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Not that
long ago,
Microsoft
was a major player in smart phones and handheld
computers. Now the software giant is an afterthought.
With its
recent release of a completely revamped version of its
mobile operating system,
Microsoft
is trying to get back in the race.
The new
software, dubbed Windows Phone 7 and debuting next month
on three phones running on
AT&T's
network, is a huge improvement over its predecessor,
Windows Mobile 6.5, and one of the most visually
appealing mobile operating systems out there. But it
lacks key features, includes some frustrating user
interface elements and provides access to a far smaller
selection of applications than its most notable rivals,
Apple's iOS, which powers the iPhone, and
Google's
Android software.
In
developing Windows Phone 7,
Microsoft
scrapped its old Windows Mobile software. That's a good
thing, because Windows Mobile was ugly to look at and
difficult to use. The new Windows Phone 7 software, by
contrast, is much sleeker and easier to operate.
Microsoft
is also keeping much tighter control on Phone 7,
limiting the number of manufacturers to a handful of
top-tier companies and dictating that phones using the
software meet certain minimum requirements, such as
having a touch-screen display with three system buttons
underneath it and a 5-megapixel camera.
Given the
effort that
Microsoft
has put into revamping the interface for Windows Phone
7, its insistence on uniformity is good. But it means
that the new Windows Phone 7 phones — I tested the
Samsung Focus and the HTC Surround — are almost
interchangeable. The only significant difference between
the Focus and the Surround is that the Surround is
somewhat thicker, because it has a slide-up external
speaker.
The home
screen for Phone 7 has a series of tiles. By tapping on
a tile, you can launch a program or a "hub"
where you can find a group of similar programs, such as
games. Other tiles are dynamic; even without clicking on
them, they can display helpful information, such as
upcoming appointments or recent updates posted by
friends on social networking sites.
Once you
launch a program, there are other differences from other
smart phones. Windows Phone 7 uses clear typography as
titles for programs and hubs, so you always know what
program you are using. On the iPhone and Android,
different screens within particular programs are usually
accessed by tapping small virtual buttons or text links.
In Windows Phone 7, by contrast, you often have to
simply swipe left or right to view different screens of
the program. This interface is very slick and works
well.
Another
compelling feature of Phone 7 is its built-in support
for Facebook. Once you sign in to Facebook, the software
will automatically link entries in your address book
with their corresponding Facebook profiles. Windows
Phone 7 takes things a step farther by linking its
"Pictures" hub to Facebook also, allowing you
to access pictures your friends have posted on the
social network and view all the galleries you have
uploaded to it.
Windows
Phone 7 also provides a link to Xbox Live,
Microsoft's
online gaming service that it developed for the Xbox
game console. On Windows Phone devices, Xbox Live will
help connect users wanting to play multiplayer games and
will eventually allow phone users to play games against
Xbox gamers.
Despite
these touches, there are lots of things Windows Phone 7
lacks. It doesn't support copy-and-paste. It doesn't
offer an easy way to switch between open applications.
And it doesn't have a universal search that allows you
to find applications, content, messages or other data
stored on your device.
What's
more, its Web browser supports neither Adobe's Flash
software nor HTML 5, which Apple has promoted as an
alternative to Flash. Without those technologies,
Windows Phone 7 devices can't display many of the videos
or interactive Web sites that you can access from the
latest Android devices or the iPhone. It does support
Silverlight,
Microsoft's
multimedia software that is a rival to Flash, though far
less popular.
Microsoft
says it's working on many of these issues.
Copy-and-paste are supposed to be coming in an update
early next year. And the company is working with Adobe
to develop a version of Flash for Windows Phone 7.
But the
lack of such key features makes Phone 7 devices less
useful than their Android and iPhone counterparts.
In some
ways, the operating system, for all its slickness, can
also be more frustrating than its rivals. For example,
when you are using the Web browser and rotate the screen
so that it's in landscape view, you lose all controls
over the browsing experience. Want to enter a new Web
address or go to a bookmarked page? You have to rotate
the screen back to portrait view first.
The
e-mail experience is similarly frustrating. Each e-mail
account you set up is represented by a new application
tile. There's no way to access all your e-mail accounts
by launching one application — much less view the
messages from all your accounts in one universal inbox.
But
perhaps the biggest problem with Windows Phone 7 is the
scant list of programs available for it. Yes, the system
hasn't even launched yet, so maybe it's not fair to
criticize this. And some of the most popular mobile
apps, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flight
Control, are already available or soon will be.
But many,
many more applications just aren't available on Windows
Phone 7. Among the notable omissions: Pandora, LinkedIn
and "Angry Birds," the hit iPhone game.
So
Windows Phone 7 puts
Microsoft
back in the smart phone race. But it's still got a lot
of ground to make up.
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