[DougofTheAbaci]

@EddieE, I'm not giving specifics becauseI don't remember where I saw the benchmarks for speed. The security thing is well-known. iOS is completely sandboxed on the OS and app level. The NSA itself has come out and said it's the most secure stock OS on the planet, not just for mobiles.
 
If you do want some specifics, though, check out Daring Fireball. He goes into it every once and a while at greater detail than I'm willing to.

 

[marvin]

WP7 is also sandboxed with ASLR and DEP. There's also the Apple-like fully curated app store with kill switch capability and the much complained about 3rd party inability to run native code. It's still missing some important security features, like device encryption and full backup capability, but it's up there in the security sweepstakes. Not sure about the "NSA says iOS most secure OS ever" statement, though iOS security is very near the top.
 
WP7 as a platform is pretty slow. Part of that is the older Qualcomm SoC that all the current phones are based on. Part of it is a slow web-browser (WebKit trounces IE in speed). Part of it is the enforced managed code requirement. WP7 feels much faster than expected though thanks to its high responsiveness, the GPU accelerated UI, and smart use of transitions. The Apple like unified hardware platform (well, unified since the 3GS in any case) also helps.

 

[revolink24]

I've never used a Windows Phone that could be described as slow. Not to say that it isn't possible, but it's certainly not something I've experienced. As long as it feels fast, does it matter what things like benchmarks show?

 

[nikp]

Quote:

I've never used a Windows Phone that could be described as slow. Not to say that it isn't possible, but it's certainly not something I've experienced. As long as it feels fast, does it matter what things like benchmarks show?

It's important in comparing performance between two or more mobile phones and it tells you how well your mobile is going to perform. If you feel it's real smooth then benchmarks doesn't matter much.
 

 

[Anaxilus]

The discrepancies in performance aren't really indicative of WP7.  It runs across multiple hardware platforms unlike iOS that is optimized for one.  Not to mention various carriers and the fact I believe early WP7 had a memory leak as well if I recall correctly.  

 

[marvin]

From the OS perspective, current WP7 phones actually have less hardware variation than iOS devices.
 
iOS currently supports two CPU/GPU hardware platforms (Cortex-A8/SGX535 in the 3GS/4/iPad, Cortex-A9/SGX543MP2 in the iPad2) and three resolutions (480x320, 960x640, 1024x768). iOS also used to support the ARM11/MBX-Lite platform in the Original/3G, but that was dropped about a year ago.
 
WP7 currently supports a single CPU/GPU SoC (the Qualcomm QSD8250) and a single resolution (800x480). WP7 also has RAM (256MB) and flash (8GB) minimums on WP7, so there isn't much variation there either. Even the new WP7 hardware platforms don't change things up much. Qualcomm is still the sole SoC supplier and the SoCs chosen are pretty much just higher performance, lower power consumption parts.
 
Not that there aren't some implementation differences in WP7 phones (JBOD microSD...), but performance is pretty consistent across WP7 devices.

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

From the OS perspective, current WP7 phones actually have less hardware variation than iOS devices.
 
iOS currently supports two CPU/GPU hardware platforms (Cortex-A8/SGX535 in the 3GS/4/iPad, Cortex-A9/SGX543MP2 in the iPad2) and three resolutions (480x320, 960x640, 1024x768). iOS also used to support the ARM11/MBX-Lite platform in the Original/3G, but that was dropped about a year ago.
 
WP7 currently supports a single CPU/GPU SoC (the Qualcomm QSD8250) and a single resolution (800x480). WP7 also has RAM (256MB) and flash (8GB) minimums on WP7, so there isn't much variation there either. Even the new WP7 hardware platforms don't change things up much. Qualcomm is still the sole SoC supplier and the SoCs chosen are pretty much just higher performance, lower power consumption parts.
 
Not that there aren't some implementation differences in WP7 phones (JBOD microSD...), but performance is pretty consistent across WP7 devices.

 
HTC HD7 is using 512MB ROM, 576MB RAM and 16GB.  I think that might offer a tangible difference in performance depending on how you use it.  I am surprised they are all only using the 1GHz Snapdragons.  The world will have moved on to 1.5GHz dual cores by the start of next year.

