I saw a demo of Metro on a tablet at the Microsoft store a few weeks back and was really, really turned off. Why are the app squares of variable sizes? The guy accessed a settings menu out of nowhere. I was so confused I had to ask him to show me how he did it. There were no indications, cues, hints, etc, that would've led me to believe the menu was there. This isn't only limited to the settings menu.

I don't want to turn this into an iPod/iPad vs. WP8/Surface debate, but the first thing that popped into my head after I walked out of the store was "Jesus, my mom would have a hell of a time learning how to use that." She's a pro with her iPad, and it'd take her a very long time to reach that same level of savviness with a tablet running Metro.

Metro isn't designed for the average person. There's nothing that directs you, there are no consistent UI elements that carry on throughout the design. Every app the guy opened was designed differently. With iOS, I at least have the top (and often bottom) nav bar to guide me. I, a guy who's been playing with computers for years, was utterly confused and put off from Metro.

I think they've got a long way to go if they plan on seeing the same adoption of their WP8 phone that the iPhone has seen. I'm not sure if that's what they want, but I assume they do.

You're right. You're totally right. What I think you're missing though is that this is a pattern. And once you learn this pattern ONCE, it applies to EVERYTHING. That means that the settings for EVERY app are accessed the same exact way. Sharing from ANY app is accessed the same exact way. Etc.

This, I think, will be very powerful. Sure the charms menu is a little unintuitive at first (especially with a mouse) but once you figure it out, it makes your life much easier in the long run.

In Facebook you go to the pop-out side menu, scroll to the bottom and find settings. In Twitter, you go to the Me tab, scroll to the bottom and find settings. In Foursquare you touch the Foursquare logo to show notifications then touch an icon with gears to get to settings.

What do you think about Android? Personally I find it confusing with menu lists in several places (apps, settings, etc.). The iPhone I agree is very intuitive. And I tend to think the WP is even simpler.

Another thing I think to keep in mind as well is designing and implementing for a 'metro' UI is new for many developers and it will take time to get used to (and create) the conventions. I can't recall: when the iPhone came out was there a period of 'flailing' as devs figured out conventions that worked?

But I think that's because "like" and "aesthetic" wasn't quite the words the gp was aiming for.

It's more like their User Interface Paradigm just doesn't work.

A cool sports car with no door handles or keyhole, that the cool kids open with right twist of the wrist or something can have a really nice aesthetic but be really annoying in the real world. Multiply that by a thousand and you've got something where the right mindset will get you love while the rest of us will hate and hate. Especially, menus in invisible places. That's a terrible designers are often tempted towards but should know better. If I ever have to use that stuff, some karma bolts be stinging the aestheticians who dreamed them up.

I have news. The average person is less, less - not more - less patient with "getting used to the conventions" than developers. The average person may wind-up using "conventions" but probably couldn't "describe conventions" more easily than they could solve differential equations.

If how you use the thing isn't screamingly obvious, how do you expect Joe Average to shell out the big bucks for something they still expect to be "mostly just a phone".

When the iPhone came out you couldn't develop apps for it.

There was a period of time when everyone was just using the Apple supplied apps and they laid the groundwork for establishing nearly all the conventions. New conventions have since been established (ie. pull-to-refresh) but the 'tone' was solidly set by Apple.

Integrated Internet calling: In Windows Phone 8, developers can create VoIP apps that plug into our existing calling feature so Internet calls can be answered like traditional phone calls, using the same calling interface.

Device encryption: To help keep everything from documents to passwords safe, Windows Phone 8 includes built-in technology to encrypt the entire device, including the operating system and data files.

Windows Phone 8 updates will be delivered wirelessly over-the-air, so you don’t have to bother plugging your phone into your PC to update anymore. Second, we will support devices with updates for at least 18 months from device launch.

Props to Microsoft for upping their game here.

