Our interview with Nokia USA President. We discuss what's wrong with Windows Phone

Some points of clarification, HTC did not "ignore" the camera specifications and modify it outside those specs. OEMs were granted more camera control at Mango....that's when HTCs rather nice camera enhancements showed up.

I really don't understand your comments from 14:50 to roughly 15:30. And by reading Nokias body language and voice tone after those comments he seemed a little put off to be there. You make references to paradigms that are either dead and gone, or have no relevance.

I also don't see where the interview talks about what is wrong with Windows Phone, so the title of this thread is a little confusing. I see you asking a lot of questions that have been beaten to death on the fanboi trails, but here Nokia is really just talking about how they plan to execute and DID talk about how they could improve on execution.

Finally, and this isn't meant to be critical, but was this an impromptu interview after some speech he gave? It just didn't seem prepared. I would also suggest bringing the mic closer to you or speaking more loudly and clearly. I had to play back several times to understand some of the questions you asked.

I would hope you could get an interview with HTC and Samsung and ask them why they did less in two years for Windows Phone than what Nokia has done in three.

Thanks.

When talking about the specs, its ironic that WP 7 runs great on a single processor (amazing when you are optimized for your hardware) and people think it has to have a dual to compete. The same argument was made against Apple when they were running PowerPC chips that didn't have the same rating of Mhz, though were faster due to optimization and 32 bit vs 16 bit at the time.
I have messed around with the Nokia Lumia 900, and its a pretty slick phone. Make mine Stormtrooper white, please!
My local AT&T rep said in May their top selling phone was the Lumia 900, not the iPhone. I think there is momentum building, the apps hit 100,000 this week too. I have an N8 currently, but would consider having a wp 7 device too. My old phone was an iPhone 4, which got laggy, and never really was that fast to begin with.

HAHAH

WP7 still does not have an orientation lock....

savages...

That's great. i mean nokia is quite well known brand and the poor thing about it is that it is misusing it's brand value. It requires a hit product and nokia's products are loosing marketing battles every times from last 2 years.

Originally Posted by sirosisofliver

When talking about the specs, its ironic that WP 7 runs great on a single processor (amazing when you are optimized for your hardware) and people think it has to have a dual to compete. The same argument was made against Apple when they were running PowerPC chips that didn't have the same rating of Mhz, though were faster due to optimization and 32 bit vs 16 bit at the time.

I agree with you about the OS running beautifully on leaned out devices; however, I feel specs are still important. While Apple may not have the most powerful chipsets, the users never feel like they are buying into an obsolete device because there's only one released a year; where there's always a king emerging every other month on android. Since WP is a platform with more than one manufacturer, I feel people will weigh specs accordingly. Many phone geeks(like myself and phone geek friends) would still like to see HD displays, superior optics, quality DAC's, and multi core RAM monsters make it to the WP platform.
That said, I find the specs really limit the app experience, and while I'm not using my mobile device to run games, I still notice some of the heavy to start apps can certainly benefit from beefier specs.

IE: I no longer use accuweather for my phone because it takes too long to open
Flashlight-X(arguably the best flashlight app in existence) takes a few seconds to load and activate the flash.

Also, OT but on a related note to the video: it would be cool as hell if a manufacturer like Nokia takes it upon themselves to create utility specific phones. What I mean by this is, instead of trying to round out features on a phone so they can fit it in a slender profile, they can manufacture phones which express a particular attribute, to appeal to hobbyists or people that would actually appreciate the engineering.
Examples:

Trackdown: phone with the fastest GPS lock and solid compass; hardware is so focused, that it can hold a lock in most tunnels. Target users would be commuters, outdoor recreational sports(like hikers, hunters, or anyone that just likes to get lost)

Camera Junkie: Pureview with massive aperture, image processor and body built to acommodate SLR lenses

Audiophile: Superior DAC for the most discriminant listener and amp capable of driving power hungry headphones.<-I would be in heaven if someone paid attention to this

Imagine, a DSLR that doubles as a smartphonephone; a phone with monsterous reception; a tracking device with insanely reliable lock.. Each device tailored to excel at a specific hobby, passion, utility. I'm sure it would complicate manufacturing, but if a company like Nokia could pull it off, not only would they get recognition, but WP could become a widely recognized OS for the hobbyists and geeks out there.

this Interview made me think back to when I first got my T-Mobile G1. The Android Market was a joke. I think it took well over a year before Android started to pick up speed when the OG Droid came out. Up until the 1st Evo came out, most of my friends didn't even know what Android was. Just give it some time, Windows Phone is going to push Android to third place. People are already leaving Android in flocks. Just last year, mostly all 500 of my Facebook friends had Androids. This year, those same people all have iPhones. Wanna know why? It's not the specs either. Besides the fact the everyone said it was too buggy & complicated, only us geeky types care about specs and we're the minority. It's the apps, the carriers and ease of use. As for apps, all Windows phones needs is Instagram. I can't speak for every market, but in the African-American market, we worship Instagram. Believe it or not, Instagram is one of the only reasons why some of my friends got a iPhone. Microsoft needs to do whatever it takes to get a official Instagram app on it's platform. It wouldn't hurt to get Draw Something & Word With Friends & some other Zynga games also. People love those too. The second most important reason everybody went to the iPhone is Sprint. We worship Sprint also, we live & die with Sprint. Everybody and they're momma has Sprint. I don't know absolutely anybody with Verizon. I think Microsoft and Nokia need to put more focus on getting more of there phones on Sprint and T-Mobile. Also focus on a few Pre-paid carriers like Boost Mobile & MetroPCS. Those carriers are the "Big 4" in my neck of the woods. It's that simple, we don't care about dual and quad core, we just wanna get on Instagram and play Words with Friends with Sprint as our carrier. I think that once people get to play around with a Windows Phone and see how simple and beautiful the OS is, It'll be a wrap for Android. It's too buggy & complicated for non-geeky types. Just My 2 Cents

