Let's face facts. Can you wait till Windows Phone 8

[eastbayrae]

I guess the big one is, people want the device that everyone else has already because beyond the geeks, people who strive to be different, or someone who is new to smartphones, will pick whatever their friends has because it is the easiest to get help with. If you buy a WP7, none of your friends can help you, they can't talk with you about this cool new app or trick they discovered, all of that cool stuff is lost because you're part of a ~5% population.

I offered to buy both of my sisters WP7 phones and both wanted Androids. One sister didn't know what a Windows phone was. The ad campaign in the states is total garbage, as usual. Microsoft has been horrid at advertising for years. Anyone remember all the ad's for the Zune? Not likely since there were none.

 

[Forgewizard]

I haven't made the switch from Android yet, though I plan to. The hardware horse has been beaten to death, but I think that short of some cutting edge games, WP7 hardware is more than equal to the task. The only spec I wish had been improved by now is screen resolution. My concerns are more on the software side. Where are the custom keyboards? Browser alternatives? Above all, some app categories are woefully underrepresented (eg. drug information apps). MS needs to take the reins off developers, release some APIs, and let them run free. The developer community is THE driving force for any mobile ecosystem.

Browser alternatives: Check out surf cube it rocks! how many medicinal apps do you need? a marketplace search for drugs, medicine, surgery turn up over 100 to choose from!

Custom keyboards? Yeah, I'd agree a little eye candy would be nice - like a better looking phone dialer ( besides the rotary ones offered as apps). With the screen resolutions what they are on these current devices it'd be nice to see better graphics displayed on the native phone dialer. I use a physical keyboard more often than the virtual - so don't need a custom keyboard displayed. But how hard would it be to let developers offer "Skinned dialers"?

Would like to see MS allow their developers more leeway. even to allow them to integrate other developer's apps into theirs.

All in all WP7 Mango out of the box is a solid OS and MS should be commended because they did insist on basic hardware for their platform. Looks like they are heeding the users too - as evidenced by the Mango update which apparently addressed many user's concerns. Mango came out in relatively fast fashion as compared to other OS updates.

Windows Phone's biggest stumbling block is the store reps- they just aren't willing to learn the OS nor promote it!

 

[Major]

Isn't SurfCube just a skin for IE? I'm sure it works fine, but that's not what I meant. As far as drug information apps, the only one I've seen for WP7 is the $49.99 Davis Drug. The other medical apps you're referencing do not suit my needs.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

[power5]

I tried the Focus S yesterday in store. It was about 30 feet from the iPhone 4S so I could not put them next to each other. The home screen of the iPhone does have more graphics on it which really makes the screen quality pop. WP start screen does not look any better on a SA+ screen compared to a LCD. But the Focus S display was also pretty impressive. No chance to see a new SLCD display yet. In hand the Focus S did not feel too cheap, but I still dont think it has a $600 feel to it.

I played with a few android phones and could not notice any lag like most people claim. Though everything in the store just had the default apps and setups so that is probably not when they have problems.

Good news was the Rep did not try to steer me towards any specific phones.

 

[johnmcd348]

I can't seem to understand why MS doesn't do more to tie in their phones with their OS's. They are working on actually doing this with Windows 8 from everything I've been reading but their newer commercials just aren't doing it for me and I'm a Windows person. They show the Dad dancing on a Kinect XBox and the daughter filming it on her WP7 device and the son editing it on his Win& Computer. For all anyone non technophile would know, she was filming it on her Droid and the son was doing his thing on thee Mac. It's basically an Xbox commercial.

I kills me that there just isn't any real presence for the devices out there. All anyone knows about smartphones or any cell phone for that matter is that they have a choice. iPhone, Droid, Blackberry, anything else is just a phone. Even the tech writers are still confusing the old WinMo devices with WinPho devices and describing them as outdated technology.

I think that if MS wanted to have a serious market, they need to actually do what they initially talked about and keep the specs so that the aftermarket with apps and accessories would actually want to produce for them. That's what Apple did and look how it's worked for them. Doesn't matter if it's an iPhone or iPod, you can buy adapters, docking stations, apps to do any thing from destroying zombies to bullet trajectories for your specific firearm you're carrying in Afghanistan. It's as close to a do all, be all smartphone there is right now and MS just isn't doing enough, in my opinion, to put their product out there. They are too busy signing agreements with other manufacturers for a piece of the Droid market or other intellectual properties to really apply themselves to marketing. Look how non-eventful the roll out of Windows 7 was. There was hype in the beginning then just a fart in the wind when it came out. They're doing the same thing for Windows Phone 7. The magazines have been talking about the downfall of Windows mobile since the time of CE. When/if it ever does happen, I truly think the only entity to blame will be MS themselves. It really won't surprise me if one day it goes the way of OS2.

