Windows Phone 7 Launch Thread

markpb

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

Same for everyone unfortunately. Local search only works for a few markets at the moment (US and UK and some others I think). When we do a search with Bing here we don't get the "local" tab (we only get "web" and "news").

Thanks a lot, I was beginning to think it was just me! I wonder if Google will port their maps application to wp7?

gizmo wrote: »

Well that's odd, I get the Local tab alright but so far every time I've searched for something it comes up as "No local results for X".

Maybe your phone thinks it's somewhere else? Does any location appear under the text box in Bing Search?

Undead

gizmo wrote: »

The Omnia 7 takes the normal sized big SIM.


Well that's odd, I get the Local tab alright but so far every time I've searched for something it comes up as "No local results for X".

Thanks man!

It's STILL not here anyway, it left Paris at 13:45 on Thursday, and now it's in Germany. Great 24-48hr delivery UPS provide, glad I payed for that! :mad:

wheresmybeaver

markpb wrote: »

Maybe your phone thinks it's somewhere else? Does any location appear under the text box in Bing Search?

Yeah if your live ID / hotmail ID is set to the US or UK then the Local tab is visible, but it obviously still doesn't work here in Ireland.

Interestingly, the only way for us to search with bing maps right now is by tapping on a Home or Work address for a contact. It brings you to bing maps and finds the exact address no problem. But what is still completely missing is Local data, ie lists of restaurants, banks, post offices and the like. Not to be found just yet anywhere on bing, whether mobile or desktop. Google has the most comprehensive local data, but I would doubt they would like to add value to a Microsoft mobile OS at this particular time...

bawnBeag

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markpb

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

Interestingly, the only way for us to search with bing maps right now is by tapping on a Home or Work address for a contact. It brings you to bing maps and finds the exact address no problem.

I never noticed that before, cheers! I didn't realise the map application was so poor, its a real let down. I do love the phone and OS apart from a few minor niggles, most of which I was aware about from the reviews. (I hate the capacitative buttons too!)

evolutionqy7

The maps arent poor.

More like the availability of service is poor.

There about a half year ago i ditched google and went for bing. But got pissed of waiting for it to come out of beta to get all features here and went back to google.

Supposedly since their bringing out WP7 out world wide they might get a kick up their arse and avail full services in more countries.

evolutionqy7

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I'm starting to tire of my Android phone and I am thinking of changing. Whats the cheapest Win 7 handset around? I'm with Meteor at the moment but I am also thinking of changing.

mmm well their not cheap sim free since min requirements for a windows phone are quite high

Samsung Omnia 7 is from 99 Euro on Bill Pay on meteor which is still expensive for BP 499 on PAYG :S My boss has one and shes pretty happy with it The screen is great cause of AMOLED

HTC HD7 on o2 is from free on BP and 479 PAYG The bigger the better I got a HTC HD2. Dont think i could go back to a smaller screen now :P

LG Optimus 7 from 49.99 on BP Vodafone or 369 PAYG (personal favorite cause of DLNA (wireless content streaming to tv)

gizmo

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

mmm well their not cheap sim free since min requirements for a windows phone are quite high

Samsung Omnia 7 is from 99 Euro on Bill Pay on meteor which is still expensive for BP 499 on PAYG :S My boss has one and shes pretty happy with it The screen is great cause of AMOLED

HTC HD7 on o2 is from free on BP and 479 PAYG The bigger the better I got a HTC HD2. Dont think i could go back to a smaller screen now :P

LG Optimus 7 from 49.99 on BP Vodafone or 369 PAYG (personal favorite cause of DLNA (wireless content streaming to tv)

A note on those prices, I paid €190 for my Omnia 7 on Connect €25 with Meteor.

O2, on the other hand, were looking for €280 for the HD7 on the €45 p/m plan. That was either the Silver upgrade or as a new customer. :rolleyes:

evolutionqy7

i said from means phone price depends on BP price plan :P

Undead

I think you'd be better buying sim free in the long run. If you buy on bill, within a year (plan dependent of course) you could have bought the phone sim free at least once, sometimes twice.

That's just my opinion though... Omnia 7 should be here today according to the UPS Tracker

chrislad

Undead wrote: »

I think you'd be better buying sim free in the long run. If you buy on bill, within a year (plan dependent of course) you could have bought the phone sim free at least once, sometimes twice.

That's just my opinion though... Omnia 7 should be here today according to the UPS Tracker

That's not really rational though. Buy it sim free, and you still have to pay for all your calls, texts and internet, which would be around a minimum of 20e a month on average. That works out at about 500e for the phone and about 240e over the year, assuming you stay within the 20, which would be, give or take one months internet usage or about 60 to 70 mins on most networks, assuming you have free texts. That's 740e.