 

[marvin]

The 512MB internal and 16GB microSD flash are run in JBOD configuration to provide a unified storage space to the OS. Makes some things easier, but no performance advantage there. The JBOD bit is why there's the weird microSD corruption issue when you remove microSD cards from WP7 phones.
 
More RAM is always good, but there's not much difference with the released WP7 phones at the moment. Most are between 488MB and 576MB, which isn't really that big of a spread. Just as importantly, there's a soft 90MB memory footprint limitation on 3rd party WP7 apps which few apps exceed. Since WP7 doesn't currently multitask, RAM quantity is unlikely to account for much performance difference between phones.
 
The WP7 platform is going to stay pretty low spec for the forseeable future. The new high end platform is a single core 1.5GHz Scorpion CPU with an Adreno 205 GPU. Quite a bit lower than, say, the current EVO 3D which features a dual core 1.2 GHz Scorpion CPU with an Adreno 220 GPU.

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

The 512MB internal and 16GB microSD flash are run in JBOD configuration to provide a unified storage space to the OS. Makes some things easier, but no performance advantage there. The JBOD bit is why there's the weird microSD corruption issue when you remove microSD cards from WP7 phones.
 
More RAM is always good, but there's not much difference with the released WP7 phones at the moment. Most are between 488MB and 576MB, which isn't really that big of a spread. Just as importantly, there's a soft 90MB memory footprint limitation on 3rd party WP7 apps which few apps exceed. Since WP7 doesn't currently multitask, RAM quantity is unlikely to account for much performance difference between phones.
 
The WP7 platform is going to stay pretty low spec for the forseeable future. The new high end platform is a single core 1.5GHz Scorpion CPU with an Adreno 205 GPU. Quite a bit lower than, say, the current EVO 3D which features a dual core 1.2 GHz Scorpion CPU with an Adreno 220 GPU.

 
Hmmm, very insightful.  I was just trying to account for discrepancies in performance between users.  If WP7 is really that locked down by the OS and hardware specs what's the explanation for varied experiences?  I hope Placebo and expectation bias don't rear up here.....
 
Is there a built in power saving feature that ratchets down performance once a certain amount of battery discharge occurs?  I have heard of certain phones performing better at full charge.  Not sure how accurate that is.
 
 

 

[marvin]

Update schedule has been the cause of the major performance differences in the last few months. NoDo brought significant performance gains, but the update schedule was staggered from March to July. That was partially due to carrier interference, but there were also some hardware related hitches. The Samsung Focus got the worst of it since NoDo had the unfortunate habit of bricking certain firmware revisions and not all of them were updated until late July.

Manufacturers are also responsible for some bits of the firmware that interface between the OS and the hardware, that may also account for some of the performance differences. And even in a fairly tightly constrained hardware spec, there may be parameters (like flash read/write/IOPS speeds) that can vary enough to be noticed by the end user.

Far as power savings, I don't think WP7 downclocks or does anything else at low battery power. Mango is supposed to bring the option of disabling background services and push content when battery life is low, but there's nothing so far.

 

[Audio-Omega]

Is there a software that could automatically take webcam photo and send it to my phone via message or email ?

 

[Audio-Omega]

Microsoft is being sued for illegally tracking Windows 7 phone users.  It was alleged that phones could still collect information with tracking switched off.  

 

[nikp]

Quote:

Microsoft is being sued for illegally tracking Windows 7 phone users.  It was alleged that phones could still collect information with tracking switched off.  

It will eliminate phone thefts!! I am pretty sure Apple, Google and other giants track user locations. It's actually not a big deal to me. Why do people even bother to sue companies for tracking user locations? 
 

 

[purrin]

Does anyone know if what platforms Nokia will have the WP7 on? Will it have a good camera?
 
Also, how is the notification for text messages, especially when the phone is locked. I hate the way my current Android phone handles this - I realize I have text messages 4 hours after the fact.

 

[Anaxilus]

N9
 
http://www.businessinsider.com/nokia-n9-windows-phone-2011-6
 
Update-http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=18127&news=Nokia+703+image+leak+Windows+Phone+device
 
Looks like the camera will be a far cry from the N8.  Might be better off w/ the iPhone5.