All posts tagged Windows Phone 7

Yet Another Scandal for Windows Phone 7

by Kevin on January 11, 2011 in Windows with No comments

There hasn’t exactly been a lot of positive press surrounding Windows Phone 7. There commercials are kinda cool I guess. So there’s that. But slow sales, leading to a loss of market share a couple months after launch, have put the exclamation point on hardware issues and a general lack of available handsets.

First there was the whole, ‘Whoops, customers weren’t supposed to be able to remove the memory cards in our micro SD slots’ fiasco. I suppose they should have made that clear to the manufacturers. Then of course there was the HTC HD7 death grip issue. Another major complaint was the complete lack of a CDMA version for Verizon or Sprint. While that last issue is going to resolve itself, it won’t happen for another 6 months – right around the same time the iPhone 5 is probably going to come out for Verizon. Talk about lousy timing.

Perhaps in six months they’ll have figured out their latest scandal. Apparently Windows Phone 7 devices have a nasty habit of sucking up data even when you aren’t using your phone to do anything at all. Some users are reporting data usage at night when they are fast asleep. The logical explanation is that Steve Jobs has nothing better to do than to fly around the county, break into people’s houses, and stream Netflix on their devices while they sleep. But just in case there is something less logical at play, Microsoft is investigating the matter.

Right not data is leaking at a rate of about 2-5 MB per hour, which really isn’t that much. But if you add that up over the course of a month, it’s more than a gigabyte of data wasted. If you are on a limited data plan from T-Mobile (200 MB per month), you’ll be over your limit before the first week of the month is over. T-Mobile also offers unlimited data plans which would be unaffected by phantom data loss. AT&T doesn’t even offer unlimited data. Like T-Mobile, they have a 200 MB plan that is pretty much worthless with this glitch. Even their 2 GB plan would see a significant amount of that data eaten up by phantom data loss (about 50%). AT&T isn’t likely to be giving people a proactive 50% discount on their bills, and should you go over you data usage by a gigabyte, it’s going to run you more than $50 in overage charges per month.

Kudos to the users who figured this out. Kudos to Microsoft for not completely dismissing this issue and looking into it. But seriously, how many more hardware and software issues can there possibly be?

It’s the Apps That Make the Phone

by Kevin on December 29, 2010 in Apps with No comments

If you judge a phone based on the apps available, and let’s face it, apps are really what make a smartphone a smartphone, then Windows Phone 7 and Palm kinda blow. Everyone knows that Apple is the current king, with over 300,000 apps available. But Android is closing that gap at breakneck speeds, surpassing the 200,000 mark earlier this week.

By contrast, Windows Phone 7 surpassed 5,000 apps this week. Granted, it’s only been a few months since Microsoft re-launched (for the third time) a series of phones on the world. But still, when you compare WP7 to Android and Apple, there really isn’t a whole lot of incentive to go out and buy a Windows phone unless you really really really like Microsoft.

As grim as the WP7 numbers are, they are moving at warp speed when compared to Palm. Their WebOS also just recently passed the 5,000 app mark. The difference is that it has taken then more than a year to hit that mark. Palm is rumored to be launching two new phones and a tablet next year, but if developers aren’t really paying attention to the operating system, it’s hard to forecast a sunny outlook for those devices.

The simple fact is that the hype has already died when it comes to WP7, and there never really was any to begin with for Palm.

Acer Liquid Metal Coming to the US?

by Kevin on December 1, 2010 in Mobile Phones with No comments

On the same day that Acer confirmed that it is considering releasing a liquid metal handset in the US, the Taiwanese electronics giant confirmed that they are developing a Windows Phone 7 handset. As far as the liquid metal device is concerned, we’re talking about a GSM device, which mean AT&T or T-Mobile are the potential destination carriers. This phone has already hit in France and is expecting to make its way across the English Chanel relatively soon. As far as specs are concerned, the Acer Liquid metal isn’t going to be anything breakthrough. It’s the curved stainless steel back that is the selling point on this phone. It really is nice to look at. The iPhone needs a chrome faceplate to look this good.

As far as Windows Phone 7 is concerned, this has to be welcome news. A limited number of devices available in the US has in part led to less than stellar sales out of the gate. Adding a style conscious manufacturer to the current stable will only help Microsoft’s slow sales. Although it’s a bit early in the game for Microsoft to be passing judgment. It will be interesting to see if the Dell Venue Pro sales are better than the other devices thus far. The Dell Venue Pro, which is finally available for pre-orders on contract, is geared more towards the business market. If the Dell offering outperforms the more social networking centered handsets, it could serve as a good indication of what Microsoft’s audience really is, even though they have actively tried to position themselves as an alternative to Android and Apple.

