Window Phone 7.5 Reiew

I am a big fan of Windows Phone 7, I love the interface.  I find it easy to use and super clean.   

As a developer I really like the development tools for the Windows Phone.  I have found that WP7 development tools/language run circles around the tools for Android and iPhone. 

I don’t think that my application needs are that strange compared to other users but I have found that the application lineup for WP7 to be very lacking.

I have build a table here; it kind of mixes up categories and programs somewhat, but I think that you will get the general idea.

App/Category	iPhone	Android	WP7	Comments
Stitcher	Great	Great	NA	Promised forever for the WP7
Podcast Player	iCatcher and Downcast are great programs	DoggCatcher and PodCatcher are both great	WP7 Apps are just awful.  None of them allow you to make a playlist.
Audible.com	4.5 Stars	4.5 Stars	NA	Who knows when
Facebook	2.5 Stars	3.5 Stars	3.0 Stars
Twitter	2.5 Stars Tweetbot 4.5 Stars	4.0 Stars	3.0 Stars
ESPN ScoreCenter	3.5 Stars	4.2 Stars	4.0 Stars	I think this app is much better on the WP7
Yahoo Sportacular	4.5 Stars	4.5 Stars	NA	Best sports app is not available on WP7
News Consolidators	FlipBoard and Currents are great	Google Currents only, but good.	NA
Weather Apps	Lots of good choices	Lots of good choices	Lots of good choices
Navigation	Paid apps are good	Free Google Navigation is good	No good choices
Yelp	3.5 Stars	4.5 Stars	2.5 Stars very weak
Spotify	3.0 Stars	4.0 Stars	Not even usable
Evernote	4.5 Stars	4.6 Stars	3.5 Stars
Flixster	4.5	4.5	5.0
Google+	2.0	4.5	NA
GMail	3.0	4.5	No app but you can use the integrated client.
Dropbox, SkyDrive, SugarSync	Yes, Yes, Yes All work great	Yes, 3rd party app, Yes.  All work great	No, Yes, No Skydrive works well
Email Client	Integrated Email Client is good.	None of the Email Clients are as good as iPhone.  Interfaces are clumsy.	Integrated Email Client is good; very clean.

A couple of conclusions you can make from this chart.

• Windows Phone 7 is missing many important apps.
• Many of the apps for the Windows Phone are sub-par as compared to both the Android and iPhone counterparts. 
•  Android apps have increased in number and quality over the last 1-2 years. 
• You can’t use the excuse of “lack of apps” to keep you from moving from the iPhone to Android. 
• You can use the excuse of “lack of apps” to keep you from moving to WP7.

  
I would love to move to the Window Phone; but they have some work to do.