pouët.net

hi guys

anyone with experience on win7 phones care to give some hints on what to look for?

i have a nokia x10 android phone and kinda like the idea of developing phone apps from my visual studio express installation.

my coworker has a windows 7 phone and likes it.

what model?

I use HD7, good sized screen on it.

Eh, nokia x10 android?! you might want to double check the wording there :D

I'd check what it's like to dev for first. MS have a lot of restrictions on what you can do, and I've a feeling it might be limited to silverlight or xna (and maybe go native if you're a close friend of MS). I do know that there's no dev access to things like the compass and gyros in the current version, but I heard that was going to be fixed pretty soon.

Other than that, the general reputation seems to be good for the phones. It's a bit 'behind' apple/google on features, and they've been slow to update it, but they seem to be getting on top of that (and I guess nokia wouldn't go with MS if they weren't.. although what do nokia know about keeping a mobile OS updated :D)

my problem with android: i have a SE phone running a nokiasdised version of android. since SE is behind on upgrading the android versions on their OTA updates; it'll behind on updates. in addition SE has announced that the current version of android on our SE x10 is the final update and only minor updates will follow.

replace nokia with sony ericsson in my posts :)

I've heard a rumour that MS will be updating WP7 so you can use a mix of Silverlight and XNA in your apps.

Grab the SDK (which comes with Visual Studio C# Express) and give it a try. The emulator does a pretty good job and made it real easy for me to get an app up and running.

So you count the upcoming Gingerbread update for the X10 as minor? :P
Or are you talking about X10 Mini (Pro), because only the original X10 is getting the official GB update.

Your problem with Android is really a problem with Sony Ericsson, they are at the bottom of the list regarding Android updates. HTC and Samsung update their Android phones much faster than SE. Also, if you get a google phone (like the Nexus One or the Nexus S) you get the updates the moment they are out.

My last experience with a Microsoft phone (WM5.x) was so bad I am not touching an MS phone ever again. But good luck if you give them a chance.

Hope that helps

i have an HTC 7Pro (with the slide out keyboard) and I like it :)
obviously there are currently quite a few downsides, no flash support, poor amount of apps, the dev kit is quite restrictive, so no telnet / skype etc stuff.
but thats apparently all 'coming soon' and as someone else pays for it all anyway, I'm happy enough :)

mot: wm5/6 was dire. Utterly awful. But a totally different OS, it's like comparing windows ME with the latest OSX.

mic: gingerbread on x10 is news to me. i read somewhere that 2.1 would be the final update.

rasmus: I would wait for the Nokia WP7 devices (rumors say Q4 2011). The ones that are out now (from LG and Samsung) are really not that much to brag about. Also, the new version of WP7 are leaps and bounds better than the current shipping version.

Of course, everyone else will be leaps + bounds ahead of where they are now by then too ;)

from what i can see most android mobiles carry the same qualcomm 1ghz - is that the same for w7 phones? ifso then the androids could be in advantage as i presume android uses fewer resources than w7.

@rasmus: Most of the Qualcomm-based phones currently on the market are using the MSM7227, MSM8255 or QSD8250 platform. For WP7 it's even more homogenous, as I think Microsoft are mandating the exact platform model that OEMs have to use.

Don't focus too much on the chips. LG and Samsung are competing in the "OMG! WE HAVE DUAL-CORE PROCESSORS AND STUFF!"-race, but none of their phones manage to provide smooth scrolling or adequate loading-speeds. It's the OS, not the CPU, that counts.

Sometimes they swap chips every 2 months and never optimise for any of them. Worst case, you get no 3d drivers and such.

As far as hardware goes, the x10 is still a very powerful phone (8mp camera, 200 dpi screen, 1ghz cpu). If last year it was high-end, today it's at the very least above mid-range.

Only the software is keeping it back. Personally I would wait for the gingerbread update or try out a custom rom. What do you have to lose anyway?

And remember all this the next time you think about buying sony hardware.

Hey rasmus! Your phone is not dead yet! :-)

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sony-Ericsson-previews-the-Xperia-X10-with-Gingerbread-update-coming-August_id19708

Ahh man, I'm disappointed with MS with the path they choose for WP7.

WHY the fuck did they go with a .NET API only is beyond me. I know that for some privileged devs, you get native access but for small time companies like me, I'm certainly not going to spend 5 months writing a game in C++/GL ES and then another 3-4 months getting it to work under .NET.....

.OVERHEAD is what it should be called!

AMIRIGHT!!!?

rasmus: full disclosure: I worked on silverlight and saw the phones before release.

XNA devving on the phone is ridiculously easy - to get started, at least. There are little things missing, like no custom shaders yet, just the built-in ones. I'm hoping that opens up.
You can debug through the usb cable on the actual device, which is awesome. The emulator is pretty good although multitouch/accel is limited. I got the giant HTC HD7, huger screen than others so be a little careful with size of design elements.

You can do one of SL or XNA right now, but in future both at the same time, sort of.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread rolls out on Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10

...and there was much rejoicing