Some thoughts about the new version of Windows for mobile’s, prompted by an intense conversation at work.
Yes we do have some pretty intense conversations about technology…
Between work related stuff that is, which of course takes up most of the day…honestly :}
Anyway, on with the post…
All the buzz about Microsoft’s new mobile OS, Windows phone 7, has prompted a lot interest here at work. We are for the most part iPhone users (although I’m the only Mac man, everyone else dislikes or even hates Macs!)
The new version of windows mobile, finally looks actually worthwhile to me. I like the idea of titles as a unit of information and the fact that you can have a ‘dynamic’ home screen with live information. Some in the converstion however questioned, what was the point of this? The phone home screen is pretty much static, all you have are signal strength, the time and any notification numbers, like missed calls, emails and SMS’s.
I can see this point of view as well and in fact while I think that a dynamic home screen is a good idea, I probably don’t have enough stuff that changes quickly enough to really make use of this feature. And of course there is the problem that in order to have all of this dynamic stuff updating, you need background processes and that brings the possibly of phone crashes.
As the Arstechnica article mentions Microsoft are going more of the Apple way by limiting what can run in the background. It’s also just possible that Apple are going the other way with version 4 of the iPhone software might have some support of multitasking. Mmmm not so sure about this rumour my self, would Apple allow this sort of multitasking given that it could compromise the stability of the phone?
Yes they used the argument for the lack of SDK at lunch then when back on that with the App store, so they could do it again, but will they. I don’t think we will see full multitasking, but we might see some sort of improved messaging system and maybe some sort of application sandboxes, so you can switch between apps while keeping there ‘state’ intact. Given the level of control Apple have over the App’s environment (no local file system access) this sort of thing would simulate multitasking quite well.
Going back to the Windows phone, it all looks great, but I see 2 problems.
1) it’s not available now. The mobile market moves very quickly and by the time it is available, we might have v 4 of the iPhone which could move the bar up to another level again.
2) the lack of customisation will put off some hardware manufactures and networks. They wan’t make their phones have a unique look and feel and to be honest with the current versions of Windows mobile that makes good sense, it really is very bad mobile operating system! With Microsoft dictating the look and feel, things will be better for the users, but Microsoft are going have make sure that people really want the phone, that will ensure that the networks and manufactures will use the OS.
One last point, which ties in well with my Why Flash should die, post. No Flash installed by default on the phone! While Microsoft won’t stop you installing it, and you can bet Adobe are working hard on this one, it is another nail in Flash’s coffin.
And of course Microsoft would like to see Flash die, since they have a very good replacement for it in the form of Silverlight. And I was wrong in my Flash post, there is an IDE for Silverlight, in the form of either Visual Studio 2010 or Expression.
Tags: windows phone 7
