Related
I know you guys probably heard this a thousand times (and a forum search shows this) and what I'm about to say is probably very cliche, but the iPhone is a pretty amazing device.
Typically, I am a WM man (I currently own an HTC Touch Pro), and I've owned WM phones/devices for a long time now. I tried other OSes (Symbian, Palm OS), but ultimately, I prefer WM. When the iPhone first appeared, I disregarded it almost entirely because it's made by Apple. As someone familiar with Apple, I just didn't like them very much (largely due to their design philosophy).
Things didn't look like they were about to change. In fact, the next phones I was seriously looking at was the Toshiba TG01, Samsung Omnia HD i9810, and Samsung Omnia Pro B7610. Two of these are Windows Mobile and one is Symbian (which I was less likely to get anyway). The only major difference is that they aren't HTC (I want to move away from HTC because I exceedingly dislike Qualcomm).
However, something special happened yesterday: My friend invited me to lunch and he showed me his new iPhone 3GS. He allowed me to play with it.
In one word: Incredible!
As my intuition knew, I ended up not liking the design of the OS (I still prefer WM's design), but I couldn't really deny how well made the iPhone really is. More than anything else, I really have to compliment how extremely optimized it really is. Opening any software, going to the home screen, playing movies/music, and doing just about anything really was incredibly smooth. The entire time I was with my friend, I just gushed and gushed about this one aspect. The reason why is because it really is incredible how fast everything was.
The truth is that when compared side to side with my Touch Pro, the speed is really the same. However, a few things to note. First, everyone know how the iPhone seems to use "gradual transitions"? To elaborate, whenever you do anything, such as opening software or rotation, it is done in real time, and you can see the changes with your eyes. This is as opposed to WM where it is done immediately (for example, rotating with my TP results in an immediate change as opposed to you seeing the screen rotate on the iPhone).
This seems like a minor thing, but it has a large effect on perception. Notably, it makes you perceive it as being faster. When I counted down the seconds on the iPhone and WM, I noticed that opening programs and rotation are really done at the same speed, but the iPhone's gradual transition effects makes you perceive it as being faster, which is actually pretty nice.
Second thing and a very important point: My TP uses a custom ROM, which is why its speed was on par with that of the iPhone. If it had been using the stock ROM, I am positive that the iPhone would have crushed it in speed.
This seems like a moot point because I *can* use custom ROMs, but note that this forum and all of its custom ROMs are largely exclusive to HTC phones (with the sole exception of the Xperia...which was made by HTC anyway). What happens if I decide to use another WM phone (for example, the Samsung B7610)? Then I would have no choice but to remain with the stock ROM or at least hope someone would develop the stray ROM for the Samsung devices (such as the i900 on XDA).
At this point, I'm also willing to blame the speed issue on hardware. After all, the iPhone is about 72MHZ faster than my phone, and it also also has a dedicated graphics chip. On the other hand, I also have to take into consideration that it takes a custom, optimized ROM for my device to keep up with the stock ROM on a series of device which is notorious for being outdated (anyone remember the iPhone 2G)?
If anyone is wondering, am I thinking about switching to the dark side? Unfortunately, no. While the huge number of apps and the great speed is tantalizing, I am still the guy who frequently spends 4+ hours changing the ROMs on his phones (and tweaking it afterwards). I'm also the guy who frequently goes into the settings menu because he nitpicks about how each little thing on his phone works.
Can I switch to something that won't allow me that much customization? Speaking as someone who's about to change the ROM on his phone again, the answer appears to be a pretty clear 'no' as this point.
On, the other hand, while playing with the iPhone, I did find myself wishing that the Windows Mobile experience was as smooth, and great as with the iPhone, especially on stock ROMs. I also did find myself wondering what Windows Mobile 7 will be like (I can't wonder with WM6.5 because I'm using it now). But of course, what do people saying about wishing too much? It's useless.
Am I going mad?
I'd take an iphone over any WM device any day of the week, but I absolutely refuse to pay $70+ a month just to use it.
Exactly how many apps are there for windows mobile?
Until recently I assumed that WinMo>Symbian>Iphone.
Apparently that's wrong.
I was going to buy one with all the other sheep but decided to buy an ipod touch. Works great, but the first time I put it in my pocket and crouched down a bit later it nealy killed it!
Screen went a nice mix of colours and it totally stopped working. Quite a few plug ins to the computer and it came back to life.
There just to fragile and to big(iphone is thicker than the touch also), good girls phone or if you carry a handbag.
Glade I got the Jade not a problem so far.
thedigitel said:
I'd take an iphone over any WM device any day of the week, but I absolutely refuse to pay $70+ a month just to use it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that the AT&T contract you have to sign up for to get an iPhone? If that's the case, why not just buy the iPhone unlocked? It's expensive, but it cost about as much as any HTC phone I've seen.
charge1313 said:
Exactly how many apps are there for windows mobile?
Until recently I assumed that WinMo>Symbian>Iphone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As of right now, the iPhone has roughly 50K-60K of apps while the last article detailing how many apps Windows Mobile seems to have stopped at 20K. Futhermore, the iPhone famously beaten Windows Mobile in reaching 25K apps, and I find it highly unlikely that Windows Mobile caught up.
Even from an outside perspective, though, it seems to me that the iPhone has an impressive number of apps, including a plethora of ones that Windows Mobile never seems to get (or is even capable of getting).
stu-k said:
I was going to buy one with all the other sheep but decided to buy an ipod touch. Works great, but the first time I put it in my pocket and crouched down a bit later it nealy killed it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the iPod Touch would make sense, but I would rather not have to carry two devices around. It seems better to me to have an all-in-one device in this case and, if nothing else, it would allow me to utilize the numerous phone-related apps in the app store.
I entirely agree.
My wife has a Gen 1 iphone, and I recently updated it to version 3 and unlocked and jailbreaked.
