![\"Windows](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.chiragbindal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/windows-phone-7.jpeg\")
<\/a>Windows Phone 7<\/p><\/div>\n
Now really coming to the WP7 review, let me start with\u00a0the bad, and I will end with the good. The BAD:<\/p>\n
1. People hub – Microsoft has tried to integrate contacts from\u00a0Windows Live, Facebook, Google etc but what ends up\u00a0happening is that your contacts from 10 years ago also\u00a0get downloaded and it becomes quite messy. Then you need\u00a0to manually go in and link various contacts of the same\u00a0person together. Also you cannot delete a Windows Live\u00a0contact just from the phone without not deleting it from\u00a0your Windows Live account completely.<\/p>\n
2. The cursor – there is no easy way to position the\u00a0cursor at a specific point on the screen. My Blackberry\u00a0used to have buttons which I could press to maneuver the\u00a0cursor up or down, left or right, but WP7 (and possibly\u00a0all phones with on screen keyboards) require using the\u00a0fingernail to position the cursor.<\/p>\n
3. The Phone itself – the phone functionality on the\u00a0device is not very convenient.
a) You first press the phone icon, then you press the\u00a0small search icon, followed by keying in the first few\u00a0letters of the name, then select the contact, then\u00a0scroll up or down to find the phone number to call, and\u00a0finally click on the number to make a call. That’s a lot\u00a0of steps and this area of the interface could use a lot\u00a0of simplification.
b) Further, after you have made the call, and you take\u00a0the phone to your ear, there is a soft button called\u00a0‘end call’ that is placed such that it inadvertently\u00a0gets pressed by your earlobe – ending the call even\u00a0before you started to talk! So you need to be careful\u00a0and keep the phone a little away from your ear.
c) If you need to put your phone on speaker or mute it,\u00a0first you need to find and press a small soft button on\u00a0the screen, which brings up the speaker phone or mute\u00a0buttons. 2 key press for these functions should be\u00a0reduced to 1 key press.<\/p>\n
4. Many times the Bing search button on the bottom right\u00a0corner of the phone gets pressed accidentally and brings\u00a0up the Bing search screen when that wasn’t your intention.<\/p>\n
5. When you are unlinking a contact, the context\u00a0sensitive menu to unlink a particular contact does not\u00a0come up until you press and lift your finger away from\u00a0the contact. This is the only area on the phone where\u00a0the action required to bring up the context menu is\u00a0different from all the other areas, where you are\u00a0required only to press the item in question for a few\u00a0seconds to bring up the context menu. This observation\u00a0calls for a big pat on my back for my attention to\u00a0detail.<\/p>\n
Coming to some of the good points:<\/p>\n
1. Emails and calendars work like a charm. This is the best phone I have used till date in terms of the email and calendar interfaces. It has almost replaced my laptop, which now I don’t bring home sometimes.<\/p>\n
2. Live tiles – though these are nothing more than a set of icons on the home screen, and its called live because it shows how many emails or missed calls you have, these are still better than similar notifications on the status bar in other phones including Windows Mobile 6.5<\/p>\n
3. Touch response – the smoothness with which the UI moves around with a swipe of your finger is noteworthy.<\/p>\n
This by no means is meant to be a comprehensive review, but just some of the top-of-my-mind points. Overall Windows Phone 7 has the potential to grow on you, like it did on me.<\/p>\n
Side note: Today Microsoft and Nokia have announced a strategic partnership (all Nokia phones will now ship Windows) that led me to wonder if Stephen Elop’s departure from Microsoft as President of Business Division to join as Nokia CEO was a planned strategic move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Further to my previous post , I want to\u00a0utilize this post reviewing my new\u00a0Windows Phone 7. I bought myself a Samsung Focus, even\u00a0though it meant moving my carrier from T-Mobile to AT&T.\u00a0Some noble souls at Costco possibly along with some … Continue reading