Nokia launched the N9 earlier today, encased with some sweet looking industrial design. If they can bring some of this flair over to Windows phone, I’m on board.

The Meego OS looks darned good already, and with the unibody polycarbonate, flush glass (and curved) and extremely minimalistic design, it looks like great hardware. I’m not really certain what Nokia’s handset OS strategy is, with Meego appearing quite competitive.

One way or another, I hope this is the beginning of Nokia’s revitalization. They have the capability for sure.

Samsung Focus (Windows Phone 7)

I picked up a Samsung Focus at the Microsoft Store in Bellevue on opening day. I had originally planned to stick with T-Mobile and the Dell Venue Pro, but after getting the runaround on the ETA for my pre-ordered device and some photo quality issues with the Dell, I decided to jump ship to AT&T and the Samsung Focus. After more than a year fiddling around with Windows Mobile 6.5 and then Android, I was itching for a phone that was a little simpler, and a bit more polished. I think I’ve found it in Windows Phone 7.

It’s still too early to pass final judgment on the hardware or software, but the core functions I need, great email, calendar, messaging, web browsing, and mapping, are all there. The device itself feels better than the ‘plasticky’ description I’d read in a couple reviews, which had initially scared me away from the Focus. It’s a thin, light device that slips into one’s pocket, unobtrusively.

Nokia loses a phone.

I came across Richard Franiec’s S90 grip over at DPReview, where the comments were enthusiastic. I placed an order and waited.

Richard was on vacation around the time I ordered, so I didn’t get the grip until a short while ago. Using 3M heavy bond adhesive, the grip attaches with great solidity. It feels like it’s welded, not adhered, to the camera.

The grip looks great, feels great, and vastly improves handling. It’s made out of aluminum and is very well machined. It doesn’t quite match the slick exterior of the S90, and is instead more textured to impart additional grip. Aside from making the camera feel steady in a single hand, it also forces the natural hand position over, such that the index finger now lies directly over the shutter release. Bravo!

It simply looks professionally made. Richard has made custom accessories for a host of cameras and this is just another in the line of great additions to already great photographic tools. With Lightroom 3 beta 2 doing spectacular things for image quality (mainly noise reduction), I’m really excited to get out there with this camera. After some post-processing tests with LR3b2, I feel comfortable with up to ISO800 on the S90, but I’ll leave the results of that test for a bit later.

Congrats WinMo team!

UPDATE: Press conference is now over, with a good chunk of the OS and UI shown off. I’ll share some thoughts based on what I’ve seen here and in the past later on today.

There’s a great hands-on video over at Channel9 by Joe Belfiore. He also talks about the design shift that accompanied this release of Windows Phone. His personality and mentality really bleed off into his team; I had the pleasure of working with one of his direct reports for a short while at Microsoft. They’re all super enthusiastic about providing an emotional design that really pleases the user.

My cellphone pants pocket has come full circle over the course of a year and a half. Back then, I was sporting an iPhone 3G, and got my hands on an early retail BlackBerry Bold. My comparison concluded with a preference for the iPhone, citing my consumer leanings, and some serious drawbacks to the mapping application and smaller display of the Bold.

Over the course of the past year, I grew extremely frustrated with the iPhone’s touchscreen typing (I am atrocious at it, even with its great error correction), and moved on to a Nokia E71. I spent a good 9 months with that phone, before I swapped over to an HTC Touch Pro2. The Nokia provided me a return to the physical keypad and I loved it, but at the same time, I wasn’t very pleased with the lower resolution display. The TP2 had a fantastic 3.6″ WVGA touchscreen display (800×480) plus a giant physical keypad.

In a bout of prescience, I had commented in that iPhone – Bold comparison that HTC’s TouchFlo 3D looked great, but would be worthless if it came at the cost of a lot of performance. The TP2 was a dog of a performer, requiring regular reboots to keep in a good working state. Integration with Exchange was fantastic and MyPhone was a great feature, never leaving me worried about the synchronization state of my computer’s and phone’s contact lists.

