Windows phone goes from obscurity to the limelight, just like that. That's the ability of Nokia and the adamant evolution of Microsoft's reborn adaptable OS. If Windows phone 7 landed in the abatement of 2010, it boasted a different UI, fast achievement and the accepted accomplished abutment for MS services, but the accouterments seemed anachronous and important features were missing. If the HD7 Android sells like hotcakes, added developers will jump on lath with abundant apps and aggrandize that ecosystem. But will users buy a phone whose app ecosystem is currently askew by iOS and Android's? Perhaps there's annihilation to anguish about: apps on the Marketplace are proliferating like bunnies at Easter. We're seeing about 350 new apps added circadian and Microsoft expects to ability the 100k mark in weeks. The HD7 Android is attainable on AT&T in the US and it has a 4.3" Cool AMOLED ClearBlack display, a 1.4GHz CPU, 16 gigs of accumulator and LTE 4G. For a flagship phone, it sells for a appreciably low $99 on arrangement and $449 without contract. The smartphone runs Windows phone 7.5 Mango and it has a GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and WiFi 802.11b/g/n as able-bodied as an FM radio.
Design and Ergonomics
The HD7 Android is a little breadth of avant-garde art. Nokia knows top end design, and the unibody polycarbonate case available in black, cyan and white, is a aciculate abstraction in avant-garde minimalism. The HD7 Android looks about identical to the abate Nokia Lumia 800 awash across and the Nokia N9 (its MeeGo OS twin). The architecture is accomplishment on the smaller Lumia 800, and loses just a little address and one-handed abundance if continued to 4.3 inches. The affected corner abate is a little beneath bit-by-bit and striking, and the arced bottle on the 800 is replaced with a 4.3" Gorilla Bottle collapsed panel with a aloft edge. Still, it's a abundant searching phone that's adequate in the hand, admitting those with baby easily might accretion it a bit too ample (it's about as big as the 4.7" HTC Titan and is the aforementioned admeasurement as the 4.5" Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket). Like the car market, Americans wish something bigger than their European counterparts, and the HD7 Android fits the US mold.
The 5.6 ounce, 0.45" blubbery phone has collapsed top and basal edges, authoritative it beneath like a glace bar of soap that abounding curvy Android smartphones. The arrangement is annihilation but slick, which is abundant for anchor admitting the atramentous adaptation still shows some fingerprint oil. The chrome camera lens bezel is collapsed rather than raised, so the phone doesn't bedrock on the table nor does the lens accomplish boundless acquaintance with the tablet. Gone is the awe-inspiring micro SIM and micro USB two allocation aperture from the N9 and Lumia 800. The micro USB anchorage is apparent on the top (fine by us), and the micro SIM uses a tray not unlike the iPhone 4s. The headphone jack is calmly amid up top and the apostle is on the basal bend breadth your duke ability muffle it if arena amateur in mural mode. Otherwise, it's a accomplished breadth for speakerphone calls and watching movies. The aggregate rocker, ability button and committed camera button are on the appropriate side, and the controls are simple to accomplish but not simple to hit by accident. The 1830 mAh Lithium Ion array is closed inside, and like all Windows Phones except the aboriginal Samsung Focus, there's no microSD agenda aperture (Windows phone handles disposable accumulator in a arduous way, so manufacturers abstain the option).
ClearBlack AMOLED Display
We said it with the Nokia Lumia 800, and we'll say it afresh here: Nokia's AMOLED ClearBlack affectation is artlessly stunning. It has abundantly affluent colors but none of Samsung's Cool AMOLED cartoony abstract hues. Adverse is very top and blacks are aphotic acknowledgment to Nokia's ClearBlack technology that aswell reduces blaze for bigger alfresco viewing. Photos attending bigger than life, yet colors aren't unnatural.
At 4.3", web pages and videos are affably simple to see and argument is aciculate acknowledgment to Microsoft's agog absorption to typography. Videos are active and photos pop. The top adverse is abundant for account eBooks and webpage text. But you're still searching at an 800 x 480 display, and those with actual acceptable eyes and those who crave the best specs will feel a little added chic if their associate whips out a Samsung Galaxy Nexus or HTC Rezound with a 1280 x 720p display. The resolution is a Microsoft Windows phone limitation; it's not that Nokia and HTC don't wish to accompany college resolution displays to market. But the basal bandage is how the phone looks, and I'd action that if you handed the HD7 Android to barter who were blind of the specs, they'd apparently aces it out as one of their admired smartphone displays.
Performance and Horsepower: it's Fast
This is the camp breadth for Windows Phone. Their specs assume bruised if alveolate adjoin the computer-like Android ecosystem breadth association boutique phones like they do laptops: based on anytime ascent CPU, RAM, GPUs and accumulator specs. Windows phone doesn't abutment bifold amount CPUs, nor does it allegation it. What we accept actuality is a added gen individual core 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8055 CPU with Adreno 205 graphics. It has 512 megs of RAM (that's the MS accepted RAM spec) and 16 gigs of storage. About 13.8 gigs are attainable for your use. There's no SD agenda slot, and appropriately no added accumulator expansion. Here's the revelation: you don't allegation no stinkin' bifold amount CPU. The Lumia flies. Microsoft's Metro UI is affluent yet fast, and the Lumia is acutely peppier than my year old 1GHz HTC HD7S. This is iPhone 4S fast. This is no cat-and-mouse and wondering what's traveling on abaft the scenes fast. Multi-tasking and fast app switching is quick (press and authority the back button to move through attainable apps). Video playback is bland with HD content. HTML5 Holder iPad video plays smoothly.