In the old days, WM had thousands of apps as one of its killer features.
I recently spent a few evenings installing apps on the wife's phone, and I was blown away. Not necessarily by the quality, but by the experience.
Everything is smooth, everything works, the user experience is "unchallenging".
I love tweaking, I love coding, I love spending MONTHS dissecting the WinMob OS to implement a tiny hack. But you know what? Why bother?!
I can't see myself giving up on WinMob - it's got momentum, and I can't be bothered to learn Objective C. I'm barely coping with C++ as it is.
But, to paraphrase Gauntlet, "WinMob [may be] about to die".
In defence of WinMob:
It's p*sses me off something crazy that when Gizmondo et all were reviewing the Palm Pre, multi tasking was one of the killer features. WinMob has had it FOREVER.
It's a good OS, it multitasks, it generally works, it can make calls and emails and whatnot.
But - the user experience is OLD.
And I think one of the most fundamental flaws is also one of the biggest strengths - WinMob runs on a hundred kinds of hardware. But the problem:
WinMob runs on a hundred kinds of hardware.
Some of those have graphic accelerators, some don't.
Some have dpads, some don't.
Some have 600mhz CPUs, some don't.
The iphone is a single homogeneous ecosystem.
Coders know they can anti-alias without trying to code to the lowest common denominator 200mhz phone with 16mb of ram. They know exactly what they're gonna get with an iphone. And that fact means they know the limitations, and how to pitch what they've got at the right performance considerations. They know what they're working on. The Human Interface spec is incredible, and incredibly helpful. Users expect an experience, naturally, because it feels natural. Apple encourages that, and coders have to honour it.
I think most of the iphone experience can and should be emulated on WinMob.
I'm not just talking about cloning Springboard and everything else. Yes, we can emulate this and that - our coders on XDA devs are incredible, and could do every bit of it.
But we need more: the experience of just being able to use the phone and expect it to work needs to be emulated.
I don't think the iphone is necessarily a better piece of hardware: I prefer my Touch HD. But clearly the user experience, the user interface paradigm, the reward of just being able to use the thing easily needs to be implemented - from the ground up.
I don't think this is going to happen on WinMob; I think the strength/limitations of a wide open platform means this probably can't happen. I think that like Win CE before it, WinMob will end up being relegated to a certain environment that has low expectations (eg Enterprise markets).
But if "Windows" devices are going to survive, I think the change has to happen at a much higher level. I can only hope that Pink or whatever is on the horizon for WinMob 7 is an integrated piece of hardware and user experience designed from the ground up to feel like it's the 21st century... using WinMob out of pity is going to get old, very very soon.
V
8525Smart said:
Well, the iPod Touch would make sense, but I would rather not have to carry two devices around. It seems better to me to have an all-in-one device in this case and, if nothing else, it would allow me to utilize the numerous phone-related apps in the app store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have to agree, I hate carry around two devices. Hence no longer use Ipod touch on the go, just leave it at home in docking station, which its good for.
Use the Jade for music and a phone which fits on my pocket.
I find the istore apps mostly gimmicks anyways, which you pay for and never use.
A smaller tougher Iphone would be good
vijay555 said:
I entirely agree.
In defence of WinMob:
It's p*sses me off something crazy that when Gizmondo et all were reviewing the Palm Pre, multi tasking was one of the killer features. WinMob has had it FOREVER.
It's a good OS, it multitasks, it generally works, it can make calls and emails and whatnot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh my God, yes, YES!
I can't count the number of times I had to defend WinMo against people who obviously never used it. The number of ridiculously comments I seen was ludicrous and often times seem as if the people saying it were just parroting common criticisms as opposed to their actual experience.
One guy I saw even suggested that receiving text/emails and switching between apps was impossible.
On the other hand, I agree with the rest of your post too (as is the subject of my topic). I think you really hit the nail on the head: Windows Mobile's biggest strength, its availability on multiple phones, is also its biggest weakness.
As an owner of a Fuze, an HTC phone with an accelerometer, the lack of accelero-meter WinMo apps makes it very apparent.
I do agree with you that Microsoft needs to do something, at the very least, about the user experience, but I really don't see how it can be done. The iPhone is able to achieve this because it is a software available on one hardware designed by Apple themselves. In order for Microsoft to achieve the same quality of apps or user experience, they would have to design Windows Mobile to take advantage of a particular hardware specification.
As of currently, the best Microsoft can probably achieve is to design Windows Mobile with the best optimization they can while maintaining good compatibility and appearance with a wide number of hardware.
stu-k said:
HI find the istore apps mostly gimmicks anyways, which you pay for and never use.
A smaller tougher Iphone would be good
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That may be true, but to be fair, the Windows Mobile landscape isn't exactly clear of 'gimmicky' apps either. Some of them even inspired by iPhone equivalents.
HDWobble, anyone?
The 3GS is faster not because of the clock speed, but because the A8 Cortex beats the pants out of the (very long in the tooth) ARM11 in the TP (and TP2, why HTC, why?!!!).
http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3595&p=4
This is going to see as an odd first post but i am a jailbroken and unlocked iphone user. I have been tinkering with the iphone the way you guys tinker with winmo for 2 years now. To the original poster, if you are such a tinkerer and want to tinker with something new a jailbroken iphone is for you.
Some of THE BEST apps for the iphone are not in the apple app store because apple would never allow it.
I myself am starting to look at the TP2 and winmo phones because i was REALLLLLLLLLLLLY looking forward to the Nokia N97 and that thing just let me down a ton. I have a HTC Hero coming to play with for a while but besides the widgets i don't see a whole lot different between the new TF3D 2 on the TP2 or the TD2 and the Hero.
