Windows Phone 7: The Genius of Tiles and Hubs

If you line up an iPhone 4, Droid X, and BlackBerry Torch next to each other, and zoom in so you only see the display alone, the similarities between the platforms seems to outweigh the differences. Windows Phone 7, however, breaks the mold on the sea of app icons, and provides an innovative means of interacting with the information and functionality of the smartphone through tiles and hubs.

Microsoft attempts to say as much in its commercials for Windows Phone 7. The commercials are clever and appealing--not something one can normally say about a Microsoft marketing campaign. But, at the same time a tad confusing. The "people are too tied to smartphones to pay attention to the world, here--try our smartphone" concept is a tad subtle and may shoot the nascent platform in the foot.

If you stop and look at the Windows Phone 7 approach, though, the commercials start to make more sense. Microsoft is slamming the traditional approach of wading through multiple pages of icons to find specific apps, and trumpeting the hubs concept used in Windows Phone 7 as the alternative that fundamentally alters the smartphone experience.

So, what's the big deal? I can look at my iPhone 4 and instantly see a little red bubble with a number indicating missed calls or voicemails, number of new e-mails, number of new text messages. I also have little red bubbles with numbers displaying the number of outstanding updates or messages I have in LinkedIn, Facebook, or Skype. In that regard, iOS is already delivering similar "at-a-glance" info as the tiles concept in Windows Phone 7.

The tiles in Microsoft Windows Phone 7 aren't simply numbers in a red bubble, though. You can configure them for instant access to the features and functions that are important to you. The Windows Phone 7 Help and How-To page explains, "You can pin just about anything you want to Start: apps, pictures, songs, map locations, favorite websites, OneNote notes, and even contacts. When you pin a contact to Start, you'll get all of that person's feed updates right from that tile, and it's like speed dial: it takes only two taps to make a phone call."

The hubs approach seems more innovative, and valuable--and a more seamless approach to delivering functionality that Apple is tacking on after the fact. Grouping like apps based on the general category of use greatly simplifies navigation and makes it much more intuitive to find what you're looking for.

Interesting article, Joe, thanks for posting it.

I haven't got a smartphone of any sort (yet). My LG 5500 stupidphone works just dandy as a phone, and I have 2 MP3 players and an old WiFi-only iPod Touch for music and games and whatnot.

I figure, the market needs at least another year to settle down to the point where I'd be willing to plunk down that sort of change for new hardware and a new contract. I'm honestly not sure what I'll get. A year ago I figured I'd simply wait until Apple climbed into bed with Verizon (no AT&T out here in the boonies) and get an iPhone. But then the Android has some attractions too, and seems a bit more free-wheeling which is sometimes my style. Now with Microsoft joining the market, it seems a good time to see how things shake out with the new ideas they bring to the table.

I'll comment in passing, that while I have no objection at all to the article -- and like I said, I appreciate you posting it -- I think posting it neutralizes the criticism of Swordmaker's pro-Apple posts which some anti-Apple folks feel are glorified Apple ads. This Win-Phone7 article reads like it was written by the Microsoft Marketing Department.

No, I take that back. MSFT's Marketing Department can't write that effectively or put across an idea that coherently. :)

This article does a good job of explaining the "tiles" concept, which I admit for the moment I'm not yet sold on, but then I'm not sold on the iPhone's model either, obviously.

Anyway, good post.

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BTW, I courtesy-pinged Sword here because I talked about him in my comment, and there was already an "iphone" keyword before I arrived. But I would not necessarily ping the Apple list to this thread -- it's a Microsoft thread.

Who in the Windows-oriented crew is gonna stand up and create a Microsoft Ping List or Windows Ping List??? I wanna join it, dammit... :)

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