Mango vs. Gingerbread

[3migo]

Can anyone explain me why live tiles really work for them, instead of just being a distraction and power drain?

In a rush to leave the house, need to check the weather to see if I need to bring a coat, an umbrella, or anything of that nature. All I have to do is simply unlock the phone, and the weather is staring right at me. I don't have to look for the app among multiple pages, then open it, and wait for it to load.

 

[KingCrimson]

In a rush to leave the house, need to check the weather to see if I need to bring a coat, an umbrella, or anything of that nature. All I have to do is simply unlock the phone, and the weather is staring right at me. I don't have to look for the app among multiple pages, then open it, and wait for it to load.

Hmmm. An entire OS architecture built around a weather app. Sounds like overkill to me.

 

[psychotron]

Can anyone explain me why live tiles really work for them, instead of just being a distraction and power drain?

Same as 3migo here. Really dig the "glance and go" aspect. And just out of curiosity, have the live tiles really proven to be a battery drain? Are there any actual numbers floating around out there to support whether or not it creates a significant hit on power consumption? Just off hand I would think it would be extremely negligible, seeing as they're only really active when the home screen is on.

 

[KingCrimson]

Same as 3migo here. Really dig the "glance and go" aspect. And just out of curiosity, have the live tiles really proven to be a battery drain? Are there any actual numbers floating around out there to support whether or not it creates a significant hit on power consumption? Just off hand I would think it would be extremely negligible, seeing as they're only really active when the home screen is on.

#1 - I keep hearing that people like to glance at the weather app. Umm just look outside the window!

#2 - as an engineer I know that if you have something that is constantly polling for data, it means CPU cycles are being used = power usage. Now if these tiles are being updated via PUSH notifications that's different.

 

[psychotron]

#1 - I keep hearing that people like to glance at the weather app. Umm just look outside the window!

I guess that's oversimplifying it a bit. Should have clarified the "glance and go" aspect by mentioning that I also have my facebook, messages, email, calendar, etc. tiles all grouped together at the top of my home screen so I'm really gleaning more information than just the current temp without having to dive into the apps themselves.

#2 - as an engineer I know that if you have something that is constantly polling for data, it means CPU cycles are being used = power usage. Now if these tiles are being updated via PUSH notifications that's different.

But couldn't the same be said of any app on a smartphone regardless of whether it has a live tile or not? In that case I'm assuming it wouldn't be any different than a weather app in iOS or Android since they constantly poll for data as well. I guess what I was really asking was if the activity/animation of the tile itself contributes to any significant power drain.

 

[scottcraft]

The live tiles may affect battery life but I get significantly better battery life on my trophy compared to the Motorola droid I was using before. That's even with my droid rooted and tweaked for battery life.

Sent from my Windows 7 phone using Board Express

 

[HeyCori]

The updates to Bing are just flat out phenomenal

Review Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" Part III: Bing + Speech - YouTube

 

[scottcraft]

The updates to Bing are just flat out phenomenal

Review Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" Part III: Bing + Speech - YouTube

Very impressive video. I can't wait for mango!

 

[Duvi]

The updates to Bing are just flat out phenomenal

Review Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" Part III: Bing + Speech - YouTube

I've seen this before (not that video), but seeing it again really got me excited all over again! Love it.

 

[Fleon]

Hmmm. An entire OS architecture built around a weather app. Sounds like overkill to me.

I believe that was just an example. Ok, I'll give you some useful ones that I actually like:

Stock App- No need to run anything. In under a second I see how the DOW and my top 5 stocks are doing. Contrast to having to run the app, let it load, let it download, then display. Extremely useful for me.

Word of the Day- New word of the day pops up. If it's an intriguing one, I click in and learn it.

MagikMail- hooks into my YouMail system. Tile flips to show me who the last person who left a message is. Nice for when I miss a call and want to know if I need to check it asap or not.

News- BBC News Beta, in particular. Get to see the hot / breaking news as a picture + text just on the tile. Click in to see the whole thing.

RSS- Running updates of number of unread stories in a given feed.

People / People Groups- (I use groups). Out of the 10 people I actually want to know about, it pops up the latest post or thumbnail picture they shared.

British Air - don't think this one is out yet, but you can see it demoing mango features. Updates itself as to a particular flight with delays, info, etc.


I think you can see some of the benefits of live tiles. Not useful for every app, definitely, but very nice for some scenarios.

 

[3migo]

Hmmm. An entire OS architecture built around a weather app. Sounds like overkill to me.

I was giving you an example. The live tiles are a nice way to digest important information in the morning with a simple scroll. I don't have to open up every app to view information. I stay on the start screen, and do a quick swipe from top to bottom, then I've gotten all of the top information that I'll need.

#1 - I keep hearing that people like to glance at the weather app. Umm just look outside the window!