There are tons of useful 3rd party jailbroken apps and hacks that you can do that make the iphone even THAT much more useable. For instance the 3rd party text messaging applications are w/o question better than the stock apple version however because how they are designed they would never be approved for the app store. Also, there is a hack app called "backgrounder" which allows me to run apps in the background and multi task.
jim_0068 said:
This is going to see as an odd first post but i am a jailbroken and unlocked iphone user. I have been tinkering with the iphone the way you guys tinker with winmo for 2 years now. To the original poster, if you are such a tinkerer and want to tinker with something new a jailbroken iphone is for you.
Some of THE BEST apps for the iphone are not in the apple app store because apple would never allow it.
I myself am starting to look at the TP2 and winmo phones because i was REALLLLLLLLLLLLY looking forward to the Nokia N97 and that thing just let me down a ton. I have a HTC Hero coming to play with for a while but besides the widgets i don't see a whole lot different between the new TF3D 2 on the TP2 or the TD2 and the Hero.
There are tons of useful 3rd party jailbroken apps and hacks that you can do that make the iphone even THAT much more useable. For instance the 3rd party text messaging applications are w/o question better than the stock apple version however because how they are designed they would never be approved for the app store. Also, there is a hack app called "backgrounder" which allows me to run apps in the background and multi task.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy crap are you talking about the iPhone? Is the backgrounder for the iPhone? Can I have more information on how this works?
Here is a more important question... will the backgrounder app allow 3rd party alarm applications to finally work on the iPhone?
Will the backgrounder also allow automatic profile scheduling?
poetryrocksalot said:
Holy crap are you talking about the iPhone? Is the backgrounder for the iPhone? Can I have more information on how this works?
Here is a more important question... will the backgrounder app allow 3rd party alarm applications to finally work on the iPhone?
Will the backgrounder also allow automatic profile scheduling?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes. but Backgrounder is not compatible with the new 3.0 OS.
and on the 3G you do not exactly have lots of Ram to spare though. only ~34MB after a reset. and applications are not exactly light weight.
i believe profile scheduling is available through other means. but have not really looked into it. Performance really takes a nose dive when you start asking it to do extra stuff due to the lack of Ram.
crazy talk said:
yes. but Backgrounder is not compatible with the new 3.0 OS.
and on the 3G you do not exactly have lots of Ram to spare though. only ~34MB after a reset. and applications are not exactly light weight.
i believe profile scheduling is available through other means. but have not really looked into it. Performance really takes a nose dive when you start asking it to do extra stuff due to the lack of Ram.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh that's a shame... this app is useless then. I heard that Apple is considering the idea of having full support for background applications.
The problem is that:
1) Apple knows that not many people care about "background" applications.
2) Consumer common sense is distorted in that they don't understand the purpose of multi-task. They believe that multi-task is already on the iPhone because obviously, you can "exit the application into another application". This isn't the point, a true multitasking system requires A) background applications B) automation of background functions and C) the ability to switch tasks in the foreground of an application.
3) Apple knows that adding background applications will result in people complaining of slowness because 1) Alot of people still don't know what RAM is, not even my sister who is a 4+ year college student working on her masters and 2) Alot of people do not know how to manage a platform involving background applications and 3) average consumers would rather sacrifice functionality for ease-of-use.
I believe the emphasis of this multi-tasking is not a multi-tasking complaint. Idiots are prone to think that the iPhone already has multi-tasking; I've seem them argue about it. We need to add a mentality to people in which they learn that it isn't about multi-tasking, it's about background applications and how we need applications to function in the background.
Well the 3GS has double the ram and faster processor, hopefully they (third-parties) can find a way to make actual multi-tasking more plausible.
new beast in town
the android os is really taking shape and will soon be king. with so many different devices coming aboard this thing will be huge. the g1 now is awesome with just a little tweaking and those who don't want to tweak there are 2 more ota coming in the next 5 months.
nonzenze said:
The 3GS is faster not because of the clock speed, but because the A8 Cortex beats the pants out of the (very long in the tooth) ARM11 in the TP (and TP2, why HTC, why?!!!).
http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3595&p=4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, very informative read, Thank you,
So the 3GS apparently has a superior CPU in more ways than one, which I'm not really surprised about. I did mentioned that I did not like HTC's choice of CPUs...which they're still using in their newest devices. Many other devices are already using the Cortex A8, so if it is the case that HTC is losing out due to the CPU, then that doesn't bode well for their future phones.
jim_0068 said:
To the original poster, if you are such a tinkerer and want to tinker with something new a jailbroken iphone is for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, everything you said is true. A jailbroken iPhone is a very nice thing and probably does well for tinkerers. In fact, the 3GS that my friend let me used was jailbroken too.
However, truthfully, installing apps that lets me do new things wasn't what I was really referring to before. Instead, I was largely referring to the changing of ROMs/OS. I believe the iPhone has made some progress running Linux, but nothing else as far as I can see. WM Phone has so many different ROMs available and progress has been made on running Linux (including Android) too. This allows for much more customization, in my opinion as you get the benefit of software-based customization combined with ROM/OS-based.
Besides, it's pretty fun to be running Windows Mobile 6.5 while everyone else is still using Windows Mobile 6.1.
Guys, rumours are the Pink/Zune Phone will be a Win 7 derived device based on hardware designed by Microsoft.
If they pull that off, as they say, "I'd buy that for a dollar".
V
My opinion is that in order to be a solid competitor, Microsoft needs to limit the hardware choices for their platform. HTC does a great job at making devices for Windows Mobile. Microsoft needs to pair up with them to make their own phone. With the new Zune HD coming out featuring the nVidia Tegra chipset, it would make a wonderful platform to build the next generation WM phone from. The thing is, it should be the only phone featuring WM 7 Professsional. It will enable Microsoft to fine tune WM to use every bit of the phone's capabilities, leaving nothing to be desired. Much like they do with their PC OS's, there can be several versions of the main OS with steps in capabilities. Their Zune HD phone should be the candidate for WM7 Ultimate, which would feature smooth transitions and speed.
