These almost always get checked, so it's clear Microsoft went a bit too far to keep the clean look. Before we delve into deeper aspects of the OS, we also have to complement Microsoft on its approach to contextual actions and navigating backwards. When needed, an app has a tray that shows both common tasks such as composing or sending and, when dragged up, reveals more options. It's a clever way of having all secondary features tucked into a common area that doesn't take up much space.
The approach to the back button is intelligently handled at the same time. While Android can occasionally make surprise leaps as to what will happen when you hit the back button, WP7 seems more straightforward.
Anyone who's used a Windows Mobile device will recall that web browsing was symbolic of everything wrong with the OS at the time, if not Microsoft's philosophy. It was so inaccurate that even the pre-overhaul BlackBerry and Symbian browsers were faithful by comparison. When many websites rolled out WAP Wireless Application Protocol version of their pages to strip down and simplify the content for basic mobile browsers, Windows Mobile was often just as much a reason as a free-on-contract flip phone.
Thankfully, Microsoft has also revamped its browser as much as everything else. The engine is now based on Internet Explorer 7 from the desktop.
While we wish it were based on the faster and more accurate IE9 code, it's the first real mobile browser from the company to render pages properly. We didn't notice drawing problems other than a relatively poor handling of fonts from a distance. The browser is noticeably slower than on an iOS 4 or Android 2. As you'd now expect, the browser is multi-touch aware and lets you pinch to zoom, flick to scroll and double-tap to center on a particular page element.
Microsoft's approach here is much smoother than in Android ; Google's OS often has very rough zooming and a certain amount of lag, but WP7 has a near one-for-one responsiveness like on an iPhone. Multiple tabs and other modern features are present, although the sharing feature curiously only allows SMS and e-mail sharing.
Given Microsoft's emphasis on Facebook tie-ins, we'd think sharing on the social network would be important.
E-mail is, understandably, one of the more refined experiences in WP7 , and there are a handful of things the new OS does better that peers could learn from. The experience is reminiscent of the iPhone's and provides a very straightforward if highly stylized list of messages with content previews.
We most liked how the OS handles mass deletion or moving; while you can swipe to erase messages, selecting multiple pieces of mail skips a step and just needs a single tap on the left edge of a message to start selecting batches of mail.
It's quick without cutting into the available screen area and definitely something Apple and Google would be wise to follow. Picture attachments are always optional, so those on slow 3G or less can move on quickly. As you'd expect for the creator of Outlook, Exchange e-mail integration is tighter than it often is elsewhere.
Besides having the option of filtering by unread messages, you can limit messages to flagged or high priority messages.
Many of these won't carry over to non-Exchange accounts, but they're a quick way of sorting messages if you spend most of your time in the inbox. E-mail in WP7 is mostly hindered by the absence of a unified inbox or special accommodations for non-Exchange accounts. Each account has to be checked one at a time -- though this is mitigated somewhat by home screen notification tiles -- and there's no such thing as labelling for Gmail or other services.
If you live in Google's universe, Android is still probably better. It's in e-mail that you get a good sense for the on-screen keyboard. The input here is a leap beyond what we saw for the Zune HD and is comparable to the best. At least on the Optimus 7's 3. It's possible to be a quick typist if you're experienced, especially since the keyboard is multi-touch aware and doesn't need you to let go of one key to move on to the next. Auto-correction is accurate, and there's a well-executed list of word suggestions as you type that can save time.
We had to adjust slightly coming from an iPhone , but the learning curve is gentle. Contacts are managed through the first of multiple hubs in the OS, the People hub. At its heart, it's much like a typical contact manager, but it also carries a layer of Facebook integration.
If signed in, you can see others' status updates in a "what's new" section, make your own or check contacts you've recently accessed. Drilling down into an individual contact will show you both the requisite contact info and give you the option of checking their status updates or writing on their Facebook wall.
The People hub isn't the most extensive hub in the OS, and we'd like to see alternate services such as Twitter or LinkedIn make their way into the area. But it's more than what most offer, and it can even optionally filter to only add Facebook data to people who were already in offline contacts. Other smartphone platforms with Facebook tie-ins can often dump hundreds of unwanted contacts into the list, so it's appreciated to know that you can only see Facebook updates from real-world friends and associates if you like.
