MIX 2011 is well underway and one of the really cool things that Microsoft showed at MIX 2011 in Las Vegas is the new IE9 for Windows Phone 7 and how it performs against Safari on iOS and
Android’s native web browser. Well, rather interestingly, IE9 for Windows Phone 7 clearly smokes the above mentioned browsers, all thanks to its hardware acceleration capability.
Windows Phone 7 Devices
Director of the Windows Phone program Joe Belfiore took the stage to start of the HTML5 browser wars. Obviously, seeing their browsers get smoked by IE9 mobile would definitely initiate a retaliation from both the companies. The HTML5 speed reading demo was done from Microsoft’s own ietestdrive.com website. IE9 mobile on Windows Phone 7 achieved 20 FPS while the Nexus S managed half of that, by achieving 11 FPS, whereas Safari on the iPhone 4 just crawled at 2 FPS. Needless to say, both Google and Apple won’t be pleased with these results.
There’s a little uncertainty here though. It was not revealed what particular version of system software were the Nexus S and iPhone 4 running. We all know that iOS 4.3.x brought improved Safari performance for all iOS devices. It would be interesting to find out what the real deal is here.
Windows Phone 7 is the latest mobile operating system to hit the scene and it’s hands-down the sexiest smartphone OS out there. WP7 is completely new. The UI is unlike anything you’ve seen elsewhere. Tile animations and transitions are smooth as silk. It’s obvious that Microsoft decided to put an emphasis on the design and eye-appeal of WP7, giving the operating system the kind of design aesthetic that you see in the glossy pages of high-concept magazines or in the halls of design/art schools.
But, does Windows Phone 7′s slick animations, crisp text, and refined style leave room for a high-end operating system that’s capable of going toe-to-toe with the best of what Google and Apple have to offer? Let’s take a look at Windows Phone 7′s features and break down the pros and cons.
What better place to begin than the beginning?
The Good
- Responsive UI
- Crisp text and graphics (almost like e-Ink)
- Seamless Facebook integration
- Quick-start camera for capturing fleeting moments
- Uncluttered interface
- Sexy design aesthetic that invokes a high-concept magazine
- Easy Google, Facebook, Windows Live setup
- Did we mention the snazzy, new, eye-candy UI?
The Bad
- Doesn’t support external storage
- Lack of cut/paste functionality (coming in early 2011)
- No WiFi Mobile Hotspot feature
- Lack of Twitter integration (coming soon)
- Finnicky Google integration
- No unified inbox or threaded email
- Many apps don’t persist in the background
- Most of the OS is optimized for portrait view (landscape orientation isn’t as ubiquitous as we’d like)
Navigation
There are only three navigation keys that you need to be familiar with. Microsoft has mandated that handset makers must adhere to a strict handset design spec that requires a standardized, three-key layout. You have the “back” key on the left, which navigates, well, backwards. The middle key is the “Start” key, which is similar to the “Home” button on Android and iPhone. The Start key takes you back to you Start Screen (more on that later) and it’s the central point from which you navigate throughout WP7. The right key the “search” key, and it fires up the integrated Bing search app. From this app you can search the web for websites, local businesses, and any news stories that match your search terms.
Pictures
The Pictures hub is where you go to browse and manage your photos. Makes sense right? Thanks to the panoramic hub, Pictures are mostly presented in an intuitive and convenient fashion. Pictures that you upload to Facebook are all automatically pulled into the Pictures hub. Even cooler, pictures that your friends upload to their Facebook accounts are also automatically pulled into the Pictures hub. This is where the seamless Facebook integration comes into play. We like it.
You can also access photos that you upload to your Windows Live account, SkyDrive, and even your profile pictures from Facebook. One thing that we had a hard time wrapping our collective heads around was the convoluted organization structure. Photos can be grouped into “Mobile photos from Windows Live” as well as “SkyDrive camera roll from Windows Live”. Microsoft is good at creating confusing organization structures, and Windows Live reinforces that fact. We’re still not sure why SkyDrive is branded separately from Windows Live. Full disclosure: we’re Mac users.
We like the fact that the camera fires up even while the screen is locked. That’s a really handy little feature that helps you capture those fleeting moments in life. Simply hold down the camera shutter button as you take the phone out of your pocket or purse and, with a little luck, the camera should be ready for action by the time you are ready to frame your shot. You can choose to have photos that you take automatically uploaded to the cloud and synced with your SkyDrive. We really like the automatic cloud syncing capabilities of WP7, even if it is still a little rough around the edges.
The Live Viewfinder also makes it easy to preview pictures that you just captured. Simply swipe your finger to the right on the camera viewfinder and you can swipe through previously captured photos with abandon. On iPhone or Android, you have to tap the “preview photo” icon to check out your past pics. That’s what WP7 is all about – easy navigation and incredible eye-appeal.
Music and Videos
Zune integration. That’s the key to the music and video experience on WP7. The idea behind the Music+Video hub is that it serves as a central hub from which you can access all your media. If you have a subscription to Microsoft’s all-you-can-eat music streaming service, Zune Pass, WP7 is the smartphone OS for you. You can stream music to your heart’s content, and all you have to do is sign in to Windows Phone with your Windows Live account.
What? You don’t have Zune Pass? Worry not, you can still transfer music (including playlists) from your computer to your Windows Phone using the Zune client/application on a PC or the Windows Phone Connector for Mac. You can also buy songs on the Zune Marketplace from either your phone or your PC (using a credit card that you link to your Windows Live account). Unfortunately Macs do not get this feature. Macs can only sync songs and photos to a Windows Phone at this point.
