Just some thoughts

[trumpet116]

Question: would it be easy to slap a 960 x 1600 resolution screen on phones like the titan (which would give us a killer 397 ppi, making everything else look like a joke)? Since it doubles the current standard resolution (480 x 800), there wouldn't be any compatibility issues, right? That's what Apple did to make their retina display - they just doubled the pixel dimensions. Why wouldn't that work now? Phones with less than 250 ppi trying to be called high end now will be widely rejected, and this includes the Titan 2 and Lumia 900.
Which brings me to my next point...
Was WP7 ever truely MEANT to succeed? Or was it just an experiment? Seeing that Microsoft has been testing Windows 8 since before WP7, I think they only really put it out there to see how the Metro UI would be received, and that nothing was supposed to get good until WP8 and Windows 8 were released together as a killer combo. I think that if critics had hated the UI, it would have given them time to "fix" Windows 8 before it came out. If this is the case, then kudos for Microsoft for the great planning ahead.
What do you think?

 

[Muero]

Apple has the power to push for hardware advancements like the Retina Display because they have boatloads of cash and the incentive of buying literally millions of whatever part(s) go into the next iPhone. What WP7 hardware partner has the resources and customers to get a supplier to make a super high ppi screen right now? With technology advancements, it will surely happen eventually, but there's little chance that it will right now because of economics.

And I think Microsoft really wants WP7 to be successful. It was basically a 1.0 OS, so it needed a couple years to perfect it. WP8 will be more like WP7 2.0, not a completely new OS.

Sent from my HTC TITAN X310e

 

[HeyCori]

No, companies usually invest billions into a project so they can lol while it fails...

 

[trumpet116]

No, companies usually invest billions into a project so they can lol while it fails...

Obviously that's not what I meant. More like invest all that money to make sure Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 were going to be the game changers they need them to be.

 

[blehblehbleh]

Was WP7 ever truely MEANT to succeed? Or was it just an experiment? Seeing that Microsoft has been testing Windows 8 since before WP7, I think they only really put it out there to see how the Metro UI would be received, and that nothing was supposed to get good until WP8 and Windows 8 were released together as a killer combo. I think that if critics had hated the UI, it would have given them time to "fix" Windows 8 before it came out. If this is the case, then kudos for Microsoft for the great planning ahead.
What do you think?

Yeah I'm pretty sure it was. They started development of the next Windows Mobile back in like late 2007/2008, until that got scrapped and they started from scratch. Then around 2009 Windows Mobile got renamed to Windows Phone; that year Windows 7 was also released. So there may be a possibility that your timeline is reversed.

Even if Windows 8 started development right after the launch of Windows 7, I think whatever UI elements just naturally evolved. Whether live tiles started within the Windows 8 group, I have no idea. I do know that Joe Belfiore acme from the Zune team, and that's why you see the panoramas. The Metro UI itself, at least as Microsoft is concerned, arose partly from market research from users on what could be improved.

If anything I think they both worked off each other in a type of synergy. If you read the article concerning the death of the MS Courier it seems like it could be inferred something like that happened. I wouldn't be surprised if Sinofsky looked at the direction computing was going with the launch of the iPad, heard back from his designers that meet with other designers in the other units and just thought the Metro UI would be a good fit. Add to the fact that around that time Microsoft already had Skydrive going for a few years, they probably just saw the opportunity to really push for that one ecosystem that they hinted at back when LiveMesh first launched.

As for them testing the waters, it's a possibility for sure, but I can't see any real indicators. I mean to a degree what you see on Windows Phone was a good fit for a touch device. By extension with the market moving towards tablets it seemed like a good fit for Windows 8. Technically Windows 8 could've still looked like a desktop if the market was showing the trend towards touch devices.

 

[palandri]

I really don't think resolution means a lot to most people. People pick up a phone and try it. If they like what they see, they buy it.

 

[massifheed]

I really don't think resolution means a lot to most people. People pick up a phone and try it. If they like what they see, they buy it.

Agreed. I think the average person who walks into a phone store doesn't care about resolution, probably doesn't even know what the Retina display is. So long as it doesn't look crap, they like the phone and the price is good, they'll buy it.

The exception to the rule is obviously Apple. It's gotten to the point that, for the majority of their customers, Apple could put any old crap in the iPhone and people would want it whatever. It's only the technologically aware enthusiasts that have any clue as to what goes on behind the screen. Impressive as some of the iPhone hardware features are, most of their customers couldn't care less - so long as it has an Apple logo on it. That's the reality of the mindset that MS needs to appeal to.

That's why I think Nokia are doing a great job pushing WP7. Their marketing puts the Lumia and WP7 right where people are every day - train stations, public spaces etc. And it's really in-your-face. Most of the people that try WP7 seem to really like it. And if all Nokia does is make a good impression then at least people will seriously have to make a choice when it comes to upgrade time, rather than just getting another iOS/Android device.

 

[svtfmook]

resolution and ppi are just marketing gimmicks.

 

[trumpet116]

resolution and ppi are just marketing gimmicks.

To some extent that's true, but higher resolution screens do look better. For example, I also own a Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 (ppi of <200), and when I hold it next to my 3.5 inch LG Quantum (ppi of >250) I realize just how fuzzy the Samsung really is. Same with my ipod touch 3g, which has a ppi of around 160. HOWEVER, once you get above 250-ish, it doesn't really matter anymore.

 

[selfcreation]

we are gona get HD screens with better resolution in q3-q4 this year so no worrys

like others said , RES is just a gimmick , like 3D , FFC(iiish) , 64G , ect ... sure people would buy it but people wanting does gimicks are like 1% of cliens. other will buy what feels right.

MS did a goog job with WP7 i dont think it was just a *test* because you wouldnt see them invest so much into WP ( 8 billion for Nokia wp , 8 billion for skype ( wp , windows , facebook ) + they push it mroe and more. developer events every month , big events ect..

as a NEW small OS , there was no point for them to *pretend* it was as good as Android/Iphone/BB cause it really wasnt ( missing features ect.. ) and i can addmit that.

so they pushed it as much as it deserved. now that WP8/W8 is coming i think your gona see WP grow more and more , and see MS invest more and more as time goes by.

just my thought

 

[paulm187]

Retina display is great for text and pictures but not useful for anything else if it does not support the high resolutions. The average Joe will not notice the difference between the WVGA resolution of WP7 and Retina display of the iPhone.

The iPad 3 is rumoured to have a Retina display and screen resolution of 2048 x 1536! What is going to use that apart from text and pictures? There are only a handful of games on the Xbox 360 and PS3 which even does 1080p (1920 x 1080) and thats lower than Retina display. HD movies max out at 1080p. Even on text and pictures the average Joe is not going to be able to tell the difference.

Windows Phone 8 will support a variety of resolutions by current industry standards but we don't know what they are but HD resolutions will no doubt be supported. Remember that Apple's business model is dependant on releasing "new innovation" every year and they know they are only once cycle away from a flop. Retina is a great marketing gimmick and the Apple fans will lap it up.