Christopher Slee

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Well it has been a week now (a few days over actually) and I’m here to tell you life with the HTC HD7 Windows Phone 7 is pretty darn good.  I will stick to the format from my Day One post so we can see the apples to apples progression (and yes I get the apple reference, I’m just going to ignore you and plod forward).

The Good
The phone continues to operate fast.  The feel is still great and silky smooth.  I let tend to let the battery come pretty close to dying before charging and with normal use (for me that means the phone is on a lot), I can go just about 24 hours before having to get it on the charger.  That to me seems reasonable as that is what I am used to from my other devices.  I like the fact that picture MMS messages come though an are visible inline with the sms thread, not as some other type that I have to download and deal with.  Since Evernote has not shown up on WP7 yet (and I’m not thrilled with that @evernote), I have switched over to use OneNote on the device and my desktops (except my Mac obviously) but more about that later in the Mehs.  I found I like OneNote and the web version isn’t that bad.  It keeps my phone synced with all the desktops and the web.  So the “no Evernote” lead me to rediscover a tool I have available to me that I just hadn’t been using, but if Evernote makes it to WP7 I’ll likely go back… you know the old saying, once you go Evernote you don’t go back.  We will just call it a trial separation till Evernote comes to it’s senses and moves back in.  One last thing that I will say, but not dwell on, is that writing code for WP7 is awesome.

The Bad
Just like people, the longer you live with something the more flaws and inadequacies you find, the hope is that they are unnoticeable or easily over looked and the relationship can go on.  I think that is where I am with WP7.  I know where it’s inadequacies lye and I’ll share some, but ultimately I’m hooked so while this section will likely seem condemning, I’m no Tomás de Torquemada.  That being said (and yes I will wait for the inquisitive to look the name reference up) I will start with a solid “what the hell”.  One thing that I loved on Android and then saw it move to iPhone are QR codes.  I realize Microsoft has Tags (as a competing thing) but without the ability to scan QR codes (other then the crappy RIM style take a picture and hope something can figure it out) I see a big gap in the platform.  Seriously, no API or anything to help me even make one.  Twice, the sound on the device had mysteriously quit working and I had to reboot the phone.  I think I remember this happening on my Droid 1 once or twice and it hasn’t caused my any issues, but something to watch.  I have yet to find a way to share a video that I shot on the device (and they look good and have great sound when I do) other then sync to Zune and then upload it from there.  Maybe I’m missing something but I looked (a couple of times).  One other thing (which is not the platforms issue) is that T-Mobile is no where near the speed of Verizon in Marysville Ohio (where I live), once I’m in Columbus, its great but the network just isn’t as strong so I end up going to wifi at home a lot.  That leads me to my last issue.  The lack of community and apps.  I adopted Android fairly early in its life cycle and watched a community of blogs and feature sites spring up (like phandroid.com and droid-life.com oh and don’t forget appbrain.com).  There just aren’t those kinds of sites on WP7 yet so connecting with a community just isn’t there.  Sort of feel lonely sometimes out here in the wilderness, I’m more of an urban guy, but I figure it will all come, like it did for Android.

The Meh
For better or worse, I have been using a Mac for the past two years.  Sure I write .net code on Windows but we use VMs for pretty much everything so its never been an issue and I use native Mac for iPhone and Android development.  Well after converting to Windows Phone 7, and Zune, and Live.com services, I find myself in my Windows  7 VM more often then not.  In fact for a few minutes I toyed with the idea of getting a Windows Laptop.  I’m not saying that is good or bad, just is.

The bottom line?
The bottom line is that I like the device and am sticking with it, I wish it had better community support and more apps but those will come.

Related Articles

• Samsung choose Windows Phone 7 over Android (dialtosave.co.uk)

UPDATE:  turns out there is a WP7 site a lot like phandroid.com.. wpcentral.com

Image by whatleydude via Flickr

Well it has been a bit over 24 hours with the HD7.  Picked one up on release day (because I’m that kind of early adopter).  I’ll give you my observations, but before I do, I should make sure you have some background.

I work as a mobile software developer at mowbol.com so I have some background with all the smartphones (I use that term lightly) on the market.  IPhone, Android and now Windows Phone 7 (WP7).  My last phone was a Droid X on Verizon and before that I was a Droid 1 on Verizon (so I have a bit of bias toward Android).  However, I write .net code for the most part so I think I am balanced and can be fair.  Now on to the good the bad and the meh.

The good (or maybe great)

This phone is fast.  When I say fast, I mean like the paramedics to Evil Knievel after failed stunt fast.  Quick.  Haul’n. When you press on a tile, it goes.  When you select an email to read it loads and is on the screen.  Not only is it fast, but it looks great doing it.  The transitions are wrapped in silk and  show just enough cleavage to be tantalizing.  Sometimes I click on something a couple of times just to watch it load up.  Outlook and Gmail connected with no issues and connected pretty much everything together automagically.  When I added facebook, those contacts just melted in as well.  The camera deserves a mention here.  Pictures are clean and they are not kidding that you can go from an off phone to having taken a picture in about 6 seconds.  Pictures upload themselves to the cloud via SkyDrive (that is attached to your Windows Live account that you will likely want to have).  Hey, Android buddies up to Google, why wouldn’t Microsoft do the same with Live.  I have never used Zune before, but decided to get a trial account to check it out.  I have already canceled my Rhapsody account.  It’s that good.  Clean and integrated.  I can’t say that enough.  Everything that I’ve used feels like it was from the same developer.

The Bad

As a heavy user of mobile technology, I know what isn’t good and there is some of that too.  Mobile devices depend on their batteries to work and while the battery in my HD7 seems fine (as good as my DroidX) there is no way to actually see the remaining battery life (except a small tiny little indicator that is available at the top of the screen).  While it seems like a nit, it’s not.  The difference in battery between 20% and 5% is significant i how I decide to charge the phone or what apps I’m willing to run.  Turning on and off wifi and bluetooth is a three step process that I know is fixable with a tile.  Maybe I’ll write those.  For a device that is billed as “glance and go” the lack of indicator lights (which is actually in the hardware) is annoying.  It would be nice if I could see if there was text or email without turing on the phone.  There seems to be a fair amount of missing API’s which means if we coders can’t program it, you users can’t use it.

The MEH

The marketplace.  It is beautiful and filled with zune music, but obviously the app count isn’t near where Apple or Android is.  I’m sure it will get there though.

All and all.. first day in and I’m happy.  What are your thoughts?  Leave them in the comments below.