Windows Phone Hardware Issues Explained, Not Fixed

by Kevin on November 18, 2010 in Windows with No comments

We spend a lot of time discussing different operating systems and phones and carriers here on the WE blog. Clearly, one of the most talked about topics in the cellular world right now is Widows Phone 7. Between their devices and their operating systems, there is a lot to talk about. Microsoft of touting their new phones as the phone to rescue us from our phone. Their OS is supposedly geared to get people in and out of their favorite apps quicker, allowing them to pick their heads up and see the world around them.

Quite frankly, all the reviews that we’ve seen on the OS seem to back this claim up. Hardware is another story all together. For those not familiar with Microsoft, they tend to be pretty good with software, no so great with hardware. The X-Box red ring of death is probably the most infamous example of this. It would seem as though the hardware foibles have extended into their handsets and the cell phone accessories that go with them.

The issue revolves around memory cards. Folks familiar with Android know that the phones come with a memory card that can be switched out to store tons of data. People familiar with the iPhone know that the memory cards are completely internal and if you want more storage, you need to buy a different phone with more storage space on it. Microsoft seems to have a split personality when it comes to their new phones memory capabilities.

Right now, only certified micro SD memory cards will work in their devices and nobody know what cards are certified. On top of that, if someone removes the card that comes with their Windows phone, they need to reboot their phone. No big deal right? Not exactly. Once you reinsert the card for the reboot, Windows phones assign a password to that card, essentially locking it to the device. It can’t be read by any other device.

So how did this hardware issue happen? Apparently Microsoft never intended for their new phones to have removable memory cards. In fact, in most of the devices, the memory cards are hidden away and require the phone to completely taken apart in order to gain access. Microsoft also initially wanted manufacturers to glue the cards in place so users couldn’t remove them even if they did take their phones apart. Unfortunately they did a really poor job of explaining this to their manufacturers, and the end result is the Samsung Focus which has an easily accessible removable micro SD card right next to the SIM card slot.

This would seem to be an easy fix, however more than a week after the Windows Phone 7 launch in the US, there is still no word on which memory cards are certified to work with the devices. Perhaps Microsoft doesn’t want to fix the hardware issue, preferring to control the data storage capabilities of their devices much like Apple does with the iPhone. We’ll find out soon enough.

Windows 7 Phones Flying Off The Shelves In England

by Joseph on November 4, 2010 in Windows with No comments

There has been some skepticism if there was any room for the phone to save us from our phones. You see, that is how Windows 7 phone is selling themselves. But do people really want to get in get out and get on with their lives? It’s hard to imagine as people are using their phones to do pretty much everything these days. With Android, Apple and Blackberry already dominating the OS market share, it really isn’t unreasonable to wonder if there is a place for another OS in the United States.

If sales in England are any indication of how Microsoft’s latest foray into the cellular arena is going to go over in the states, people are going to need to make some room at the grown up table for Microsoft. Orange, one of England’s largest carriers has completely sold out of Windows 7 Phone devices. Demand has been so great, that they are offering discounts to customers stuck on a waiting list.

Despite this news, at least one of the major carriers in the US has no intention of offering their Windows 7 phones on preorder. While it is relatively common practice for carriers to offer preorders on new phones, AT&T will be offering their Windows phones on a first come first serve basis. One of the more anticipated Windows phones is coming on the AT&T network, the HTC surround. It comes equipped with one of the cooler phone accessories we’ve seen built into a phone, a slide out speaker.

While it’s highly unlikely that there will be lines around the block outside of AT&T stores like there have been with recent iPhone releases, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that it might be a bit difficult to get your hands on one of these bad boys on day one of their release.

Microsoft Ready to Throw Hat in the Cell Phone Ring, Again

by Kevin on October 1, 2010 in Mobile Phones with No comments

Are you a Mac or a PC?  The two Silicone Valley giants have been trading punches for years in the home computing arena, and have carried that fight into the cellular world.  As it stands right now, Apple is the undisputed king of the ring right now.  But unlike a mano a mano prizefight (home computers), the cellular marketplace might as well be a battle royal.

In addition to Apple’s iPhone and the iOS it runs on, there is the Android Army, Nokia’s ill fated Symbian OS and coming soon to a wireless store near you, Windows phone7.  This is hardly Windows’ first foray into the battle; however, the new Windows 7 is supposedly getting a massive upgrade and has lured some of the biggest names in the cell world to their operating system.

Samsung recently announced that they will be releasing several Windows phone 7 phones before the holiday shopping season and the HTC Mondrian has been causing quite a buzz.  These phones definitely aren’t going to be for dorky Poindexters in poorly tailored brown suits and coke bottle glasses.  It will no doubt be a serious uphill climb for Microsoft to make a genuine impact in what would otherwise seem like a saturated cell phone market.  But Bill Gates isn’t one to walk away from a challenge.  Only time will tell if the Windows phone 7 will capture the hearts of Americans everywhere.  At least they have us curious.  It’s a start.

 
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