Edit: Just saw the post above mine. I need to read more!
vijay555 said:
Guys, rumours are the Pink/Zune Phone will be a Win 7 derived device based on hardware designed by Microsoft.
If they pull that off, as they say, "I'd buy that for a dollar".
V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rumors are a bit too little to get excited, in my opinion. The possibility of a true iPhone competitor by Microsoft sounds amazing, but it's a bit underwhelming at this point.
We have no knowledge of the OS, no knowledge of the important specs (CPU, RAM, multimedia capabilities, etc) aside from Tegra, and the little specs that is publicly available kind of sucks. 3.3in screen with 480x272 res? Call me picky, but I would have hoped for 3.5-3.7in with at least 640x480.
Still, I have not followed the news of the Zune HD, and it does, indeed, look pretty amazing. The Os does at least. The Zune HD's OS appears to work amazingly well; It is incredibly fast and smooth.
8525Smart said:
Rumors are a bit too little to get excited, in my opinion. The possibility of a true iPhone competitor by Microsoft sounds amazing, but it's a bit underwhelming at this point.
We have no knowledge of the OS, no knowledge of the important specs (CPU, RAM, multimedia capabilities, etc) aside from Tegra, and the little specs that is publicly available kind of sucks. 3.3in screen with 480x272 res? Call me picky, but I would have hoped for 3.5-3.7in with at least 640x480.
Still, I have not followed the news of the Zune HD, and it does, indeed, look pretty amazing. The Os does at least. The Zune HD's OS appears to work amazingly well; It is incredibly fast and smooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really think the only company that can actually create a truly direct competitor to Apple and iPhone is Microsoft...it's the name and not the product.....
Apple had a bad rep back then and now they are doing good.
It seems like Microsoft is tagged after Apple jumped the boat to success.
We'll just have to wait for Microsoft to adopt Apple's precedent.
With Microsoft directly creating their own phone and not just an OS, we might actually get a true iPhone killer. Though Microsoft may have to revamp the entire OS and create their own line of OS totally unrelated to Windows Mobile.
This is the first time I have seen something like this. The mobile phone can run both Android AND winXP. Think of all the possibilities! Hopefully, we can see a version of this for our G1's in the near future. Too bad there hasnt been much news on this lately.
video of VMware seen here.
That is for running android on a computer. They just mention this method can be used to install WinXP, Ubuntu, Linux, etc on a computer. Then they mention using a Virtual Machine running both Windows CE and Android on a mobile phone. Windows CE is not WindowsXP.
That's neat but if you already have Android on your phone, why have Windows CE also? I thought the openness for Android was the "bees knees".
Kinda speechless. The words that comes to mind are "Why God, Why?!"
Interesting...
Even though I can't see it happening, unless you VNC onto a WinXP remote PC (which isn't dual-booting), I would -still- install WinXP behind Android, just to see what it is like.
Question: if ARM support was ever hacked into XP, couldn't we use a Debian-type solution, using VNC, to get access?
That's neat but if you already have Android on your phone, why have Windows CE also? I thought the openness for Android was the "bees knees".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
opps my bad, its not winxp. Nonetheless, there still is alot of potential.
You are right, the openness of Android is one of it's the selling point, but if you can intregrate decades of already made and proven software into your phone system, why not? There will be no need for any porting of your favorite non-main stream software.
Maybe this is off point n im sorry but i can't wait for Android which really is going to be called Chrome OS to come to lap tops/net books so i can just give my life to Google already. Honestly i've grown tired of Microsoft except for the 360. However i see maybe 10-15 years down the lime people accusing Google of pulling a Microsoft when it comes to things But like my sig says, LONG LIVE GOOGLE!!!
imbonez9 said:
Maybe this is off point n im sorry but i can't wait for Android which really is going to be called Chrome OS to come to lap tops/net books so i can just give my life to Google already. Honestly i've grown tired of Microsoft except for the 360. However i see maybe 10-15 years down the lime people accusing Google of pulling a Microsoft when it comes to things But like my sig says, LONG LIVE GOOGLE!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually chrome os is not Android. They may be similar being that they are both linux based but they are not the same. Android OS is being aimed at netbooks which should be hitting shelves before the end of the year, but Chrome OS is being made for all types of PC's.
"Android is first and foremost a smartphone operating system, found on products such as the new MyTouch, the older G1, and others scattered around the world. But companies such as Acer and Asus are planning to put Android on Netbooks later this year, and several others are rumored to be following suit.
Chrome OS, however, is supposedly going to arrive on Netbooks first when it's scheduled to be ready in the second half of 2010. So how should companies thinking about alternatives to Windows on Netbooks navigate about Google's operating system strategy?
Google's blog post announcing Chrome OS acknowledged the overlap. "Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to Netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the Web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small Netbooks to full-size desktop systems.""
-CNET
shaolinx said:
This is the first time I have seen something like this. The mobile phone can run both Android AND winXP. Think of all the possibilities! Hopefully, we can see a version of this for our G1's in the near future. Too bad there hasnt been much news on this lately.
video of VMware seen here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should check out our thread under the Vogue section. We are able to boot into WinMo then from there boot into a modified Android Kernal. I know we dont have the cool hardware like you guys do but we have the option of flipping back and forth if need be.
tallnerd1985 said:
You should check out our thread under the Vogue section. We are able to boot into WinMo then from there boot into a modified Android Kernal. I know we dont have the cool hardware like you guys do but we have the option of flipping back and forth if need be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting, but can you switch to android?
