[Previously: Windows Phone's Music Experience]
I'm always baffled by reviews that applaud ever-larger screen sizes on phones without giving equal time to the downsides. Yes, the Dell Streak has a really big screen. On the other hand, it has a really big screen. It's harder to put in your pocket, hold in your hand, make calls on without looking like an idiot, and the battery life is affected negatively.
But Windows Phone 7 does a few interesting things to make apps feel more roomy without sacrificing too much.
1: Drop the Status Bar
On iPhone, most apps keep the "status bar", which shows you your cellphone reception, wifi reception, a clock, and a variety of other icons. Here's what Windows Phone 7 shows you by default.
The time. Nothing else.
If you swipe the top of the screen, all the standard icons (bars, wifi signal, etc) fall into place. After a few moments, they go away again. I love this.
2: Drop the Software Back Button
The iPhone famously sticks with only one button. I love the simplicity of it, because no matter where I am, I know one button press will whisk me to the home screen.
But Windows Phone adds two buttons. Search (self explanatory), and a back button. This means developers don't need to put a back button in their software. At first I thought this was clumsy, but now iPhone feels like it's on the wrong side of history on this one. Look how much space iPhone loses just making up for the lack of a hardware button button:
Result: Roomy
Check out the difference between the real estate on a Windows Phone 7 device and iPhone:
As a designer, I'm excited about the additional space I get. As a user, the apps just feel more roomy. Especially when the software keyboard is visible on screen.
Still Better Than Android!
So the iPhone has less space than Windows Phone 7. Does that mean Android (which offers a fragmented and vast range of screen sizes) also beats iPhone on this front? No.
Because Android doesn't have fixed dimensions, or buttons that can be trusted to be presented in the same way on all devices, or minimum requirements for CPU speed, Android devices have all the benefits of potentially larger screens without the benefits of a standardized design. This makes it harder to develop for, less trustworthy for users, and a poorer overall experience.
Not to mention the bloatware.
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This is part of my series on Windows Phone
