The interface. I ended up playing with a Samsung Focus a few days later in the same AT&T store and swapped my iPhone for it. I'm incredibl…
>It's just that the general OS feels tired to me. What does this even mean?
I'd call it cheesy, not tired.
Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone
#35The apps will come and they will be better designed. I do not know if anybody here has tried the Microsoft developer tools but they are more advanced than anything even Apple has. Expression Blend for example is something Android developers need badly. I hope that with Adobe letting go of Flex that Google is going to poach a lot of their IDE team like they did with Chet Haase. What they are missing was a more open AP…
I have a love-hate relationship with WP7 development. On one hand, we have Visual Studio, a built in phone emulator, the .Net platform and excellent documentation/tutorials. It's almost stupid how easily you can create fairly advanced "form based" applications with WPF. Games are fairly straightforward with XNA. The build in emulator works with VS like a dream, dropping in and out of breakpoints, etc. I could gush al…
The app hub problems you describe are fixable. Did you relay your issues to Microsoft?
Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone
#36I don't think apps have a major impact on purchasing factor for the general public. I would imagine that the most important web properties would already have Windows clients. I feel the real reason is that the hardware so far has been really bland and nothing catches your attention. The Lumia has a fresh design that could kickstart the 'wow' factor.
The fresh design is straight from N9, which has been selling quite well in the limited markets where Nokia released it. And N9 reviews are also great, in the tune of the best phone you'll never be able to buy.
Apparently Windows Phone 7 is also quite good, but I wonder if it still is good enough to compete in an iOS-and-Android world. Maybe if Nokia and Microsoft pour enough money there.
How about the mobile start-ups here, do you have any WP7 app plans?
Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone
#37The apps will come and they will be better designed. I do not know if anybody here has tried the Microsoft developer tools but they are more advanced than anything even Apple has. Expression Blend for example is something Android developers need badly. I hope that with Adobe letting go of Flex that Google is going to poach a lot of their IDE team like they did with Chet Haase. What they are missing was a more open AP…
> You next phone will be a Windows Phone.
I'm not so sanguine. First Mover Advantage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-mover_advantage) is a very real effect across many industries. In fact, the some of the patterns in the wikipedia entry have already been seen in the smartphone market (pre-emption of scarce resources, free rider effects). And we don't have to look too far back in history to find an example of an OS with a superior UI (original Mac) getting trounced by an OS with a huge application library (DOS/Win3.1). I don't think we see Microsoft playing a significant role in the smartphone market. Unlike tablets, there aren't too many customers needing to run Win32 API apps on a phone. Until we see another inflection point in the platform market, I think Windows will remain niche on the phone and modestly successful on the tablet. The wildcard is the IP litigation, I suppose. If Apple were to be wildly successful at crippling Android, I imagine OEMs would flock to the WinPhone platform.
Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone
#38If no one dares to make the jump, it isn't going to happen.
You should make apps for this phone if it really is promising. Why would you want to be at the end of the line when you can be first. Okay there is the risk that it's going to be a short line, but what if it isn't. What if this phone becomes successful and you are way ahead already making apps for it. If we would all sit and wait for everything, nothing will happen.
Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone
#39I don't know why there complaints about the marketplace. The WP7 platform has been a huge hit with developers; just take a look at what's out on the marketplace: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps. From everything I know the review process is leagues better than the Apple's in that you get actual feedback about the issues whether or not your app is acceptable. Microsoft has put out a podcast from Redmond that covers what is going on with the platform to help developers http://wpradio.podcast.windowsphone7.com/rss.
Then there is the fact that they make it free for students to develop with dreamspark accounts. https://www.dreamspark.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductId=2...
Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Windows Phone 7 uses IE9 and that is a darned good browser. I dont know what browser Windows Mobile uses but its irrelevant since Windows Phone 7 replaced it.
darned good browser. …compared to IE7. Is it not a mix of IE7 and IE9?
Pre-Mango update, it was a mix of IE7 and IE8. After the Mango update, it's IE9's rendering engine, which gives it HTML5 capabilities.