One of WP7’s big selling points is the unique visual aesthetic, which is meant to carry over through all the applications on the phone, making everything feel like part of a unified whole. Personally, I think Microsoft’s hard line against manufacturers and carriers significantly changing the UI is a fantastic thing, and prevents the platform from descending into unusable bloatware — like you see with some versions of Android (Sony, I’m looking at you.)
Not everyone feels this way, and in an interview with Pocket-Lint, HTC’s director of user experience Drew Bamford said this:
Q. Windows Phone 7 doesn’t let you customise the user interface as much as you would probably like, does that frustrate you?I see it as another challenge. It’s another constraint in the design, but it’s what makes design fun for most designers. Constraints allow you to know the space you are working in, and then let you go nuts in that space.I suspect that those constraints will loosen in time allowing us to do more. Microsoft will let us loosen the reins a bit, but certainly it’s a real constraint the kinds of things they are enabling.I wouldn’t preclude HTC in the future doing something on a different operating system or even doing our own operating system. I don’t think that’s out of the question, because our goal is to address the needs of our users, and if we don’t have the freedom to do what we need to on a given platform we’ll try another platform or create our own.At the moment on Google and Microsoft, we are able to provide a great experience for our users, so everything is working great at the moment, but we will do everything necessary to meet the need of our users.
I’m sorry, but WP7 does not need Sense UI slapped over the top, and HTC’s apps for WP7 may look pretty, but run completely counter to the aesthetic of the operating system.
I agree with you. If people or companies want customization they should stick with Android. Android is a much more capable OS than WinPhone7 when it comes to personalization and getting that functionality out of your hardware. Sadly Microsoft followed in Apples footsteps too closely in making an OS that was simplified. It is so simple that it doesn’t do what I would like it to do. I have a Vibrant and I don’t even use the Touchwiz launcher. I use Zeam, with six application shortcuts on the dock and an up gesture to open the app drawer. Not to mention the multitudes of Live wallpapers. Customization like that is something that Apple, Microsoft, Rim, and HP/Palm don’t have with their OS’. So I’ll stick with Android.
I agree one hundred percent. The manufacturers have ruin andriod with all their shells, and crap. Other than two or three phones you can’t get a pure android phone anymore. It will go down the same dead end path as the old Winmo……
…And that’s exactly why so few Android devices are using the currentsoftware version. Fragmentation sucks and while it can be fun switching ROMs(I have an HTC Diamond 2) after a while, you just want your phone to work without having to restart it, flash another ROM, or constantly closing opened apps that drain your battery.
I’ll give WP7 a try.
Oh God! I hope Microsoft doesn’t cave in and an allow windows to become a mismash of different user interfaces. People love the iphone because it consistent and easy to use. Not everyone that uses a smartphone are IT geeks. Leave that for the Andriod/Linux community. Microsoft can gain a lot of market share by keeping the O/S consistent like Apple does and provide different options in hardware like Andriod has. It would be great if I can get a WM7 with Flash Support and HDMI out on a 5inch screen. Please Microsoft don’t give in to to the HeadSet and Carrier demands!!!