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[brotkasten]

Also interesting:

On that note:

T-Mobile Germany seems to be very pleased with the WP7 sales. No numbers though.

Ingo Hofacker , Head of Consumer Marketing at Deutsche Telekom told Yahoo Germany at CEBIT Preview that the Windows Phone 7 handsets sold by the company was in fact selling excellently.

“We are ahead of budget, Microsoft is very pleased.” he concluded.

http://wmpoweruser.com/deutsche-tel...ts-sold-excellentlymicrosoft-is-very-pleased/

And another (good) rant from Paul Thurrot.
Yes, I still love Windows Phone

He mentions something interesting:

Microsoft is going to ship updates for Windows Phone, eventually, but it will not be fixing individual issues, ever. Instead, it will aggregate fixes into massive updates that are akin to service packs in desktop versions of Windows. These updates will be widely spaced and delivered over time. And yes, carriers will be able to block these updates, for "one update cycle." In fact, my sources at the software giant tell me that some wireless carriers are actually behind the delay in getting the first mammoth Windows Phone update out to customers. So much for these companies working together as promised and delighting users.

 

[dream]

Maybe I'm just inherently cynical but when people don't give numbers, I start to think about how Apple openly brags about specific numbers for everything but Apple TV.

 

[thirty]

wtf, li'messenger was removed from the marketplace.

 

[brotkasten]

wtf, li'messenger was removed from the marketplace.

Maybe because it was using Microsoft's servers instead of going over http? I don't know, just a guess.

 

[Treo360]

Good thing I grabbed it then. Wonder what's up with it

 

[PG2G]

I'm hearing its due to some of the assets it uses. Logos and so on...

I remember seeing the real Windows Messenger Logo, Windows Logos, etc.

 

[PG2G]

Dell Launching More WP7 Handsets

Windows Phone 7: Michael Dell tells me demand for these phones is higher than Dell can supply, but guards “we don’t make *that* many”. Michael Dell, btw, was carrying two Dell phones, 1 Windows Ph7, 1 Android; said Dell would launch several new WinPh7 models

 

[shantyman]

Wait, isn't that what I said?

It is. Blame it on my knee jerk reply tendency.

 

[shantyman]

It's not surprising that carriers are the likely cause of the delays. Microsoft should have done their best to pull an Apple, but their bargaining position is likely weakened due t the success of Android.

 

[Raistlin]

I is. Blame it on my knee jerk reply tendency.

Don't worry ... been there, done that

 

[unpurposed]

Has anyone here unlocked their HTC device?

I have an HD7 that I want to change the theme color to the color on this picture:

http://wpcentral.com/jump-through-hoops-enable-gray-theme-your-htc-windows-phone

but I'm not sure how hard it is or what the consequences are.

 

[brotkasten]

So, we hit the 7000 apps in the marketplace.

Doesn't look that bad, does it?

edit: In before - chart fights!
And a push in the app thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=413224

Anyone here coming from an Android/iPhone/Blackberry/Palm want to share experiences?

Oh, I'd love to hear about this!

 

[clav]

Anyone here coming from an Android/iPhone/Blackberry/Palm want to share experiences?

 

[dLMN8R]

I used an iPhone for 2.5 years and have now been using my Samsung Focus for about 2-3 months. Just a list of impressions that come to mind.

-Love how Facebook is integrated
-Lots of integrated stuff around the phone instead of hopping from app to app
-Live tiles are very helpful, but seem buggy. Not sure if it's the platform or app developers
-Love the lock screen, so so much more useful than the iPhone lock screen
-3rd party apps run too slowly. Too widespread a problem for it to be all the developers' faults. This thing is as fast as an iPhone 3GS, yet the 3GS runs most 3rd party apps smooth as silk
-Games are too expensive. $3 for fruit ninja or flight control is stupid
-Updates are taking way too long to come out
-Love the actual "phone" experience. Works much better than the iPhone when you're doing other stuff, being an overlay over your applications instead of a separate full-screen experience
-The keyboard would be perfect if it wasn't laggy with tons of text on-screen
-Love the OLED screen a ton

I still use my iPhone as an iPod Touch because the games/apps I own are there, and future games/apps are still better on the iPhone for now.

If you're not invested in the iPhone or Android marketplace right now, it's a much more attractive purchase than if you already own a ton of stuff and are used to a different platform.

