I’d Like To Do Some Window Shopping

One of the things about mobile phones is that it gives people a sense of satisfaction when those around them are intrigued or fascinated by what they can do. This is the reason that the iPhone has had such huge success. When that ergonomic, sexatronic device hit the market, people would literally have kittens to play with it. Apps then catapulted it into the nations heart, doing for Apple what the Xfactor did for Cheryl Cole.

The genius of some of the apps. The usefulness of it. The design of it. While there are people out there who genuinely hate Apple, no-one in their right mind could honestly say that they didn’t evolve what a mobile phone means. Indeed Apple did such a good job that soon after, Google launched Android which has gone on to have a storming success.

The thing with Android though is that it unless someone gets a Nexus device, they get all of the additions OEMs slap on their devices. While this isn’t (always) a bad thing, such as the case of HTC Sense, it has lead to a huge amount of fragmentation due to the differences in hardware button choices, keyboard layouts, screen sizes and updates of the core Android OS to certain devices. While it is possible to really admire Android and all of the wonderful things it can do, as a consumer, it still looks a little bit similar to iOS.

As a consumer then, when upgrading to a new phone it is perfectly reasonable to want something a little bit different. This brings us onto Windows Phone 7. While it hasn’t quite had the market traction Microsoft might have liked. With the continued drop in BlackBerry’s fortunes, Microsoft is waiting in the wings, ready to take some of the dominance away from Android and iOS. There is no reason the company won’t be able to either.

While I haven’t owned a Windows Phone device or even played with one for more than a few minutes, there is something alluring about it. Because it looks so very different from Android and iOS, Windows Phone has a charm about it. Those Tiles on the home screen are also a lovely way of providing essential information and making it stand out from the crowd. When owning a phone, one of the things people want is for those around them to be intrigued by what it can do and what it looks like. Having a Windows Phone device, I would imagine, would illicit the same response from the general public that the iPhone did when it first came put.

Because it looks so different and comes with some lovely UI features, people (again I imagine) who see it would be genuinely interested in what it does. This really begs the question of why it hasn’t yet had the success it deserves. It doesn’t suffer from any of the fragmentation Android has, isn’t liable to the malicious apps that have found their way onto the Android Marketplace, looks different from iOS and Android and interacts with the way you use it like a flirty little minx.

Personally, I can’t get it out of my mind. A large part of me wants to go out there and buy one. While I am unlikely to swap it in for my iPhone (please Apple, enough already, send out your event invites!), I would happily go for a Windows Phone device as a secondary handset any day over Android.

I’m genuinely excited to see what Nokia come out with, hardware wise, for their Windows Phone devices and think HTC are doing a cracking job with theirs. The Titan looks like a beast of a device that makes me swoon after that glorious big screen, something you would want just to make sure that those around you get to see Windows Phone in all its glory.

Of course app choice is a deal breaker when it comes to phones. With Windows Phone though, the apps that appear are quality over quantity. While I haven’t yet experienced gaming on a Windows Phone device, there is little doubt in my mind that it more than lives up to the mobile equivalent of the Xbox. The Mango update is going to bring Windows Phone up to speed with the other two meaning there is little reason not to go for one.

Like Apple used to be, being the underdog in a market is no bad thing. It means standing out from the crowd. Being different. Being special. These are not bad traits. Windows Phone is not a bad operating system. Next time you go into a Phone Shop, take a look at it. Think about it. Try it. Go on.

Robert Haslam, a lifelong fan of technology, cars and design, grew up with the BBC Micro and actually remembers floppy disks when they were floppy. Now all grown up, he works in PR for a mix of technology and marketing firms.