Windows Phone 7/8 Catch All

Cool. Interested to hear how it goes.

I want to buy the Dell Venue Pro but I'm not able to actually find it anywhere.

As much as I'd love to get one of these, I'm still under contract until mid/late 2011 and I tend to forget how scratch prone every single part of my iPhone & iPhone 3G were. I really hope that someone puts out a device with a screen that resists scratching like the Moto Droid, because that's my current beast of burden and this thing has taken a beating.

I tired of accessory cases and screen protectors. I really hope they've not made those required accessories...

trueheart78 wrote:

I really hope that someone puts out a device with a screen that resists scratching like the Moto Droid, because that's my current beast of burden and this thing has taken a beating.

I think most phones are coming out with Corning's "Gorilla Glass" these days which is what the Droid has.

LiquidMantis wrote:
trueheart78 wrote:

I really hope that someone puts out a device with a screen that resists scratching like the Moto Droid, because that's my current beast of burden and this thing has taken a beating.

I think most phones are coming out with Corning's "Gorilla Glass" these days which is what the Droid has.

I sure hope so.

Ulairi wrote:

I want to buy the Dell Venue Pro but I'm not able to actually find it anywhere.

Same here - word is that you will be able to order them off of Dell.com on Monday 11/15. You can sign up for "updates" there as well.

Also, if you're near a Microsoft Store, you might be able to get one there. UK retailers are list it as supply constrained and that they won't be getting any until January, so hopefully that means Dell is shifting their supply to the US and are not having other issues.

The Venue Pro has "Gorilla Glass" as well.

I just picked up a Samsung Focus yesterday. So far I have to say the O.S. is very sleek, fast and responsive. I really like the tile layout of the O.S. and that I can move them around in any order that I want them. Also some apps allow you to display stuff on the tile like the weather app will show temperature etc. The xbox live integration is pretty good, though you have to install the xbox live extras app to get full functionality out of it. Got a few achievements already in a couple of the free games they had. Internet Explorer on the phone seems to work much better than my girl friends Iphone 3g browser. The market place has a decent amount of stuff on it already with most of the essiental stuff there like youtube, netfilx, facebook etc. I have a zune hd so its nice that I can now combine my phone and mp3 player together. So far very nice but I should mention that this is my first smart phone so everything on this is way better than my last phone.

Glad to hear you're enjoying it, breander. I've officially decided that when it's time for a new phone (read: next sept/oct), I'll be jumping to a WinPhone7 device.

trueheart78 wrote:

As much as I'd love to get one of these, I'm still under contract until mid/late 2011 and I tend to forget how scratch prone every single part of my iPhone & iPhone 3G were. I really hope that someone puts out a device with a screen that resists scratching like the Moto Droid, because that's my current beast of burden and this thing has taken a beating.

I tired of accessory cases and screen protectors. I really hope they've not made those required accessories...

Well, there you are, then. But I got through two years with an iPhone 3G without a screen protector with a couple of simple rules: keep a slim case on the back and never put it in the same pocket with my keys. My iPhone 4 has only the bumper on it, and it seems to be holding up just fine when I stick to the no-keys rule.

The Focus seems to be the device of choice for those of stuck on Ma Bell's network, but so far none of the hardware models have impressed me. The Surround's speaker is underwhelming, the Quantum's keyboard is superfluous (moreso given WP7's meager support for landscape orientation--good news for Dell, I guess), and the Focus only comes with 8GB of storage, the expansion of which could be hit or miss when it comes to finding quality micro-SD cards.

I really wish they'd just provide a quality Xbox app for the Zune HD (and iPhone and Android) and then I wouldn't even have to think about phones at all.

All of that is why I am glad I have to wait to get one. I am tired of being burned as an early adopter...

I dunno.. I find myself using my Windows 7 phone more and more over my iPhone.. its level of graphical polish and intuitive interface is starting to grow on me.. and oddly enough its commercials are kinda correct.. I can get the info I need far quicker and faster than on my iphone... In retrospect its been almost 3 years.. the iPhone OS is kinda clunky.

Its missing far to many critical "apps" and I dont find any of the "Bing" apps as good as the Google ones but perhaps Google will bring them to the platform if it becomes more popular?

Would love to see Free turn by turn Navigation as well at some point...

TheGameguru wrote:

Would love to see Free turn by turn Navigation as well at some point...

That's probably the biggest thing that will hold back my wife from jumping to the device - she loves the free GPS capabilities of Android. Personally, as long as I have a map and a notation of where I am, I'm happy.

I finally recieved my Dell Venue Pro yesterday after all kinds of delays and shipping issues...I was close to cancelling the order due to Dell's issues, but right now, I'm glad I didn't.

The device itself is quite nice and has a great look and feel compared to the other WP7 devices I have seen personally (HTC Surround and HTC HD7). As others have stated the OS is super fast and responsive and looks great.

