While a bit of the gloss and shiny newness has worn of of Windows Phone 7.5, as people become familiar with the new features, we all forget that most of the major reviews done of the OS have been on old Hardware. One of the things that the average user is not aware of, is that Windows Phone devices are not the sum of a large CPU and a generous helping of Ram. Windows Phone is hardware accelerated, but what does that mean? In really simple terms, the chipset in a WP device is only as good as the sum of it’s parts. There’s another piece of hardware, the GPU[graphics processing unit] that plays a major part in making the Windows Phone UI as fluid and bright as it is. The only real comparison is to take old and new hardware and put it side by side. WP7.com.pl have done exactly that with a HTC HD7 and the second gen HTC Radar, both phones are specced similarly, except for the screen size, maybe using a Mozart would have been more accurate?
There is an obvious difference in performance, and the bench tests at the end seem to indicate in favour of the newer handset. The app used is WP Bench, and I got variable results on my HD7 using it, I would assume network connection plays a big part in the results. While not an acid test, it’s obvious thee is a difference, does it prompt you to replace your first gen Windows Phone?
Once marketing hits the general public, makes it to general TV channels, you really know the game is on with a device. This video, captured by @tomwarren of winrumors, obviously via a camera phone, of a TV advert, shows the HTC/Microsoft push for their new mango device, the Radar. It’s short quick and simple, and shows an artist using the people hub, and the camera app, on installation of a new public work.
The first commercial features Annika Lischke, an artist based in Germany. Lischke is seen using the Radar to connect with her friends on the people hub who inspire her to create works of art.
What we do see here is a new tack on an old advertising theme, high lighting what you can do with a product, in a not so phone like way. Windows Phone is still out of the loop as far as what have become the generic operating systems, iOS and Android, and in an off the wall way this advertisement highlights that. The Radar is a low end phone, by all standards, 1 GHz processor, 512 Mb ram, and a 3.7” screen, it’s the Mozart or the Trophy revisited, with a different aesthetic and Mango on board.
Certainly, the OEM’s need to promote the platform, and their devices, cause the carriers are holding back. I’m sure the approach will vary for different geographical markets, but the “Phone Different” approach holds for now. We are just on the one year anniversary, when I started using Windows Phone with similar specs. Mango on the Radar looks powerful.Do you think the advert makes the OS enticing? Or keeps it vague. On it’s own, do you know what a WP device is capable of, from the video above. ??? The lack of Windows phone promotion locally does the platform no favours.
I’m particularly interested in the Radar and the Titan, two announced second generation Windows Phones from HTC. Noah Kravitz from Technobuffalo was lucky enough to have dinner with some HTC crew, where they passed around the Radar. While the observations made on the device are all positive, there are a couple of intriguing features that pop up that are worth mentioning. The Radar in the video is the 4G model destined for T-Mobile in the States. There are some items that show in the settings menu that are either carrier or HTC customisations for Mango. One of the first clues we had about customisations like this was when HTC updated their Attentive Phone application for “Mango”. While it’s a simple utility application from HTC, it has been incorporated deeply into Windows Phone 7.5, so that it now appears in the system settings, rather than an add on application. The Radar has some additions to the system menu, like none I’ve seen before, and they may be HTC applications or they maybe T-Mobile add ons.
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The Titan and Radar are HTC’s initial second generation Windows Phones, second gen because they will come loaded with Windows Phone “Mango”, which is the first major update for Windows phone from Microsoft. Yesterday we had confirmation that existing handsets would receive the update over the air via the Zune desktop software, this week or next, and availability of the Titan and the Radar has still not been completely tied to a hard date. That being said, HTC are ramping up their promotional machine to hype the devices with some short sharp videos.
In other news a HTC Radar variant has appeared in the wild sporting a 4G radio, and T-Mobile branding. That’s a real turn up for the books, and bodes well for Windows Phone and HTC in the US market, hopefully there will be a 4G Titan in the works as well. HTC are doing a lot to cover the bases with Windows Phone for carriers in the states, and will be a good ambassador for the OS. The TMo News post has a whole gallery of shots of the 4G Radar, with a look at a lot of the included applications for the carrier. Things are heating up, with Mango expected to roll out to AT&T devices on the 27th. Worldwide, carriers are confirming that they are ready for the update to be pushed out, supporting Microsoft in their attempt at a worldwide rollout, one that truly challenges what Apple can do. There’s probably a lot of confusion as to why HTC have not actually come up with some dual core monsters, rather than devices with a modest 1.5 GHz, and 1 Ghz processor. Windows Phone is GPU accelerated and runs smoothly with these lesser CPU’s.
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Looking at the Titan and the Radar, yesterday, it was a toss up for me which phone I would actually prefer. The Radar, even though the smaller and lower specced of the two devices introduced looks a good phone, and is of a sturdier construction. While the device previewed in white, it will also ship in a similar colour scheme to the Titan. Most people might think the device is a bit ho hum so it’s been dressed up, to all intents and purposes though it’s a capable new phone. The Radar has a very familiar shape and size, echoing the Trophy and the Mozart, more the Mozart with its unibody design. There’s plenty of questions about why the CPU wasn’t on steroids, and that there’s only a 5 Mp camera, and they go along with the many looks we have had at a prototype device that was deemed the Mazaa. It begs the question, is the Radar the budget choice in second generation HTC Windows Phones?. Will it have a more powerful sibling that bridges the gap between it and the Titan? Herd to now at this point, but you would have to think that HTC will not rest on it’s laurels in the Windows Phone arena with only two devices.
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