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Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone

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Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone

#61

Post by polyfractal »

zwigby wrote: post #60
polyfractal wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

From my experience with iPhone and iTunes connect (also not a great application) I don't spend a lot of time in iTunes Connect. Are you spending a lot of time in the App Hub? What I'm getting at is that this sounds like a pretty minor thing in the grand scheme.

Oh, I agree entirely. The benefits of the excellent development environment completely overshadow the poor App Hub experience.

And once you're at the point where you are submitting an app, you are already committed. The poor experience won't stop you from submitting, and probably won't stop you from developing another app.

Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone

#62

Post by polyfractal »

oakgrove wrote: post #41
polyfractal wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My WP7 Samsung Focus is incredibly snappy. I've never seen it hang or pause, even when dealing with poorly made apps. As mentioned, not everyone will like the interface. But I find the interface intuitive and really accessible. Everything I want to do is within one click or one swipe.

"Everything I want to do is within one click or one swipe" I have an HD7. What I quoted from you is not true.

Heh, ok, I suppose its more accurate to say "One click or one swipe + (maybe scroll) + click"

My commonly used apps/games are pinned to the homescreen, everything else is on the app menu one swipe away. I've never used another smartphone so I don't know if that is comparable.

Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone

#63

Post by Gormo »

untog wrote: post #51
bluekeybox wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you post a screenshot (or a link) to a similar page from an OS that doesn't look tired to you? Not criticizing you -- just want to know what you think.

Can't speak for the OP, but the WP7 interface does not look tired to me: http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/images/windows-phone... That home screen is the perfect mix of iPhone (structured, but with minimal ability to display info) and Android (stacked with widgets, but a mess layout-wise). The UI in WP7 is incredibly person-centric- I look up their entry in the phone book, it shows me their updates on various…

That shot of WP7 also looks a lot less functional than the above one of iOS. Apple's interface is well-organized; the purpose of each screen element and the results a user should expect from manipulating it are fairly clear and unambiguous.

The WP7 UI seems to be following Microsoft's recent "haphazard grid of inconsistent elements" approach, which works about as well as the ribbon.

Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone

#64

Post by untog »

Gormo wrote: post #63
untog wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't speak for the OP, but the WP7 interface does not look tired to me: http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/images/windows-phone... That home screen is the perfect mix of iPhone (structured, but with minimal ability to display info) and Android (stacked with widgets, but a mess layout-wise). The UI in WP7 is incredibly person-centric- I look up their entry in the phone book, it shows me their updates on various…

That shot of WP7 also looks a lot less functional than the above one of iOS. Apple's interface is well-organized; the purpose of each screen element and the results a user should expect from manipulating it are fairly clear and unambiguous. The WP7 UI seems to be following Microsoft's recent "haphazard grid of inconsistent elements" approach, which works about as well as the ribbon.

How do you figure that? The WP7 tile list is a list of apps, just the same as iOS icons. Except that apps can push a hell of a lot more information onto their tiles than iOS apps can to their icons. I struggle to see how that is less functional.

Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone

#65

Post by nemik »

Does it bother anyone else that he hasn't really given any reasons why it's the first device he'd switch to from an iPhone? Is it OS, battery life, UI? What about it would make it his first choice?

All he does is whine about market conditions and reasons it will fail.

Re: Why the Lumia 800 is the first device I would switch to from an iPhone

#66

Post by Gormo »

untog wrote: post #64
Gormo wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That shot of WP7 also looks a lot less functional than the above one of iOS. Apple's interface is well-organized; the purpose of each screen element and the results a user should expect from manipulating it are fairly clear and unambiguous. The WP7 UI seems to be following Microsoft's recent "haphazard grid of inconsistent elements" approach, which works about as well as the ribbon.

How do you figure that? The WP7 tile list is a list of apps, just the same as iOS icons. Except that apps can push a hell of a lot more information onto their tiles than iOS apps can to their icons. I struggle to see how that is less functional.

With the exception of the single number-bubble, iOS icons don't include dynamic information on them, and therefore aren't regularly changing in appearance.

The icon to run the photo viewer in WP7 appears to consist entirely of a thumbnail of an image from your photo album. That means that every time you take a new photo, the image changes.

Your contact list application itself contains a grid of thumbnails of contact photos, which is a superfluous feature, and may cause a lot of confusion if other applications also contain a grid of content thumbnails.

Pushing information onto tiles is itself one of the key usability problems with WP7. The controls that you interact with to invoke functions should not do double-duty as general-purpose info delivery systems. Apple gets this right; the ability of controls to convey information is limited to conveying state information that indicates whether/when you need to interact with the control itself, and the shape, placement, coloring, and imagery of the control don't change for trivial reasons.

I understand the visual appeal of the Metro UI, but ultimately, this is supposed to be a functional user interface, not a Mondrian print.

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