In reviewing the HTC Titan this author has been particularly scathing about the WP7.5 OS in terms of its functionality and usability. Similar critique was later raised by another reviewer of the Nokia Lumia 800.

Article Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...s-phone-review

Even so, there's still a few usability gotchas. Look at that picture of the People hub feed. Now, you want to contribute something? OK – what do you press? (Hint: it's not a hidden menu at the bottom of the screen – that just brings up "Refresh" and "Settings".)

Give up yet? It's obvious, isn't it?

You don't use that screen. You swipe left to the "All" page, where you'll find your profile pic (from Facebook, in my case, rather than Twitter; I've no idea why) and the latest thing you said on whichever network.

OK, now what do you press to contribute your thoughts to the world? No, it isn't the + button at the bottom – that gives you the options to create a New Contact or New Group. (We'll come on to the anguished story of why it says "Family" twice later.)

Puzzling, isn't it? How can you contribute to all these social networks that are pouring past? Where's the icon that implies "BEGIN WRITING"?

Give up? Oh, come on, it's obvious – you press your last message, and that brings up a screen where you can post a message, check in or set your chat status.

Seriously, Microsoft UI designers? This is how in our people-oriented system we're meant to contribute to the flow of thinking–- by swiping away from the updates, then prodding what we've already created and then choosing one of three options?

Once more: it's great to start from the precept of "challenge preconceptions", but at some point you have to accept when you're making things more rather than less complex, worse rather than better.

On iOS or Android, you can post a message on Twitter (using the big friendly "Pen and Pad" icon)
And then in a recent review of the Nokia Lumia the author had this to say about usability of the Music app:
The music app, based on Zune, is hilarious. To understand why, first compare it with the iPod UI, which is about as basic as you can make it: artists contain albums which contain songs. Build a list of songs and it will play them in turn or randomly. There is no flair or sophistication contained within.

OK. In one of my favourite Father Ted episodes - Think Fast, Father Ted, the DJ only brings one record (Ghost Town by The Specials). That's what the Zune app is like. If you own one 7in single, you are absolutely fine.

Zune, rather than just blithely ripping off Apple's design, makes life as hard as possible. Want to play all albums by a given artist? Firstly, wait several days while your unconscious works out how to do it. Google on and off during that period and find nothing that works. Then eventually, half by accident, click on the little arrow icon next to the artist (as opposed to by the name of the artist. Clicking the name of the artist, incidentally, shows you all the albums by that artist.)

Similarly, you want to play everything in the collection at random? Simple - just swipe three times and click twice and you're golden! (That one Google did help me with. Note: If you're having to RTFM to use a music player, the music player design team is doing it wrong.)

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...ia-800-goodbye
Now I know these are both Guardian articles, and I am not a reader of that rag, but what is written is empirical and demonstrable so is completely valid.

Eleven months ago, when I tried out WP7 on the Samsung Omnia 7, I didn't get too far into the social media use of the OS. At that time I was struggling with certain aspects of the UI itself, such as the placement of the irrevocable left-arrow button in message creation that deleted your message (it didn't matter which app you were using, hit that soft button and the message was lost forever). The button was ridiculously placed immediately above the spacebar which made it even easier to hit in error! A massive UI design fail that I highlighted back then.

Reading this review, and others, does not fill me with positive anticipation about the updated WP7 OS. It does suggest that Microsoft's software designers have missed the opportunity for human centric design as led by Apple (for instance). Instead, the engineers appear to have chosen a labyrinthine approach that enslaves rather than empowers a user. Why? Is it just to be deliberately different to iOS and Android? There would be nothing wrong in that if what they delivered was better, by any definition of that particular word. But the review suggests quite the opposite.

The consumer technology industry is at a fork in the road, like never before, in terms of design. Humanised design, as demonstrated by Apple for one, is the way forward. Forcing the consumer to bend to the technology to do even the simple things is not. And the average Joe has already learned this, hence the gravitation to what appear to be simpler to use devices, that in reality do an awful lot of work behind the scenes. Apple's portable technology and the ecosystem that is evolving to support it, mobile networks [in this country at least] becoming more affordable for data, seamlessness and ease of use being king. Android's large group of manufacturers is taking an identical approach using their own technology.

Microsoft have all of the building blocks but seems to have trouble building in coherence and simplicity of use. At heart it remains a technology company selling to consumers. But still it seems to not truly understand how humans operate. And that may ultimately seal their fate.

It is not all their own game anymore.