I thought I'd share some of my initial impressions of the 900. I got the phone on Friday having never seen it or any Windows Phone before.
- I love the screen. Would it be nicer if the resolution was higher? Sure. But in pretty much everything but web browsing, you don't even notice it. What really stood out for me was the colors and that oh so black black. Simply amazing. Also, coming from an iPhone, I love having the larger screen.
- The phone itself is great. I love the build of the device. I haven't had a Nokia phone since the '90s and boy have they sure changed. My only gripe is the camera. However, I do love having a dedicated camera button again. And a 2 stage one at that.
- I can't vouch for battery life yet. Most people are saying its great. So far, its been pretty miserable for me. However, I haven't been away from an AT&T MicroCell yet and from what I've read, they have fantastic power sucking properties. I'll be at work today in NYC so I'll see how it goes as well as AT&T's LTE performance.
- My initial impressions on the Windows Phone OS. Love it. I love how it blends together all of your accounts. It takes some getting used to and I'm still figuring it all out, but its real slick. I like the live tiles and the lock screen.
- Not being an iOS device takes its toll. Steve Jobs did a good job of getting people sucked in. No more streaming to AppleTV, No more Facetime or iMessage and goodbye iCloud. I have found workarounds for most of these so I'm not letting it get me down. The only exception being my Bose headphones designed for the iPhone. They only work as headphones. The mic and buttons don't work. I had to revert to my old Blackberry headset. I haven't tested the mic yet, but the button works at least.
- The lack of apps will take some getting used to, though most of the big things are available. I wanted to Skype my sister yesterday for Easter, but couldn't find it in the Marketplace quick yesterday. Though I did find the beta this morning. Next Easter.
Some questions for the people with Windows Phone experience:
- Is there a way to take a screen shot from the phone like you can with an iOS device?
- Is it just me or does it seem apps in the Marketplace are more expensive in general? I guess developers have to charge more because of the lack of user volume.
- On other devices, I've found that using WiFi when available helps battery life. Is the same true for this and other Windows Phones?