Windows Mobile 7 Phone Apps

[MacroGuru]

I made the leap and murdered my iPhone and went to the WM7 with the HTC Surround.

I am loving the phone, the immediate integration with the social media, xbox live, Zune and just the clean, fluid ease of use.

I was wondering besides the typical productivity apps that people use on all the others OS's if there are people here using the WM7 and what apps they have that are must have.

[JediKooter]

I can't talk to you right now.

[chesapeake]

You're the 3rd person I am aware of that has switched to a Windows 7 phone and really likes it. I've been thinking about taking the plunge myself.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

I can't talk to you right now.

LOL....with the update the 3G became unbearable and a battery hog...it was to the point it was more frustrating to deal with than to use.

It's a good phone for Apple users, I am not that type of user...it took me over a year to realize it.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

LOL....with the update the 3G became unbearable and a battery hog...it was to the point it was more frustrating to deal with than to use.

It's a good phone for Apple users, I am not that type of user...it took me over a year to realize it.

What were you using the iphone for? I know if I use the apps, the battery tends to drain a lot faster, but, I blame the apps and not the phone for that. I use mine for texting, phone calls and playing a game now and then.

What kind of user are you?

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

What were you using the iphone for? I know if I use the apps, the battery tends to drain a lot faster, but, I blame the apps and not the phone for that. I use mine for texting, phone calls and playing a game now and then.

What kind of user are you?

Multiple apps for business (Both my job and personal business), I am starting to get back into C# programming and believe it or not, there is one on the phone for when I am on the go I can repair or tweak what I need, phone calls, texting, remote PC control.

It also integrates with my gaming needs on Xbox live (Besides Angry Birds, I did not play many game on the phone).

The social integration is big for me and running my business as well.

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Multiple apps for business (Both my job and personal business), I am starting to get back into C# programming and believe it or not, there is one on the phone for when I am on the go I can repair or tweak what I need, phone calls, texting, remote PC control.

It also integrates with my gaming needs on Xbox live (Besides Angry Birds, I did not play many game on the phone).

The social integration is big for me and running my business as well.

Sounds more like you need a laptop.

Looks like I'm almost the complete opposite of a smart phone user than you are. Give me a few games, make some calls and text, I'm good to go.

[gstelmack]

If WM7 had been on Verizon back in March I'd have one now instead of a Droid X.

[MacroGuru]

Ok...for me, the apps I like right now for the WM7

AP Mobile
Kindle
Big Oven
Bingle Maps
Colorize
DishOnIt
ESPN Reader
ESPN ScoreCenter
Food Addict
GDocs
Last.FM
MSN Onit
MyThings (Task Manager)
MyRugby
PageOnce
Pocket C#
Poynt
SmartShopping
Yelp

[Fidatelo]

I've had a Samsung Focus for almost 6 months and I still love it. Here are the apps I use most:

Twitter and Facebook official apps
Wonder Reader to read my Google Reader feeds
WeatherBug
Flixster
Amazon Kindle
LazyTube

Games:
Zombies!!! (my fav by far)
Revolution
Ilomilo
Full House Poker
Pex4Fun (a coding game)

Once to see some WP7 talk on here!!

[stevew]

WP7 was starting to rival the Virtual Boy in being ignored.

[JonInMiddleGA]

It's a long story (involving three people, a lost Android Galaxy, two cell accts under one roof, 2x upgrade eligibility and 2+ hours at the AT&T phone store that I'll never get back) that I'll spare you but the bottom line is that as of this morning my son has a Windows 7 phone (LG Quantam).

The phone store guy politely tried to talk him out of it, I tried to talk him out of it, he wanted what he wanted & got it ... of course that was before he discovered that you couldn't even change ringtones on W7.

So now it's kind of up in the air again whether to wait for Mango to be released & hope for at least decade old common functionality to come to the OS or punt, pay the restocking fee and switch.

Thoughts?

edit to add: Probably need more details here. He wanted this phone & OS, best I can tell, because he liked the look & feel of the "home screen" (or whatever you call it), is kind of anti-Mac/Apple, thought the XBL integration might be nice, and the LG phone looked & felt right in his hand. At 13 y/o his peers are entirely text oriented & although he's almost anti-text historically I think he's kind of giving in to the necessity a little bit. Won't be streaming music or video (2GB data plans won't handle that well), web browsing will likely be limited, he's not much of an FB'er but will occasionally check it. It just such a simple thing, the ringtones, but that's a pretty big part of expressing your personality when your 13.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

It's a long story (involving three people, a lost Android Galaxy, two cell accts under one roof, 2x upgrade eligibility and 2+ hours at the AT&T phone store that I'll never get back) that I'll spare you but the bottom line is that as of this morning my son has a Windows 7 phone (LG Quantam).

The phone store guy politely tried to talk him out of it, I tried to talk him out of it, he wanted what he wanted & got it ... of course that was before he discovered that you couldn't even change ringtones on W7.

So now it's kind of up in the air again whether to wait for Mango to be released & hope for at least decade old common functionality to come to the OS or punt, pay the restocking fee and switch.

Thoughts?

edit to add: Probably need more details here. He wanted this phone & OS, best I can tell, because he liked the look & feel of the "home screen" (or whatever you call it), is kind of anti-Mac/Apple, thought the XBL integration might be nice, and the LG phone looked & felt right in his hand. At 13 y/o his peers are entirely text oriented & although he's almost anti-text historically I think he's kind of giving in to the necessity a little bit. Won't be streaming music or video (2GB data plans won't handle that well), web browsing will likely be limited, he's not much of an FB'er but will occasionally check it. It just such a simple thing, the ringtones, but that's a pretty big part of expressing your personality when your 13.

