WP7

[Guest ThatSnazzyiPhoneGuy]

I saw that Windows Phone 7 has been ported over to the HD2 and it runs like a charm. Is this even feasible for something like the Streak?

[Guest OrionBG]

I saw that Windows Phone 7 has been ported over to the HD2 and it runs like a charm. Is this even feasible for something like the Streak?

The Streak and the HD2 are much alike hardware wise so it is not impossible!

[Guest vinokirk]

The Streak and the HD2 are much alike hardware wise so it is not impossible!

I think one of the problems would be finding(or creating) the drivers :)

[Guest OrionBG]

I think one of the problems would be finding(or creating) the drivers :)

I didn't say it would be easy! :)

[Guest mellytime]

I didn't say it would be easy! :)

I too would LOVE a dual boot of win phone 7 & it might be possible thanks to the new Dell Venue Pro phone its possible that a port using this phone could work the driver signature should port over with a few adjustments but its possible. However, its not out yet so we will have to wait on this unless someone is already cooking it up

Remember i said its a possibility :)

[Guest RichB93]

WP7 phones appear to have similar specs so it isn't out of the question. As much as I love Android, I'd love that sexy Metro UI.

[Guest jutley]

I have the microsoft zune player imported from the states 64gb its very similar to the wm7 operating system and it is very good its all about media with a zune account for marketshare you have loads of media at your dispostal not to mention the games.

[Guest ThatSnazzyiPhoneGuy]

Launch date is getting closer... Anyone think a ROM could be ported over? All of ATT's launch phones suck. I want the Dell Venue Pro, cause it's frickin' gorgeous, but it's locked to T-Mo, and is almost $1k on NegriElectronics.

[Guest Alkiera]

I'd love that sexy Metro UI.

Every time I read this statement, my mind whirls.

I think I blame it on all these pop 'musicians' with messy hair and personalities that are only cardboard-cutout deep. WinPhone 7 is just like them, very flat, messily aligned UI.

You wouldn't happen to be a Justin Beiber fan?

[Guest ThatSnazzyiPhoneGuy]

Alkiera, I disagree entirely. I like that's its an endlessly formatted UI. It's sleek, its VERY SIMPLE, and its FAST. It is blazing on all of the devices I have seen. Furthermore, I think its especially cool that gaming is very good on it. Titles take a long time to load, but the graphics are allegedly quite impressive. Better than Android, nearly as good (arguably better) than iOS.

[Guest Alkiera]

Alkiera, I disagree entirely. I like that's its an endlessly formatted UI. It's sleek, its VERY SIMPLE, and its FAST. It is blazing on all of the devices I have seen. Furthermore, I think its especially cool that gaming is very good on it. Titles take a long time to load, but the graphics are allegedly quite impressive. Better than Android, nearly as good (arguably better) than iOS.

Simple, I can agree with. It is that. The hardware std for WP7 is basically the same as the streak, and the video clips I've seen were about equivilent to how Froyo runs on mine. Donut(1.6) admittedly was slower and laggy, especially on the launcher.

The home screen for wp7 is just dreadful, imo. Compared to stuff like Beautiful Widgets, or any of a number of nice-looking Android widget sets, it is just awful. It does seem to actually support widgets, which is better than the iOS wall-o-icons, but I haven't seen any attractive ones... just square monochrome icons.

The complexity available is one of the things that drove me to Android, or I'd be getting an iPhone. No one does simple like Apple does. No one.

[Guest Loconinja]

It has been announced that there will be WP7 and Android versions of the Dell Venue Pro. I assume the hardware will be identical.

So can we dream of a dual-boot device?

[Guest RichB93]

Every time I read this statement, my mind whirls.

I think I blame it on all these pop 'musicians' with messy hair and personalities that are only cardboard-cutout deep. WinPhone 7 is just like them, very flat, messily aligned UI.

You wouldn't happen to be a Justin Beiber fan?

Yeah I really like a 12 year old singer who looks like a girl? :P

I like the Metro UI because of the beautiful typography. I love the minimalist interface.

See this to rage more.

Stop being so narrow minded.

Edited October 26, 2010 by RichB93

[Guest Alkiera]

Yeah I really like a 12 year old singer who looks like a girl? :P

Okay, I apologize for the accusation, I was mostly teasing.

I like the Metro UI because of the beautiful typography. I love the minimalist interface.

See this to rage more.

Stop being so narrow minded.

I'm not a big fan of lots of 'Modern Art', maybe that's related to my problem with WP7. Their font IS decent, but a typeface isn't enough to sell me a phone OS.

