WP7 vs. Android vs. iPhone

[terrokkinit]

Hey everyone!

I have been following wpcentral on Twitter as @terrokkinit for quite awhile and keep getting more and more excited about what WP7 has to offer, especially come Mango which I've been hearing a lot about!

I have been interested in getting a Windows Phone as I have used their interfaces before with Windows Phone 5, 6, and 6.5, but the app choices were just too miniscule. I've worked with Blackberry as well but email was not something I use all that often; Android I now have but it requires it to be rooted just to make the platform usable with all the bloatware (and carrying around two batteries for one day just doesn't set well with me). I'm just getting to the point that Android, though a great OS, has too much in the background to make it manageable and usable in a day's work.

Here's my question: What features will WP7 include that would make it a good switch from my current HTC Incredible on Verizon? Is WP7 worth the switch from Android? I would be looking at the HTC Trophy (LOVE HTC, btw), but I'm not sure how their product works or what features are included.

As a side note, I have an Xbox Live account, Zune.net account, and Windows Live ID complete with SkyDrive. I currently sync my calendar with Google along with contacts in the cloud and also with Facebook and Twitter. Music is a big thing for me and I enjoy creating customized ringtones and notifications with my device. Some apps I use constantly are: Facebook, Twitter, IM+, Pandora, Slacker Radio, Google Search and Maps, Tasks, Memos, Contacts, SMS, etc.

 

[scottcraft]

I switched from a motorola droid to the htc trophy. My wife has the iphone 4 so I was strongly leaning in that direction. I played with all the top android phones (thunderbolt, lg revolution, droid charge, incredible 2, droid 3, droid x2) and I didn't find any of them to be really impressive. They are nice, but they aren't iphone smooth, even the dual-core phones. I read a lot of reviews and watch a lot of videos on the trophy and played with it in the store. I figured I could try it and if I didn't like it I could return it. A month later I still have it and love it. I rarely play with my wife's iphone anymore. It's not a perfect operating system but it is very smooth and consistent. I get much better battery life than with my droid and no force-closes. A good phone will get even better with mango. Hope this helps.

 

[archer75]

Honestly, you're going to get more options and freedom on android.

WP7 offers a very nice interface. Though you can get live (some)tiles on android via a new launcher, it's not quite the same. WP7 OS performs very well even on the lesser spec'd phones.

WP7 seems almost the same to me as ios in terms of user friendliness and freedom(but lacks the apps). It looks great, requires less tweaking, but you don't have the freedom of android which has a steeper learning curve(very steep, but i've managed to increase battery life by almost a day and reduce background tasks). I don't know that your battery life will increase with WP7 versus what you can tweak now on a android.
I spent today trying to drain the battery on my Moto Atrix just to break it in and it took most of a day streaming pandora and youtube non stop. The first day I had the phone I drained the battery very quickly. Certainly a learning curve.

No pandora on WP7. You'll have to use Last.FM instead.

That's my opinion thus far, take it for what it's worth....

 

[Dave Blake]

I'm going to move this to the Trophy forums so the Verizon Trophy owners can help you out

 

[rwalterk]

I've been using the Trophy for work and also have an Android device (HTC EVO) as my personal phone. From a functionality standpoint, there's no denying Android is more powerful. As mentioned above, it's also unwieldy for the uninitiated and can get very ugly looking without a lot of manicuring. But all of the Google tools are woven together so well and it feels limitless.

In contrast, WP7 is a much more tightly controlled and limited environment (like the iPhone). But this leads to a more consistent user experience and the UI doesn't get out of hand like an Android phone's can. It's also much nicer to use from a visual standpoint; e.g. I'd much rather read my work emails on my Trophy than on my EVO. The Metro UI is easy on the eyes, pleasant to read, fluid and fun.

Things that frustrate me about WP7 are the poor web browsing experience, search mechanism/results and lack of apps compared to Android. I'm a heavy Google user, so I really enjoy the way Google integrates everything in Android. For example when I do a restaurant (Google) search on my EVO, I get a mini map, a link to get directions/NAV, a link to call, etc. all on the same page. The results on a native Bing search are very different and inconsistent (certainly fewer results), and also requires an additional touch to get to the same things that a Google search on Android gives you all on one page. The Google search app is also hamstrung compared to its native Android counterpart. The web browser will be much improved with Mango so you can gloss over that for now, but the lack of apps can be annoying. E.g. as mentioned above, no Pandora. But it has Netflix . Other minor things annoy me too, like having to do an extra touch to bring up the keypad in the phone app.

My annoyances aside, it's still a very pleasant phone to use. The "Office" version included is also a very nice tool for notes, Word docs and even Excel, though I don't use them too often. Xbox Live integration will only get tighter with time. It's going to have real multitasking with Mango and a bunch of other stuff, which you can read here: Windows Phone 7.5 Mango in-depth preview (video) -- Engadget. Given the choice between the two I'd stick with Android for now because I'm such a Google tools junkie, but WP7 is good and only going to get better.

Edit: I forgot to mention the battery life is awesome. My EVO sometimes can't go a full day without being recharged, but the Trophy can soldier on for a couple of days between charges (at least with my usage pattern).

 

[scottcraft]

I liked the youtube on my droid much better than on my trophy. Google maps and google navigation on android is pretty nice. To me android has some really neat stuff but I like the smoothness and consistency of WP7. I signed up for the 14 day trial of zune pass and that's pretty neat too.

 

[Raptor007]

I just ordered an HTC Trophy today and will be sending my BlackBerry 9930 back. While I am no stranger to windows mobile OS, this will be my first Phone 7 (phone). I didn't let the lack of apps deter me, but instead looked at the UI, how well the phones work. The one major issue I have is the lack of choices, Verizon having only 1 WP7P is a big let down, hopefully that will improve over time.

Now of course (as a mac user) I will need to use my Windows virtual machine and learn how to root my new phone so I can do the things I want that MS won't let us do.

 

[palandri]

I just ordered an HTC Trophy today and will be sending my BlackBerry 9930 back. While I am no stranger to windows mobile OS, this will be my first Phone 7 (phone). I didn't let the lack of apps deter me, but instead looked at the UI, how well the phones work. The one major issue I have is the lack of choices, Verizon having only 1 WP7P is a big let down, hopefully that will improve over time.

Now of course (as a mac user) I will need to use my Windows virtual machine and learn how to root my new phone so I can do the things I want that MS won't let us do.

I had a Palm Treo Pro with windows mobile 6.1. One thing you will notice is the lack of setting in a win7 phone, compared to previous windows mobile OS. Since you are going to root it, I guess it won't make much difference.

 

[SleepyTheDon]

I say WP7 hands down. The only thing I hate is that A LOT of apps that are on both iOS/Android OS are NOT on WP7.Its time for the developers to come to the WP7 side of the force