 

[Blackhead]

I used an iPhone for 2.5 years and have now been using my Samsung Focus for about 2-3 months. Just a list of impressions that come to mind.

-Love how Facebook is integrated
-Lots of integrated stuff around the phone instead of hopping from app to app
-Live tiles are very helpful, but seem buggy. Not sure if it's the platform or app developers
-Love the lock screen, so so much more useful than the iPhone lock screen
-3rd party apps run too slowly. Too widespread a problem for it to be all the developers' faults. This thing is as fast as an iPhone 3GS, yet the 3GS runs most 3rd party apps smooth as silk
-Games are too expensive. $3 for fruit ninja or flight control is stupid
-Updates are taking way too long to come out
-Love the actual "phone" experience. Works much better than the iPhone when you're doing other stuff, being an overlay over your applications instead of a separate full-screen experience
-The keyboard would be perfect if it wasn't laggy with tons of text on-screen
-Love the OLED screen a ton

I still use my iPhone as an iPod Touch because the games/apps I own are there, and future games/apps are still better on the iPhone for now.

If you're not invested in the iPhone or Android marketplace right now, it's a much more attractive purchase than if you already own a ton of stuff and are used to a different platform.

You have an iPhone 3GS, right?

 

[dream]

Gotta give Microsoft credit here...they've done a lot of things wrong with WP7 but they absolutely nailed the app store by generating developer interest. 7000+ apps in, what, 3 months is just amazing.

 

[ElNino]

Anyone here coming from an Android/iPhone/Blackberry/Palm want to share experiences?

I have been using a BlackBerry (Curve 8310 and Bold 9000) for the past 2.5 years before picking up the Focus a month and a half ago. My impressions so far:

- love the Facebook integration in the people hub, but the BB Facebook integration was good as well for message notification at least
- the overall speed of the UI is terrific
- typing on the virtual keyboard has been better than I thought it would be, but I'm still not quite as fast as when I was in the BB (but I love the extra screen space you get by not having a physical keyboard)
- emails don't come quite as fast as on the BB, but that is to be expected... it is still pretty good though
- using the phone, voice quality is similar if not a bit better than the BB and dialing numbers is actually a lot easier on the large virtual buttons as apposed to the small physical keyboard ones
- web browsing is obviously much better on the Focus
- the games are good, and I enjoy having memory space to actually install more than a handful; Xbox Live integration is nice as well
- while I'm mostly happy with the apps so far, I am missing some apps from the BB... Sports Illustrated/The Score most notably, although using the browser to go to ESPN mobile has been an ok compromise so far
- battery life has been ok, but clearly behind BB. My Focus will last from when I wake up to go to bed and be almost out of charge, sometimes quicker if I've been playing games a lot... on my BB I could easily get 2 days on heavy usage
- the big negative so far has been GPS location tracking. On my BB I would get a GPS lock within 30 seconds and it would accurate to within a few meters consistently. On the Focus it sometimes takes up to 10 minutes to lock on (if at all) and when it does it often fluctuates in accuracy to more than 50 meters which is mostly useless for my purposes (golf GPS for one)
- lack of customization with ring tones has been a bummer, but I hope that gets added with one of the updates (or I can go the homebrew approach)

Overall, while I have some concerns I am happy with it so far and will ride it out and see how the updates go. Even without them I would probably stick with it, but some updates would be welcome.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

I wish I would see some new phones on AT&T for WP7 announced.

 

[antiquegamer]

Dell Launching More WP7 Handsets

Windows Phone 7: Michael Dell tells me demand for these phones is higher than Dell can supply, but guards “we don’t make *that* many”. Michael Dell, btw, was carrying two Dell phones, 1 Windows Ph7, 1 Android; said Dell would launch several new WinPh7 models

Maybe they should concentrate on getting their first one out and working...

Anyway, if rumor about the update not for another two months (late Feb or late March), I am done with Windows Phone 7. They are going to let the phone go 5 months before fixing basic bugs? This is why people make fun of Windows and it's sad I have to "reboot" my phone to used it constantly.

 

[brotkasten]

- while I'm mostly happy with the apps so far, I am missing some apps from the BB... Sports Illustrated/The Score most notably, although using the browser to go to ESPN mobile has been an ok compromise so far

You might wanna check out the app recommendation thread.

 

[dLMN8R]

You have an iPhone 3GS, right?

Correct, but I've seen quite a bit of the retina display on the iPhone 4. I was on an iPhone 3G for about 2 years, it started acting up, so I bought a used iPhone 3GS that I've used for around 6 months now.