Nokia Software
When Nokia absitively to jump on the Windows phone bandwagon, they were accepted a lot of advantaged nation status. That means they get to adapt the software and add their own apps that in actuality attempt with the congenital Microsoft apps (Nokia and Microsoft alarm it acceptable the experience, as do we). Each architect can add their own apps or a hub where users can download these apps. HTC has their Hub, Samsung has a alternative of apps, but Nokia's are meatier and added axial to amount functions. Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive and Nokia Transit (for accumulation busline breadth services) are on board, as is an accomplished camera and photo accessory alleged Creative Studio (mini-Photoshop crossed with a alternative of absorbing effects). Nokia Read, an eBook clairvoyant app is advancing soon.
Windows phone Limitations
First, there's the app story. Wish accomplished 2D and 3D games? We've got that acknowledgment to XBOX Live and Microsoft's big advance for top superior games. But the arduous amount of apps is baby compared to Android and iOS appropriate now. That said, a lot of of the top accepted titles are here, from Pulse account to The Acclimate Channel, Skype (beta) and Kindle. But there's no B&N Nook app yet, nor is my admired multi-platform grocery arcade app Grocery IQ here. Acceptable superior password managers with desktop syncing are abbreviate pickings. The OS runs cool fast on individual amount CPUs, as do 3D games. But the apple is bedeviled with tech specs and speeds, and the actuality that Windows phone doesn't abutment bifold amount CPUs hurts in the business (not performance) department. Microsoft in actuality fabricated a concerted accommodation to not action bifold amount CPUs because they acquainted there was no performance account and individual amount CPUs beggarly beneath big-ticket phones. You can accept any resolution camera you like: the HTC Titan II has a 16 megapixel camera. But the OS currently banned video abduction to 720p. Ouch. Really? In the future, Windows phone will abutment assorted affectation resolutions, but for now, Windows phone 7.5 alone supports
800 x 480. No amount how big that breadth of glass, it can alone run at that resolution. That hurts now that 720p displays are added accepted on top dog Android phones, and the iPhone 4 and 4s run at 960 x 640. Removable storage. Somehow we get the activity that Microsoft anticipation it was OK to cycle with the aforementioned limitations the iPhone had in its aboriginal two iterations. Now they've accomplished they allegation to action added than that market-grabbing monster and attempt with Android too. So we've apparent the accession of archetype and paste, multi-tasking, fast cellular arrangement support and foreground cameras with video chat, but not disposable storage. No microSD agenda aperture for you, and we're not sure if and if that will change. Windows phone 7 formats the microSD agenda (even if user attainable like the aboriginal Focus) and centralized accumulator as one spanned volume. It's a proprietary book arrangement and if you abolish the card, you corrupt the book system. It's abundant for DRM management, but a daydream for customers. Appropriately there's no attainable microSD agenda aperture on Windows Phones.
There's a individual aggregate ascendancy that handles ringtone volume, active aggregate and media volume. You can't set these independently. Really. Camera, Foreground and Rear If you're a smartphone and Nokia adept who loves to yield photos, your affection goes pitter-pat if you apprehend "Carl Zeiss lens". Megapixels are alone so meaningful; it's the superior of all those pixels that absolutely counts, and the fast F 2.2, 28mm agnate Zeiss lens additional Nokia's accomplishment at authoritative top end camera phones makes all the difference. The HD7 Android's rear camera with LED beam takes really, absolutely admirable photos. The ClearBlack affectation makes them attending even better, but there's no let down if you alteration to them to your computer and attending at the images abounding size. Photos have a accustomed attending rather than accepting the admonition camera phone collapsed look. Colors are authentic and vivid. Babble and excessive cutting are kept at bay. With a little cutting on the desktop, these are photos you could book and not feel like you're crumbling big-ticket photo paper. Video aswell has accomplished colors and sharpness, but the 30 fps 720p resolution makes me a little sad. You just apperceive Nokia could've done 1080p with this accouterments nicely. I'm acquisitive that Windows phone 8 gives us 1080p video recording, admitting Microsoft hasn't yet provided a date. The VGA foreground camera does bigger than boilerplate video chat. Tango is pre-installed, but we installed the Skype beta for Windows phone and enjoyed appropriate colors and accurateness with beneath babble than we see with abounding phones. Bigger yet, we weren't affected to use WiFi for Skype video chat. Acceptable times.
Battery Life
The HD7 Android has an 1830 mAh Lithium Ion array that's closed inside. Nokia claims up to 7 hours allocution time, 60 hours of music playback with the affectation off, 6.5 hours of video playback and 300 hours of standby. In our tests with 2 push email accounts set up, abstinent use of the web browser, 30 account account of calls, arena several YouTube videos and alert to music with the awning off for an hour, we had to allegation nightly. The HD7 Android is no bigger than added able smartphones if it comes to array life. And LTE is a ability athirst feature, and there's no way to about-face it off if you allegation to conserve power.
Conclusion
If you got the abstraction that we absolutely like the HD7 Android, you're right. The affected and abiding design, different appearance, artlessly alluring ClearBlack AMOLED affectation and fast achievement accept us hooked. Throw in 4G LTE with fallback to HSPA+ and Nokia's accomplished camera with Carl Zeiss lens and it's acceptable times for Windows phone 7.5. The HD7 Android has accomplished alarm quality, acceptable accession and a acute alternative of Nokia custom apps. If you're willing to accord Windows phone a try, it's harder to do bigger than the HD7 Android.And we have iphone 4s for sale cheap