I have heard about Windows coning back and beating everyone for at least two years now, right nothing happened! And those people who went from Android to iPhone's are just sheep joining the herd.

I like how he just sat down and took a half hour with you for the interview, some 22 minutes of video.

Originally Posted by ijcy

I have heard about Windows coning back and beating everyone for at least two years now, right nothing happened! And those people who went from Android to iPhone's are just sheep joining the herd.

It takes time, just like it took 2 years before anybody even knew what android was, just give it some time. Android is gonna be the new Blackberry, lol

i likes WP7.....................................

Good interview Howard, I enjoyed watching it. He has an interesting point about reaching out to billions of users in the Microsoft Eco system. I wonder how Nokia is planning to tap into that.

Howard should stop doing interviews.

Originally Posted by kumbo

Howard should stop doing interviews.

I didn't like it either. Relying solely on your personal observations and anecdotes isn't thorough enough for a balanced discussion. And when you title such an interview 'We discuss what's wrong with Windows Phone', you're opening yourself up to bias critiques.

Originally Posted by tbout

this Interview made me think back to when I first got my T-Mobile G1. The Android Market was a joke. I think it took well over a year before Android started to pick up speed when the OG Droid came out. Up until the 1st Evo came out, most of my friends didn't even know what Android was. Just give it some time, Windows Phone is going to push Android to third place. People are already leaving Android in flocks. Just last year, mostly all 500 of my Facebook friends had Androids. This year, those same people all have iPhones. Wanna know why? It's not the specs either. Besides the fact the everyone said it was too buggy & complicated, only us geeky types care about specs and we're the minority. It's the apps, the carriers and ease of use. As for apps, all Windows phones needs is Instagram. I can't speak for every market, but in the African-American market, we worship Instagram. Believe it or not, Instagram is one of the only reasons why some of my friends got a iPhone. Microsoft needs to do whatever it takes to get a official Instagram app on it's platform. It wouldn't hurt to get Draw Something & Word With Friends & some other Zynga games also. People love those too. The second most important reason everybody went to the iPhone is Sprint. We worship Sprint also, we live & die with Sprint. Everybody and they're momma has Sprint. I don't know absolutely anybody with Verizon. I think Microsoft and Nokia need to put more focus on getting more of there phones on Sprint and T-Mobile. Also focus on a few Pre-paid carriers like Boost Mobile & MetroPCS. Those carriers are the "Big 4" in my neck of the woods. It's that simple, we don't care about dual and quad core, we just wanna get on Instagram and play Words with Friends with Sprint as our carrier. I think that once people get to play around with a Windows Phone and see how simple and beautiful the OS is, It'll be a wrap for Android. It's too buggy & complicated for non-geeky types. Just My 2 Cents

I agree with you. I fell in love with WinPhone7 when I started interacting with it and seeing its benefits over other platforms. I eventually bought one, still loved it because it never has lag issues, and is a beautiful phone. the native features like messaging, music, calendar, etc. are awesome and well developed. i cannot say the same for the marketplace - foursquare desperately needs the design update that ios + android got a few months ago, instagram needs to be on win phone, and there needs to be some better free games out there.

i am also extremely bothered by the ad cluttered free apps out there. it annoys me that app developers need to take up 1/10th of the screen with some ugly ad. i mean i understand you have to make money somehow, but the ads make the app so much less appealing.

oh, and i was also really disappointed when i found out my winphone did not have a front facing camera. it was my own fault for not researching, but it does affect my current usage.

Hmmm, guess that's a reason why Elop and his staff at Nokia HQ are still bullish about the WP setup. Nonetheless, it seems that there's still reason enough to need a hardware update for it because of the apps. They're getting more complex across all platforms that maybe in a couple of years, a single-core phone may not be enough to run them.

People say specs do not matter but they do, your OS can run as efficient as you want on hardware, heck windows 7 runs fine on a netbook, but guess what, your games dont run fine on a netbook, your productivity apps such when you have a low resolution. Any company is smart to try their best to keep their OS as fit and lean while still featureful as possible but at the end of the day specs are how you get work done.

Also apps are important too. ironic as this may seem I can do more to interface and integrate with my windows computers with android than I can with windows phone. Logitech doesnt even have an app for windows phone for harmony link. Smart phones are like swiss army knives the more they can do the better. MS needs to look at what is deficient and either build it themself or give incentive to do it. If that means going after the makers of killer apps like isntagram, unified remote, or whatever else and paying them to port then so be it. MS got into the office business to save their OS and they should not forget that lesson.