I'm still trying to come to grips with all the features - I spent the past 6 years without a cell phone of any kind, so this is a huge move for me...The XBox Live integration is super cool and I like being able to download demos of various games. My daughter loved being able to see her avatar on the phone...she was a bit disappointed that it didn't have Angry Birds, tho.

Anyone have impressions of the HTC HD7? I'm considering getting one.

Engadget did a review of the HD7.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/20/h...

The latest Maximum PC also did a review. MPC seemed to like it quite a bit.

Mobileburn also has a review of it up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rFmo...

How is the gaming on WP7? I've seen some reviews and some youtube videos of some games. Android's big weakness is in gaming (for me). Most of the games are more distractions than full games. I'm looking more for full on games like Civ Revolution, Street Fighter 4, Lara Croft:Guardian of Light, etcetera that you find on the iPhone. I.E. DS/PSP games.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Anyone have impressions of the HTC HD7? I'm considering getting one.

Thanks for the links, EvilHomer.

After spending a bit of hands-on time with an HD7 last night, I've decided to get one. My chief complaint about the other Windows (pre-7) and Android phones I've used is that the UIs either felt unresponsive, clumsy, or overly-complex. The Windows Phone 7 interface is smooth and intuitive, and the HD7 has a good feel to it.

I'll post impressions once I have my own in my grubby little paws.

Nice. We don't have a t-mobile store in town so I can't try an HD7. We have i-wireless and they usually take a while to get t-mobile phones in. They just got the Nexus One in July. I like my Nexus One. I do share your feelings on the responsiveness. It isn't always slow but I've experienced a lot of slow downs and more crashes of apps than I feel I should. I do LOVE the widgets, though.

TheGameguru wrote:

I dunno.. I find myself using my Windows 7 phone more and more over my iPhone.. its level of graphical polish and intuitive interface is starting to grow on me.. and oddly enough its commercials are kinda correct.. I can get the info I need far quicker and faster than on my iphone... In retrospect its been almost 3 years.. the iPhone OS is kinda clunky.

I don't know. Is there more information in the lock screen? Yes. Is it anything more than the number of new communiques since the last time I unlocked the phone? Nope.

Posted from my HD7. Liking it so far, but it's a big change from the RAZR I've had for the last six years.

I bought my HD7 on Friday and spent the weekend playing with it. As I mentioned earlier, it's my introduction to the world of smart phones, so I'm not sure what nuisances and features are particular to my phone or are issues with the platform in general. I do have a first generation iPod Touch, so I can at least compare the OSs and some of the features that aren't specific to telephony.

Right off the hop, the phone feels nice. It's a nice size for holding in your hand, the buttons are all easy to reach, and it feels solidly constructed. I saw a few reviews complaining that the back of the phone felt flimsy, but I haven't noticed anything like that; when I push on it, there's no flex that I can see.

The screen is bright, pretty, and responsive. It's also big, which is great for playing games, watching movies, and browsing the internet. Because the wireless in my laptop has now completely crapped out, my phone turned into my primary web device over the weekend, and it was much more comfortable to use than the cramped iPod Touch both in terms of the physical aspect of holding the device and in terms of reading the text. I do a lot less zooming in and out on the HD7.

The Win Phone 7 OS is different. I don't really know how else to say it. Whenever I'm talking with Windows desktop people who are thinking about buying a Mac, I tell them that there'll be a learning curve as they get used to the Apple way of doing things. This feels like that except it's getting used to a non-Apple way of doing things. Most of the Android devices I've played with have felt like they're really trying to imitate Apple's iOS in the layout of icons, navigation, and so forth. The Win Phone 7 interface is its own thing entirely and takes some getting used to. Zune users (both of them) might have an easier time adjusting, but going from an iOS device to the HD7 was a but jarring. That said, I actually prefer this interface.

I don't know how much you lot already know about the Win Phone 7 interface, so I won't go into great detail, but the concept of the start page falls in line well with my line of thinking. By letting me select what goes on that first page while still giving me easy access to a full list of my apps, I'm able to prioritize the things I like or use most often without having to endlessly shuffle around apps. One of my biggest frustrations with the iPod Touch was how I'd have to constantly rejigger the app icons to keep the things I used up front without putting the things I liked but used less often too many pages into the back. It's also great that I can pin anything to the start page, not just apps: frequently used contacts, webpages, etc.

I'm also really fond of the live tiles. The AP news feed app, for example, updates with pictures from the latest news stories, and any contacts I pin to the start page update with that person's latest Facebook profile picture and status update. Webpage tiles are also live.

The marketplace suffers from the same issues as all mobile marketplaces: they can break it down into categories all they want, but there's not much to separate the crap from the good stuff. I didn't have trouble finding anything I needed, though, so I don't feel as though the market is underserved.