My focus on a physical keypad was based on a significantly higher ratio of written communication than ever before. I get on average 10-15 emails per day and go through around 10 text messages in that same time-span. That reliance on email made me reconsider the BlackBerry once more (I had used a BlackBerry Curve for quite some time). A friend recently purchased a BlackBerry Bold 9000, and showed me how the platform was “just getting good when you left it“, as he put it.

So I bought a used BlackBerry Bold.

In Use

I’ve been using the Bold for the past two weeks, with a Rogers BIS data plan. Email has been much more reliable than the Touch Pro2 (I  now receive them on in prompt fashion) and the device itself is far, far more responsive. I immediately loaded BlackBerry OS5.0.411 (Swedish 3 network version, not the Bell version) onto the device, and combined with the Reverie D theme with transitions, the interface is sublime to use. Screens fade in and out without the least bit of hesitation. Things load faster than anything else I’ve used, and just as I noted even 1.5 years ago.

The keyboard, while not nearly as large as the one on the TP2, is fantastic to use. The keys have positive action, and a nice soft click when depressed. The slight ridges on the keys make typing very accurate, despite the size. I’m finding myself belting out more emails and text messages on the go than ever before. I always needed to slide up the screen of the TP2 to expose the keypad before I could really use that device to write anything. The candy-bar format makes this more convenient.

Furthermore, the Bold 9000 is built like a tank. The fake leather backing feels great in the hand, yet at the same time resists normal day-to-day wear, unlike the iPhone’s scratch-prone surface. Not unlike the iPhone’s monolithic bulk, the Bold also has no creaks or groans during use. I popped in an 8GB microSD card, and with the included 3.5mm audio jack, I can listen to some music on the go too. The screen isn’t glass-covered, and there are a couple  hairline scratches on this used copy, but it seems like even moderate care should prevent any serious damage to it. The TP2′s resistive screen on the other hand seemed extremely delicate. Over the short while I used it, it developed several scratches on the screen. And I take care of my gadgets. All in all, a very positive feeling for the Bold’s durability. I have no worries using it anywhere.

Browsing on the device is decent, not great. The browser that comes with OS5.0 seems capable of handling most any site I visit, with the exception of my university’s online course materials portal. Then again, an iPhone doesn’t do well on that site either. While the screen is far smaller than the iPhone or the TP2, the resolution is on par with the iPhone’s (480×320), and text looks extremely crisp on the Bold. Cramming that many pixels into this (relatively) small display creates a very vibrant, detailed experience. My previous experience with the Bold involved some frustrating time with BlackBerry Maps. I didn’t bother loading it up this time, instead opting for the free Google Maps application. On 3G, tile loading rates are good and GPS works just fine and dandy.

To top things off, I purchased a BlackBerry charging pod, which I now use as my alarm clock. It sits on my desk and I simply plop the Bold into it when I come home. It turns into a big digital clock, and I’m able to set as many different alarms as I want via the calendar. This works great as I have morning classes on Mon-Wed-Fri, but still want to wake up at a decent hour on the other days of the week. The dock looks fantastic, provides an extra bit of functionality, and ensures that my phone is always charged. Well worth the investment.

Speaking of charged, battery life has been solid. Over the course of a normal day from 9am through 9pm, usage includes around 10 text messages, 10 minutes in calls, 20 minutes of web browsing, 20-30 minutes of Brick Breaker, some time on Google Talk, and 4 email accounts being pushed, with 3G and Wifi enabled, the phone runs down to about 70% battery. On another run over 3 days, with one day of heavier use (on par or more than the above scenario) and two of light use, always with the 4 push email accounts, the battery ran down to 15%, at which point I got a low battery indicator. Overall, very good.