This is why 'erase all content and settings' takes only a few seconds on newer devices, vs. hours on the iPhone and iPhone 3G - all it has to do is erase the decryption key and the entire partition is effectively garbage.

That does not imply all data is encrypted - in fact, it implies it requires app-level support and not even all first-party app data is encrypted.

[1] http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4175

However there is also fundamental encryption placed on the solid-state flash assembly that drives all iOS devices. It is not user accessible, it does not rely on user visible passwords, and guarantees that when the device is off, the filesystem cannot be read.

The first generation of Windows 7 devices did not offer hardware file system encryption, ironically keeping them from connecting to most Microsoft exchange installations.

http://images.apple.com/ipad/business/docs/iOS_Security_May1...

All in all, I give the Win7 phone a 4 on a scale of 1-10. With the continuation of the Metro interface, the forcing of MS products and lack of alternatives (like Opera or FF browser instead of IE) in the Market place, I doubt the Win8 phone is going to be a substantially better product.

Without fully committing to paying for a bunch of apps to get my stuff working, it just seems like a pain if you're hooked into using a lot of google's apps. Granted, if I was going to stay, I would invest in the apps, but I'm not quite there yet.

Just for the record, I'm using the HTC Trophy on Verizon - which is on their 3G network.

Also, if there's something I'm missing, let me know. I'm all for having a more trouble free experience with the phone.

I'm using a WP7 with Google accounts for mail, contacts and calendar.

"You can do XYZ on your Android, except not the one you bought brand new last month because it's really 23 months old already. To use XYZ, you'll need to shell out another $x00 vs just getting a software download".

Google allowing device manufacturers to even have a hand in deciding who gets updates and when is... crazy. The damage that can and will do to the Android brand over time is immense. The biggest 'value' most people see in Android is "not Apple", which isn't really a long term viable competitive position to take. MS has (and has had for some time) an opp to eat away at the "anything but apple" smartphone crowd, and they'll be taking share away from Android.

Will some arrive in days or weeks, while others linger for months? Will Nokia be given preferential treatment?

New phones? So WP7 ones are not upgradable then... I think this is yet again bad news for Nokia, as it deepens their situation of everyone knowing the devices they are selling are soon going to be obsolete.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/06/windows-phone-8-to-pr...

http://www.wpcentral.com/microsoft-unveils-windows-phone-78-...

I don't know what is with the comments on tech sites, but I just read this story on Slashdot and the summary was misleading and omitted Windows Phone 7.8 completely. There were a whole bunch of comments like yours and many were modded up.

And not one comment pointing out the existence of version 7.8 was modded up. It's like the crowd wants Nokia to fail and wants to ignore the real news or something.

Also if the current phones can't be upgraded, it seems virtually guaranteed that Nokia will continue to release new low end devices running WP7 for a long time. This means that those phones couldn't e.g. support NFC, and would be rather unappealing devices if NFC finally takes off.

Would you buy a new Android phone that can't be upgraded to ICS? Would you buy a new iPhone that cannot be upgraded to iOS 6?

Native applications will not be making it to the Lumia 900 and as such your going to start seeing more and more apps (and especially games), not be able to run on the phone.

It's a current phone, much like my Macbook is a fairly current (as in "non-vintage") Lion-running Mac. Like my Macbook, it won't run the next major version. The difference is that my Macbook is 6 years old.

Only that MS should have called it "Tiles" and continued Windows as a different product line for desktop PCs. PCs will no go away any time soon, because touch screens are not (yet) good for office work.

I actually did a talk at a user group where I showed a few different apps, then translated them live between the phone, the web, and the tablet.

So if you have existing .net code, I'd try to plug it into the PCL and see which namespaces, etc. are missing then work backwards from there - even if you can only get some of your code, it's a better start than copy/pasting everything IMO.

http://i.imgur.com/54HB1.png

I do agree that many of the examples of the new home screen, looked quite the mess.

Dropping native code development is a shit decision they made years ago, and I am glad to see they finally shit it back.