Windows Phone 7 experience

Hi, if you have followed my last thread, you know I decided to choose Windows Phone 7 over Symbian ^3 and Android 2.2.

As a long time Windows CE and Windows Mobile user, I would like to share my experience of the big change. Particularly the cloud experience, capacitive touch screen, and anything else that I come across as a big change from my years of Windows CE based usage.

Here is my history. My first PDA was the Casio E125 running Pocket PC, and over the years I have owned the following non-cellular models: Viewsonic V37 (Pocket PC 2002), Jornada 728 (Handheld PC 2000), NTT Docomo Sigmarion III, Smartbook G138, and Samsung Nexio S-160 (the last 3 running Windows CE .Net 4.1). My first smartphone was the Mio 8390 running Windows Mobile 2003 for Smartphone, and then I owned the following: Audiovox PPC4100 (Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC), T-Mobile MDA (US version, aka HTC Wizard, Windows Mobile 5), and Acer F900 (Windows Mobile 6.1). The Windows Phone 7 model I just got is the Samsung Focus.

As you may have guessed I have relied heavily on ActiveSync throughout the years. I used either MS Works or Outlook for desktop PIM, and sync'd to my WinCE devices through ActiveSync (or Sync Center in Vista). Plus most apps I used were installed through ActiveSync. So the biggest switch for me is the whole cloud way of computing.

Windows Phone 7 doesn't sync its PIM with your computer. Instead it can only sync your media data (music, video) through Zune software. For PIM it can connect to a number different online services, including Exchange Server, Windows Live, Google, Facebook, and maybe more. Again you can probably guess that I'm trying to stick with Microsoft's services. Since I do not have an Exchange service account, my choice comes down to Windows Live.

MS made an add-on (since 2007) for Outlook to sync with Hotmail. Since then Hotmail has gained more comprehensive Contact and Calendar features, and the add-on was updated accordingly. The first thing I had to do was obviously import all contacts so I can make phone calls on my brand new phone. I installed the Outlook Hotmail add-on and after a few minutes my contacts are all in the Hotmail server, however things aren't finished quite yet.

Hotmail being part of the Windows Live suite, already has all of my Windows Live Messenger contacts in the database. After I sync'd Outlook with Hotmail, it had duplicate contacts for everyone from Messenger. To make matters worse, I had recently connected my Facebook account with Live account, and I have never realized that my Hotmail already has duplicate contacts between Messenger and Facebook. The end result is some people have triple contact identities in my database, some with double, and others (Outlook contacts not in my Messenger or Facebook) are fine and not duplicated.

Fortunately, Hotmail does have automatic detection of duplicate contacts, so I just had to click on that and verify and modify one by one the contacts to be merged (I did find some contacts that should not be merged, such as same last names, so highly recommended to go over the list carefully). Of course there are some contacts with very little info in one place (e.g. just a "not used" email in Messenger, no real name) so those I had to merge "manually". Hotmail also has the manual merge function so you don't have to copy stuff over.

I only have 180 contacts and I had to stay up late to fix everything. But after that, all my contacts are sync'd to my phone wirelessly and immediately, so there is no need to "pair" my phone and computer anymore.

All this may sound a lot of work, but trust me it's a good feeling when you know everything is setup and its for the better, you'd think it's worth it.

This post has gotten a bit long (I switched to Notepad half way through). I will continue to talk about email and calendar and the rest of the switch in a later post. Meanwhile I hope people on this forum find this useful or interesting, especially if you're considering or in the process of switching to Windows Phone 7 or cloud computing in general.

Thanks for sharing

If I'm honest though, your post has helped to consolidate my dislike of the cloud computing system and WP7s way of doing things. I can't see this as a solid enterprise solution, particularly a secure one.

In the last week – yes 7 days - we've seen
McDonalds lose its entire customer database to hackers (no passwords)
Gawker (Gizmodo and others) lose all of their databases and source code to hackers (including passwords)
Anonymous take down PayPal, Visa and a number of their high profile "secure" systems

Lest we forget that around 18 months ago Microsoft were forced to quietly announce that the Windows Live (Hotmail) database had been hacked/hijacked and all accounts in the low end of the alphabet had their passwords stolen and published on bit torrent sites (usernames starting A-K I think it was). Including mine (I checked)!!!