#2 - as an engineer I know that if you have something that is constantly polling for data, it means CPU cycles are being used = power usage. Now if these tiles are being updated via PUSH notifications that's different.

#1: The window can't tell me if it's going to rain 3 hours from now. Or, if I'm travelling somewhere, it can't tell me what to expect when I land/arrive.

#2: Then why do WP7 devices consistently have better battery life than the top tier Android phones?

 

[red grenadine]

I ditched Android back in February. Why?

1. The tiles are a lot easier to access. I can one-hand the phone a lot easier than any Android phone out there. The tiles and keyboard are a lot easier to peg than the little round icons.

You know, that's a really good point that I had taken for granted. With my iPhone it was sometimes a stretch to get to an icon using one hand. The fact that the tiles in WP7 are large, leftside-biased, and scroll in an up-down manner makes it absurdly easy to one-hand the phone with your left hand. You can reach all tiles with just flicks of your thumb instead of reaching around

 

[HeyCori]

One of, if the the main reason I went with WP7 is because of the UI. Both iOS and Android use a very boring wall of icons and that has never been appealing to me. WP7 is just so slick, smooth, and responsive. The live tiles are great to look at, often tempting me to randomly scroll through with no purpose other than to remind me how cool they are. In fact, when I got my TouchPad I was hoping for an Android port. However, after using WebOS for a while I'm starting to realize how simplicity and a good UI can make a product much more appealing. I think MS was wise to take a more simple approach instead of the kitchen sink UI that Android has.

 

[jfa1]

I was giving you an example. The live tiles are a nice way to digest important information in the morning with a simple scroll. I don't have to open up every app to view information. I stay on the start screen, and do a quick swipe from top to bottom, then I've gotten all of the top information that I'll need.



#1: The window can't tell me if it's going to rain 3 hours from now. Or, if I'm travelling somewhere, it can't tell me what to expect when I land/arrive.

Touche'

#2: Then why do WP7 devices consistently have better battery life than the top tier Android phones?

Because they work smarter would be my Guess!

 

[bear_lx]

as much as it hurts me to say this, i am now back on gingerbread from an htc hd7. and it wasnt because i didnt like wp7, it was great, especially with zune pass. however the reason i switched was because tmobile sucked, and sprint was the next best choice in my area. ( verizon is #1 but overpriced) att also dops calls consistantly round here. sprints only wp7 device is the htc arrive, and i dont like it at all. too small, it has a keyboard which i hate, and it is 199. i got a nexus s 4g for 29 bucks brand new. nexus s is the rawest form of android with zero bloat ware and extremely fast. it is 4g, and has a Front facing camera. and for the time being has a much better app selection. so i switched. and honestly found several things i missed dearly. most of all the nintendo emualtor with super mario 3, it plays extremely well, just like an old nintendo. i havent had a single crash since i had it, which it has been about a week. the OS on this particular phone is just as smooth as wp7. now i cant say the same for phones like the evo, super laggy. maybe duie to its raw and stripped OS, but it is very smooth and responsive. gingerbread does give me some great features and gosh did i miss the google gps. i do have flash which is nice for certain websites, but i can live without it. and most of all i now realize how much i missed a super amoled screen, ( wink wink selfcreation). in the end, it all boils down to an individual basis. what benefits me most as a user? it will vary from person to person. but to say one is better than the other is strictly opinion. keep in mind androids' force closes and lag come from over customizing and rooting. if you leave it be, (like you have to a an iphone or wp7 device), it is also very fast. and even with this android phone, i can still use zune to purchase music (not subscription music though, just individual songs), just not to sync. ( i use windows media player to sync) all in all, they are all great platforms, and all offer something exclusive. i am happy with the nexus s 4g... and if it wasnt for constantly losing calls on tmobile, would still be happy with the hd7.

p.s. my htc hd7 did have a few random reboots as well, wp7 isnt infallable.

 

[bear_lx]

i will still come visit, lol ! especially to have friendly debates with my old wp7 friends! maybe even troll from time to time, haha. who knows i still have a week to decide if i want a different phone, but it isnt going to be an arrive. wish sprint had a better selection of wp7 devices, =(

 

[J4rrod]

All you have to do is say this - "I can go a full day without a freeze up, force close, restart, or crash."

There's the end of the argument.

 

[astroXP]

We WP7 users don't need task managers

 

[smartpatrol]

#2 - as an engineer I know that if you have something that is constantly polling for data, it means CPU cycles are being used = power usage. Now if these tiles are being updated via PUSH notifications that's different.

AFAIK all live tiles DO use PUSH notifications rather than the phone itself polling for updates.

WP7 has very rigid restrictions on what's allowed to run in the background. They chose to suspend/resume apps rather than allow true multiasking. Mango adds quick app suspend/resume, which is VERY quick. Even 3D games resume almost instantly.