Why should I choose WP7 over iOS?

[kthoag]

Question's in the title. Thoughts?

 

[Averry]

It has the same amount of user friendliness, but with a far more modern look.

In fact, I would say it's the boldest take of the big three OS's....those who appreciate great typography will love it. The music functionality very much eclipses the itunes functionality....if you're a music lover, the way Zune presents your favorite artists makes the experience much more enjoyable. Zune pass is the best music deal on the planet, $15 a month gets you unlimited subscription downloads as well as 10 songs to keep forever even if you stop the subscription.

Microsoft has a great SDK that allows developers to make great looking apps that follow the design scheme of the Windows Phone OS.

Bing maps has turn by turn navigation for free...something you can't get on iOS but something Android has.

Xbox Live integration means it has a good chance of competing with iOS's best games with a better network from the ground up. Plus, unlike Apple, Microsoft owns entire development houses that can dedicate themselves from top to bottom development of games for the platform...so I'm hopping things keep getting better on this front. Certainly it will be the only location a Halo game could possibly show up.

Oh, by the way, I don't have one yet.....because I can't get AT&T or T-Mobile. But I have a Zune HD and an Xbox 360 and I love Microsoft's ecosystem.

What do you do the most with your iPhone? Obviously, WP7 is gonna struggle for the huge breadth of app diversity, but it already has most of the functions I use my Droid Incredible for. Navigation, great Google Voice app, fast snappy browser, and some games...which WP7 does better than Android.

 

[Exomondo]

WP7 is very much like iOS in terms of functionality, I had a 3G for a while (my wife has had all 4 of them) and while i liked it i found it started to become pretty dated and they began to break the 'appliance' paradigm that was so successful for them in the beginning. Apple have begun to realise that while the idea of 'launch this application and it becomes that device' is nice, people want multi-tasking, we know there is a phone OS behind the application and we want to be able to use that and run multiple applications and get notifications and updates.
One particular thing i hated was that if you got any kind of notification on iOS it stops what you're doing until you action or dismiss it, in WP7 you get a notification at the top of your screen which you can action, or ignore and if you ignore it it will go away without interrupting you.

WP7 is FAR more modern looking, I still use my ipad a lot and i find it looks very dated compared to WP7, there's no liveliness to it, no sense that it's connected to the world until you launch a program and actually 'turn the device into something'. The social stuff and contact management is great too, through the people hub you can select a person and see their updates, and all the ways you have to contact them. I also really like the context-sensitive search and I hate going back to an iDevice because I'm always looking for the 'Back' button.
Mobile Office is great, the syncing is really useful. I like the way i can create a document that i frequently access in Office and pin it to the start screen so i can get to it without launching the office app and opening it manually. XBox live is great (im a big fan of the 360 though i do have a PS3 as well), it's cool to be able to access XBL and see friends, mess with my avatar, send messages and track (and earn, through XBL games) achievements.

iOS abstracts the OS away, the device is whatever app you launch, but they seem to be finding they have to slowly move away from that and start hacking at their paradigm. WP7 is about integrating services into the OS and having applications as a layer on top.

In short they are both very good and both have a similar level of functionality but both achieve it in different ways. I certainly wouldn't say one is better than the other, it's really a matter of preference.

In terms of the 'killer app', for me there's two, Mobile Office and XBox Live!

 

[Michael-Dallas]

Because the UI/UX is different. Because you have choices for phones, than just one.

Michael.

 

[Light Speed1]

-wp7 UI looks better

-xbox live is better than game center. not even close

-zune looks and functions faster, better, syncs faster than ipod

-microsoft office is better than iphone (doesnt have office suite)

-wp7 has multiple different hardware styles

-wp7 has super amoled screens, which are better than iphone's LCD easily

 

[dtboos]

Here's a good video I saw somebody post on the precentral forums. Gives you a good rundown of how the interface looks/reacts and how you interact with the device.

YouTube - Speed and Responsiveness.wmv

 

[Michael-Dallas]

-xbox live is better than game center. not even close

Oh man, that is just icing on the cake if you own an Xbox and an Xbox Live account. I forgot about that. I just hope they continue to expand and improve the Xbox Live experience on Windows Phone, because I think this is a very important facet/feature that WP7 has to offer.

Michael.

 

[baba.bhagat]

Here is a good answer:

Check this out:

If It Ain't Broke, Fix It Till It Is!: Why choose Windows Phone 7 (WP7) over Androids and iPhones!!

 

[Vankade]

Check this out:

If It Ain't Broke, Fix It Till It Is!: Why choose Windows Phone 7 (WP7) over Androids and iPhones!!

Thank you for that link. You sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

 

[1jaxstate1]

Zune is so much better than iTunes.

 

[ctt1wbw]

Zune is so much better than iTunes.

Now that is extremely subjective. I have both and still find iTunes superior in every way. Far easier to navigate and find things. Plus, can you rent or buy movies with the Zune software?

 

[ctt1wbw]

Question's in the title. Thoughts?

If you're talking OS centric, I think Windows Phone 7 is better, mainly due to the notifications system. If you get a push or a toast notification, it won't lock the phone up on you like it does on the iOS platform. However, once the notification leaves the screen, there is NO way to get it back, there is no way to keep them in a log.