Superficially Google seem to fire someone a week for getting caught going through Google account profiles (mail, docs etc.), so what about those who don't get caught.

Then when you factor in the privacy aspects; the phone knows what you're doing 24/7, so does its master, they see all your email, see all your contacts, observe your browsing and spending habits, create data mining profiles on you and sell those to commercial bodies. Ultimately, I'm not sold.

Can't say I'm unhappy over the McDonald's hack - never been a fan of McDonald's, even though they started here in California.

If security is a concern, there is also support for Exchange and Outlook Web App. I agree that having an offline address book is probably more secure, but then you lose the convenience of real time syncing.

So let's move on to the next aspect of the experience, email.

In addition to the cloud services, Windows Phone 7 can also connect to your POP account. Unfortunately for me, my ISP, Shaw, does not allow access to their POP server outside of their network. Instead, they provide their own web-based email interface for remote access. I could use the phone's browser to access email that way, but that's just underutilizing the phone's features. That is another reason I switched to Hotmail.

Like for most people, an email address change is quite a hassle. Even with email forwarding, the email address is still used as my ID for many online services. Ironically that includes Windows Live. So after a somewhat thrilling trial and error session, I successfully changed my Windows Live ID to a newly created Hotmail address. The nice thing is Messenger isn't affected; all my Messenger contacts remain on the list despite the address change.

BTW I recommend doing the ID change before you sign in with a Windows Phone 7 for the first time. I am not sure but you might have to hard reset if you want to change the ID later.

Another rather new feature of Hotmail is push. Microsoft's technology is called Exchange ActiveSync, or EAS. Now your email is pushed to your phone as soon as the server receives it, just like a Blackberry or Exchange email. It works great with Windows Phone 7, as it has the Live Tile that updates automatically and show the number of unread emails without launching the email app, similar to Windows Mobile's Today screen.

With contacts and email configured, the last piece of the PIM puzzle is of course calendar. And Hotmail has that too. I picked this time of year to upgrade my phone because I know my appointment database is pretty much empty, so I don't even need to import anything. I am simply starting up with a new calendar on Hotmail. However if needed, I assume the Outlook Hotmail add-on mentioned in my last post would have no problem with such an import.

Now, on the PC, I could keep using Outlook with the Hotmail add-on to access all my contact, email, and calendar databases. But since I won't be using ActiveSync with my smartphone anymore, I decided to switch to Windows Live Mail on PC, which got updated to version 2011 recently. Much like the old Outlook Express, Live Mail is basically a version of Outlook with only the necessary features, therefore having a cleaner interface.

Now my whole PIM is on the Hotmail cloud, and everything syncs on both my Windows Phone 7 smartphone and my PC running Windows Live Mail. That is a considerable difference from my previous Outlook database on PC that sync'd to my Windows Mobile smartphone. The transition wasn't exactly automatic, but nonetheless reasonably smooth. I do get a few added features, and I don't even need to pay for Outlook anymore, which is excluded from most Office 2010 packages.

So that concludes the PIM part of the experience. If you're still interested, next time I'll talk about the capacitive screen, and the related important aspect (especially to H/PC users) the on-screen keyboard!

Ok, so there aren't that many responses to this thread, but just in case someone is curious in a quiet way, I'll go over the other stuff as I intended, but in a bit less detail this time

Capacitive touch screen means no stylus, and fingers (or other pointy body parts... ) only. So you get drag scrolling, large buttons, and no more HWR - just large on-screen keyboard. In portrait mode, which is most of the time for WP7, I can type only slowly. Much slower than on the thumbboard on my old phone. However in landscape mode, which thankfully is available for email, text, and web forms, I can type almost as fast as with the thumbboard. Still slower, but that might improve as I gain more experience.

