User Manual
25
Picking a Phone
Picking A Phone
You may be surprised to discover that I consider properly conguring a Windows Live
ID a far more important task than picking a phone. But it’s true: We live in an age of
throwaway smart phones, and while you may choose to replace your phone every year
or two, your Windows Live ID will stay with you for many years to come. So it’s impor-
tant to get that right.
But you are eventually going to move on to the next phase in your Windows Phone
adventure, and that involves picking the right phone. Of course, the phone that’s right
for you may not be the phone I’d pick, as we all have our own wants, needs, and require-
ments. And let’s be clear: Just as with any smart phone platform, Windows Phone is
going to evolve over time, and handset makers and wireless carriers will be coming out
with new devices on a regular basis. So it doesn’t make sense to recommend particular
phones. Instead, what I’ll do is highlight those features that will appear on all Windows
Phone devices, and those that will be optional, so you can survey the market for avail-
able devices and make an educated decision when the time comes.
Understanding the Windows Phone
Hardware Specifications
Microsoft’s previous smart phone platform was called Windows Mobile, and while it
did have a few things to recommend it, one of the problems with that platform was
the almost limitless number of hardware types and form factors that shipped from a
variety of device makers and wireless carriers. This diversication made the platform
attractive to these companies for a while. But it also made it almost impossible for
Microsoft to deliver software updates to customers, something it has been able to do
more easily on Windows PCs via the Windows Update and Microsoft Update services.
Apple’s wildly popular iPhone changed the smart phone market in many ways
when it arrived in 2007. But one of the most important iPhone innovations was that it
was Apple, and not the wireless carriers, that controlled software updating. And the
result has been years of steady improvements, all of them absolutely free, giving cus-
tomers new and exciting capabilities over time. As a result, the iPhone has evolved
into a truly compelling smart phone, one so inuential that it has transformed
the way other companies approach this market as well. Witness the rise of Google
Android, a more open iPhone copy of sorts.
As for Microsoft, the software giant wanted to retain the good bits from Windows
Mobile but throw out the bad. So while it still allows multiple device makers and wireless
There were
other reasons
Microsoft couldn’t
deliver software
updates to Windows
Mobile customers.
Primarily, wireless
carriers didn’t
want users to get
free software
updates and
preferred customers
purchase new phones
for fairly obvious
reasons.
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