But not all is hunky dory. With only BIS through Rogers, I am unable to sync my contacts and calendar over the air with my computers, without some crazy proxies in between (such as using Google Calendar). Furthermore, I have a hosted Exchange server, which syncs my desktop and laptop. With the Touch Pro2, that also meant I could use ActiveSync to sync my phone. Microsoft MyPhone also gave me a backup option, even if there was no Exchange. With the BlackBerry, neither of these options exist without BES. A real bummer. Perhaps Mike Lazaridis’ announcement on Tuesday will address this pretty key drawback.

Wrap

After 1.5 years, I find myself back with a Bold, except this time, it’s mine and I’m loving it. The level of importance I place upon reliable communications has risen over the years, and the BlackBerry platform just makes sense for me right now. The Bold 9000 is snappy and responsive and performs its key competencies, email and communications, just so very well. The QWERTY keypad is fantastic to use, the form factor is good, and BrickBreaker’s pretty darn entertaining. It’s not a multimedia powerhouse like the iPhone or other touchscreen devices, but all I need is a cursory music player, and it has that.

If Research in Motion would go ahead and give me OTA sync of my calendar and contacts with an Exchange server or some other cloud service, without the need for BES, I’ll be very content indeed.

Windows Phone 7 will be shown off tomorrow morning, and I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen so far at Microsoft. I’ll be waiting with great anticipation for actual shipping hardware. Until then, the Bold will be in my pocket.

One point above all else in those rumors that has many staunch Windows Mobile users riled up: no multitasking. I’d like to make a few comments on the matter. Note that the following is not based on my knowledge of the real thing, but simply my thoughts and opinions.

In a smartphone platform, multitasking is not needed for the vast majority. Attempting to do multiple things at once on a smartphone is implicitly limited by the screen real estate. Applications need to take up the entire display (I don’t consider widgets ‘applications’). The scenarios in which one uses a smartphone are distinctly different from a PC, Mac, or arguably, an iPad, where multitasking would be more useful.

What most people want, whether they can verbalize it or not, is session state persistence and background notifications. 95% of the time, that application you want to ‘minimize’ will simply sit in the background, doing nothing except consuming valuable resources. Instead, close the application, save its state, and provide a way for notifications to/from that application to be bubbled up in the operating system. The next time you open that application, it will return from its cryostasis, ready to pick up where you left off.

For example, you open up the email client, read an email from a friend that includes a link to a restaurant website. You click that link, closing the email client, while at the same time opening the browser. The page loads and you decide you want to take a look at where it is on a map. You copy the address and open up a Google Maps application, closing the browser. You paste the address and pan around, getting your bearings. Satisfied, you reopen the browser and find it at the same place on the website you just visited. You don’t even notice that the browser process was terminated. You peruse the menu for the evening and decide to reply to your friend, confirming a reservation. You open up the email client, and you’re back at the email you read to start the scenario. None of this requires ‘multitasking’ support, simply session state persistence.

The key is providing a level of transparency to the user. The operating system may be starting and terminating processes, but as long as the experience of managing multiple applications’ interactions is as the user expects, there is no need for multitasking to accomplish these tasks. Yes, this puts a bit more responsibility on the application developer’s shoulder. The developer must consider session data and how to best store it for their application.

With all that said, I’m certain there will be cursory ‘multitasking’ provided by the operating system, despite the rumors. Some core services, such as music and phone, should be able to run alongside other applications, much like what is possible with the iPhone.

No one wants to deal with this.Apple absolutely had it right when they introduced one of the first no-multitasking mobile operating systems with the iPhone OS. However, they did not add background notifications until several iterations later, which was a bummer. I believe the benefits achieved by removing multitasking on the smartphone platform outweighs the 0.1% power-user scenario, where multitasking might actually be useful. For most people, managing a process list is out of their comfort zone. Applications would simply pile up in the background, with users having little experience with memory management. It would simply appear as though performance were vanishing for no reason. The geeks can whine as much as they like, but at some point or another, they’ll need to realize that mass market success cannot be achieved by catering to their needs alone. I’ve gone through a highly technical computer engineering degree, but I know that when designing features, they cannot be for users like me. Read The Inmates are Running the Asylum if you want to know what designing for programmers and engineers means to the rest of the world.