Actually chrome os is not Android. They may be similar being that they are both linux based but they are not the same. Android OS is being aimed at netbooks which should be hitting shelves before the end of the year, but Chrome OS is being made for all types of PC's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think the Chrome will become the next big thing. The primary use is for netbooks, which are slow and have limited functionality. People want to be able to do more then just surf the web on their computers. AND the big question that arises: if everything was browser based, what if you didnt have access to the net? ? Personally, I like the idea of the Android better on PCs and netbooks
Yea I would like to have Android on my pc, hopefully it will be possible when they start releasing it on netbooks. I have no idea what exactly chrome os will be like because I have yet to see any video of it in action.
I was only trying to point out that they are not the same OS and are being aimed at different machines, wether they are being aimed at the right machines I am not so sure. If you read the full article on cnet Android is mentioned of as being designed to run on a wide range of devices from, get this, refrigerators, tv set-top boxes, and I have heard from other articles some car companies are considering using it on the touch screen displays they use. How sweet would it be to program your fridges icemaker from android, hahaha I wonder what it could do when you root it and flash some sweet cyan or jac rom lol.
shaolinx said:
This is the first time I have seen something like this. The mobile phone can run both Android AND winXP. Think of all the possibilities! Hopefully, we can see a version of this for our G1's in the near future. Too bad there hasnt been much news on this lately.
video of VMware seen here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's been around for a while, but hasn't been released, yet.
I wonder what kind of overhead there would be, though... I can't imagine it being very speedy.
tallnerd1985 said:
You should check out our thread under the Vogue section. We are able to boot into WinMo then from there boot into a modified Android Kernal. I know we dont have the cool hardware like you guys do but we have the option of flipping back and forth if need be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's different. What that does is execute the linux kernel and kick WM out of memory. You can't switch back and forth without restarting the phone. (It's available to a lot of phones.) But if we could figure out a similar way to do the same on an Android phone, that would be awesome.
crpercodani said:
Yea I would like to have Android on my pc, hopefully it will be possible when they start releasing it on netbooks. I have no idea what exactly chrome os will be like because I have yet to see any video of it in action.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can have the Android on your PC, the steps are in the link on the first post. but right now... its not very practical to use it as an actual OS. Theres too many stuff lacking (flash 10 for example).
I know this post is coming out a little prematurely, but I couldn't help but notice that the Samsung Focus and the Samsung Captivate are identical phones... not only are they identical but they are running on the same network (modem drivers and such would be the same) ... does anyone know if this port would be possible?
They are not identical phones. Samsung's WP7 devices (the Focus and Omnia7) use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 1GHz processor. The Galaxy S series uses Samsungs 1GHz Hummingbird processor. I'm guessing we would need WP7 drivers before we could port anything. But even with that, I bet there are other hardware differences.
Why is everyone so hyped about WP7? Doesnt anyone remember how lame windows mobile was? Everytime I see someone post about WP7 its like its going to revolutionize smartphones. Theres not much they can do that already isnt being done. WP7....so lame. And it looks like ATT is trying to jump on that ship first and offer a big selection of handsets at launch....go figure. At least they got something right and got one of the best android phones available for now. Its not great out of the box but with all the roms and mods on XDA its starting to show some real potential.
Smallsmx3 said:
Why is everyone so hyped about WP7?.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have to disagree here. Windows Phone 7 is a completely different beast than WM 6 or 6.5. You can't compare the two. Different UIs, different use cases, different applications and core technologies. Everyone's hyped because it seems Microsoft might have finally done something right when it comes to mobile devices. Every tech journalist I've heard talk about their preview WP7 devices has been very happy. And as someone who picked an Android phone because I wanted a choice in how I use it, the possibility of WP7 running on it just adds one more choice.
Why on earth would you ever want a car that's not colored black?
Sending a rocket ship to the moon is preposterous!
Nobody will ever need or want more than 1 MB of RAM on their computer.
I love it when people shoot down ideas without thinking it through to all possible conclusions beyond their own.
I wouldn't mind seeing WP7 getting ported some day. Choices are good.
multi-boot Android, WP7, and IOS4.... Sound kind of cool to me.
hashish16 said:
multi-boot Android, WP7, and IOS4.... Sound kind of cool to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just add a good DOS emulator (I know DOSBox was being ported some day) in that list and I'll be totally excited.
Windows (and the Windows/Microsoft mentality, design-philosophy and school-of-thought) belong on cell phones even less than it belongs on desktop PCs.
For the love of all that is sane and proper, let cell phones be the clean slate which allow us to break free from Microsoft inertia and influence. Let the handful of remaining Microsoft fanboys fondle their WP7 phones and Zunes while the rest of us move forward.
And linux, unix, posix apps belongs on them even less. Oh, wait...
Stop trying to start Fanboy discussions and OS flame wars. Do you run your phone completely in Terminal? Do you expect a WP7 device to have a start button on the screen? Get viruses? Blue Screen?
Each platform has merits and competition is a good thing in almost every case. Choice on a device designed for one platform being able to run another offers bragging rights for the developers and gives more power back to the community.
I'm for the phone that gives me what I want it to do and the freedom to do it.
IOS = locked into the iWorld of iTunes, extreme DRM, and I can only use the device.
Android = the freedom I wanted at a price. Custom flashing ROMS to even get my device to work as intended. But I can do whatever I want with it and don't have to worry about DRM.
WP7 = locked into the M$ world. Again I think it will be highly restrictive on what you can do. I'm sure there will be people (here on XDA) that will hack it.. but it will still be Windows for your phone - and therefore limited.
I'll stick with my single boot Android device - Although it would have that "nerdy cool factor" to have multiple OS's to boot my phone into... I'd rather have one working OS than 2 or 3 that were buggy as hell.
This has been gone over to death, Will it happen?.....Maybe. Will it be soon I dought it. I left WM for Android due to seeing the road M$ was going down with WP7. I have yet to lay Judgment on WP7 till I can get some hands on time with it but to tell the truth I dont see it being an option for me personally as I hot swap SD cards all time due to diff projects, Class, Work, Music...ect. The inability to do so with WP7 is just a deal breaker for me, not to mention no ETA on copy and past. I see WP7 as an early version of IOS, locked in to many ways while they try to get base functions to work right.