You can play videos through your the phone’s Zune Player app. These videos have to be transferred to from a computer. You can’t buy videos in the Marketplace using your phone. If you want to buy videos for your phone, you’ll have to buy them using your desktop and sync it to your phone.
The media player is capable of playing a variety of file types: .mp3, .m4a (aac), .wma, .mp4, .m4v, .wmv, and .jpg formats are compatible with the media player. Videos play almost instantly, with little waiting for playback to begin. The controls are simple. Simply tap on the screen to bring up playback controls (play, rewind, fast forward). Unfortunately, the lack of a scrubbing bar makes it tedious to skip to the end of a long movie. That’s a small con for WP7.
Games
Just as Zune Pass is tightly integrated into WP7, Xbox Live is also integrated into the platform. From the Games hub, you can access all sorts of online games, downloaded games, check on game requests from friends that want to play with you in an online battle of wits, and even keep tabs on your Xbox Live account. All you have to do is login to your Windows Phone with the Windows Live ID that you linked to your Xbox Live account, and you’ll have full access to your avatar, your props, and full closet access.
With a free download, you can enable all sorts of Xbox Live features on your Windows Phone. You can see what your XBL friends are doing on their phones, PC or consoles, and even message them via XBL text messages. You can also brag about your achievements to anyone on your Friends list.
The Games hub is also where all your downloaded games will automatically be stored. When you purchase a game from the Marketplace, you won’t see the game in your Apps List. The game will save itself to your Games hub, where you can go to not only play your downloaded games, but also discover new games for download. The hub will also notify you of any game requests from friends that are waiting for you to play with them or when it’s your turn to make a move.
Search
Search in Windows Phone 7 is context aware – meaning that it will search through different media depending on the task at hand. There are two levels of “search” in WP7. You can choose to search the web for content related to your search terms, or you can search within an app. Tap the hardware “Search” button from the homescreen and you can search the web for relevant websites, local businesses, and even news related to your search term. In apps with a search field, a single tap on the hardware search button will allow you to search for words in the app. A second tap on the hardware search button allows you to search the web, as
Internet Explorer
With Windows Phone 7 in hand, you don’t have to worry about dealing with Internet Explorer web browsers of days past. We’ll avoid commenting on the desktop version of Internet Explorer, because, well, that’s just going to get us all worked up. Instead, we’ll focus on the Internet Explorer Mobile experience — some of you may know the mobile web browser as Pocket Internet Explorer (PIE) — and how it’s grown up in WP7.
Gone are the days when Internet Explorer Mobile for Windows Mobile forced you to use a stylus in order to navigate efficiently around the clunky interface. The new Internet Explorer Mobile for Windows Phone 7 is swipe-tastically optimized for touch inputs. It shares DNA with the desktop version of Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8. It handles HTML5 without problem and serves up the same crisp, sub-pixel rendered text that makes the rest of WP7 look so good. In short, IE Mobile in WP7 is light years improved from what you may have known from the Windows Mobile days.
The browser will support tabbed browsing for up to 6 different windows at the same time. Unfortunately, we weren’t really able to browse more than a couple tabs at the same time. Loading multiple webpages concurrently can be hard on system resources, and it seemed as if WP7 had trouble keeping more than a couple tabs loaded at the same time. We sometimes had to wait for pages to reload after browsing other tabs. It’s not a huge concern, but is irritating enough to mention.
Another irritating aspect of the web browser is the the inability to pull up the URL bar when in landscape orientation. The browser works just fine and dandy in portrait view, but if you turn the phone sideways for a widescreen view, you can’t access the URL bar.
On the upside, pages will load in the background as you fire up a new tab and start browsing another website. This is a critical feature, and is one of the few instances where processes continue in the background. Windows Phone 7 doesn’t really multi-task – some apps will work in the background (like the FM Radio, Pandora, webpages loading in the browser), but most will simply close themselves down upon returning to the Start screen.
IE Mobile, in the end, is pretty much on par with the iPhone and Android web browsers. It may need a little more polish, but the current state of IE Mobile is good. Not the best, but good enough.
Is Windows Phone 7 more than just a pretty face?
Let’s start off with the obvious. Windows Phone 7 is the sexiest smartphone OS that we’ve yet seen. It’s super model sexy. It’s got that undercover hotness factor that belies the elegance and poise of its design aesthetic. Hands-down, WP7 will give iPhone and webOS a serious run for its money, as far as looks are concerned. But, does Windows Phone 7 have what it takes to be more than just a pretty face?
That answer depends on how you plan to use your smartphone. For most people, WP7 will be a fantastic alternative to iPhone and Android. You can sync all your emails (with full HTML compatibility) and let you know when you have unread email sitting in your inbox. You can browse the full web with the kind of multi-touch pinch-zooming interaction that iPhone, Android and webOS users have been enjoying for years. You get quick, easy access to information from your social networks. You can use the Microsoft Office hub to do some serious work done. You’ll enjoy a new UI that is a fresh departure from the app-based iPhone and Android UIs – flat, artsy tiles and incredibly crisp text. And, to top it all off, you get unrivaled integration with Xbox Live and your Zune Pass.
But, here’s the kicker, if you’re the kind of power user that needs apps like Twitter to continue running in the background, relies heavily on Google services (Google Calendar, Google Contacts), and can’t do without a unified inbox, WP7 may not be for you. For those of you that fall into this group, make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.
For most people, Windows Phone 7 will be way more than a pretty face, it’s a fully competent and compelling smartphone platform. It’s good stuff, and it doesn’t hurt that the UI is fresh and new.
5:50 PM
my phone