From that same site, this image, specifically the first, second, and fourth screens, demonstrate the issues I have with the UI. In the first, it's that circled-arrow thing on the main UI; and the giant blank space below it, and above it. 'Minimalist' is fine, but why leave so much unused space? In the second and fourth images, it's the way they decided to show that there's more data, not with a scrollbar, but by intentionally scaling the font so that 'people' or 'what's new' don't fit on the screen.

That second things drives me batty, perhaps because I'm a touch OCD. Things that don't line up, or don't fit... make me insane.

I'm not saying it's inherently bad (unlike a lot of Modern Art) it seems to perform well, and sounds like Microsoft has done a lot of work on making it useful as a Phone OS (as long as you like the default ringtones) but it's just not for me.

[Guest ThatSnazzyiPhoneGuy]

That second things drives me batty, perhaps because I'm a touch OCD. Things that don't line up, or don't fit... make me insane.

I have OCD tendencies as well, but that's why I think WP7 is cool. Haha. It makes nothing wrong. I think its a really innovative UI that will in time/i] surpass iOS. It truly is well built, unique, FAST, and easy for the average person. I think it does have a learning curve though. Not the simplest looking phone at first sight.

I would sure hope there is a port. I'm getting the Samsung Focus, but the Streak running WP7 would be so much cooler!

[Guest Alkiera]

As a side note for RichB - The font used throughout WP7 looks a LOT like 'Segoe UI', which is used for UI elements in MS Office 2007. The way the character 'C' looks, and the number '1', together give it away.

[Guest untrueparadox]

It has been announced that there will be WP7 and Android versions of the Dell Venue Pro. I assume the hardware will be identical.

So can we dream of a dual-boot device?

wont be the same. the processor and gfx is a newer iteration from qualcomm. will definitely need tweaks and drivers.

[Guest vinokirk]

I was wondering earlier, if maybe the reason its so fast and smooth is that it doesn't have full multitasking capabilities, so when a programs on screen, pretty much the whole of the CPU is dedicated to it, where as in Droid, the cpu is also handling many apps open in the background

[Guest ThatSnazzyiPhoneGuy]

vinokirk:

"It's great that I can listen to music via Zune, go work in another app, and still control the player from the status bar. It would be even better if I could also do that with Slacker, Last.fm, or some other app. (Last.fm is a part of CBS Interactive, which also publishes CNET.com.) For now, you have to keep these third-party apps open in order to use and interact with them--if you switch to another app, you're as good as done.

For now, part of Microsoft's solution to the multitasking problem is to allow developers to use its notification system to alert users to any updates even if the app isn't running, and to allow to apps to save their place when another program is running in the foreground. OK, except the apps don't always save their place and they can be slow to load. And really, the fact that I can't even simply check my e-mail while listening to Slacker is pretty ridiculous in this day and age.

Early on, Microsoft's Charlie Kindel told ZDNet's Mary-Jo Foley the company would offer more multitasking support "as things like battery life, network utilization and application predictability improve for the Windows Phone platform" but Microsoft needs to remedy this as soon as possible. An app switcher like Android would also be great." -via Cnet

[Guest Alkiera]

*stuff*

Basically, it sounds like WP7 is iPhoneOS, take 2. Revision 1 has multitasking only for 1st party apps, no copy/paste buffer, etc. They are jumping a few hoops, like having an app store from launch. No idea on the ability to side-load apps.

WP7 has no USB Mass Storage mode, and spreads files on the phone over the internal and external SDcard, meaning you can't pull the SDcard and put it in another machine to get access to files, or to add files. Everything must go through their Live! software, a la the iOS-iTunes relationship.

[Guest ThatSnazzyiPhoneGuy]

It is definitely a young OS. It is no where near advanced as iOS or Android, but keep in mind, this is revision 1.0. Copy and Paste (which took 2 years for iPhone to get, and quite frankly sucks on Android) is just a few months out. As for multitasking, Microsoft has said they will be looking into opening up an APK much like iOS (somewhat ability to multitask) and its ability to multitask without destroying the battery. There are already 10-15 devices coming in the first month which is unheard of for any other OS. I think it may very well be for those that have yet to buy into a smartphone. While it may appeal to these users, I don't know how many will switch from Android or iOS not to mention the new BlackBerry 6, but I most definitely getting a phone launch day in order to try it out. I'm going with the Samsung Focus as it seems like the best device. It's just a week away, but I'll be sure to let you guys know what I think about it. I think Microsoft is more innovative with this than anything they have ever done before, and I think it has some serious potential.

Edited November 1, 2010 by ThatSnazzyiPhoneGuy