Go with a contract and it's, taking Meteor as an example as they sell the Omnia, 35e a month for 12 months, which gives you 200 mins, 200 texts, free on net calls/texts plus 1gb a month internet. That's 420e. Phone costs about 230. That's a total of 650e. 90e less, and you get more usage, though that does depend on the person obviously.

evolutionqy7

chrislad wrote: »

That's not really rational though. Buy it sim free, and you still have to pay for all your calls, texts and internet, which would be around a minimum of 20e a month on average. That works out at about 500e for the phone and about 240e over the year, assuming you stay within the 20, which would be, give or take one months internet usage or about 60 to 70 mins on most networks, assuming you have free texts. That's 740e.

Go with a contract and it's, taking Meteor as an example as they sell the Omnia, 35e a month for 12 months, which gives you 200 mins, 200 texts, free on net calls/texts plus 1gb a month internet. That's 420e. Phone costs about 230. That's a total of 650e. 90e less, and you get more usage, though that does depend on the person obviously.

Yeah and once you go.over the limit your ****ed. I took out a contract before summer thinking the same way. Guess what.

It didn't work that way. 200 texts with my gf ends in under an hour.

Back on payg now and way happier.

Undead

chrislad wrote: »

That's not really rational though. Buy it sim free, and you still have to pay for all your calls, texts and internet, which would be around a minimum of 20e a month on average. That works out at about 500e for the phone and about 240e over the year, assuming you stay within the 20, which would be, give or take one months internet usage or about 60 to 70 mins on most networks, assuming you have free texts. That's 740e.

Go with a contract and it's, taking Meteor as an example as they sell the Omnia, 35e a month for 12 months, which gives you 200 mins, 200 texts, free on net calls/texts plus 1gb a month internet. That's 420e. Phone costs about 230. That's a total of 650e. 90e less, and you get more usage, though that does depend on the person obviously.

Like I said that's just my view, I had a HTC HD2, iPhone 4 & as of 3pm today an Omnia 7 and I buy them sim free and use Meteor's Smart one month plan.

I pay 30 a month for the basics, which cover me fine cause most people I know are also Meteor and that's free. Then an extra 15 for unlimited mobile internet. The only time I've ever gone over the data usage was when I was in London, so that's the best option IMO.

chrislad

If you signed the 12 month contract, you'd save a couple of hundred off the phone and only cost yourself an extra 60 a year. Plus Meteor will unlock the phone for you. Just back from London myself and bought a Lebara sim for a fiver that had free Internet and 19p a min calls to an Irish mobile.

rc28

Had the Samsung Omnia 7 about a week now and loving it so far. Just a couple of comments: the phone will not charge via usb unless the Zune software is actually open on the computer even though it will show a charging icon. The screen's touch responsiveness deteriorates dramatically when placed on a flat surface while charging but it's fine once you pick it up (others online have noticed this: seems to be a design flaw with the metal back and electric conductivity interfering with the screen).

Battery life has been good enough so far but need to properly test it out yet. Microsoft really need to bring in copy and paste, flash support and better Bing maps (next to useless for Irish users since it has no database of Irish businesses and its road network is at least 1 year out of date).

The find/ring/lock/erase my phone feature is handy if it ever gets robbed or mislaid. Overall I really love the overall feel and look of the UI and see huge potential for this OS to be a real competitor to the iPhone (I certainly prefer it to my old iphone, the lack of copy and paste aside).

Here's a few tips on how to really extend the battery life:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsphone7/thread/7362f572-e75d-4e89-bdb9-ac4308d8f1b8

evolutionqy7

chrislad wrote: »

Plus Meteor will unlock the phone for you

Most if not all meteor bill pay phones are sim free anyway :P

rc28 wrote: »

The screen's touch responsiveness deteriorates dramatically when placed on a flat surface while charging but it's fine once you pick it up (others online have noticed this: seems to be a design flaw with the metal back and electric conductivity interfering with the screen)

Ive seen a video of that before. A bit annoying so it is. Would be to me anyway when i wake up and go check emails and updates in bed :cool:

chrislad

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

Most if not all meteor bill pay phones are sim free anyway :P

Not really. Just the HTC ones. The Samsung Galaxies and Omnias are locked, as are all the Nokia and Sony phones. The Desire, Desire HD and Desire Z are unlocked but the HTC Wildfire generally is locked.

evolutionqy7

Meh i got the idea from the forum here that most were unlocked.

When i took out the W995 it was unlocked Didnt have any meteor crap on it either beside the settings for internet and mms

rc28

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

Most if not all meteor bill pay phones are sim free anyway :P



Ive seen a video of that before. A bit annoying so it is. Would be to me anyway when i wake up and go check emails and updates in bed :cool:

Well the second you pick it up, (even just very slightly upright off surface) the screen is grand and it only happens while charging. Other than this I find the build quality to be very good and solid (certainly nothing cheap-feeling about it compared to the Galaxy S!).

