How Nabil got his groove back

[IamNabil]

Hey folks,
I thought I would introduce myself, and talk about my new phone a bit. I will start with my shocking confession: I am a whore. A phone whore.
Since the beginning of the year, I have had a Palm Pre Plus, a Samsung Captivate, an iPhone 4, and now, a Focus. They all have been excellent, except for the Captivate. I really, really hate Android. It makes me feel like I have gone back in time, to the days of Windows ME.
Anyway, I signed a new two year contract for the iPhone 4 about three months ago. It is a good device, and I like it quite a bit. The camera is good, I am used to the keyboard, and the app store has Hulu, Netflix, and Beejive. All of the apps you really need.
Wednesday, I went to the AT&T store, and started playing with a Focus. I really, really like the UI, and the Super AMOLED screen is stunning. The floor associate walked over and asked how I liked it. We talked for a bit, and I told him I would pick one up, but had just signed a new contract, and didn't want to pick one up without the subsidy. He told me,
"Nabil, tell me your iPhone is broken. How is your iPhone?" I replied,
"It's broken."
I was, of course, holding it in my hands, using it to send SMS messages.
"Well, Nabil, that's too bad. I can give you a Samsung Focus for 200 dollars."
I, of course, took him up on the offer. As he was ringing me up, I hear a harsh whisper,
"Nabil, the manager is coming over. Put away your iPhone!"
Haha. Anyway, long story short, I now have a Samsung Focus. I expected to like it, but not as much as I do. It is stunningly beautiful, and I am a very happy customer. Now, I just need a multi-protocol IM client. Beejive, please!

 

[electricbopeep]

This thread title and story within gave me a good laugh. I used to be a something of a phone whore myself.

Anyways, glad you like the Samsung Focus/WP7 and that's great that you didn't have to pay the unsubsidized price.

What features or design elements do you prefer in WP7 vs. iOS? How are you finding the transition from iTunes/the Apple ecosystem to Zune? Aside from the lack of apps, are there any things from iOS that you really miss on WP7?

 

[IamNabil]

I had a Zune 30, and have always like the Zune ecosystem more than the iTunes system. It is cleaner, and faster. Sure, it may be "busy", but I like the look. And having the ability to use my old Zune Pass on hardware that is also a phone makes me very happy.
As far as design elements, and my preference, I am not sure where to start. Let's be honest, here. iOS, for all of it's popularity, is 4 years old. Apple may have spent years designing it, but it's age is starting to show, I think. Push notifications as implemented by Apple are a terribly implemented after-thought, and I don't like them. Notifications, in general, are not done very well in iOS. WP7 is much better, although I think WebOS is still the best, overall, when it comes to notifications.
Other than the apps, I miss some of the hardware on the iPhone 4. Facetime is great fun, and the camera, although similar in quality, was faster on the iPhone. Once you managed to get the photo app started.
Honestly, my biggest gripe about WP7, so far, is that it's so new that no one has it. But it is beautiful, and fast, and everyone I have shown it to has been very impressed.
Oh, I was just about to post this when I realized I have one more wish. I would like to see more websites format themselves for IE7 Mobile. I don't want to see WAP sites, I want to see good HTML4/5/CSS sites. WPCentral would be a good place to start.

 

[AndrewakaMJ]

I have a question for you...I am currently using a Palm Pre Plus. Having used webOS yourself, what (if anything) do you miss/like more with webOS than WP7? I'm getting ready to make the jump to WP7, but want to have a heads up for anything that I might miss/be disappointed in.

Thanks!

 

[IamNabil]

Well, running multiple programs is the Pre's specialty, and no one does it better. Notifications in WebOS are better than in WP7, and right now, you can't (really) do instant messenger stuff in WP7. The WebOS community is much more active than the WP7 community, so if you like patches and lots of forum posts to read, WebOS is still better.
I expect most of those points will change, and sooner, rather than later. (No one will ever best the cards UI in WebOS, I suspect.)

 

[electricbopeep]

I had a Zune 30, and have always like the Zune ecosystem more than the iTunes system. It is cleaner, and faster. Sure, it may be "busy", but I like the look. And having the ability to use my old Zune Pass on hardware that is also a phone makes me very happy.
As far as design elements, and my preference, I am not sure where to start. Let's be honest, here. iOS, for all of it's popularity, is 4 years old. Apple may have spent years designing it, but it's age is starting to show, I think. Push notifications as implemented by Apple are a terribly implemented after-thought, and I don't like them. Notifications, in general, are not done very well in iOS. WP7 is much better, although I think WebOS is still the best, overall, when it comes to notifications.
Other than the apps, I miss some of the hardware on the iPhone 4. Facetime is great fun, and the camera, although similar in quality, was faster on the iPhone. Once you managed to get the photo app started.
Honestly, my biggest gripe about WP7, so far, is that it's so new that no one has it. But it is beautiful, and fast, and everyone I have shown it to has been very impressed.
Oh, I was just about to post this when I realized I have one more wish. I would like to see more websites format themselves for IE7 Mobile. I don't want to see WAP sites, I want to see good HTML4/5/CSS sites. WPCentral would be a good place to start.

I agree with you on Zune. I'm afraid a lot of people who are used to iTunes (or mass storage drag-and-drop) will be overwhelmed by Zune and become frustrated, even to the point of giving up WP7 all together. I've been out of the iTunes ecosystem since the iPod mini but when I got my first iPod, musicmatch *shudders* was the sync application for PC. Due to that traumatizing experience and iTunes becoming tiresome, when I finally made my way to Zune in 08, it was a breath of fresh air and has only gotten more rewarding with time.

I also agree about iOS's ham-handed implementation of multitasking and notifications and webOS's elegant, best-in-class implementation of those things. Hopefully Microsoft will take cues from the latter.

As far as IE, have you changed your website preference to "desktop version" in settings? I think it might be set to "mobile version" by default. While many websites haven't tailored themselves to IE on WP7, you should be able to view desktop-version websites (although some elements might be missing).

 

[lucazzo]

LOL!

My story was something similar. I was still under contract for 4 months (picked up a Bold 9700 last year) and fell in love with the Focus after prodding it on release day.

The associate came over and I put it quite bluntly:

"That. I want it"
"Alright! Let me pull up your account.... uhm, it looks like you're still under contract and won't be eligible for the subsidy"
"For shame. I wanted to boost your daily sales! Come on, I will drop $200 right now"
"Let me... talk to my manager"

Yeah. They can be more than accomodating when it comes to pushing out new devices.

 

[action_efn_jackson]

Zune software scared me at first too. It was too busy. Now I really like it.

 

[ninjaap]

Haha great story! Just so everyone knows, assuming your account is in good standing, AT&T is pretty good at giving out early upgrades 6 months before your contract is over. I do it all the time. You just need to talk to a manager at the store or over the phone. But for some reason, for the last few contracts, my account always shows eligibilty 6 months before the 2 year mark without manager approval. 4 months into your contract and getting the subsidy price is just straight up lucky! Good job!

 

[IamNabil]

@EletricBoPeep: I keep it set to mobile. I may hate the WAP sites, but I hate loading times more.