I only really have two gripes about the system: the first is that I can't wake the phone with the face buttons. I'd really like to be able to hit the Windows key to wake it up rather than using the power button. My second gripe is that I can't download anything using my Zune pass from the phone, I have to instead download them into the Zune software and then sync them to my phone.

Overall, I'm really happy with my purchase. Anyone have any questions about it?

Nice info Clockwork, a couple of questions.

How do you find the speed of the interface when it comes to moving around between applications and messaging and the actual phone? With my current Windows 6.1 (stop laughing) Omnia I find a small, but perceptible and annoying lag between actions, sometimes even down to typing and number entering.

And how is the standard onscreen keyboard? Is it responsive and accurate?

Any good games yet?

I'm up for renewal in about 6 months, weighing up my options a bit early but there's no harm in that. I'm leaning most strongly towards a Blackberry, mostly because of the free on device services and the snappiness of the OS itself. But the Win7 phones are tempting and the interface sounds good.

MrDeVil909 wrote:

How do you find the speed of the interface when it comes to moving around between applications and messaging and the actual phone? With my current Windows 6.1 (stop laughing) Omnia I find a small, but perceptible and annoying lag between actions, sometimes even down to typing and number entering.

It's snappy. I've had a few times where a long, graphics-heavy menu (like a list of apps in the market) will stutter just a bit if I get too scroll-happy before everything's loaded, but otherwise everything is really fast.

And how is the standard onscreen keyboard? Is it responsive and accurate?

I like it. I've had an easier time with it than with the iPhone's keyboard, but that might be the bigger screen size more than the keyboard itself. One thing I'm very fond of is the word suggestions are accurate and easy to use. As you type, suggestions appear across the top of the keyboard, and you just tap one to use it. The suggestions are also useful for correcting words if you mistype them.

Any good games yet?

I made a catch-all. The nice thing about the games on WP7 is that all of the Live-enabled ones (so really, the premiere games on the platform) are required to have demos.

Anyone experience the supposed massive 3G data consumption reported on by Engadget? Apparently the W7 phones are drawing large amounts of data when you're not actually DOING anything.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/08/w...

I figured out to use your zune pass to download songs on the windows phone 7 you have to press and hold down on either the song or album and select download.

breander wrote:

I figured out to use your zune pass to download songs on the windows phone 7 you have to press and hold down on either the song or album and select download.

You're the man.

SommerMatt wrote:

Anyone experience the supposed massive 3G data consumption reported on by Engadget?

Because I just added a data plan to my account, T-Mobile's website is having trouble letting me track my usage. When I get that, I'll have to keep an eye on it. Thanks for the heads-up.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

I bought my HD7 on Friday and spent the weekend playing with it.
...
I only really have two gripes about the system: the first is that I can't wake the phone with the face buttons. I'd really like to be able to hit the Windows key to wake it up rather than using the power button. My second gripe is that I can't download anything using my Zune pass from the phone, I have to instead download them into the Zune software and then sync them to my phone.

Overall, I'm really happy with my purchase. Anyone have any questions about it?

Have you tried adding a microSD card yet? And are you able to connect to WPA2 or WPA-Enterprise networks? I've been able to do that for years with iOS devices and the Focus stubbornly refuses to work with either. In the WPA2 case, I can even verify the DHCP server responding and offering the IP address to it.

MicroSD cards are not used like they are with Android. It's more akin to switching your system drive. It's integrated into the main storage, and WP7 is very picky about what SD cards it will use. It's not the speed class, it's random access performance, and that's never quoted anywhere.

Engadget write up.

Kurrelgyre wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

I bought my HD7 on Friday and spent the weekend playing with it.
...
I only really have two gripes about the system: the first is that I can't wake the phone with the face buttons. I'd really like to be able to hit the Windows key to wake it up rather than using the power button. My second gripe is that I can't download anything using my Zune pass from the phone, I have to instead download them into the Zune software and then sync them to my phone.

Overall, I'm really happy with my purchase. Anyone have any questions about it?

Have you tried adding a microSD card yet? And are you able to connect to WPA2 or WPA-Enterprise networks? I've been able to do that for years with iOS devices and the Focus stubbornly refuses to work with either. In the WPA2 case, I can even verify the DHCP server responding and offering the IP address to it.

I took a random fairly new 8GB MicroSD card and my Win7 phone works fine.. I also connect and sync (yeah!) over my WPA2 wifi network at home.

Kurrelgyre wrote:

Have you tried adding a microSD card yet?

I have not, but doing so on the HD7 voids the warranty. If I find that I'm consistently bumping my head against the 16 GB storage limit, or once the warranty expires, I'll consider upgrading the card.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Kurrelgyre wrote:

Have you tried adding a microSD card yet?

I have not, but doing so on the HD7 voids the warranty. If I find that I'm consistently bumping my head against the 16 GB storage limit, or once the warranty expires, I'll consider upgrading the card.

Why would adding a microSD card into a slot made for a microSD card void the warranty?