Nobody will ever need or want more than 1 MB of RAM on their computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL...once upon a time I had a computer with a 2 gig HDD...I told a friend of mine "There's no way I'll EVER fill this up!!"
sremick said:
Windows (and the Windows/Microsoft mentality, design-philosophy and school-of-thought) belong on cell phones even less than it belongs on desktop PCs.
For the love of all that is sane and proper, let cell phones be the clean slate which allow us to break free from Microsoft inertia and influence. Let the handful of remaining Microsoft fanboys fondle their WP7 phones and Zunes while the rest of us move forward.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Microsoft being the maker of WP7 has almost nothing to do with Microsoft Windows. How much of Mac OS do you see in the iPhone? Just because someone doesn't like Mac does not mean they will hate the iPhone.
I was thinking this too...
Hardware agnostic smartphones... I wrote about it over at my blog TheProfessorNotes
Excerpt: Since the start of the smartphone experience, the hardware and the operating system have been so tightly integrated that one is hard to distinguish from the other. This started as far back as the Springboard Sprint phone hardware attachment for the Handspring Visor, and continues today with the Windows 7 phones, the iPhone and in reality the Android phone. But what if the phones (hardware) and the soul of the phones, the mobile OS’s, could be separated?
emuneee said:
They are not identical phones. Samsung's WP7 devices (the Focus and Omnia7) use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 1GHz processor. The Galaxy S series uses Samsungs 1GHz Hummingbird processor. I'm guessing we would need WP7 drivers before we could port anything. But even with that, I bet there are other hardware differences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did they prove that the Focus has a snapdragon? I knew the Omina7 did, but the last spec sheet i saw said the Focus was unknown. It would still be a pretty darn close match with the graphics being the only potential problem....
Everyone keeps bashing on Microsoft but I see no problem with them? I'm currently on Windows 7 and I can customize the daylights out of it. So, is there really a problem?
Besides, Windows 7 is going to be a serious gaming platform, as this is Microsoft's entry into the mobile gaming world. So...the most powerful phone out...with a gaming OS...sounds like a major win to me!
I'm just a little shocked to hear some people that use Android, meant to enable freedom to the user, say that our Android phones shouldn't be allowed to run other software that's not Android.
That simply baffles the mind.
"I don't like Microsoft, therefore nobody else should be able to run Microsoft products on their Android phones even though it will in no way affect the usage of my own phone."
*sigh*
sschrupp said:
I'm just a little shocked to hear some people that use Android, meant to enable freedom to the user, say that our Android phones shouldn't be allowed to run other software that's not Android.
That simply baffles the mind.
"I don't like Microsoft, therefore nobody else should be able to run Microsoft products on their Android phones even though it will in no way affect the usage of my own phone."
*sigh*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll drink to that
The hardest part would be getting the hummingbird processor to work with the windows 7 platform. I wouldn't mind a dual boot phone though. Android/wm7/ios.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
WP7 OS requires a hardware PVK chip on-board in-order to function at all. That will be the hardest part. Even the ppl hacking HTC HD2 can only get it to operate in DEMO only mode because of the lacking of that chip.
This may be just from my perspective but yeah. Here goes.
Android/Linux-Nice if you work it just right, however it takes hours of tinkering and at least a basic knowledge of the operating system before it can really be considered asa daily driver. It has it's problemd but because it's open source AND pretty easy people flock to it.
Windows/WP7- Very simple, very clean, lacks a few functions that we'd like to have but all in all very usable and good at what it does. The most well known and for most people easiest to understand and operate. (Yes I know WP7 is not the most well known)
Iphone/Mac- Just simple, without some major hacking it cant perform a lot of basic functions, anything that can be done on this can likely be done on another OS, comes with all the software necessary for it to work but doesnt give you much choice on what you want. Essentially pick this program or do without. Computers/phones for dummies or people who think they're "indie" by going with a corporate giant :/
Android - it's a basic interface phone, does what it says on the tin, but can be customised to do more.
Linux - great as a free server, great as an office PC, not so great if you're a home user who doesn't know how it works.
WM6.5 - It works, excellent business integration, GB of support, plenty of aftermarket improvements to simply customise it, never really understood by MS.
WP7 - simplistic, dull, lacks simple features which phones 10 years ago had. If you think the iphone is too complicated then this is the phone for you. Let uncle Bill look after your data, you can trust him...
W7 - Nice aero snap and peek features. We don't want you to use the program menu though.
Iphone - Simple phone, external airplane mode feature, other phone users will think you're a prat. It has the GB, and the WIFI. It can download apps.
Mac - show the world you have more money than sense. For people who find mice with more than one button complicated, and don't get sarcasm.
there may be a smidge of sarcasm in this post, can you spot it?
xaccers said:
Android - it's a basic interface phone, does what it says on the tin, but can be customised to do more.
Linux - great as a free server, great as an office PC, not so great if you're a home user who doesn't know how it works.
WM6.5 - It works, excellent business integration, GB of support, plenty of aftermarket improvements to simply customise it, never really understood by MS.
WP7 - simplistic, dull, lacks simple features which phones 10 years ago had. If you think the iphone is too complicated then this is the phone for you. Let uncle Bill look after your data, you can trust him...
W7 - Nice aero snap and peek features. We don't want you to use the program menu though.
Iphone - Simple phone, external airplane mode feature, other phone users will think you're a prat. It has the GB, and the WIFI. It can download apps.