 

[verbum]

Some persepctive on sales in USA:
T-Mobile G1- 6 months until one million units sold.
AT&T iPhone 2007 74 days until one million units sold.
November 8,2010 to January 20, 2010 (73 days), 2 million WP7 units shipped to carriers. Sold through to customers data not available yet.

Decent sales for the WP7. I am seeing a few more each week than back before New Years Day. And if people ask, I recommend them since AT&T has gotten aggressive on the pricing earlier this month. Plus they are easy for non-smart phone users to pick up and start using. Wirefly still had 99 cent Samsung Focuses last week. I can see the WP7 sales start accelerating during the next year.

 

[VanMardigan]

Maybe they should concentrate on getting their first one out and working...

Anyway, if rumor about the update not for another two months (late Feb or late March), I am done with Windows Phone 7. They are going to let the phone go 5 months before fixing basic bugs? This is why people make fun of Windows and it's sad I have to "reboot" my phone to used it constantly.

The rumor is late Feb/early March, not late March. Your issues are far more serious, it appears, than what I'm personally experiencing on my Focus if you have to constantly reboot. I haven't rebooted in over a week. I'd say give Samsung a call, you might have a lemon.

 

[Robobandit]

The only issue I've had with my focus was the standard marketplace freeze and a volume issue that was resolved by a reboot.

What you're describing sounds like a hardware issue.

What have you been doing that requires you to reboot your phone so much?

 

[VanMardigan]

Connect your phone to your computer. Open Zune, go to settings and look for "reserved space". Now you should find the option to have 0% reserved. That's what I did.

FYI, this doesn't work for the dreaded "space reserved for content from another computer" status. From what I've seen on the web, you can't get rid of that unless you do a full wipe, which sucks.

 

[Psychotext]

They are going to let the phone go 5 months before fixing basic bugs? This is why people make fun of Windows and it's sad I have to "reboot" my phone to used it constantly.

Did you install memory into the phone? I was reading on another tech site about some crashes and every single person there suffering them had "upgraded" their phone's storage.

 

[element]

I've been having problems with my Focus recently having awful reception to the point of not even getting network connection for 911. I've had to reboot my phone a number of times. I did install an 16 GB SD card, but it was one recommended.

 

[ElNino]

You might wanna check out the app recommendation thread.

Sweet... I was just looking yesterday and missed that somehow. The app isn't yet as feature complete as it was on the BB, but it's a start.

 

[Vanillalite]

Does The Weather Channel app totally blow for anyone else? I swear that shit crashes on me 4 out 5 times I try and use it, and 2 of those 4 times it won't even open. It's the only app I have ( I don't have a ton of random apps just the major ones like twitter, flixster, facebook etc...) that just totally fucks up on me. I wonder if I should try and do a reinstall?

I've also been having some random bouts of slowdown. Usually only after I've been doing a bunch of shit on my phone. It goes away if I just give it a second. Might be IDK cycling shit through the RAM or something.

Outside of that no big issues other than the marketplace. That doesn't crash on me persay, but it's laggy as all get out. It's the only core experience that really is buggy for me.

Beyond that pretty much ditto what my boy LMN8R said. This especially goes for the fact that if your a smart phone virgin the platform will feel wonderful for you, but existing consumers might have problems with apps.

 

[verbum]

Does The Weather Channel app totally blow for anyone else? I swear that shit crashes on me 4 out 5 times I try and use it, and 2 of those 4 times it won't even open. It's the only app I have ( I don't have a ton of random apps just the major ones like twitter, flixster, facebook etc...) that just totally fucks up on me. I wonder if I should try and do a reinstall?

I've also been having some random bouts of slowdown. Usually only after I've been doing a bunch of shit on my phone. It goes away if I just give it a second. Might be IDK cycling shit through the RAM or something.

Outside of that no big issues other than the marketplace. That doesn't crash on me persay, but it's laggy as all get out. It's the only core experience that really is buggy for me.

Beyond that pretty much ditto what my boy LMN8R said. This especially goes for the fact that if your a smart phone virgin the platform will feel wonderful for you, but existing consumers might have problems with apps.

I like the Weather Bug app better. Acts nicely as a live tile.

 

[NumberTwo]

After switching platforms a few months ago, I am still feeling withdraw symptoms of not having a Zune Pass. I loved it when I had it, but now that I don't, I'm really beginning to understand how much of a awesome service it was.

