5 features that make Windows 7 Phone an important competitor

windows7phone

The Windows Mobile 6.5 OS is a big disappointment for all the phone owners. A lot of otherwise great phones are made very slow, buggy and unresponsive by this old and ineffective operating system. It does not support a lot of good features like capacitive screens, multi-touch, touch typing and gestures either, as it was developed with the stylus in mind (and the funny thing is most newer WinMo 6.5 phones aren’t shipped with one in the package).

Microsoft has stated that their newest operating system for mobile devices, called Windows 7 Phone will be completely redesigned and built from scratch, but no one believed them, because we all know that big corporations make promises they can’t deliver, especially Microsoft and especially with their recent history of trying to replace the good Windows XP with the new, but slower and buggier Windows Vista.

Everybody expected that the same thing will happen to Windows 7 Phone. Add to that the fact that its release was delayed one too many times, and you think you’ve got a formula for disaster. But then, Microsoft released Windows 7 for the desktop and everybody started paying attention to them again. Windows 7 was what Vista was supposed to be: faster, lighter and packed with a lot of advanced features, worthy to be a successor to the aging Windows XP. Big and small businesses alike have accepted it and started switching, something they never did with Vista.

People started wondering if Windows 7 Phone will be like that, fast innovative and having support for a lot of great new features. Everybody’s interest rose, and when Microsoft finally announced and presented the new Windows OS for mobile devices everyone had no doubt that it really was one of the most innovative mobile OS to be released in years.

So, what is it about it that makes it great and a good OS for Microsoft to make their come back to the mobile operating systems market? Let’s see:

Hubs. Hubs are an important part of Windows 7 Phone, and they are essential in defining the OS itself. With these hubs, you can have every piece of content from a particular category in a single place, where it is easily accessible. To give you an example, there can be a hub for all of the music you bough on the marketplace AND have stored on your phone’s local memory as the Zune application. In Windows 7 Phone you are able to have all of your music in one central location plus access it from various 3rd party apps, whichever is more convenient for you. Hubs aren’t limited to music or entertainment, either. You could, for example, have every Excel, Word, PDF and other type of file that you typically associate with an office in a business hub. This can make it extremely easy to categorize your data and search through it.

Tiles. This is a very nice feature from Microsoft; tiles are a great substitute for your usual icons for applications. You might think, “So what, they just replaced those small icons with bigger ones?”. Nope, one of the best things about them is that they’re interactive and always present information about what’s going on inside the app, of that makes sense to you. For example, these tiles can show you that you have a new SMS or email, that someone has just logged into their Skype account, and other useful information, presented all in one place, on the same screen or hub. Yes, it’s basically a replacement for Push notification, which Windows 7 Phone still supports (just like Android and iPhone do), but it’s much more elegant and professional looking.

Apps. For any OS, whether it’s desktop or mobile oriented, applications and extensions created by third parties are ultimately what decide its fate. If there very few or no applications, users will not buy the operating system, no matter how good it is, because ultimately they can’t do anything valuable with it. The applications they demoed at the Windows 7 Phone launch event were all very good. They had style, were functional, and had no extra stuff that only gets in the user’s way. A lot of big software companies and developers said that they will release and support applications for Windows 7 Phone, which is a great step towards making sure that the users will have all of the application they need. The soon to be launched Marketplace has been designed with a “Try before you buy” model. This means users will get the full version of an app, test and play with it, then buy or delete it, depending on whether they liked it or not. This may seem like a bad model for some, but it is a very good choice for businesses and consumers that want a clear-defined business model on the marketplace.

Games. Developers have shown us something truly interesting in this area: a Xbox game that also ran on a Windows 7 desktop PC AND a Windows 7 Phone-powered device. Yep, all of your games can now be cross-platform compatible so you can play them anytime, anywhere, and also connect, record your stats and play with others on Live! This is exactly what Sony wanted to do using their Play Station Portable and Play Station 3 consoles. They sort of failed, but Microsoft’s developers say that they’ll be successful, and every avid gamer can only benefit from that.

Mesh. This is one of Microsoft’s (and many other companies’) plans to connect all of your hardware and information into one “data cloud” that could be accessed and used from any of those devices, whether it’s your notebook, MID, desktop PC, or phone. Of course, all of these services - Music, Email, Games, Movies, Maps, Search - all of them are provided to you by Microsoft. Exactly what Google wants to do with their Web Apps Suite (Search, Docs, Voice, Calendar, etc.). But Microsoft could actually succeed in this before the others using Windows 7 Phone as the missing link.

Microsoft certainly has been on a roll releasing one successful product after another for the past two years. Windows 7 Phone is worthy of continuing this movement. We can only hope that they continue coming up with good stuff in the future. Right now, everyone can say with ease that Windows 7 Phone will be a very serious competitor in the mobile operating systems industry, right up there with the iPhone and Android OS’es.

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Samsung GLYDE

samsung-glydeINTRODUCTION:
The Glyde from Samsung is another touch screen phone. The large touch screen design of the phone works and looks a lot like the popular iPhone from apple. The slider features a QWERTY keypad which is fast becoming a standard feature on most new models. The colour screen is bright and the images are surprisingly sharp and bold. It also features a 2.0 mega-pixel camera and has Internet and many other serviceable capabilities like emailing, browsing, VZ Navigator, etc. The Glyde offers all the Modern smart phone features.

