Today I got a surprise, a WP7 update! I did not expect mango updates so soon. So to get more information I visited Microsoft's official web-page for windows phone updates and found it is not mango but a small yet critical security update, I doubt if we can taste the mango this summer as it is the biggest WP7 update announced till date, thus should take more time.
The important thing about the 7.0.7392.0 update is it confirms what I said earlier 'Microsoft is serious and proactive about security'. This should please business users more.
I got this update as soon as it was available, now imagine this with an android where multiple versions coexist in the market and updates has to go through heavy OEM customizations.
WP7 has certainly scored +1 over Android in this regard.
While I am in love with my HTC HD 7 Windows Phone 7, and the updates went buttery smooth, there is a pain point that might not go well with many, ‘The Market Place (App Store) is not yet functional for India’. I will tell you a work around for this in this post.
Before buying the phone, I had done my research and was sure that app store will work properly. Following links suggests that: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/india/marketplace-for-windows-phone-7-apps-now-working-in-india/435
But there is a catch, the zune market place on PC shows prices in INR until you connect a WP7 with live id registered to India. Marketplace just disappears from zune once such phone is connected to PC.
So I changed the regional settings of my PC to US and connected my phone to Zune on my PC as expected the marketplace was visible again with prices in USD. But when I tried to install free apps I got an error message saying ‘The location setting for your Windows Live ID doesn't match the setting for your computer’.
To overcome this issue, I tried to change the country to US for my existing live account (To check yours: log in to live account >> options >> Email Account >> Account Information >> Country/region) but it did not help, because I believe the country settings are imported only once and changes done later won’t affect the location setting in phone. I was still facing the country mismatch issue mentioned above.
Solution:
Now, only way out was to create a new live id with country as US to use with your WP7. To change the registered live account from WP7 one has to reset the factory settings, this will remove all your contacts and apps however the phone updates remains intact, and then use this new live id to log-in to your phone.
It is important to note that changing the country to US will make it very much impossible you to buy the applications, you can only install free apps on your phone, and right now I am not keen on buying applications so it works well for me.
Conclusion:
It would be interesting to see how much efforts it will take to back up and restore contacts and settings when the marketplace is functional for India.
This isn’t certainly coolest thing to do but I am living with it, isn’t a deal breaker for me as I can see Microsoft is silently working on marketplace for India.
This was something I was most worried about when I decided to buy WP7. Will my phone get updates in India? I was worried because the WP7 ecosystem is still growing and no updates means missing out on some necessary and some existing features.
The good news is, yes it does,I could update my HTC HD7 without any hassles, I just connected it to Zune on my PC initiated update, I got both WP7:
1. Update for making updates smooth
2. NoDo update with copy paste and performance improvements
Now I am waiting for Mango update, this will enable developers to write more existing applications for my phone including multitasking.
The phone also indicates if there are updates available. This can be verified in settings >> phone update.
I like Windows Phone 7 (WP7) for its amazing interface and features, it is the most eye-catching mobile operating systems I have ever seen, it is a visually pleasing experience.I have watched countless videos and read as many articles about it (both positive and negative). I am already a fan of it! I can't wait to put my hands on my HTC HD7 that is bought by Yuvraj for me in US.
So I thought it is a good opportunity to put down my rational behind choosing this mobile operation system over other popular ones. I can be very critical about the shortcomings and problems with iPhone and android but I will avoid being a bad mouth and rather focus on what WP7 has in offer for you.
Most of the reviewers who bashed WP7 done so on following points
• No copy-paste
• No multi-tasking support
• No threaded email view
• Less apps / late to the party
The missing features like copy-paste and multi-tasking were not the discovery of the reviewers as these were never kept in dark by Microsoft. I do agree all the points above are important but very few reviewers made a genuine effort to understand what WP7 is made of, what is good about it, why it is different yet useful and what it has to offer for the future while keeping less focus on the above short comings.
Let me take on the short-comings of WP7:
Copy-paste patch along with performance improvements is already released by Microsoft and Steve Ballmer has already announced progress on multitasking support. Threaded email is small software issue that will come eventually to WP7 it is not like multi-tasking support where core changes are required.
I find arguments about few applications and ‘late to the party’ the most funny, these comments are so naïve!