Having to buy per song/album just to listen sucks. I miss having millions of songs at my disposal.

 

[thirty]

Score app just released for the one poster who mentioned the lack of sports apps.

 

[VanMardigan]

After switching platforms, I am still feeling withdraw symptoms of not having a Zune Pass. I loved it when I had it, but now that I don't, I'm really beginning to understand how much of a awesome service it was.

Having to buy per song/album just to listen sucks. I miss having millions of songs at my disposal.

I'm telling you right now, that's a killer app if MS can get enough people to try it out. Just now, some dude in Wendy's was eating with some dark ray bans on and my wife started humming "I wear my sunglasses at night". On our way out to the car I did a search, pulled up the Corey Hart original, and played that on the way home.

 

[brotkasten]

I just need flash movie support for porn sites mainly.

Why stream porn from some shady sites, if you can stream your entire porn collection directly to your Windows Phone 7 with Orb Streamer! Well, you can't yet, but soon.

Orb streamer is still in development, but Mobility Digest had the chance to test a beta version and they were impressed.

For now it only stream videos (but really, that’s a killer feature in and of itself and enough to make you change your diaper) but it streams them beautifully. You get a tree directory (it’s based off of what you added to your PC settings in Orb) and you can navigate folders just like on your computer. As you can see there are thumbnails of the videos, tap and stream. The quality is great. It’s full screen without any image loss and crisp sound. The time to load the video of course, is based on the connection speed. It works over 3G or wifi. And playing a movie I had saved on my phone looked the same as it did when streaming it. In other words – this is the real deal.

Mobility Digest: Orb Media Streaming Coming To Windows Phones

And not really 'news', but I guess it deserves to be mentioned: WP7 devs are finally getting their money. Must have been frustrating to wait so long.

Score app just released for the one poster who mentioned the lack of sports apps.

App. Thread.

Oh yeah, and there's this other gaming thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=411686&page=2 (<-- someone should do a new OT)

 

[Vanillalite]

On a side note there are a bunch of games I'd like, but I'm not paying $3 plus for alot of them. That new XBLA game iBlast Moki would be cool for 99 cents, but I'm not gonna pay $3. Plus I feel apps don't get updated enough to fix shit. I'd easily pay $5 for Puzzle Quest 2 if they ever fixed the shitty framerate.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Does The Weather Channel app totally blow for anyone else? I swear that shit crashes on me 4 out 5 times I try and use it, and 2 of those 4 times it won't even open. It's the only app I have ( I don't have a ton of random apps just the major ones like twitter, flixster, facebook etc...) that just totally fucks up on me. I wonder if I should try and do a reinstall?

I've also been having some random bouts of slowdown. Usually only after I've been doing a bunch of shit on my phone. It goes away if I just give it a second. Might be IDK cycling shit through the RAM or something.

Outside of that no big issues other than the marketplace. That doesn't crash on me persay, but it's laggy as all get out. It's the only core experience that really is buggy for me.

Beyond that pretty much ditto what my boy LMN8R said. This especially goes for the fact that if your a smart phone virgin the platform will feel wonderful for you, but existing consumers might have problems with apps.

I was using Weatherbug, but it stopped updating the Live Tile, even after reinstalling. Waited days, no luck. Been using Weather Channel, works perfectly.

 

[Vanillalite]

I was using Weatherbug, but it stopped updating the Live Tile, even after reinstalling. Waited days, no luck. Been using Weather Channel, works perfectly.

Hmmm maybe I should reinstall.... hmmm...

EDIT: Uninstalled and installed Weather Bug to try that instead...

 

[venne]

I was using Weatherbug, but it stopped updating the Live Tile, even after reinstalling. Waited days, no luck. Been using Weather Channel, works perfectly.

Same here.

The weatherbug live tile froze, for lack of a better term, for a couple days so I switched to the TWC application.

Pity, because weatherbug was a lot faster to load and less visually offensive.

 

[PG2G]

There were a few days where Weatherbug's live tile stopped working because of an issue on their side. I think it was sometime last month.

 

[clav]

Question: Does WP7 show the weather on the lock screen or do I have to unlock it to see it?

It's a step backwards from Windows Mobile 6.5 if I have to unlock it.

 

[Macho Madness]

I just want a Zune (or something like it) with WP7 on it. That is my dream device.

 

[PG2G]

Question: Does WP7 show the weather on the lock screen or do I have to unlock it to see it?

