[Windows Phone 7 General] vangrieg:
Indeed.

I tried to use the Desire and had a funny problem with it - I found no way to accept/decline vCalendar appointment requests sent from Outlook in email. Since Exchange functionality is the primary reason for me to use a smartphone, this was a real bummer. I know Exchange support improved in 2.2 but haven't tried it yet. The biggest problem here is that, with Android's current userbase, there aren't too many people to ask about such things. I noticed this problem by accident, and wouldn't even imagine to ask in advance whether this works or not as I take such functionality for granted. Things like this make me somewhat cautious. I don't want surprises after I buy the phone. I'm pretty sure there must be ways around this, but the mere need to find them is a drawback as far as I'm concerned.

Amen to that. WP7 will work for me given my requirements and it has a beautiful design. If you are a Pandora fan it won't work for you, don't get it. It's that simple.

Tell you what. High-end phones cost around $1000 here, with VAT, customs tariffs, retailer markup and all that nonsense. When I pay this kind of money for a gadget, I kind of want it to impress me apart from "just working". It sure as hell has to work, i.e. do what I need, but that's the qualifier. The winner is how exciting it will be. When I consider my next car, I choose between Audi and BMW, and the way these things look and feel is important. I might end up buying one that isn't the best specced. And I don't want to even look at Mercs because I don't want to associate myself with the old farts that drive them here. This is completely irrational, and Mercs may be the best cars in the world, so what? I took a job that pays less than some other offers I got, but I like the people I work with and it's more fun here. It's also irrational, but why should I care if I feel better this way? Is it a crime against rationality? What am I, a droid or a human being? What's wrong with choosing things I like? I'm quite capable of compiling a feature list and choosing from there, but why bother? At the end of the day, I can sell the thing if it doesn't work and get another one, it's not like I'm marrying my phones. As Steve Jobs put it, "it's just a phone", and I agree.

Also, let's take a look at the rational side. Here's what I do with my phone (apart from making calls, obviously):

1. Mail, calendar, appointments, all the Exchange stuff, #1 and by far the most important thing.

2. Office, primarily checking .ppt files on the go.

3. Browsing the web, looking up restaruants, all this stuff.

4. I travel a lot, so I need a good music player in my phone for waiting in the airports, sitting aboard planes etc. Don't care for streaming because most of the time this happens while I'm roaming.

5. Reading books.

6. Satnav (offline because I often use it while roaming again).

Why wouldn't WP7 work for me, given my usage pattern, apart from the fact that there is no bookreader and satnav as of yet, but I'm sure there will be? Why would Android be the superior option if I were completely rational about the choice? Why should I care about multitasking in any scenario apart from satnav/incoming call?