So I made the big jump. Got my $.01 Focus S in the mail a few days ago and have been working on rebooting my thinking of how a phone should work.
My overall impression is that WP7 is an elegant OS design.
For a sense of where I'm coming from, I am a 25+ year technology veteran. I tend to think in data design terms. But a while back I had the good fortune to work very closely with a brilliant designer who taught me to see the world differently - through the lens of UX design and general design thinking.
It's clear to me that MSoft had some of those types working on WP7. Not only is the design visually pleasing, the user interaction experience is intuitive and seamless. The approach to interacting with the phone, apps, and especially people is very different from my trusty and familiar WebOS. I guess, WebOS was more akin to my data model style of thinking. WP7 is - well - different. It pretty transparently leads you where you need to go, albeit with a bias towards social media interaction.
I expected to really miss WebOS Synergy but I find that WP7 is able to integrate all my various contacts in a way that works even better. In addition to Facebook, LinkedIn and now Windows Live accounts, I also have 2 yahoo mail accounts, 2 gmail accounts, and 4 other business emails that I check daily. (Yes, I do tend to over-complicate my life.) I grouped all my various email accounts into 3 home screen tiles which works just great. I also have 3 people groups tiles that mirror those. That is a real productivity gain for me.
WebOS's ability to truly multi-task is still unbeatable from a pure technology architecture perspective - but perhaps that perspective is not the one that matters. I do find myself confused when I want to temporarily switch from one app to another and try to swipe one into the background like I would on WebOS. WP7 kind of looks at me and says; "Huh? - why would you want to do that? Just go where you want and when you're done, go somewhere else again. And don't bother trying to close apps - just leave that to me, I'll handle everything for you." The fact that the OS is really, really fast makes this a non-issue.
Calendar functionality is the biggest disappointment though. I have relied heavily on my multi-calendar google account but now am trying to consolidate my various calendars into one. I saw the complaints about this issue before deciding to make the switch so I knew what I was in for. This needs to be addressed.
I thought I would miss a physical keyboard but each day the on-screen keyboard gets easier to use. I do miss WebOS Just Type functionality. Yes, I can search pretty quickly but it is not nearly as simple or fast. Guess you can't have everything.
One WP7 trait I cannot yet adjust to is the Windows Live/Hotmail/MSN focus. Seems that to get the full functionality of the WP7 experience your contacts, email, calendar, music and even gaming needs to center around Live. I've never had a Live or Hotmail account before now and didn't really want to add another email/messaging/calendar system to my already full mix. But you got to have it if you're on WP7. I'm not a big music on my phone kind of guy but I do like to stream from Spotify sometimes. Not sure I want to deal with transitioning that to Zune both on the phone and elsewhere and Spotify runs very smoothly on my new Focus S. But I may get more MSN/Live centric soon anyway. FedEx just delivered an Xbox Kinect for a family/kids holiday present that I'll be configuring later this month. We'll see how that changes things.
All said, it's a net positive change. I'm sad to say goodby to WebOS but it was time to let it go. WP7 is going to suit me quite well and I expect to like it even more as I learn more tricks in using it.
Thanks to everyone here for the many helpful posts that I read before making my decision. It's a nice community to be a part of.
My overall impression is that WP7 is an elegant OS design.
For a sense of where I'm coming from, I am a 25+ year technology veteran. I tend to think in data design terms. But a while back I had the good fortune to work very closely with a brilliant designer who taught me to see the world differently - through the lens of UX design and general design thinking.
It's clear to me that MSoft had some of those types working on WP7. Not only is the design visually pleasing, the user interaction experience is intuitive and seamless. The approach to interacting with the phone, apps, and especially people is very different from my trusty and familiar WebOS. I guess, WebOS was more akin to my data model style of thinking. WP7 is - well - different. It pretty transparently leads you where you need to go, albeit with a bias towards social media interaction.
I expected to really miss WebOS Synergy but I find that WP7 is able to integrate all my various contacts in a way that works even better. In addition to Facebook, LinkedIn and now Windows Live accounts, I also have 2 yahoo mail accounts, 2 gmail accounts, and 4 other business emails that I check daily. (Yes, I do tend to over-complicate my life.) I grouped all my various email accounts into 3 home screen tiles which works just great. I also have 3 people groups tiles that mirror those. That is a real productivity gain for me.
WebOS's ability to truly multi-task is still unbeatable from a pure technology architecture perspective - but perhaps that perspective is not the one that matters. I do find myself confused when I want to temporarily switch from one app to another and try to swipe one into the background like I would on WebOS. WP7 kind of looks at me and says; "Huh? - why would you want to do that? Just go where you want and when you're done, go somewhere else again. And don't bother trying to close apps - just leave that to me, I'll handle everything for you." The fact that the OS is really, really fast makes this a non-issue.
Calendar functionality is the biggest disappointment though. I have relied heavily on my multi-calendar google account but now am trying to consolidate my various calendars into one. I saw the complaints about this issue before deciding to make the switch so I knew what I was in for. This needs to be addressed.
I thought I would miss a physical keyboard but each day the on-screen keyboard gets easier to use. I do miss WebOS Just Type functionality. Yes, I can search pretty quickly but it is not nearly as simple or fast. Guess you can't have everything.
One WP7 trait I cannot yet adjust to is the Windows Live/Hotmail/MSN focus. Seems that to get the full functionality of the WP7 experience your contacts, email, calendar, music and even gaming needs to center around Live. I've never had a Live or Hotmail account before now and didn't really want to add another email/messaging/calendar system to my already full mix. But you got to have it if you're on WP7. I'm not a big music on my phone kind of guy but I do like to stream from Spotify sometimes. Not sure I want to deal with transitioning that to Zune both on the phone and elsewhere and Spotify runs very smoothly on my new Focus S. But I may get more MSN/Live centric soon anyway. FedEx just delivered an Xbox Kinect for a family/kids holiday present that I'll be configuring later this month. We'll see how that changes things.
All said, it's a net positive change. I'm sad to say goodby to WebOS but it was time to let it go. WP7 is going to suit me quite well and I expect to like it even more as I learn more tricks in using it.
Thanks to everyone here for the many helpful posts that I read before making my decision. It's a nice community to be a part of.
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