Musical Instruments

Microsoft has waited a long time to re-enter the competitive smartphone business, but their new Windows 7 smartphones are now poised to be released to a general audience. This puts their new windows phone nearly four years after the iPhone and more than two years after the Droid phones, both of which have dominated for the past few years as the go-to versatile super-smartphones.

Previous versions of Windows for phone and PDAs, called Windows mobile editions, are either outdated or unpopular, or both. The last edition of Windows mobile for phones was 6.5, and although it was certainly adequate at the time, it is nothing like the iPhone, Droid, or new Windows 7 phone edition.

There isn’t a great deal of excitement over the new windows phone from reviewers. It is referred to as pretty, and has some nice functions, but without some of the major abilities that users might look for in a phone and can be found in the competition’s phones. This includes tethering (using the phone to connect other devices to the web) and video calling.

The name of the game is beating the competition. Because the iPhone and the Droid both have established app markets, it will be up to the new windows phone to create a demand without these all-important add-ons. Over time, the app market will grow, but for the moment, this could be a major disadvantage to users. The draw of unique software on the phones, such as Microsoft Office, may snag some users, but there are apps to replicate the abilities of Office and other Windows programs on iPhones and Droids.

There are certainly things to recommend the latest and greatest from Microsoft, however. The new system is lauded for its great design and ease of use, with reviewers noting the ability to quickly launch the camera, even when the phone isn’t on, and great search capabilities.

With so many features, it’s hard to make one summary of what the new Windows phone will be like. Reviewers cite their opinions on the music player, the email program, contacts, internet browsers, calendars, games and everything in between. Given this many features, users are undoubtedly going to have diverse opinions about the overall quality of the phones.

This latest attempt to re-enter the super-smartphone manufacturing business by Microsoft has potential. Certainly, the phones do plenty of things for the average user. But in the game of business, the only thing that matters is whether they do it better than their competition. And that, only time will tell.

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