It's a step backwards from Windows Mobile 6.5 if I have to unlock it.

Its not on the lockscreen. I don't think weather is built into the OS at all, you have to use apps for it

 

[bigswords]

There is a uncommon bug where if you have an alarm it might "disable" all your sounds, only fixes on reboot. (anyone can tell me which alarm sounds do they use if you are not affected by this bug?)

http://social.answers.microsoft.com...7/thread/cac775fd-c67c-404a-b6c9-0eff90f7c154

http://www.careace.net/2010/11/30/temporarily-fix-alarm-bug-wp7-device/

The proximity sensors are a little too sensitive for my taste, screen will black out if i want to press a button in the dialer at times. But it could be my fat hands blocking the screen (didn't have a problem with a iphone 4 nor Galaxy S, but I just have to press buttons differently).

Games and other application volumes affect volumes in music, ringtone and etc.... WTF hopefully they put a "sandbox" for applications and system sounds.

 

[jagowar]

Anyone here coming from an Android/iPhone/Blackberry/Palm want to share experiences?

Coming from a palm pre....

It obviously does not do mutitasking like the pre but it is vastly smoother than the pre (or any ios/android device I have used... friends)

The tile/hub system is the best I have used on a mobile device. Everything is integrated much more seamlessly than anything else I have used.

The xbox live stuff has been a highlight for me.... really like what they are doing there by adding a few xbox live approved games each week. Its the best overall gaming platform on a mobile device imo. It doesn't have the sheer number of games as ios but the xbox live moniker stands for a level of quality that is not replicated on ios. IE there is no section in the games marketplace on ios that has apple approved quality games. They also do not have first party games at all (which are some of the best on xbox live mobile). When they get the true multiplayer or xbox360->phone gaming stuff going they might have something really special (they have said both options are coming).

The screen is a big deal coming from the pre's small and low rez screen to the 4 inch super amoled screen.

Battery life has also been a big increase for me..... I can get about 1.5 days of heavy use (I use this phone much more than I ever with with the pre because of the music/games stuff). My pre would last about 1/2 the day if I used it like I do my focus.

Wireless Syncing is very useful.... just plug it in to charge and my podcasts are automatically updated.

The camera UI is awesome but it has some issues taking pictures (I am guessing will be fixed in an update). Still having a dedicated camera button is amazing and you do not realize how useful it is until you actually use it. Being able to swipe left to instantly see how the picture came out is also a revolutionary feature imo (even real cameras do not work as well as wp7 does). It really needs to get updated however to remember your camera settings and have a exposure time setting added (for low light images). It sucks at low light images (I think because its exposure time is too long causing blurry images)


Now for the negatives.... it does have a ton of little flaws (the camera issues for example), marketplace regularly crashes, the focus has a random bug playing music sometimes where it studders, multitasking for more apps, bing navigation and search are better on other platforms, the facebook integration could do more facebook stuff and it will be interesting to see how many of these nagging issues are addressed in the first update (I think it will give us an idea how quickly they address them all)

If I had the choice over there is no question I made the right decision on the focus..... I expected to give them a year to fix all the nagging issues. They have a very strong foundation to work off now and it will be interesting to see where they go.

 

[user_nat]

There is a uncommon bug where if you have an alarm it might "disable" all your sounds, only fixes on reboot. (anyone can tell me which alarm sounds do they use if you are not affected by this bug?)

I've got separate alarms for each day of the week, using all 6 different alarm tones.

By now I have probably run into this bug on each of the days. Although I've never really documented the days or anything. Doesn't seem all that uncommon to me either.

 

[bigswords]

I've got separate alarms for each day of the week, using all 6 different alarm tones.

By now I have probably run into this bug on each of the days. Although I've never really documented the days or anything. Doesn't seem all that uncommon to me either.

Mine is an Omnia 7, what's your model?

 

[user_nat]

HTC Mozart (possible known by different things around the world).

 

[bigswords]

Such a ball breaking bug, it has to be the OS ....

 

[user_nat]

When you experience the bug, do you also have to hit "Snooze" or "Dismiss" twice?
Like if you had 2 alarms set to go off at the same time.

 

[bigswords]

When you experience the bug, do you also have to hit "Snooze" or "Dismiss" twice?
Like if you had 2 alarms set to go off at the same time.

Yes something like that, and it either freezes or ... if I am lucky no sound from any other app or system.