[Windows Phone 7 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jmtast:
Hi there!

I'm a long-time Android user (since December 2009) and have watched some videos / read about Windows Phone 7 and found it pretty interesting at first glance. More than anything else, it's UI speed and smoothness right out of the box, it's minimalism and integration. The thing is, after I dug deeper, found some information in some sites/threads of XDA that kept me thinking if the OS is right for me.

I have had a Motorola Milestone and after it, a Samsung Galaxy S which is the one that I'm using right now (with an Android 2.3.5 custom rom).

I was decided to sell my SGS and buy a Motorola Atrix, most of all because of it's dual-core processor (and apparent nice smoothness right out of the box), resolution and HDMI-out with the bundled cable. Now I wanted to try the Samsung Focus, which is almost the same as my SGS hardware wise, but the apparently more optimized OS would make it's use a nicer experience.

The thing is, I've read quite a lot and made a list of some things and doubts about WP7 and Mango, and would like to know if after getting some answers I could finally decide what to do with my money. The Atrix is almost 200usd over the Focus, at least from what I have seen (have to buy it unlocked to use it in Argentina).

That was a WAY TOO LONG introduction, so now, the questions:

1) Is it true that there's no mass-storage mode when you plug it into a PC? You depend exclusively on the Zune app?

2) And linked to the previous one: I use linux (more precisely Ubuntu) on my main computer. Is that going to be a problem with file transfer and other stuff? I am forced to use a Windows PC?

3) Is there a way to stop the data transfer from my carrier? I don't want it to connect to internet other than by Wi-Fi when I don't ask for it.

4) Can the OS be set in a language and the keyboard prediction in a different one? Does the keyboard vibrate on keypress?

5) Can the contacts be synchronized with the GMail contacts as you do it on Android?

6) Can you make visible in contacts only the ones with a phone number added?

7) Since there's no notification light and the screen is a Super Amoled as the one in the SGS, is there an application like NoLED in Android, which allows you to use the screen as notification light?

8) Is there a free GPS app that uses offline maps? (I would prefer the ones of Garmin or Tomtom, but I'm open to alternatives)

9) Is it true that when you change the SD Card you have to format everything/hard reset the phone? Or just the memory? And if you happen to know, why is that requiered?

10) Are you forced to reduce quality of the videos you transfer to the phone because it doesn't support many formats? It's because of the "tie-ness" to Zune/lack of mass storage? Is there something similar happening with music?

11) Vibrate and ring at the same time, is it possible? (Read somewhere it wasn't). And what about adding custom ringtones?

12) I come from Android and know how easy it is to root the phone and expand your possibilities. Is there something similar in WP7? Is it worth the effort or it's still not widely used? I read something about lock/relock, has it something to do with this matter? Or with the use of downloaded paid apps?

I guess that's it for now. The thing is, the first 3 or 4 questions are deal-breakers to me if the answer is negative. I have read some stuff but I got confused between the release info, the post-NoDo and the post-Mango info, so I really don't get where are things at the moment. I really appreciate the time you spent reading all this and thank you for just doing it (and I'm sorry if some things aren't clear enough since english is not my native language). If you can help me by answering at least one of the questions, I'm already grateful :D

Thanks in advance.

Cheers!