More on cloud. As mentioned before WP7 cannot sync for any file, just your Zune stuff. So what happens if you need a Word or PDF doc? You cloud it of course, by putting it on your MS SkyDrive or any Sharepoint website. That means if you need to transfer a lot of non-Zune files, you better have WiFi internet and not rely on your cellular data plan.

The same goes both ways; whether you need to share a file to your WP7, or *from* WP7. However most things you can create from your WP7 out of the box are pictures and videos that can be sync'd thru Zune. Office created or edited files have to be uploaded thru Sharepoint or emailed to be shared. If there are new apps that create other filetypes, they probably will need to be uploaded somewhere as well.

Speaking of files, there is no file management software. You can see how much space you used and how much is left in the About page, but there is no way to tell how much space each app or file is taking. There is also no way to duplicate, delete, or rename files outside the corresponding app. I also don't know if apps can share the same documents at all.

As you may know there is also no support for removable storage in WP7. My model does have a microSD slot, but it serves as a storage upgrade slot only. It's not removable without hardresetting the device.

Finally there is also no other hardware upgrade slots or ports. The only way to connect to another device is through WiFi or Bluetooth (other than the USB sync port for Zune software).

All these seem like limitations, and stepping backwards. In a way they are. However while the old ways are gone, there are new ways to do most of the same things. I no longer have a true computer in my phone, but instead I have a phone that can do most things I need a computer for.

I hope this has been useful info for you guys. If there is anything else you want to know simply ask. I will also update this thread as I find other things different from Win CE computing, such as purchasing software through the marketplace which I am just starting to experience.

Fascinating stuff, very illuminating. takwu, could you argue, then, that those who wanted a computer on a phone rather than a phone that does computer stuff, that the user should stick with a flavor of WinMo 6.*?

I don't know either OS, so am not certain if WinMo has some of the things that W7 left out, file manager, bluetooth file swapping, etc.

Jake

Don't forget that Microsoft aren't really orienting the WP7 for business use. They are (were?) supposed to be releasing a new version of WinMo6 under the Windows Handheld brand name.

Its called Windows Embedded Handheld and the first device is released. See my thread on the Motorola ES400.

I did

I wouldn't touch that with a ten-foot pole.

As for Jake's question, yes I would say go for Win Mo 6 if you really need a computer instead. But I can't think of a good practical reason to need a computer, other than to fiddle with in general.

The reason for Windows embedded handheld is compatibility with existing custom software many companies have invested in. With that said, I think the platform still has some life left, regardless of the reason for you to stick with it.

I'm so confused with this newer software... can you run your own applications on Windows phone 7? If so, C++? c#? I used to have a CE phone starting with the T-Mobile MDA, running windows mobile 2002to the sprint touch things.. I forget the model, but the browser experience was so antiquated!!

I ended up defecting from the platform to the Palm Pre... which HP bought and made into a small tablet for printers... I still don't understand the whole point of that. I'm downloading the new "Windows Embedded Compact 7" CTCP, but I'm really unsure of where that fits in the larger CE picture...

Hmm, I guess that is a valid question. But if you are a developer, you should have the ability to find basic information like this easily. However, since I was interested in the question as well, here's what I find after surfing a few minutes.

Yes you can run your own applications, after you submit them to the marketplace (meaning anyone in the public can access it). The cost to use the marketplace is $99 USD per year. You can use your phone to test your applications before submitting, but I do not know if there is any limitations with that.

You use Visual C#.

Other common knowledge:
- Palm Pre 2 is already released in UK (and maybe other countries?), and I am expecting it to come to the US and Canada very soon.
- Windows Embedded Compact 7 as far as I know is a version of Windows 7. Nothing to do with Windows Phone 7.

Without further research, I believe I cannot answer any other questions regarding development for Windows Phone 7. This thread is mainly regarding the "user" experience of WP7, not development. Having said that, for developers, the switch from WinMo to WP7 regarding distribution is somewhat significant.

So any further questions about WP7 development should be directed to the following website:
http://create.msdn.com/en-US


Edited by takwu 2010-12-21 3:39 AM

Correct CE Geek! You don't need to, you can just use your finger

Don't make me use my finger for something else, C:Amie.