I got a Windows Phone 7 a few days ago. The last picture I posted was my iPhone, face down, in the Microsoft Store bag. It looked so tired there. It’s been the most satisfying electronic device I’ve ever owned. I’m not a fan of OSX or the iPad, both of which I own, but my iPhone is/was impressive.

I wasn’t going to make the change, but then my friends started bringing the Samsung Focus to work. Yes, I work for MSFT, so there was an additional incentive in there.

Reasons to get a Windows Phone:

• People Hub. Collects all your lists and combines them in one location without trying to own them.
• Live tiles and lock screen. Apps can display stuff on the tile so you don’t have to go into the app. Weather, traffic, your next calendar appointment (even Google Calendar), etc. Super cool.
• Office integration. OneNote and Sharepoint on my phone. 
• Voice Commands. Hold down the center button, say “Open Outlook” or “Call Molly”. I think my iPhone required various clicks to do that.
• Zune. Yes, I said Zune. Zune Pass costs $15/mo. You listen to any and every song you want. You get to keep 10 songs forever.

Reasons not to get one:

• Old school voicemail. Enormous fail. I love visual voicemail on my iPhone. May have been a deal killer if it weren’t for the employee incentive.
• IE. Yes, you have to use IE. Maybe Mozilla could make a browser app. I don’t know.
  OK, the reality is that it’s not too bad. But the URL bar and the controls to add a tab or add to favorites only come up in portrait view. Landscape view is just to view. Makes browsing yucky.
  Worse, the Back button is powered by the phone’s native back button. The forward button is under More in the controls. Yucky.
• Marketplace has no search. So weird that I am still looking for it bec I can’t believe it. So if you want to find an app, bet on a category and get scrolling.
  [edit: Yes it does. It’s the dedicated search button. I didn’t even consider that the dedicated search button could do anything other than open a browser and go to Bing. I found this by accident in Outlook. Not sure how I feel about this. It’s hard to deal with a mix of soft/hard buttons.]  
• Other tiny issues.
  Can’t find a way to turn off the sound when the camera snaps a photo. Lame.
  Shutter speed is as slow as my iPhone 3g. Super lame. I don’t care about White Balance, Image Effect, Contrast, Saturation, EV, and other settings. I care about shutter speed. I push the button -> the picture is taken. That’s what I want.

I’m sure I’ll have more. I just wanted to log all this.

Overall, I can’t believe it, but I don’t miss my iPhone. That’s more “wow” than I expected.