We previously published an in-depth article of the experience in coming to Windows Phone 7 from Android, we now have a great insight to an Android fanatic trying out a WP7 device. Phil Turpin received the device from a friend at Tracey and Matt and wrote back some comments as to how he felt about the platform.
Having just played with a WP7 phone for the last few days it's my belief that it DOES stand a chance. A good chance.I'm an Android fan, heck I'm writing this on my phone (so if you see any ridiculous typos, you know why), and I love my Android phone but WP7 has something. My initial reaction was "hey, this is crap compared to Android, I can't even customise it." But after using it for a while I see that I don't really need to. Android's great for customisation and granular control but the problem with almost all the people here (myself included) is that we're looking at this from a techie's point of view. As someone pointed out, most Android users wont even know what rooting is and likely wont even know what a task killer is. How many Android users know what Linux is let alone care that Android is Linux? Now look at how Apple have cornered the market? Simplicity. People don't have to think when using iOS. It just works (so I've been told). WP7 is trying to be like that (& it comes pretty damn close). It also looks and flows quite nicely. Now look at the kind of person who used to buy Nokia phones? Your mum, grandma etc. Do they want to root a phone? Can they be bothered with Task Killers? (Heck, do you even need one on WP7? I know I haven't. Yet). Also think about how many businesses/corporations had stock Nokia handsets in the 90's and 00's (yes, I'm aware that we've come along since then) and now think about how many businesses have an existing MS infrastructure? The Nokia/WP marriage is perfect for them. I don't think that WP7 will gain the majority spot in the market (but, sadly, I'm not infallible ;) but I think it'll be a lot more successful than most give credit for. I use Linux as my desktop & dev environment and Android for my phone and I dearly love them both however I am going to invest in a Windows Phone dev environment because I'd be stupid not to.
A very nice take on first impressions when coming across from the Android platform, or just having a play with one of the WP7 devices. Notice how at the end of the quote, Phil mentions he would be stupid not to invest in the Windows Phone development environment? Pretty strong words echoing our thoughts as to where Microsoft could take the OS.
Source: Tracey and Matt