Mac - show the world you have more money than sense. For people who find mice with more than one button complicated.
there may be a smidge of sarcasm in this post, can you spot it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was a grand reply
That I can, if a fluid UI makes you simpler than the iphone then I will take simplicity over linux any day... I just dont get the benefit other than the android gaming community and that's coming form someone who dual-boots fedora on his computer regularly.... aside from things like the cube it just cant do much that windows cant and windows can do so much more.
z33dev33l said:
That I can, if a fluid UI makes you simpler than the iphone then I will take simplicity over linux any day... I just dont get the benefit other than the android gaming community and that's coming form someone who dual-boots fedora on his computer regularly.... aside from things like the cube it just cant do much that windows cant and windows can do so much more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A simplistic and uninspiringly dull interface on a phone which is missing features even my old Ericsson handset had, then yes it's simpler than the iphone.
As for android, personally I find it meh, I use it for a couple of games and kindle. I can't see what all the fuss is about it.
xaccers said:
A simplistic and uninspiringly dull interface on a phone which is missing features even my old Ericsson handset had, then yes it's simpler than the iphone.
As for android, personally I find it meh, I use it for a couple of games and kindle. I can't see what all the fuss is about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nor can I, its decent but not astounding. I have an HD2 that I still use to tinker with. It's a great phone but only if you really want to tinker. I still play with it frequently and always keep it at its most up to date state in terms of roms but with windows 7 its nice to have a phone that works well out of the box, thats something I havent seen since before the days of smartphones and it's a great thing to see. The UI might be dull to some but I like the simplicity there, a lot of people on android go out of their way to make the UI as plain as possible rather than making it look jumbled. WP7 just mad that necessary and added some very fluid animations. In time we will be able to sideload properly and we'll have the support. For now I have a phone that works well that has not been modded in the least and I enjoy that.
z33dev33l said:
Nor can I, its decent but not astounding. I have an HD2 that I still use to tinker with. It's a great phone but only if you really want to tinker. I still play with it frequently and always keep it at its most up to date state in terms of roms but with windows 7 its nice to have a phone that works well out of the box, thats something I havent seen since before the days of smartphones and it's a great thing to see. The UI might be dull to some but I like the simplicity there, a lot of people on android go out of their way to make the UI as plain as possible rather than making it look jumbled. WP7 just mad that necessary and added some very fluid animations. In time we will be able to sideload properly and we'll have the support. For now I have a phone that works well that has not been modded in the least and I enjoy that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't recognise the asertion that you have to tinker with the HD2 to get it to work.
I only ever run stock roms, not had an issue with any of them, they just work.
I don't want animations that seem to take forever or somehow give me travelsickness (thank you htc hub), I like that in WM6.5 I tap on a shortcut and the program starts, I tap on the program grid and it appears straight away. I don't have to wait for things to flip over or spin round.
I like that on WM6.5 I can have a wallpaper to brighten my day whenever I use my phone, I do really like that android has live wallpapers (I have fish swimming around my phone).
I also like that I've got so much integration with exchange.
The CEO of one of my clients likes how he can use WinMo to synchronise his work contacts and calender entries with his home PC's Outlook just by plugging his phone in. He's not techie but he has no problems with WinMo and certainly hasn't done any tweaks. Thankfully he's techie enough to understand the dangers of the cloud so certainly won't be going for WP7.
What do you mean by "dangers of the cloud" something like big brother? I guess that is a concern if theres something to hide but I guess thats not me. I love the HD2 but definitely not stock, I liked the vanilla that looked similar to zune player but even then the keyboard was just awful without swype going into menus without a stylus was terrible unless you have the hands of a three-year-old, and it still seemed slow to react. As for wallpapers it doesnt concern me, I have a lockscreen of my son that does fine because if im on my phone im seldom on the homescreen. I feel windows mobile was just intended for a stylus and through our community here we made it something better but certainly not flawless. Also, I've never even had to plug in to sync my contacts. Between past phones with google and microsoft and a couple facebook contacts I've got all the people I need and then some. I just feel android is intended for low end devices and WM6.5 was a stylus phone rather than a finger friendly phone regardless of the hardware.
All in all, WM6.5 was the last bastion of free and personal mobile OS, which many have failed to embrace (and really, who can blame them?). From here on out, it'll be like Orwell's 1984 and every person will be tagged with an RFID in a form of their mobile phone. Resistance is futile...
GET TO THAA CHOOPPPPAAAA!!!
z33dev33l said:
What do you mean by "dangers of the cloud" something like big brother? I guess that is a concern if theres something to hide but I guess thats not me. I love the HD2 but definitely not stock, I liked the vanilla that looked similar to zune player but even then the keyboard was just awful without swype going into menus without a stylus was terrible unless you have the hands of a three-year-old, and it still seemed slow to react. As for wallpapers it doesnt concern me, I have a lockscreen of my son that does fine because if im on my phone im seldom on the homescreen. I feel windows mobile was just intended for a stylus and through our community here we made it something better but certainly not flawless. Also, I've never even had to plug in to sync my contacts. Between past phones with google and microsoft and a couple facebook contacts I've got all the people I need and then some. I just feel android is intended for low end devices and WM6.5 was a stylus phone rather than a finger friendly phone regardless of the hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With MS3.5 WM becomes the most finger friendly phone I've used.
From the sounds of things, you don't use a phone for much, so I can see the appeal of WP7 for you.
The issue with the cloud is not MS poking around but some hacker. MS is a much larger target than my clients' own servers. They cannot risk their data in the hands of an entity which they have no control over and no SLA with.
MS has a history of poor security, both regards to hacking and data redundancy, look at the user data they lost without having backups. It is not plausible to expect businesses to expose themselves to such risks.
If someone hacks in and gets access to your data, then it's no big deal, someone hacks into my clients' data and companies can go bust, court cases get dismissed, generally not good.
I run my own exchange server so have no need to sync with a desktop, but for those who want to be able to sync their work mailbox data with their home computer it was an excellent secure business feature.
