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Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

extremetech.com

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Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#41

Post by wtallis »

Mythrl wrote: post #20
rrreese wrote: post #13

I used a WP7 for several months last year. In many ways I really liked it, the UI was pretty slick, live tiles where great, the whole thing was surprisingly polished. But I now use an iPhone. The reason is lack of quality 3rd party software. The PDF viewer available for WP7 (there was only one) was absolutely abysmal. Very poor UX. And that was all to often the case. Where Android or iOS would have numerous great app…

The 3rd party app criticism is in my view an outdated one. One year ago would have been premature to make a declaration on the availability of 3rd party apps for the Windows platform since it was still relatively new. Windows Phone has been catching up and can probably do so more quickly now that the phone and desktop OSes can use similar code. Edit: Since I am being downvoted for my opinion, I will add some evidence…

That's not evidence, that's just a claim from Microsoft's marketing. The code-sharing doesn't apply to any current desktop applications - it only applies to the hypothetical future Metro-based desktop apps. And it's irrelevant anyways.

You can't expect a user to stick with an incomplete platform when there is viable competition, based solely on promises that the situation will improve. In fact, since Microsoft has announced that current Windows Phone 7 hardware will not run Windows Phone 8, anybody who was counting on their phone getting more useful over time has been proven to be a sucker.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#42

Post by hdctambien »

vibrunazo wrote: post #29
pilgrim689 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it's subjective, but you would be in the minority [1] for thinking Metro UI is a "unicorn vomit/rainbow disaster". [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_UI#Response

How can you be sure? Your link only have a few select critics, whose opinion are 99% useless. I wanna know what real users think. My own personal anecdote asking a few people about it is closer to unicorn puke than acclamation. But I don't like anecdotes. Are there are quantitative study with a large sample of users' opinions about how Metro looks? I'd be very interested in one. There have been many reports here and…

I think you have to use WP7 to get past the "unicorn poop" look.

To you, looking at the screenshots, you see a mess of a UI. My me, looking at the home screen my my WP7 I see my Fiance, my brother, my Mother and my Best friend and it toggles between their picture and their latest Facebook updates.

My phone doesn't look like "unicorn poop" to me. It might to you, though.

I imagine Microsoft has data about what people like/dislike about Metro, and they are doubling down on it so the data is probably leaning in the "good" direction.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#43

Post by r00fus »

robomartin wrote: post #28
redsymbol wrote: post #24

With the recent WP8 press coverage, it's interesting (from a PR perspective) that many stories complain about WP7 phones not being upgraded. Some tech journalists seem almost angry about it. I don't know if this will die down or not; that's what eventually happened when Google revealed the Nexus 1 (iirc) wouldn't be upgradable to 4.0. So far, though, this point is significantly distracting from the amazing improvemen…

There might be a little pro-Apple bias in some of the way these things are reported. We now have millions of iPod touch devices that can't be upgraded to newer versions of iOS. This is also true of older iPhones (3 and below, I believe). Nobody is crying foul over that. Yet. As app developers start, out of necessity and force, dropping support for older versions of iOS things might change.

I have an off-contract 3GS that's working fine as a bulky iPod touch for my kid. The older 2G and iPod Touch from 2008 (ie, 4 years ago) won't support iOS6.

However, you can buy WP7 phones right now that will not be able to run the latest OS when WP8 comes out. If I were selling these things (or Nokia), I'd be pretty frustrated about that.

Why pre-announce? Osbourne effect FTL.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#44

Post by stuntmouse »

huggyface wrote: post #35

The real foundation for cross-platform code -- from mobile platform to mobile platform -- is whether WP 8 will support OpenGL ES 2.0. The explosion of quality Android games came courtesy of the NDK and ES 2.0, allowing for an almost direct migration of apps from iOS with only minimal I/O changes. Given that the mobile GPUs are targeted to that, I have to think it will. Having portability between the desktop and mobil…

No OpenGL ES support. DirectX only.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#45

Post by huggyface »

stuntmouse wrote: post #44
huggyface wrote: post #35

The real foundation for cross-platform code -- from mobile platform to mobile platform -- is whether WP 8 will support OpenGL ES 2.0. The explosion of quality Android games came courtesy of the NDK and ES 2.0, allowing for an almost direct migration of apps from iOS with only minimal I/O changes. Given that the mobile GPUs are targeted to that, I have to think it will. Having portability between the desktop and mobil…

No OpenGL ES support. DirectX only.