Calendaring is straightforward and taps into Exchange if you have it. The view of the next appointment on the home screen is its biggest selling point, though. It doesn't support multiple calendar types such as "home" or "work" and thus doesn't really prioritize events or handle overlaps very well. Having had little success toppling Apple from its throne in dedicated media players, Microsoft has since turned Zune more into a platform than a whole device.
Not surprisingly, the experience will be very familiar to Zune HD users, and the Metro interface is very well suited to filtering down by type, such as only TV shows or only certain music genres. There's a bonus if you have a Zune Pass for music, too: in those countries where it's supported, you can stream songs without having to download them.
Microsoft is one of the few outside of Apple to have explicit podcast support, and on at least the Optimus 7 there's an FM radio.
We're glad there's 16GB of built-in storage here; most WP7 hardware has just 8GB, so the lack of official microSD support early on won't be a barrier for most.
Controls have changed, but despite the more complex OS, largely for the better. There's no need to press a button to bring up on-screen audio controls. If music is playing, just going to the lock screen gives a quick set of controls and track details. Like the Zune HD, you're limited to a proprietary app from Microsoft to sync your content, barring special apps that get around WP7's limitations. There's no drag-and-drop as there is on Android. The best experience, as you might imagine, comes from using the Zune software on a Windows PC.
Apart from the usual media sync, including over Wi-Fi if you like, it gives you direct access to a storefront to buy apps, music and movies from the computer. None of the Zune Social components carry over, though, which definitely hurts adoption of what was once Microsoft's trademark music player feature.
Mac users will be surprised to note that Microsoft's mobile devices are no longer living in a Windows-only universe; there's now a dedicated syncing tool for them called Windows Phone 7 Connector.
The app at its heart is a conduit that will pluck media from the iTunes library and relevant sources to send to the phone. It's very detailed considering the often simple nature of these apps and lets you filter syncs to particular playlists, artists or other criteria. Photos, podcasts and video also work, although Microsoft not surprisingly doesn't remember the last position in podcasts or videos to resume them later.
There's no calendar or contact sync owing presumably to different formats, but WP7 Connector is perhaps the only official sync app we've seen that gracefully shuttles photos and videos to iPhoto. Take new shots and, on sync, WP7 Connector will jump to iPhoto, import the images, and give the resulting event a helpful title. We didn't expect so much consideration; even iPhones have a longer if more flexible import process.
Although it could technically fall under apps, Microsoft has broken gaming out into its own dedicated hub that deserves some attention of its own. To be clear, Apple is quietly working on new iterations of its best-selling iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad devices, not to mention a revamped version of Game Center with expanded features achievement point totals, messaging.
It's all part of a renewed gaming push expected some time between GDC and E3. What remains to be seen, however, is how aggressively Apple pursues gaming.
Quite honestly, that seems unlikely, but other measures are coming that will at least keep Cupertino in the game as the portable space grows increasingly competitive. RAGE HD made a big splash in November with its jaw-dropping graphics, although the spotlight has since turned toward other games.
Remember, though, that it was merely an opening salvo - John Carmack made it clear that another game set in the RAGE world was coming in and I'm letting you know that you can expect it this summer. For more information about Pocket God, please visit www. Bolt Creative's goal is to create games that are not only fun to play, but fun to develop and make them laugh.
For more information, please visit www. With over thirty free updates, which have introduced mini-games, new islands to discover, and creative ways to smite Pygmies, Pocket God continues to impress day one fans and new players alike with its irreverent humor and originality. Pocket God has also spawned its own comic book, a first for any franchise born in the mobile app space, expanding the Pocket God universe by providing a background story for the island and its seemingly immortal inhabitants.
Carrying over the same diabolical themes that popularized the original title, Pocket God Comics has found a following of its own and consistently tops the charts with each new issue released. For more information, please visit www. Headquartered in San Francisco and with studios in New York and Portland, ngmoco creates and publishes games for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Android in collaboration with the best and brightest game makers in the world.
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