Unfortunately, this kind of dedication to polish requires authoritative leadership. Someone has to be willing to say "no, I will not ship it in this condition". And, that feedback has to happen throughout the development process, not just at the end.

Jobs' autocratic leadership has many flaws, but it also makes this kind of gatekeeping possible. I can't think of another major corporation in the mobile space that has a single decision maker who is both involved in development decisions as well as go-to-market timing.

I'm curious as to whether the Windows Phone 7 devices scroll smoothly, in many ways their phone team seems to be working closer to the Apple-way than the Google-way.

I was just fumbling with a Windows Phone 7 and I must say, I’m really, really impressed. Everything is extremely polished, the aesthetics are crisp and fresh and it’s damn fast. It feels like a typical modern smartphone, yet it is clear from the first moment you turn it on that it is quite unlike an iPhone or Android phone. (Funny enough, the only thing I didn’t quite like is its behavior when you reach the end of a list. It’s springy but lacks the enthusiastic bounciness of the iPhone.)

It was clearly developed with an eye for detail, not the list with features. I often think that Android is exactly the other way around. (I can’t blame Google, though. I’m not even sure whether what Google is doing is wrong in any way. I happen to prefer small details to a huge list of features but that’s just me. I don’t know what the majority of people want.)

Microsoft deserves to be lauded for its mobile OS efforts. The sad news for Microsoft is that even though I like Windows Phone 7 a lot I probably won’t buy one any time soon. The ecosystem just doesn’t feel right (yet?).

They are smoother indeed - I was very surprised when I first tried one out a few weeks ago.

Windows 7 uses the GPU for its interface, so I'm guessing it is smoother than Android.