I've been using Launcher 7 on my Android phone for the past week, and it bears out my initial impression of Windows Phone 7: that the launcher/home-screen is a really nice combination of the live content Android typically provides and a clean reasonably attractive set-of-icons.
So I'm thinking much more about my next phone being a WP7 device. I have very easy access to the HTC HD7 and Mozart, but unfortunately they seem to be about the worst of the first-gen WP7 phones: really bad cameras, lousy screens that were previous-generation a year ago when they were released, small batteries.
I may have cheaper-than-standard access to the new HTC WP7 phones, but that's a way off and in the meantime I'm going to have to choose something for a work phone in probably a month from now.
There is some temptation to pick up a Samsung Focus as an import from the US. They're basically the Samsung Galaxy S but running WP7, so a great display and decent battery life by smartphone standards. They're available second-hand for ~AU$200 on eBay, or new from Mobicity for AU$479. The advantage of buying from Mobicity is pretty obvious: known-good vendor, 12-month warranty, another $30 and they'll throw you a loaner while repairs are underway.
The device from the new batch which is most interesting to me so far is the Focus S, but there's fairly limited information available. My hope is that we're basically looking at a Galaxy S II but with a single-core processor. The specs as released suggest this, but until there are review units floating around it's quite uncertain.
And chances are I won't have particularly cheap access to those anyway.
So I'm thinking much more about my next phone being a WP7 device. I have very easy access to the HTC HD7 and Mozart, but unfortunately they seem to be about the worst of the first-gen WP7 phones: really bad cameras, lousy screens that were previous-generation a year ago when they were released, small batteries.
I may have cheaper-than-standard access to the new HTC WP7 phones, but that's a way off and in the meantime I'm going to have to choose something for a work phone in probably a month from now.
There is some temptation to pick up a Samsung Focus as an import from the US. They're basically the Samsung Galaxy S but running WP7, so a great display and decent battery life by smartphone standards. They're available second-hand for ~AU$200 on eBay, or new from Mobicity for AU$479. The advantage of buying from Mobicity is pretty obvious: known-good vendor, 12-month warranty, another $30 and they'll throw you a loaner while repairs are underway.
The device from the new batch which is most interesting to me so far is the Focus S, but there's fairly limited information available. My hope is that we're basically looking at a Galaxy S II but with a single-core processor. The specs as released suggest this, but until there are review units floating around it's quite uncertain.
And chances are I won't have particularly cheap access to those anyway.