I have only heard them talk about DirectX, unsurprisingly, however have you seen an official comment on this?

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#46

Post by jsnell »

untog wrote: post #26
redsymbol wrote: post #24

With the recent WP8 press coverage, it's interesting (from a PR perspective) that many stories complain about WP7 phones not being upgraded. Some tech journalists seem almost angry about it. I don't know if this will die down or not; that's what eventually happened when Google revealed the Nexus 1 (iirc) wouldn't be upgradable to 4.0. So far, though, this point is significantly distracting from the amazing improvemen…

The issue is the timing of this. The Nexus One was introduced in Jan 2010, ICS was released in, what, March 2012? Over two years difference. I had a Nexus One at the time, and while I was disappointed, I'd got two years of use (key point here: two years is the typical cellphone contract length) out of my phone. Not so for people who bought a Lumia 900 when it was released in April of this year. The issue from a PR pe…

Letting people assume the worst seems perfectly rational if that worst case is actually true, and 7.8 is just a minor cosmetic upgrade. At least it means there will be some apologists around muddying the waters by claiming that 7.8 will be more significant.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#47

Post by hammersend »

untog wrote: post #8
mindstab wrote: post #2

"Now that Windows Phone has managed to clobber iOS when it comes to customization without losing its aesthetic charm, it’s time for Apple to step it up" This sentence really leapt out at me. Are we looking at the same rainbow disaster screen shots? Windows phone looks like a unicorn puked on a phone. I don't think it give any compelling reason on it's own for iOS to shift.

It's a matter of taste, really. I disagree with you, but I can't exactly say that you're wrong . For me, the iOS homescreen is too limiting. All an app can do is show its icon and a number of pending notifications. Android is too far the other way- widgets can be far too attention grabbing and obtrusive- silly animations of clouds moving in front of a sun, nonsense like that. WP hits a great balance between the two-…

Android is "too far the other way" because some developers throw everything they have at making a whiz-bang widget? How about just not using that widget instead of using it to cast the platform in a negative light?

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#48

Post by untog »

hammersend wrote: post #47
untog wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a matter of taste, really. I disagree with you, but I can't exactly say that you're wrong . For me, the iOS homescreen is too limiting. All an app can do is show its icon and a number of pending notifications. Android is too far the other way- widgets can be far too attention grabbing and obtrusive- silly animations of clouds moving in front of a sun, nonsense like that. WP hits a great balance between the two-…

Android is "too far the other way" because some developers throw everything they have at making a whiz-bang widget? How about just not using that widget instead of using it to cast the platform in a negative light?

Because almost every single widget is that way. I don't know what it is about Android, but it seems to encourage absolutely awful design. Maybe it's because Metro is very specific and sparse that WP is less visually offensive. Maybe it's the design tools available. I have no idea. But the number of Android widgets I've found that look even moderately good can be counted on one hand.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#49

Post by cmelbye »

hammersend wrote: post #47
untog wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a matter of taste, really. I disagree with you, but I can't exactly say that you're wrong . For me, the iOS homescreen is too limiting. All an app can do is show its icon and a number of pending notifications. Android is too far the other way- widgets can be far too attention grabbing and obtrusive- silly animations of clouds moving in front of a sun, nonsense like that. WP hits a great balance between the two-…

Android is "too far the other way" because some developers throw everything they have at making a whiz-bang widget? How about just not using that widget instead of using it to cast the platform in a negative light?

Because he's talking about the capabilities (what app developers are able to do to your home screen) of each platform.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#50

Post by cmelbye »

pilgrim689 wrote: post #5
mindstab wrote: post #2

"Now that Windows Phone has managed to clobber iOS when it comes to customization without losing its aesthetic charm, it’s time for Apple to step it up" This sentence really leapt out at me. Are we looking at the same rainbow disaster screen shots? Windows phone looks like a unicorn puked on a phone. I don't think it give any compelling reason on it's own for iOS to shift.

I guess it's subjective, but you would be in the minority [1] for thinking Metro UI is a "unicorn vomit/rainbow disaster". [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_UI#Response

I think he/she is talking about the screenshots of the new start screen that accompanied the announcement. Personally, I love the current WP7 and I thought that the new screen ditched a lot of the simplicity and looked very busy and unattractive.
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