Mango will be bringing it up to par with the iPhone (Virtual Voicemail, Custom Ringtones (Which I think you had to jailbreak the iPhone to get initially) and a bunch of other goodies.

The XBL and games are cool. I love my Zune integration (I have had the Zune Pass for 5 years now)

I have read somewhere the marketplace has the most amount of Free apps for mobile phones as well as the most highest priced apps for the mobile phones.

I think it's worth the wait for Mango. I was anti WM with the horror that was 6, 6.5 and went iPhone, didn't think I would ever leave that.

The only thing I do not like and I miss the most, is having the tethering functionality I was using with the iPhone.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Mango will be bringing it up to par with the iPhone (Virtual Voicemail, Custom Ringtones (Which I think you had to jailbreak the iPhone to get initially) and a bunch of other goodies.

I can honestly say that I have no clue what virtual voicemail is ... but then again, I get the feeling that's okay 'cause I've probably never needed it

I have read somewhere the marketplace has the most amount of Free apps for mobile phones as well as the most highest priced apps for the mobile phones.

Interesting

The only thing I do not like and I miss the most, is having the tethering functionality I was using with the iPhone.

Happily (for me) I don't think that's an issue for him at all.

In the grand scheme it's probably not a huge deal however it turns out but he went from so excited (not quite too cool to let us know that) to kind of bummed out that I wanted to see if I could improve my advice to him. Thanks for the feedback, 'preciate it.

[MacroGuru]

Here is the 5/24 Press Release for Mango..

Microsoft Previews Next Release of Windows Phone: “Mango” to deliver smarter and easier communications, apps and Internet experiences and bring Windows Phone to more customers around the world.

[MacroGuru]

Just found an article on how to force download Mango since it launched...I have followed it through step by step and I am currently in the process of installing Mango...If it's what it is promised, I will be happy, if it isn't...I don't know..

[MacroGuru]

You gotta be kidding me...one of the main reasons I have held on to the WM 7 was the fact of Virtual Voicemail with this release. It's there, oh yes it's there, I have seen the demos and everything...but guess what...ATT isn't supporting it right now.

So the largest carries of WM 7 phones...doesn't support it.

T-Mobile supports it

Verizon with 1 WM7 phone, supports it..

This is almost a change my carrier push right now...

Oh, and I haven't even begun to play around with all the new features...but it's definitely a lot faster ..

[Fidatelo]

Macro, were you moving from NoDo->Mango, or did you skip over NoDo? Because I forced the update yesterday as well, and I have not noticed an appreciable speed improvement over NoDo (which was a huge improvement for me over the original release).

That sucks about the lack of carrier support for you, though. I hate how the carriers can choose to screw us out of certain things, such as Internet Sharing. I've seen sites that had Internet Sharing working on the Samsung Focus (which is what I have) so it is not a hardware issue in that instance, yet my carrier (Rogers) must not be allowing it because I see no options. Boo.

I do love some of the new features: Linked Inboxes, Groups, integrated Twitter, pinable application content, etc. There are almost too many new features, though; I can't even mentally sort out all the new stuff.

Some of the best tweaks are really small, too. Things like the larger music buttons and the way they have colored the volume number.

All-in-all, I am super happy with my phone, and this just makes me even happier. If the Music Marketplace comes to Canada sometime soon as has been rumoured I will be ecstatic.

[chesapeake]

Do you have a link to the article on downloading Mango?

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

Macro, were you moving from NoDo->Mango, or did you skip over NoDo? Because I forced the update yesterday as well, and I have not noticed an appreciable speed improvement over NoDo (which was a huge improvement for me over the original release).

When I forced it last night, it updated to 7403 and then to Mango. So it was a big time speed improvement for me.

Yeah, I am just slowly starting to get my mind around all the changes and tweaks...

Do you have a link to the article on downloading Mango?

And for the article to force the download..

How to Force Your Phone to Upgrade to Windows Phone Mango | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

If the Music Marketplace comes to Canada sometime soon as has been rumoured I will be ecstatic.

And as if on cue, my prayers have been answered! Zune Music Marketplace Expands to Canada + New Changes to Zune Music Pass in the US | Zune Insider

[Fidatelo]

Dola

And MacroGuru, this should make you happy: AT&T confirms visual voice mail for WP7.5 once again | WMPoweruser

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

Dola

And MacroGuru, this should make you happy: AT&T confirms visual voice mail for WP7.5 once again | WMPoweruser

See, I am excited it's going to happen, but VVM was in from the get go, not added late...it was one of the first things so it could bring WM7 to the equal of iPhone and Droid...

So to me, they dropped the ball, big time (but I am not bitching to much as I have heard they have yet to enable it for android.)

[gstelmack]

Can we include Windows Phone 8 here? Picked up an HTC 8X last night, just getting stuff rolling on it. I'd really like a decent Sudoku and Solitaire game for it (Freecell and Klondike at least in it), any recommendations? I'd rather pay and get no ads than get one for free, but I'll accept the ads if the app is good, the ads aren't obnoxious, and they aren't spying on me in the background.

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by gstelmack

Can we include Windows Phone 8 here? Picked up an HTC 8X last night, just getting stuff rolling on it. I'd really like a decent Sudoku and Solitaire game for it (Freecell and Klondike at least in it), any recommendations? I'd rather pay and get no ads than get one for free, but I'll accept the ads if the app is good, the ads aren't obnoxious, and they aren't spying on me in the background.

Just picked up the 8x myself and i am in heaven with this phone. My HD7 was sucking it up bad. The OS is even better than i thought it would be.