DESIGN:
The Glyde is a shinny and sleek touch screen slider phone with an option of using the device as a bar phone also. It measures 4.09 x 1.97 x 0.7 cm and weighs 4.13 oz. Its screen size is excellent this screen takes up most of the front space of the phone. Sliding this phone shows off its QWERTY keypad. The sliding face of the phone is not exactly 90 degrees making the screen slanted. In general it is a sturdy phone but is not that light for a compact phone and the sliding mechanism makes the phone look less classy.
Sliding the phone to an open position allows the screen automatically to switch from landscape to portrait mode. When in a closed position the phone operates as a bar phone instead of the touch screen and it uses the keypad like an iPhone the screen is on portrait mode.
The touch screen operates well except for the occasional hiccup; you have an option to setup the touch-screen how you use it. The selection keys on its touch screen are very small making it difficult to scroll through the list. Users will most probably make use of the keypad for typing text messages opposed to the emails it works great for this purpose.

samsung-glydeGLYDE TOUCHSCREEN:
The Glyde is fitted with a unique interface, preloaded background images, and also includes a Rubik’s Cube feature for fun purpose. A Shortcut menu is activated when you touch the pulsating blue box.  There are many other quick launch keys on its home screen which includes: Menu, Contacts, Dial Pad and Messaging. At the bottom you would find more icons that dim or light up according to the alarm set, a missed call, a calendar appointment or new message. Besides the navigating menus, UI is very easy to apply, if you are familiar with haptic-feedback phone you will catch on easily. However we noticed that the option had to be clicked on twice before the input was registered by the phone.

KEYBOARD:
Glyde’s keyboard is firm and has simple to use buttons and has excellent punch/bounce response but the numerical keys were a bit too close to the top part of the phone. The black keyboard has white letters and every key is set with a white light.

INSTANT MESSAGING AND EMAIL;

THE Mobile IM application comes with Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo and AIM. The Glyde also offers built-in e-mail support AIM Mail, Verizon net, AOL, Yahoo mail, Windows Live Messenger and Other. Other feature on this phone allows the user to set up his own POP3 or IMAP e-mail account. Similar to LG Vu, Glyde is also able to read out SMS messages. For that you will have to setup voice command in the settings menu and the phone automatically reads every SMS when opened. The voice is robotic but understandable.

MULTIMEDIA: MUSIC AND VIDEO:

The Glyde packs a Verizon over-the-air service WHICH includes V CAST music, VZ Navigator and V CAST Video. Downloading music is speedy with EVDO connections. This phone supports MP3, unprotected AAC and AAC+ files and WMA MUSIC FILES. Music was crystal clear when played out of Glyde speakers.

BLUETOOTH:
The stereo Bluetooth works well after the first few minutes of putting on. The stereo BLUETOOTH is also used to watch videos. With Most devices you can walk 20 to 30 feet while connected and before it cuts out but with Glyde you can only walk 11 to 13 feet before it cuts.

WEB BROWSER:
Web browsing was pretty decent, it supports HTML Web sites, But we found that it is limited using Verizon Wireless’ poor performing browser. You will be able to connect too easily to Gmail, Facebook, AOL Mail, Yahoo Mail and Windows Live. Mobile version CNN.com was loaded in speedy 6 seconds, other full sites took about a minute or two.

CAMERA:
The Glyde has a 2-megapixel with 1600 x 1200 pixels resolutions, it also has auto focus feature which helps to keep images sharp. The camera also has a flash for night time or for poor lights. The video has a limited resolution of 176 x 144pixels.
GPS
The Glyde has the Traffic Enhanced VZ Navigator 4.1.0 software. This service is quite accurate; the new versions include traffic incorporation to help the user to avoid the congestion of the busy highways. The VZ Navigator searches for local gas stations, movies and weather. This latest version packed on the phone offers a 3D map which makes it easier in car navigation. The performance was excellent and the audio was quite loud even when the vehicle was moving.

CALL QUALITY:
Making calls in open spaces or busy places the call were not audible. But indoors, the phone call was loud and very clear. On sliding the keypad while on a call the speakerphone becomes active but the caller sounded fuzzy and the speakers were muffled.

BATTERY LIFE;

Glyde has 10.4 hours standby time and 3.5 hours talk time. Battery was still at half charge after using the phone over a 24 hour period on Web surfing, streaming music through Bluetooth and making calls. Battery life was every impressive.

CONCLUSION:
THE Samsung Glyde is an appealing phone with touch screen it has messaging also with fun messaging capability. The keyboard is easy to use. But the interface is a bit confusing which needs a lot of getting used to. The touch screen is not always responsive at first try. It is a slider phone which also can be used as a block phone.

