"The Lumia 710 is a very good smartphone - sleek, fast, cheap, and designed for Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone 7 operating system."
"After a week of testing the Lumia 710, my verdict is that it’s a good value for the money, and a good choice for people moving up to their first smartphone, or those looking for an alternative to Android and Apple."
"Headlines like 'Why Windows Phone is Making Waves at CES' and 'How Nokia’s Lumia 900 Windows Phone Won CES Before It Even Started' are key indicators of the excitement surrounding Windows Phone’s big leap into relevance in the smartphone market. Before the show even started, Nokia’s next-gen Lumia handset, in particular, was on the receiving end of a tremendous amount of anticipation and praise. And for good reason."
"At the company’s CES booth, Ben Rudolph of the Windows Phone team is challenging users of other smartphones to duels in which they race him to complete everyday tasks such as checking the weather, posting to Facebook and Twitter, and snapping/sharing a photo. Anyone who beats him gets 100 bucks. ...Summing up the Day 1 results in a blog post, he reports 21 wins, two losses, and a tie — underscoring the company’s point that Windows Phone is faster at many everyday tasks."
"Even before Steve Ballmer’s Monday night keynote address, I’m hearing 'Windows Phone' in various conversations everywhere I travel. ...The hardware side of things is starting to catch up with better camera sensors — the Titan II has a 16 megapixel camera — and high-quality, industrial design such as that found in Nokia’s smartphones."
"In short, Nokia’s Windows Phones exude style, and that goes a long way toward impressing tech journalists overwhelmed by dozens of aesthetically similar phones and tablets at CES. There’s more: In mobile, Microsoft has become the beloved underdog of the tech press. Windows Phone is fun, and it’s silky smooth like an iPhone without mimicking Apple’s interface of apps and nothing else."
"Microsoft is staking a lot on its very different user interface. The live-tile design is strikingly different from the icon-based environment we find on Android devices and the iPhone. ...Only time will tell. But for consumers, the entrance of a third major competitor would be only good news."
"Microsoft actually has a hit, at least with the technorati. It’s cellphone software called Windows Phone — and they need it to be a blockbuster here at Microsoft Central."
"Move over Siri. Windows Phone now has its own voice assistant, dubbed Ask Ziggy, and it seems to be a hit."
"In a scale of 0 to 2, where 0 means 'unacceptable' user experience, 1 means 'satisfactory' and 2 means 'delighted,' Windows Phone scored 1.31 among reviewers. It was followed by BlackBerry (1.28), iOS (1.26), Android (1.18) and Symbian (1.01)."
"Windows Phone strikes the perfect middle ground between the two. The slick, instantly recognisable and totally intuitive live tile interface is playful without being toylike, knocking Apple’s once-revolutionary front end into a cocked hat."
"By a delightful coincidence, Windows Phone 7 is our seventh mobile app. Created with our friends at Microsoft, this app will give you an outstanding music experience on your Windows Phone 7," the company said on its blog.
"This isn’t little SharePoint, this isn't a copy of SharePoint. You don't lose any capabilities. And this isn’t a subset of capabilities of Lync. This is Lync for your phone," Glenn Gerlach, senior mobility strategist, told the audience at the Sprint Open Solutions Conference last week in Santa Clara, Calif.
"With ’Mango’, Windows Phone has matured, and now Microsoft is ready to go head to head against iOS and Android. Here are five key features of ’Mango’ that make it worth taking a closer look before you upgrade your iPhone 4 to an iPhone 4S, or jump ship to get an Android device like the Samsung Galaxy S II."
"...Microsoft has found its way. The company has tweaked the powerful, elegant system it delivered last year in ways that I find pretty near irresistible. Already blessed with a gorgeous user interface, Windows Phone 7 has added valuable search features, more efficient ways to stay in touch with friends and colleagues, and a smart method for accessing the software apps you need, even if you don’t know you need them."
"With Mango, Microsoft has got the smartphone operating system right. It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s easy to use, it does everything you need, and it looks great. It takes the things that made the original release unique and makes them better, and it addresses nearly every criticism made of that version. As a piece of software, it’s a triumph, and it’s more than good enough to take on Android and iOS."
"Windows Phone 7 software is punctuated by a bold interface called Metro that is built around rectangular live customizable 'at a glance' tiles. Tap a tile to jump to pictures, your calendar, the Internet Explorer browser, Xbox Live, a Music + Videos hub, and more."
"Windows Phone remains a breath of fresh air in an otherwise-entrenched mobile landscape. It’s fun to use in a way that iOS and Android are — to put it bluntly — not."
"It's more or less a complete thing now. A real boy. Or whatever. And frankly, it's about time for another major phone platform, one that actually feels like it's in the same class as iOS."
"With version 7.5, Microsoft attempts to build on its metaphor for simple, straightforward features that get you in and out. This time, though, the goal was to make everything smarter and more social, now that Windows Phone must graduate from simply being something new, to something different. In this, Microsoft largely succeeds. …keep an open mind and you just might be pleasantly surprised by Microsoft's elegant, daring, and simple take on smartphones."
"Overall, the Mango upgrade presents Windows Phone owners with a more complete package than the launch version. Interface details have been well-thought-out and executed. I see no reason not to upgrade. And if you don’t have one, consider checking one out."
"...IDC is so bullish on the future of Windows smartphones that it predicts Microsoft will capture more than 20% of the market by 2015, moving ahead of iOS and behind only Android. Here are four reasons why Microsoft will be a major smartphone player in a few years."
"Windows Phone is getting a giant update coming this fall called ’Mango.’ We can’t wait. Mango has some truly inspired features that integrate social networks into every aspect of the phone, as well as many others."
“With the help of Mango, the Windows Phone has grown up into a device that can be considered a real competitor for Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android devices…”
“Windows Phone 7 takes a genuinely different approach to communication than its main rivals.”
“Pending some killer Nokia hardware or radical Android redesign, I think the choice this fall for all but the nerdiest of nerds is going to be very simple. iPhone or Windows Phone. Nothing else is that pleasant.”
“Regardless of Mango’s ultimate success at the register, though, I like more about Windows Phone in Mango than ever — and I’m definitely looking forward to playing with some final software and hardware.”
“…Windows Phone 7 Mango brings several compelling new features to the smartphone wars.”
"Mango will deliver more than 500 new features that will actually integrate the entire smartphone experience including all your communications, apps and the Internet. The new Mango release organizes information around the person or the group that we want to interact with, not the app we have to use."
"Information from Twitter and LinkedIn will display in the `People´ Hub, along with new images added by friends. Windows Phone users will also have the ability to consolidate their friends and colleagues into Groups, the easier to send mass-messages and emails. Visual voicemail and the ability to see `threaded´ conversations in emails buttress Mango’s communications enhancements."
"About 36,000 developers have registered with the company, Microsoft said in a blog posting Mar 31. A total of 11,500 apps are available and customers on average download 12 a month."
Terry Myerson, VP of Windows Phone Engineering, and Nokia’s Tero Ojanpera, EVP of Services, submit an open letter to developers."
"The reset was no simple task: It involved bringing in new managers, reorganizing the Windows phone-design department and opening new test facilities dedicated to mobile hardware."
"Microsoft has finally delivered a smartphone based operating system that provides big benefits for smartphone lovers with its Windows Phone 7 offering."
"As you cozy up to your brand new WP7 handset, take a look at our list of some of the hottest apps for Windows Phone 7."