However, on the iOS, you can get Boxcar, which is superior in this regard as far as keeping some of them.

I love the Live Tiles in WP7. So far more superior to the iOS that I can't even begin to describe it.

Now as far as managing apps and stuff, the iOS has it all over WP7. Getting apps is a pain on WP7. If you get an app from your phone, you can't redownload it from Zune. If you get all your apps from the phone and you have to reset your phone, not one of the apps will get downloaded and reinstalled automatically; however, if you get all your apps from Zune, this will happen. It's such a pain in the *** and simply ********.

The hardware is nowhere in comparison. The iPhone 4 is superior to any WP7 handset I've seen. The apps are superior, too. But overall, I think WP7 looks better, is easier to use, has better notifications, the Live Tiles are pure shibby, better Office integration, better Facebook integration. The pluses outweight the negatives, but not my much.

 

[Averry]

Yes, you you can buy and rent videos. It's in Marketplace under "videos".

In fact, most videos that you buy on Zune...you can download to your phone, computer, and Xbox, or stream them from you PC or your XBox at any time. Verrrrrrrrry handy.


For one.....it seems as if the Zune client doesn't actually even download your apps....it just installs them on the phone over the air anyways.....so I can understand why it just doesn't redownload them in the client.

 

[1jaxstate1]

What she said. Lol.

Sent from my Samsung Focus using Board Express

 

[Rich Edmonds]

I have a WP7 device in a very much Apple eco-system. Here's an idea of my current setup:

MICROSOFT
Home PC (Windows 7)
Xbox 360
WP7

APPLE
Airport Extreme (router)
MacBook
iPad
Apple TV

I spend most of my time on my MacBook and iPad, while using my WP7 device for everything I used my iPhone/Android for. I can tell you in a snap right now (without giving any positive or negative points per product) that my next laptop will be Windows, I will return with a Cisco router, I have ditched my Apple TV for a Virgin HD+ box and I will be getting a Windows tablet, should they surface at some point.

While I have enjoyed using iOS and OS X as a whole, their products are over-priced and the ridiculous small issues that will never be rectified are just not present in a Microsoft alternative product. The main problem I shall outline is for example:

I purchased a movie through iTunes on my MacBook.
Synchronised it to my iPad to exploit the HDMI output.
Plugged in my iPad to my HD TV for video playback.
Can't play the movie as my "HD TV is not authorised".

Things like the above that gives Apple a bad name, and so they should. If they wish to continue to build marketshare against Microsoft by saying "Our products work in harmony together" when (like the above example) they clearly don't, then they should be bashed for not allowing customers to use their products.

In short - WP7

 

[Dusteater]

I do not have a Windows Phone yet, as I am waiting for global roaming on Sprint. But I wanted to state one of the biggest reasons for choosing WP as my next device. That is all of the Live services in the cloud. I truely believe MS has the best cloud offerings with Hotmail, SkyDrive, OneNote, etc... And seeing that Mango is bringing even deeper integration to the party, it is a no brainer.

 

[jalb]

When you buy a new album, you don't have to spend an hour syncing with iTunes.

 

[eric12341]

Now that is extremely subjective. I have both and still find iTunes superior in every way. Far easier to navigate and find things. Plus, can you rent or buy movies with the Zune software?

If you're talking OS centric, I think Windows Phone 7 is better, mainly due to the notifications system. If you get a push or a toast notification, it won't lock the phone up on you like it does on the iOS platform. However, once the notification leaves the screen, there is NO way to get it back, there is no way to keep them in a log.

However, on the iOS, you can get Boxcar, which is superior in this regard as far as keeping some of them.

I love the Live Tiles in WP7. So far more superior to the iOS that I can't even begin to describe it.

Now as far as managing apps and stuff, the iOS has it all over WP7. Getting apps is a pain on WP7. If you get an app from your phone, you can't redownload it from Zune. If you get all your apps from the phone and you have to reset your phone, not one of the apps will get downloaded and reinstalled automatically; however, if you get all your apps from Zune, this will happen. It's such a pain in the *** and simply ********.

The hardware is nowhere in comparison. The iPhone 4 is superior to any WP7 handset I've seen. The apps are superior, too. But overall, I think WP7 looks better, is easier to use, has better notifications, the Live Tiles are pure shibby, better Office integration, better Facebook integration. The pluses outweight the negatives, but not my much.

wow! an iFanboy on wpcentral. and explain how iTunes is better than Zune. u must be made of money because on iTune$ u have to buy each song no matter what.

 

[dtboos]

Nothing wrong with buying songs, but iTunes is a bloated p.o.s. whether you like Apple or not. Zune is designed better and is much less of a system hog.

I will say iTunes has more available on it though.

 

[VernonEL]

Microsoft Cloud Services

...one of the biggest reasons for choosing WP as my next device. That is all of the Live services in the cloud. I truely believe MS has the best cloud offerings with Hotmail, SkyDrive, OneNote, etc... And seeing that Mango is bringing even deeper integration to the party, it is a no brainer.

Absolutely. I agree entirely. This is one of the main reasons I currently am using a Windows Phone.