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SAMSUNG DELVE R800 BLACK

Samsung R800

Samsung R800

INTRODUCTION:

Alltel is not that large carrier but doesn’t falls short of keeping the trend which is the touch screen, the Delve is between the Samsung Instinct from Sprint and Samsung Behold from T-Mobile. The outer look a lot like the Instinct and physical keys beneath the display resembles the Behold. Also known as the SCH-r800, the Delve has a line-up of many features sleek design with touch screen and multimedia features.

DESIGN:

As mentioned before the Delve is very close to the Instinct they are the same size measuring 2.17 inches wide, 4.57 inches tall and 0.49 inches thick also weighs 3.63 ounces. It has the same black and silver colour scheme, same rounded corners and is very comfortable, firm and feel in your hand. The Delve is different from Instinct by adding three physical keys beneath the display. Same as the Behold it has dedicated button for back and End and Talk keys. Fortunately these keys are much larger than those on Behold.

The display on Delve is 3-inch same size as the Behold but smaller than the Instinct and Apple iPhone`s.  It is vibrant and bright and supports 262,000 colours which are 240×240 pixels. You are able to change brightness, the vibration to what intensity you refer and also itsbacklighting time. The Delve also comes with the stylus.

KEYBOARD:

There are separate keyboards one for numbers, letters and symbols, the virtual keyboard has the same look as the Instinct and the Behold. Keyboards are very responsive but are a bit cramped. The difference between Delve and Behold you are able to use handwriting recognition on half or full- screen mode. It works very well but many would use the QWERTY keyboard instead. Messages can also be typed on the standard alphanumeric. On the downside the Delve lacks in an accelerometer this means you are unable to rotate the phone to switch the keyboard.

The Delves dialler interface is a relatively big key with many shortcuts. Here you access your group list, contacts and the favourite menu with the touch of just one control. You also have shortcuts to add contacts and message sending. There is a back control onscreen this erases mistakes while dialling

CAMERA:

It has a six resolution 2 megapixel camera resolution of 1,600x 1,200 down to an ID picture size. There are four picture quality settings for editing, adjustable ISO, exposure metering, an auto focus self-timer, white and brightness balance, three different shutter sounds and five differing colour effect you also have the option of silent mode. You are able to use mosaic, night shooting mode, a choice of 24 frames and multi-shot. Unfortunately the Delve doesn’t have a flash but none the less we had good pictures quality with very bright colours. The self portrait mirror and camera lens is on the back of the phone.

The camcorder is two resolutions (176×144 and 320×240) also have sound when you shoot a clip. The camcorder has fewer options than the camera with good assortment. Videos for sending as multimedia messages usually capped at 15 seconds in standard mode you can video for 10 minutes. It has an internal memory of 150MB themicroSD card holds about 8GB. The menus is same and easy as the Behold

The Delve can be personalized with wallpaper and greeting using the HTML browser you will be able to download more ringtones and option from Alltel Shop. There is one game in the Delve “Collapse Chaos” you will be able to purchase more from Alltel.

CONNECTIVITY:

The Delve offers Bluetooth, speaker-independent commands and voice dialling, Alltel’s TV on Demand, PC syncing, USB large storage, email, and voice recorder. Also GPS support directional application, regrettably the Delve don’t offer Wi-Fi, a necessary feature for phones with HTML browser.

MUSIC:

The Delve music player is similar to the one from Behold, the interface is straightforward this supports album art. Features are not a lot but you do getplaylists , repeat and shuffle modes, and an equalizer with six settings. You are able to transfer files using many different means (a memory card or aUSB cable), you can play files out of the iTunes library using Alltel’s Nutsie application. You can listen to the player in the background while you using other options also select the airplane mode to listen to music while aloft.

FEATURES:

The Delve can take 500-contacts in the phonebook also has room for the email address and five numbers. You are able to group your contacts add a photo and a polyphonicringtone or if you like you can setup a recording of you own choice as a ringtone . Other features include vibrate mode, calendar, alarm clock, memo pad, multimedia and text messaging, world clock, a calculator, a speakerphone, tip calculator, stopwatch and a unit and currency converter.

PERFORMANCE:

At the testing of the dual-band Samsung Delve SCH-r800 using Alltel’s roaming facility the quality of the call was pretty good. The voices came through sounding natural and we liked the clarity there was no interference or static. An advantage is that through a call you still have immediate access to its memo pad, the speakerphone and voice recorder.

At the other end the caller thought we sounded great. It was easy to make out that we used a cell phone but with no or little background noises most of the reports we positive. Speakerphone calls was good theBluetooth headset had satisfactory calls.

The Delve r800 supports Alltel’s 3G EV-DO network but we wasn’t able to access during roaming. But with 1 x RTT connection, browser was quite responsive. Scrolling through the pages just using fingers was easy. The interface and browser controls are very similar as the Behold.

GOOD:

The Samsung Delve r800 is an attractive phone with a sleek design and an easy-to-use touch interface and it’s very responsive. Features are fairly plentiful and the photo and call quality are fair.

BAD:

THE Samsung Delve lacks an accelerometer and Wi-Fi, the volume level also could have been just a little louder.

CONCLUSION:

The Samsung Delve r800 is a sleek and attractive great multimedia phone has good performance. But it lacks a few important features however it’s an excellent addition toAlltel’s line-up.

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