Another observation: it is without doubt the best screen I have ever used on a portable device. It even appears more vibrant and clearer than the iPhone 4 despite its lower resolution.

evolutionqy7

well i thought it was an awfull looking device till i picked up the real deal

It is studry (quite heavier than most smartphones) doesnt feel the best in hand couse of the corners and i got tired after a while of holding it

But overal great stuff screen is wonderfull too

rc28

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

well i thought it was an awfull looking device till i picked up the real deal

It is studry (quite heavier than most smartphones) doesnt feel the best in hand couse of the corners and i got tired after a while of holding it

But overal great stuff screen is wonderfull too

Sorry that's not true, were you holding it when it was attached to one of those security clips in a shop?
It weighs one gram more than the iPhone 4 at 138grams despite its bigger screen. The HTC Desire HD weighs 164 grams! Those are two top-end smartphones in competition with the Omnia 7 right now. I'm really not sure how you could have got tired of holding it unless you have some kind of weak muscle disorder :pac:.

Odaise Gaelach

rc28 wrote: »

Battery life has been good enough so far but need to properly test it out yet. Microsoft really need to bring in copy and paste, flash support and better Bing maps (next to useless for Irish users since it has no database of Irish businesses and its road network is at least 1 year out of date).

I remember reading somewhere that copy and paste is coming sometime this month. There's going to be a massive update for Windows Phone 7 in February(?) which'll be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress.

But don't quote me on that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxjeEpOJbMc

evolutionqy7

well copy paste is defo coming anyway it already has been sent out to developers phones ages ago

AlmightyCushion

WP7 does look very nice but there is no way in hell I can get one until they support copy and paste. My wireless key for the router is randomly generated so it's a pain to put in manually.

gizmo

Here's some more info about the updates. Here's hoping Mango isn't on the cards for August/September.

evolutionqy7

rc28 wrote: »

Sorry that's not true, were you holding it when it was attached to one of those security clips in a shop?
It weighs one gram more than the iPhone 4 at 138grams despite its bigger screen. The HTC Desire HD weighs 164 grams! Those are two top-end smartphones in competition with the Omnia 7 right now. I'm really not sure how you could have got tired of holding it unless you have some kind of weak muscle disorder :pac:.

No I robbed it from my boss for a couple of days I meant as in tired as my hand got sore from holding it after a long time going on apps and internet.

Regarding weight it might just be cause of the metal I held the ip4 and omnia in my hands and it feels a lot heavier to me

spark1976

Guys

ilomilo is on the market now.. if you dont know what it is.. its a puzzle game, exclusive to the win phone and xbox live. Its STUNNING. I had my doubts about this phone for games, but after playing Ilomilo they are all gone..

Its not turning up on the marketplace or zune just yet... so download Apptracker and search for it there..

amazing looking game! i'm in love!

Foxhole Norman

spark1976 wrote: »

Guys

ilomilo is on the market now.. if you dont know what it is.. its a puzzle game, exclusive to the win phone and xbox live. Its STUNNING. I had my doubts about this phone for games, but after playing Ilomilo they are all gone..

Its not turning up on the marketplace or zune just yet... so download Apptracker and search for it there..

amazing looking game! i'm in love!

Thanks for introducing me to this game! From what I've played of the demo its going to be a fantastic game! Looks like there is hope for games on WP7 once developers do graphics like this.

wheresmybeaver

The Amazon Kindle app is available on the marketplace now too (by using Apptracker).

Just tried it out and it's pretty good. I logged in with my Amazon.co.uk login. Interface is easy and fast, and I downloaded a free book to try it out. It displays well, and changing pages and the like is smooth and intuitive. Crucially, there's an easy to access brightness slider for reading in darker rooms. It resumes instantly from the lockscreen. Incredibly slick app.

It's one of those apps that suggests "maturity" of an OS. There's no hope that an app of this quality would have ever appeared on the old Win Mobile 6.5.

I went for a HD7 back in October because of the large screen, with a view to using it as a proper ereader. The Kindle app seems to be perfect for this, but I suppose time will tell if it's actually ok for any serious reading. Only thing I haven't tried yet is actually buying a book, I'm hoping there won't be any issues in that regard (being in Ireland I mean).

evolutionqy7

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

I went for a HD7 back in October because of the large screen, with a view to using it as a proper ereader. The Kindle app seems to be perfect for this, but I suppose time will tell if it's actually ok for any serious reading. Only thing I haven't tried yet is actually buying a book, I'm hoping there won't be any issues in that regard (being in Ireland I mean).

Lol its no good as a reader for long times. Battery will die