Windows Phone 7 Ships US - short Samsung Focus review

[ByronM]

MS Started Shipping Windows Phone 7 devices Monday Nov 8th.

I picked up a Samsung Focus last night to replace an aging iphone 3gs and I am completely blown away by performance, form & functionality. My wife is completely jealous and can't wait to opt in for upgrade in march.

best os features:
Fast! (fast is an understatement)
Great UI
Great call quality
Nice calendar - hopefuly more syncing options on phone soon!
XBL is a great experience on the phone
Zune & Zunepass - 'nuff said
Office - Love my one note!

best samsung features:
AMOLED is amazing! Sharp video from youtube & netflix!
LIGHTweight!
Ships with hands free earplug set. Surprised me :)

best apps:
Netflix, Shazam, IMDB, Facebook, Seesmic


What Is missing:
I'd like complete phone encryption to support secure corporate network requirements.

[bill]

What's better on the Windows Phone 7 compared to your old iPhone? Where does the MS OS come out on top?

[ByronM]

The obvious areas where it is better is sheer speed. The thing smokes my old 3gs in navigation, response and ease of getting around. I only played with iphone 4 for a little bit but i was never sold on sticking to the ios platform after the mess that was 4.x on 3gs devices.

Areas where it shines:
* ZunePass can't be beat - never found anything comparible on iPhone
* Performance. Its just fast fast fast. VERY Responsive
* Marketplace - its a bit easier to navigate.. still some quirks but usable on phone. Works well in Zune app as well
* Metro UI works well. Took about 5 mins to get used to left-right focus for pages vs up and down i saw a lot on iphone
* Xbox Live is amazing. The games are cool, achievements are nice, the support of XBL messenging is fantastic
* Youtube mobile works like a charm..
* Built in mail functionality consumed Gmail & Yahoo mail without a hitch and sync up fast. Integrated nicely with tiles on desktop so i see my messages on home screen
* I actually like the facebook integration, just wish there was some filtering available based upon facebook groups but it was easy enough to delete contacts or merge contacts. The merging of incorporated contacts was super easy and streamlined (even smart.. recommended merges when you click them) - the people hub is a fantastic idea.. I can call people who like to talk on phone, facebook friends who prefer facebook or email people who answer email quicker or SMS if thats their thing. People hub consolidates everything nicely.

The big test will be to see how MS keeps pushing the technology. How long it will take for the next updates, how good they will listen to developers and incorporate their recommendations so on and so forth.

On launch to have Netflix, Youtube, ustream, Yelp, Foursquare, Facebook, Seesmic (twitter), IMDB, Fandango and tons of other apps is a pretty amazing feat.

The samsung is also a feather compare to my 3gs and seems to last a little bit longer on battery life with heavy use.

I recommend people try them out at their ATT store. I was going to get the HTC Surround since i love the music aspect of zune but the AMOLED sold me on the Focus.

[ByronM]

My wife really can't wait to drop her iphone either. Getting WAF is a huge kudos to MS.. she loved her iphone but can't get over how simple & elegant WP7 is. Her biggest thing was how its soo integrated and not just "an app for that" - its all consumed seamlessly for most everything she used her iphone for.