[Windows Phone 7 General] N8ter:
That's cause Verizon doesn't carry the iPhone 3GS. It's a GSM-only device. iPhone didn't get CDMA support until Verizon got the iPhone 4.

They didn't leave the door wide open. It's a completely upgraded phone in every aspect except the outter chasis, but many people are too simple minded to move past that.

4G is mostly hype. It's nice for doing speed tests but most people with decent phones and reception won't notice much of a difference outside of downloading large OTA updates, movie files, and tethering to a computer and doing that kind of stuff on a PC.

However, I wouldn't buy a phone without at last a 14.4 Mbps HSPA+ radio, or LTE. I wouldn't buy into WiMax at this point.

---------- Post added at 09:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:38 PM ----------

No, but the gap in ecosystems is large and that's largely what matters. Mango bought most of the features the OS needs. Just a few rough edges but even iOS 4 had more than enough of those (Notifications, iTunes Tethering, etc.). The difference is that Apple's services (iTunes, App Store, etc.) made up for those rough edges. Microsoft is not so strong on the media front, but they are much stronger than Google, IMO. So, they do have some advantages and selling points to pull users from the other ecosystems. Right now, consumers probably feel a bit uneasy buying into WP7 because a lot of early adopters did complain for having to wait so long for such a necessary system update (Mango). Many others bought into other phones (by bought in, I'm referring to contracts, we all know the iPhone carriers here all upped their ETF fees over 75% or more).

Once you get to that stage it's more about polish and services than raw features. WP7 on release got a lot of negativity because the OS was rather anemic IRT to functionality. Much of that has been fixed.

I think the OEMs have more power than Microsoft IRT saving WP7. They need to get some noteworthy hardware out fast.

Lots of people are disappointed that the 4S doesn't LOOK different than the 4, but it doesn't change the fact that the internals of the phone are 2 generations ahead of where Microsoft is. Microsoft needs to skip a step onto Dual Core and qHD devices, IMO. That will position them very well provided they release an update to patch up some of the more minor rough corners that were left behind by Mango (Tango? wishful thinking).

I think even with some rough edges, Microsoft has a few 1ups on Apple. Bing Maps Navigation is still superior to what comes on the iPhone and the integration of Bing Services into the phone is better as well. I think releasing apps for some of their better services (OneNote, Windows Live Messenger) for iOS was a bit of a mistake and they should steer clear of that in the future. It's nice that you have to support your users, but seriously...

Anything Apple does with Siri, I'm sure Microsoft can do with their TellMe technology.

It's not about whether they can do it, but how well they can execute it. Apple has been playing catch up with Android since Android existed, basically. What set them apart was a superior user experience, media deals, and good execution. Not sheer quantity of features. That's what Microsoft needs to concentrate on.

And with the new additions to hotmail, I hope they release an update to update the Mail Hub to support Hotmail Categories, etc.