
Windows Phone 7 now on sale in the US - Flemlord
http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/08/windows-phone-7-now-on-sale-in-the-us/
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cryptoz
I'm very interested to see how well this sells. If WP7 rocks the market, then
Google and Apple will have to do incredible things to make even more awesome
phones. Sounds exciting!

On the other hand, I kind of want it to fail; it takes the mobile world in a
direction I don't like. Mobile sites will no longer be able to use HTML5 if
they want to support WP7. And I love HTML5. Also, it looks like you can only
write managed C# apps that have to be approved in an app store :(

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alexro
I'm kind of confused what you wanted to say. HTML5 runs in a browser, so why
it wouldn't be available on WP7? Or you mean javascript based solutions that
bridge into the native API?

Also, to program native apps for WP7 you need to use Silverlight, but you can
do this in any language that runs on .Net (VB, IronPython, IronRuby etc), no?

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fname
Well, The browser on WP7 is based on IE7 and 8, so there's no native HTML5
support. Of course, a user could download another browser with HTML5 support
in favor of IE.

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yatsyk
Silverlight is only option for WP7 development now so no alternative browser
in near future.

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trezor
Technically you can use XNA too, and you _can_ make a browser using that.
Ofcourse that means you have to toss away all the platforms goods and
libraries you have and produce that on your own as well. Not really the sexy
option, no.

So not saying it's going to happen, but technically speaking it's not
impossible either.

~~~
yatsyk
Sure it is possible theoretically but not practically. If you want alternative
browser for WP7 you need to create engine from scratch. You could not create
browser that can compete with current 4 engines for one or two years. Quite
possibly that we've never see new independent browser engine.

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glhaynes
I think they could've made a bigger splash if they'd had some particularly
fancy must-have hardware to sell it on - at least one model with something
absolutely outstanding about it.

As far as I've heard (admittedly I haven't followed it very closely), all the
Windows Phone 7 phones [wow, that's awkward] are pretty similar to existing
handset hardware, so this just feels mostly like an OS release. An OS that has
some interesting features (and a few important things missing, too) and very
few apps. And a shitty (at least from a dev standpoint) browser grrrrrrrrr.

~~~
kenjackson
Meet the Dell Venue Pro. No other handset on the market like it today:

[http://en.community.dell.com/dell-
blogs/Direct2Dell/b/direct...](http://en.community.dell.com/dell-
blogs/Direct2Dell/b/direct2dell/archive/2010/10/11/meet-the-dell-venue-pro-
smartphone-with-windows-phone-7.aspx)

~~~
rbanffy
An iPhone4-ish display excepted, what's so outstanding in it?

~~~
kenjackson
First, it's 4.1 inch display, not an iPhone-ish display. But the real meat is
the full size 800x480 display with a portrait keyboard slider. That's a pretty
big deal, if that's something you're into as there is no other device on the
market, that I know of, that has someting similar.

~~~
rbanffy
OK. A slightly larger screen with pixels I can't resolve.

Wait... It's _just_ 800x480?! The Nexus One had a screen like that more than a
year ago and the Droid had a much nicer keyboard to go with a better screen.
And a real software library.

So, this is the phone that makes it worth to switch to WinMo 7? Really?

~~~
kenjackson
The Nexus One has a completely different type of screen, unless the only thing
you mean is that they're the same resolution, but I know you're not that
ignorant when it comes to mobile phone technology.

Odd that you can claim that the Droid has a much nicer keyboard, when you've
never used this keyboard. But in anycase it's a slider portrait keyboard,
while the Droid is a landscape keyboard. Different stroes for different folks.

And I'm not sure what you mean by a real software library, but on launch day
of WP7 there are already 2000 apps, and its relatively small game lineup
already trumps Android in quality (although not the iPhone's game lineup).

But lets be clear rbanffy we already know that even if the WP7 device made you
stunningly attractive, gave you eternal life, some decent dev chops, and $5B
in your bank account, you'd still hate it and get an Android phone :-)

~~~
rbanffy
I am sorry, but I don't get what's so amazing in this phone except the fact
that Microsoft managed to persuade Dell to build it.

That was some serious play with Windows OEM licensing...

And, BTW, I could use the eternal life and US$ 5B bank account, but I already
am stunningly attractive... ;-)

~~~
kenjackson
A lot of people have been asking for portrait sliders. The only ones that are
out right now (at least that I know of) are the Blackberry Torch and Palm Pre
line.

The Torch is a 480x360 device, and the the Pre is a 480x320 display.

AFAIK the Venue Pro is the only device on the planet that has a full size
touch screen (800x480 like the Samsung Galaxy S line, Nexus One, etc...), but
yet is a portrait slider.

Beyond that, virtually everyone who has used it, has been impressed with the
build quality of the device.

Now you may not prefer a portrait slider, but it's absurd to say that its not
a device of interest. I don't like virtual keyboards, but I won't sit around
saying the iPhone has no interest because of my personal preference.

~~~
rbanffy
Don't get me wrong: it's not a bad device. It's just that's not an awesome,
must-have, world-changing one.

And, this morning, it came to me it has, indeed, a killer feature for
corporations: lots of Visual Basic programmers will be able to write code for
it. With so many of them already hired, it could be a no-brainer to target
WinMO 7 for internal development.

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dave1619
I had a chance to demo a couple of Windows 7 phones last week and was
impressed at how smooth the navigation and inertia scrolling is. It reminds me
of the iPhone experience, but less refined. I think it beats RIM and is very
close to Android and WebOS. I think it will sell well if they can give free
phones (after contract rebate) because most of the public is looking for the
UX over OS potential.

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aaronbrethorst
I'd love to try building an app or two for WP7, but I'm not about to pick up
another phone contract merely for the privilege. Until MS has an iPod touch-
like device (new Zune, perhaps?) it's just not going to happen for me.

I wonder what Apple's App ecosystem would like right now if the iPod touch had
never existed. I bet it wouldn't be nearly as robust.

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treblig
When there is some hardware with a physical keyboard as good as the
Blackberry's, RIM is in serious trouble.