Does the company that produced the first commercial car still makes the best cars in the world?
WP7 is in its Initial stages it is in version 1.x, still one can find most of the major applications on the app store, and given the developer base of .Net and Silverlight the count will rise quickly.
Look at this review on HTC HD 7 published on 16 Mar 2011, very negative and on-sided. Interesting enough is that the article still focuses on copy-paste feature while it is already in use on WP7. Skip the article and read the comments below it, they are funny, and it shows people don't buy if you try to sell wrong :-)
So, what is good about Windows Phone 7?
• The eco-system:
Windows 7 Phone is the platform where Microsoft is integrating everything, all of their offerings. The phone integrates
-- Microsoft Office
-- SharePoint
-- Zune media manager
-- SkyDrive and Cloud based services
-- Bing and Bing Maps (I found Bing maps a lot better than google maps for navigation)
-- Add Center
-- Xbox Live
-- Exchange Server
This means WP7 can act as an interface for your entire digital life. So if you are big on Microsoft products and services this phone will make your life a lot more organized.
• Productivity Scenarios and MS Office integration
This point needs less selling, if MS Office is the best productivity tool in the world then this phone becomes the default candidate for that crown in phone market. WP7 has very good office integration, reviews say they could do almost everything on mobile version that is possible on the desktop version of office products. However, PowerPoint has view only support.
Besides, Joe Belfiore has empathized that they are putting a lot of thinking on improving the user scenarios this should make easy things easier.
• Xbox live integration and best in class games:
If you believe Xbox is best gaming platform (read: Kinect is fastest selling consumer electronics device, if you don’t believe) this means you have to agree in near future WP7 will have the best phone games. There are already quite a few. In addition, games have deep integration with Xbox live, so you can use your Xbox avatar on phone and publish your achievements over social media without leaving the Xbox hub. Impressive if you are a game fanatic!
• Simplicity of Zune Media Manager:
If someone offers you seamless media experience over your pc, phone Xbox and Zune HD, will you take it? I will grab it for sure :-)
I have been using Zune since few weeks and I am impressed by it, it is the best media manager I have used till date. I have used iTunes in past but I feel Zune is better; a lot of reviewers think this is the case.
• The Hubs and the interface
Microsoft can proudly say WP7 is not a rip-off operating system of iOS like few other mobile operating systems are. Hubs make this operating system different than other icon based operating systems.
On the other hand, it is more important to be useful than just being different, the hubs are different yet useful.
All the important information about people and applications that you want to track on regular basis is fetched in the background and displayed on the home screen inside the neat hubs. So hubs act as a façade layer of your phone. This saves you from going inside the phone and the applications when it is not required.
The overall user interface is also very neat and minimalistic and the use of panorama control in various applications is innovative.
Windows phone 7 is designed to support your real life with seamless integration with your digital life rather than making an attempt to make the phone your life. It's like go into it get things done and get out of it, get real!
• The SkyDrive and other cloud based services that are free
Seamless integration with SkyDrive is one of the major advantages, you get 25 GB of space free on Microsoft's cloud, you can store and share your office documents, photos and other files over cloud and use them as if they are on your phone. Amazing right!
As a feature, WP7 also gives you options to manage your phone data over cloud, if you loose your phone you can wipe your data and contacts on phone remotely, pretty safe, isn't it?
• Best in the class testing standards. Robot testing of WP7 Every windows phone 7 goes through rigorous testing done by robots, the touch response and sensors on the phone are tested by these robots. Imagine this with Android that has no control over OEMs on what hardware they use, you can get a Micromax android with old resistive touch as well, thus there is no assurance of quality if you are a less tech savvy user. WP7 gives you assurance of minimum quality that are pretty high.
Conclusion:
If you want a smart phone that looks great, has high quality standards and makes your life easier without really worrying about configuration and spending time in searching new themes everyday, choose Windows Phone 7. If you are big on Microsoft services and products and believe an eco-system of services and products can serve you better than random applications by developers who are not answerable, then WP7 is for you.
If you are very impatient about having features like multi tasking and availability of some apps then WP 7 might not be your match.
I am getting mine on 2nd May, you will hear more from me on this then :-)
