Geek & Mild by Sean Sperte
Hello. Welcome to the weblog of Sean Sperte. This is an article originally posted on February 15, 2010. Read more →
Engadget’s Windows Phone 7 Series hands-on has a video walkthrough that shows off the daring and unique new user interface.
I really tried to watch with an open mind, but after using an iPhone for almost three years, it’s hard to not compare with my experience. While the interface aesthetic is creative, it looks like they have a long way to go in terms of interface engineering. (E.g. watch for how many times the demonstrator mis-taps.)
That phone UI looks awesome. It looks similar to the UI in the Zune player software for Windows (and I imagine the newer Zunes, though I don’t have one), and the Zune UI is super awesome; one of the most beautiful pieces of software I’ve interacted with. I’ve had an iPhone for just over a year now, and it’s great, but this has me excited.
§ Ben Carlson · 16 February 2010
Personally, I’m excited about the 7-series and how different it’s going to be. The last thing I’d want to see is a Microsoft clone of the iPhone. Hopefully the glitches shown in the video will be fixed and the performance improved by the time they launch.
What I’m really curious to know about is the intended developer platform. We have to wait until March to get those details, though…
§ Chris Gillum · 16 February 2010
It’s an extremely ballsy move by Microsoft – and I love to see that from our big tech companies. Parts of this are beautiful, and other parts are not.
Gruber’s point about the lack of faux 3d buttons makes it hard to tell what is tappable was one of the thing I noticed in the demo too.
Also, the transitions between screens are way too long and “pretty”. They remind me of the Skip Intros of the late 90s.
It is refreshing to see such a completely new take on the interface (really, the only major non-iPhone copycat interface since the iPhone debuted), but I’m not sure how well this is going to play out in the long run for them.
§ Jesse J. Anderson · 18 February 2010