[Windows Phone 7 General] thx1200:
The tile interface is interesting and definitely offers a lot of information while staying very simple. I think a lot of users will like that and from your persceptive, you find it very compelling and that's great. You are definitely a target for WP7.

If you don't like the Android widget-based system, then I'm guessing you also don't like Mobile Shell's widgeted system and other similar concepts. It's a perfectly valid opinion -- one size does not fit all. But I think that touches on one of the biggest FAILs on WP7: user shell lock-out.

On previous versions of WM, if you didn't like the Today screen, you could have Titanium, Sense UI, Mobile Shell, Throttle Launcher, or any numbre of other shell UIs. This is strictly forbidden on WP7. If it was just forbidden by OEMs to change the shell, I wouldn't really have a problem with that. But even as a user, you cannot decide to change the shell! It's MS's way or the highway. For those that think the Tile interface is perfect for their phone computing habits, no problem. But the rest of us are screwed.

I would also like to point out that while Android's widgetted home screen cannot be emulated on WP7, it would be pretty trivial to emulate WP7 on Android's widgeted home screen. In fact, you could create a widget that itself contained 'WP7 tiles' if you got so bold. On the simple side, you could simply have eight widgets that look like tiles stacked in same pattern. I don't know IF anybody has done this, but the point is that it is possible.

On a related note, Mobile Shell users have created a pseudo-tile UI hack which also emulates WP7.

I think that really is important to note. The widgetted UIs are powerful enough that they can look like what WP7 has, or something entirely different. It's up to the user to decide which layout is best for them.

I like that power. MS isn't giving us that.

That's actually a really good question that I'm glad you asked because I'm sure there are others that don't really understand the distinction.

The direction WP7 is going is part of MS's three screen strategy. The three screens are your computer, TV, and phone. They have Windows for computer, XBox for your TV, and they want dominance with WP7 for phone. In this respect, the phone is treated as a peripheral to your life, as opposed to a general purpose computer. There is a LOT of crossover, so any example I give can probably be refuted with "but you could also just do x,y,z" but the point stands that it differs in the way you approach and use the device, so bear with me. I'm going to try to explain it at a high level rather than bombard you with a lot of examples.

On a computer, you are in a completely open system. You are in control of what you install, how it looks, and have total power to make it awesome or mess it up.

You can have dozens of windows open with dozens of competing products, and you can download them from anywhere you want.

The phone-as-peripheral model is basically that there is a central distribution point (marketplace), you do one task at a time, and it is generally treated as a "view" into a larger product, rather than the complete product.

For example... The Office Mobile suite will never be as powerful as Office for Windows. Yes, there are storage and memory limitations that prevent this, but there is also an attitude that drives this. The Mobile Office suite is not designed to get a document from start to finish. It's designed to get into a document to read and make quick changes.

When we (or at least I) say we/I want a pocket computer, that is literally what I want. I want a device that is an analog to my PC. I want total control from top to bottom on how I use it. I want products that I can use to create documents or do work from start to finish, without having to take what I do and integrate it into a larger PC product at a later date, due to missing features.

I want to be able to remote desktop, manage my servers, edit documents, take notes, play music, and a million other things in such a way that I don't feel like I'm being hindered by the system. I want to do it my way. I want to use a third party music and video player. I want to use Opera as my browser, not IE. I want to be able to have five things open and jump to each of them without navigating back to a home screen, then a start menu, then scroll, then click, etc etc etc. I want to be able to install software from hobbiests who develop apps and take risks because they are not financially obligated to follow arbitrary rules set by the OS manufacturer. I want to be able to develop software that pushes the limits of the device and not be blocked for the same reason.

To do that, I need an open device, with an open development model, and no restrictions. The sky is the limit, then. Note, this has nothing to do with open vs closed source. It has everything to do with open vs closed OS.

I hope that helps. :-)