 

[jalb]

Isn't SurfCube just a skin for IE? I'm sure it works fine, but that's not what I meant. As far as drug information apps, the only one I've seen for WP7 is the $49.99 Davis Drug. The other medical apps you're referencing do not suit my needs.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

Yes, all the browser "alternatives" in the marketplace are IE skins. Microsoft does not allow true alternative browsers.

 

[psychotron]

Can I wait? Absolutely. Like one of the first posters mentioned I don't currently feel like anything is lacking. Wanting the latest hardware just for the sake of having it when the OS performs quite well on what it has is simply gadget envy rather than a necessity IMHO.

 

[eastbayrae]

I'll keep my HD7. It does everything I want and rarely has issues. I will wait until next summer when Apollo hits. Between the HD7 and the Kindle Fire I will be set for at least a year.

 

[KingCrimson]

Au revoir! Come back when you can afford one.

I can afford one or several, I just can't justify the monthly cost for so little usage.

 

[jfa1]

Windows Phone 8 on beastly hardware is not coming until July/August 2012. Can you wait until then, or you absolutely must have the WP7 experience even though that locks you in to substandard hardware for at least 12 months?

Nokia was saying they will have windows 8 tablets in June 2012 and MS said they were releasing Win 8 in June last I heard. Apollo is supposed to be released at the same time.

 

[based_graham]

I hope I can run Win8 on my Lumia

 

[selfcreation]

all of us can wait

cause if you couldn’t , you wouldn’t have a wp7.5 right now . lol and does that couldnt alredy whent back to iphone or android.... ( like 3-5 people i`ve seen from this forrum)

i for one am very happy with my FOCUS.

sure wp8 will bring more Zing to the OS. wp7.5 does everything i need it to do right now....

and waiting 6-7more months for Apollo is a joke compare to the 1year for mango.

I hope I can run Win8 on my Lumia

you will, one of the reasons why HARDWARE doesn’t change much .. we don’t have fragmentation problems like android ( as of yet ) maybe we will with W9 but im sure you will have a Upgrade by then

 

[based_graham]

Apollo from recent rumors is going to be a HUGE upgrade but as of right now I am more than happy with 7.5 it cant do everything but hey thats what my laptops for. Its hard to do everything on a 3.7 -> 4.3 inch screen well its not hard but just more time consuming.

 

[CamiKitti]

Yeah, I'd probably can, I'm gonna upgrade (or get a new phone) this year anyways... My 2 year contract is almost up.

 

[agm353]

I already have a neat plan worked out. My dad is stuck with his broken HTC Aria, and we are trying to get it traded in. He will get a Lumia 800, and then we will switch sim cards. This way, i can use the lumia and he gets my focus. Then, when WP8 comes out, we switch back I i get the windows 8 phone!

Sent from my Samsung Focus using Board Express

 

[Winterfang]

Well I'm already stuck in my sub-standard device so I can only wait.

 

[dtboos]

My 1st gen Focus still runs smooth as butter so I'm fine waiting. But I'm not waiting long Getting the Lumia 900 soon as it comes to AT&T.

 

[mprice86]

Generally speaking I would say that the vast majority of people currently with Windows Phones, and the target audience of Windows Phone, either don't know what dual/quad-core means, or they don't give a crap.

I'm in the latter camp having learned years ago that there is zero point in trying to keep up with any technology regarding specs. Sure I could always have the latest and greatest, but I'd be in the **** financially and I'd be unhappy with everything I owned because the next day or week or month the next great thing would be coming.

Pretty much everyone I know has a smartphone; some iPhones, some Androids, they got them because it's what their mates had, or what their company provided them with. Not one of them would blink if you told them your phone was quad-core and could play Crysis. The reason being that even in a situation where a lot of people understand what the specs mean (I'm doing degree level computing), people just want to call, text, facebook and angry birds. It just happens that a very, very vocal minority do care, and by god if they just spent ?800 on a phone they are going to shout about it until everyone knows how **** they are for not being like them.

 

[blehblehbleh]

Definitely can and willing to wait for Windows Phone 8. Of course it helps that I'm locked in until 2013, but as long as my current device gets the OS update for WP8, I'm cool. Also, by that time there should be some pretty sweet hardware.

 

[boss.king]

Windows Phone 8 on beastly hardware is not coming until July/August 2012. Can you wait until then, or you absolutely must have the WP7 experience even though that locks you in to substandard hardware for at least 12 months?

I bought my Titan as it fills my needs. I'll be a bit envious when NFC capable devices cone out, but its not gonna make my Titan any less great. Its smooth and fast and powerful, and unless WP8 rubs like crap i have no regrets. You can't wait forever else you'll never have anything