At this point, a comprehensive review of Windows Phone 7 or the Samsung Focus would be redundant, but it never hurts to make a few observations about a particular phone or the OS that may have slipped under the radar in the big reviews.
The Upside and Happy Smiles:
1. Overall fit and finish of Windows Phone 7 is impressive
As I mentioned in my previous post comparing Windows Phone 7 to Android, the core features of Windows Phone are really well-done. The UI of the phone is very speedy, but just as importantly, very responsive. The fluidity of the transitions to and from the Start screen and between screens in apps involves a lot of fast motion, increasing the feeling of a quick experience. The browser is excellent, if a notch below iOS, and the lack of any discernible bugginess so far is a welcome relief. Microsoft has clearly set the groundwork for a mobile operating system that is built to compete fore the long haul. The biggest issues are mostly related to the fact that they haven't added certain things, rather than poor execution of the things they did include.
2. The Samsung Focus is a device worthy of launch day status
While the Focus may not be the best looking or most premium feeling phone today, it is definitely a well-built device that delivers, mainly on the strength of the Super AMOLED display. These displays, first introduced in Samsung's Galaxy S Android line this summer, are incredibly vivid and perform better in sunlight than the previous generation AMOLED screens. The screen alone could carry the device, but the speaker and the camera on this phone also hold their own. In all, it's a solid phone that doesn't let down the software (what I call "Pulling a Pre). It seems destined to be the most universally appealing Windows Phone in the U.S. for the first few months and will represent the platform well
…of course, it's not all sunshine and roses.
The Disappointing and Confusing:
1. Capacitive Buttons on the Focus are either too big or too sensitive
On the Focus, Samsung chose to make the three hardware buttons for Back, Start, and Search capacitive. Because they are very responsive, there wouldn't be a problem with choosing to do that, unlike the botched capacitive menu buttons on the Nexus One. Something in the design went wrong, though, and I'm not sure whether to blame the fact that they are capacitive or the fact that they are too big. With a 4-inch screen, a user has to stretch their thumb just a bit to use the screen one-handed. Because the capacitive search button is just sitting near the edge waiting to be hit, it is easy to hit it unintentionally with the inside of the palm. Because that button is a Bing button and not a contextual search in most cases, this has the added frustration of ripping you out of the app you're in and into Bing. At that point, you can return to the app you were in, but that necessitates hitting the back button and waiting for the previous app to reload in the currently non-multitasking system. Talk about annoying. The same thing can happen with the back button while using the phone in landscape orientation. There just isn't enough room, or the button is too sensitive. Why couldn't Samsung have made this phone with physical buttons like the generic Windows Phone 7 mockup Microsoft uses?
2. Why put the camera button there??
Similarly, why did Samsung put the camera button in the lower right of the phone where the vast majority of users will have their palm flush against it? It's too easy to accidentally hit it. Wouldn't it have been better placed just under the power button on the top right?
3. Twitter is sad and blue
Others have pointed out that Facebook integration is very extensive on Windows Phone, while Twitter is relegated to its own app that is not built into the system. This is no different than on any other mobile OS, but frustrating because live updates form Twitter would be perfect for an updating tile on the Start menu, just as tweets would fit nicely into the People Hub list of "what's New." Perhaps this is coming and Twitter knows it, since they designed their app icon to look like a native blue tile. Unfortunately, it can only be blue and if a user chooses to change the color theme for the phone, Twitter just sits there, adamantly remaining blue. It's hard to know who to blame for this, but it disrupts the nice social intent of the phone.
All in all, the good in Windows Phone 7 and the Samsung Focus outweigh the bad, which is precisely why these issues are as disappointing as they are. There's always a new day for hardware, though, and you can bet that by the time Microsoft releases the next major version of the platform, manufacturers will be right there with them to correct their own first-gen misfires.