Windows Mobile/Phone 7 is a well-kept secret even within Microsoft. The intranet portals are walled off from non-team employees. Furthermore, little concrete information is disseminated outside the walls of the Studios. I’m super excited to see what the team had accomplished since my time at Microsoft. They know that this is probably the last chance for them to create something that is at least on par with the best of the best out there. Based on my interactions with the people working on the project and the very different  design mentality within the team, I’m excited about the prospects.

In three days, everyone will see what’s been cooking.

So, a bit of a conservative showing by the iPad at first glance then? Sure, there isn’t a revolutionary new interface method – it’s essentially like a big iPod Touch in many ways, but familiarity is a wonderful thing. Keeping a consistent user interface, one that 75 millions users know and love, helps the product, not the opposite. Yeah, the keyboard looks retarded to type on, but this isn’t a content creation device, it’s a consumption device. There’s no multitasking, which sucks for sure, but I’m sure the key features you’ll really care about multitasking with (music, in particular) will be allowed to run in the background. There’s also no Flash support.

There are a ton of areas where a fully-fledged operating system would do a better job, but then I look at the price: $499 for the base model.

Yikes.

Joe Blow is going to walk into BestBuy with his wife, looking for a cheap web browsing machine. They have a desktop computer, but would like something to browse the internet, check some email, and blast through photos around the house. They see an Acer 10.1″ netbook running Windows 7 and, not too far away, an Apple iPad running some sort of iPod Touch-looking operating system.

$349 vs. $499
10.1″ vs. 9.7″
7 hours battery vs. 10 hours battery
regular screen vs. touch screen
Open up Internet Explorer vs. Open up Safari: weird, Safari opened faster

Hmmm, $150 more for a shiny Apple product that seems to be (surprise) faster for browsing the web. Well, they wanted to spend less than $400, but this iPad thing looks really slick. And wow! So light! The Acer gets ignored for a while, and Joe plays with the iPad’s other applications. Hrm, email looks good. Photos look fantastic! Oh, it says there are 100,000+ applications available for the iPad?! That’s a lot.

Joe walks out of BestBuy, ready to try out his first Apple product at home. At this price, Apple will move loads of product.

I’ve already heard from several non-techie types that this is the ‘computer’ they’ve been waiting for. They’d rather surf the web from the comfort of a couch than a desk. The simple interface and operating system is an advantage. I think about my mother’s computer usage scenarios, and I can’t help but think the iPad is better suited. She’d rather not have to sit in front a computer. It simply doesn’t fit into her day. And multitasking? Please, every time I go home, the only thing open on the computer is a Firefox browser window. Most people don’t want crazy feature sets. Most people don’t need a ‘full-fledged’ operating system for their day-to-day activities.

What most web gurus don’t realize is that 99% of the population aren’t like them. They don’t want to web chat with people, while downloading a movie and posting to their blog. They don’t want to pound out page long comments on smarterthanyou.com.

Steve Jobs calls it the best web browsing and email experience available. I don’t think I’m willing to go so far as to agree with him. However, I do believe it provides a better web experience than most netbooks. On the other hand, I feel that it’s the form factor that makes this product work. With the plethora of Android and Windows tablets due to be released later on this year, I feel like the iPad’s market will have really legitimate competitors very soon, something that couldn’t be said for the iPhone until recently. Android will probably work pretty well out-of-box in this form factor. Any Windows tablet will need some serious application interface overhauls to provide a good experience.

With that all said, I have so much faith in this form factor, and in particular Apple’s entry here that I’m planning on jumping head-first into development for the platform. Designing for the significantly larger screen will be very different, and in many ways, more difficult than development for the iPod Touch/iPhone, where the vast majority of applications are simply a list and some buttons. I have numerous ideas that take advantage of the new form factor. Plus, as the App Store has shown, there’s serious money to be made here. That’s just about incentive enough.

I probably won’t be developing for you (or me, for that matter); I’ll be developing for the 99% that the iPad is useful for.