Shortfalls of Windows Phone 7

Yesterday, I upgraded from my TouchPro 2 to a HTC HD7 device. As a whole, the device is very fluid. I love the interface and simplicity of it all. With it, I feel that Windows Mobile has finally stepped into something that users nowdays would actually want (and most importantly, enjoy) using.

However, there are a few glaring issues that I see from a usability perspective.

1) Marketplace Search is ATROCIOUS. Filters are a good thing (when done right). Sometimes running the text based search is quite challenging (when it pukes out all of the hits - apps, music, videos, etc all in ONE list).

2) Custom ringtones. My monochrome LCD phone from the 90s could do this. Come on...

3) Contact management. If there was one thing that I ever felt was like information overload, it would have to be the "People" hub. It is akin to a bucket that all of my contacts from Facebook, Live Messenger, and Gmail gets dumped incoherently into (but to their defense, there is a "link" ability). I currently have 462 (FOUR HUNDRED and SIXTY TWO) contacts in my people's hub. I estimate that I have around 50 phone numbers. Can you see how much crap I'll have to wade through? Plus when I hook up the PDA to my car's Multi Media Interface (via bluetooth), the phonebook will have 462 entries of which most are email addresses (and utterly useless).

4) Apparent demise of MyPhone. I can kinda understand how they are some what consolidating their efforts (and it is now part of Windows Live), but I was completely Sadly Out of Luck. I had to wade through all 462 entries in the People Hub (see #3) and manually enter in their phone number (I had already wiped my old device at this point). While I'm all for consolidation of efforts, please give your users an exit plan. As of writing (11/14/2010), there is no way possible for users to export contacts stored in MyPhone (nor have it merged/migrated with Windows Live Devices.

These are mainly "teething" issues in my opinion. The gravity of it does somewhat very from an "Oh Well" to a "WTF".

I really hope this gets sorted out properly in the future. Or else I may choose to completely exclude my Windows Live account totally from my WP7.

Playstation Move Buying Experience

I just wanted to share my disappointment with my purchasing experience. Not at the fault of Sony, but of a retailing partner.

Today I embarked on a journey to look for the Playstation Move. In my area (Seattle, Washington), it was (understandably) somewhat difficult to procure.

So I walked into the local Fry's Electronics store (some may go "Oh here we go"). And there I got my first taste at Table Tennis on 'Sports Champions'. I had quite some fun and was impressed with response of the move and sure enough, I decided to go buy it. I approached the nearest Fry's Electronics Sales Associate, and asked him if they have any available. To which he said yes (somewhat annoyed that he had to get off of his cell phone to answer my question). But he said, they would only sell it to me at with a bundle (forcing me to buy a game I didn't want - I want this for MAG and Heavy Rain - and eventually LBP2 and a few others coming soon). When I told him I just wanted the PS Move bundle (and not their fluff), he said Fry's doesn't sell just the Move bundle. I'd have to dish out an extra $50 on their bundle if I wanted it. To which I shrugged, turned on my PDA and placed an online order on Best Buy for just the PS Move Bundle (the benefits of having 3G internet on my device).

While ordering, I counted no less than 6 other people (within that short period) who inquired but was immediately turned off (like me) due to Fry's trying to shove their 'bundle' down their patron's throat. Now that concerns me. What Fry's chooses to do with its lost business is literally their business. But this practice is enough to turn a lot of potential customers off. I certainly hope that SCEA has a policy against this (to which Fry's breached), but if not, they should. It hurts the launch by leaving interested parties with a sub par experience. I'm not the average consumer. I am somewhat informed of technology and I've been a loyal Playstation user (I've owned both the "fat" and "slim" version of all of their consoles). Most definitely aren't as dedicated as me.

Food for though SCEA. Protect your new ventures and take more control on your consumer experience with policies and education for your retail partners. Ultimately your end users/customers determine what succeeds and what fails. And every little bit inbetween counts. Food for thought...

Amazon Price FAIL

So I was cruising around price checking a swiss army knife.

After that, I ran across Amazon.com's page for it (here).

FAIL

X-Play Comedy Presents SessCrush: The GameCrush Parody

Awesome parody of a gaming "escort" service a while back. Hit full screen since the ratio seems to be busted on blogger's super narrow space...

Here's an article about said "escort" service (here). CAUTION. Link is potentially NSFW due to some revealing shots (which should have been a crime coz OMG). The "important" parts remained covered though (though most should have stayed fully covered).

T-Mobile HTC Touch Pro2 = $350????

GTFO.

That's a stupid price. It's a good pda phone but not that good. At that price point, its marketed against pretty much all pda phones in the market with a 2 year contract in the US. A certain "fruit" branded pda phone is only $299 with a two year contract. Just a comparison.

I'm gonna go to bed now.

Read about the pda phone that I won't buy @ $350 HERE... If it drops to a more reasonable price, then I'll be waiting in line. :)

RAID Update Update

Well its been a while since I've updated anything here on my little nook up in the interwebs.

Regarding the RAID stuff I've posted, I have to pretty much scrap all of the results. Me being the quasi perfectionist at heart (though in practice, it can differ at times - LMAO), I am simply not happy with the methodology in regards to IOmeter results. Furthermore, the lack of real world application testing really bothers me. I attempted to install some games in my onboard RAID testbed but for some odd reason, the installation would corrupt inexplainably. Since then, I have traced the source to FUBAR'd RAM and if the above reasons aren't enough to persuade you that my testing was junk, then this certainly would be the final nail in the coffin. RIP RAID benchmark results.

Though in a more constructive view, I can say that things are running smoothly and nothing has gone bonkers just yet (knock on teh wood).

Teh FAIL

Yeah...

So I went downstairs to test RAID on a ICH10R southbridge on a P45 mobo (my dad's PC). And guess what? Mobo doesn't have RAID. Teh funnies.

So lets see what I have

Hardware to test:
ICH9R
ICH10R
9650SE-2LP (ETA: Monday the 15th of December)

Tests to run:
Winbench99
HD Tune
IOmeter (results are there just figuring out which to use)

Yup.

Looks about right...