Funny you should mention swype, I've never needed it on winmo, but on Android (and WP7 if I ever was forced to use one longer than 5 minutes) I've installed it simply because the stock keyboard (pretty much identical to WP7's) is vile.
Why should I have to flip to a different overlay to enter numbers when it has the function of longpress?
lude219 said:
All in all, WM6.5 was the last bastion of free and personal mobile OS, which many have failed to embrace (and really, who can blame them?). From here on out, it'll be like Orwell's 1984 and every person will be tagged with an RFID in a form of their mobile phone. Resistance is futile...
GET TO THAA CHOOPPPPAAAA!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't forget new phones which detect the stock rom isn't being run so hard reset to it.
xaccers said:
Mac - show the world you have more money than sense. For people who find mice with more than one button complicated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You, in fact, are a prat. The amount of work needed to put into Linux to make it simply usable is simply ridiculous. Mac runs the fastest out of the box and is insanely reliable.
tribestros said:
You, in fact, are a prat. The amount of work needed to put into Linux to make it simply usable is simply ridiculous. Mac runs the fastest out of the box and is insanely reliable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bwhahahahaha
Thank you, I've just had to edit the original post
xaccers said:
With MS3.5 WM becomes the most finger friendly phone I've used.
From the sounds of things, you don't use a phone for much, so I can see the appeal of WP7 for you.
The issue with the cloud is not MS poking around but some hacker. MS is a much larger target than my clients' own servers. They cannot risk their data in the hands of an entity which they have no control over and no SLA with.
MS has a history of poor security, both regards to hacking and data redundancy, look at the user data they lost without having backups. It is not plausible to expect businesses to expose themselves to such risks.
If someone hacks in and gets access to your data, then it's no big deal, someone hacks into my clients' data and companies can go bust, court cases get dismissed, generally not good.
I run my own exchange server so have no need to sync with a desktop, but for those who want to be able to sync their work mailbox data with their home computer it was an excellent secure business feature.
Funny you should mention swype, I've never needed it on winmo, but on Android (and WP7 if I ever was forced to use one longer than 5 minutes) I've installed it simply because the stock keyboard (pretty much identical to WP7's) is vile.
Why should I have to flip to a different overlay to enter numbers when it has the function of longpress?
Don't forget new phones which detect the stock rom isn't being run so hard reset to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont use my business phone for much, so its perfect for that. My fun phone is an HD2 where I do my tinkering and such. Even when I run WM on it which is most of the time I theme it like WP7, it's just more fluid. I love all the additional features but I still cant find a keyboard on it that can keep up as well as the Samsung Focus' keyboard... I mean I guess it's different user to user but I could never use a stock HD2, it just doesnt work well for me.
tribestros said:
You, in fact, are a prat. The amount of work needed to put into Linux to make it simply usable is simply ridiculous. Mac runs the fastest out of the box and is insanely reliable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not anymore, Ubuntu is voted as one of the user friendliest linux OS's, and has been holding this since 2006.
User friendly =/= Linux. And this is coming from a guy that used Linux on my old computer. Ubuntu is good but still below par and not on pace with OS X or W7.
tribestros said:
User friendly =/= Linux. And this is coming from a guy that used Linux on my old computer. Ubuntu is good but still below par and not on pace with OS X or W7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, different people have different pars
Sent from my Nero powered Vibrant
z33dev33l said:
.... aside from things like the cube it just cant do much that windows cant and windows can do so much more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You got to be kidding right, linux hands down eats windows for breakfast and then some. Linux has no limits (well almost), yeah its complicated but anything good is.
I used WinMo 6.5 for about a year and I found it good, but definitely not good enough out of the box. Very customizable though.
I just got Android and I like it, out of the box very good with alot of potential.
ErOR22 said:
You got to be kidding right, linux hands down eats windows for breakfast and then some. Linux has no limits (well almost), yeah its complicated but anything good is.
I used WinMo 6.5 for about a year and I found it good, but definitely not good enough out of the box. Very customizable though.
I just got Android and I like it, out of the box very good with alot of potential.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That'd likely be the case if there was more support for it or even if they would make a few games for it because WINE doesnt emulate too much... Theres a severe lack of aplications for it and thats its biggest fault. Android might be usable out of the box but its not pretty and compared to iOS/WP7 its laggy...
z33dev33l said:
That'd likely be the case if there was more support for it or even if they would make a few games for it because WINE doesnt emulate too much... Theres a severe lack of aplications for it and thats its biggest fault. Android might be usable out of the box but its not pretty and compared to iOS/WP7 its laggy...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is support for Linux, Ubuntu offers some professional support but main support is Internet/Community. Linux is not focused on gaming and this isn't mobile world where number of applications determine how good a OS is ?? (I never get that... OMG iphone has 500000 apps....like who cares, most are crap anyway).
In terms of what the OS is able to do, Linux wins, can Windows kernel be modified? No, it's not open source. Imagine Linux as a canvas which you can freely paint on and Windows as a small circle on the canvas which you can't paint outside of.
I got Desire HD and Android looks great with Sense and there's zero lag anywhere, and it's totally stock. iOS is horrid and WP7 I haven't used/seen yet.
I wonder if the transitions/animations in WP7 is actually there to hide the lag because they're bloody long winded and I'd need an option to turn them off to get it to my HD2's level.
Had another disappointment with android today, sent myself an email with a phone number, opened it in android an no obvious option to dial the number (hopefully someone will pop on and say there's a setting or a knack) so rebooted to wm and just tapped the number in the email.
I dove into tech early, when I was eleven and have been at it ever since. I've watched a lot grow and have made my informed decisions. Android holds phones, Apple has tablets and normally I believe Linux is best on computers. Still being young though I always have a craving for change in my day to day life. They are so many PC operating systems out there and I want to have a a set OS for my computer like I do with my other devices while still satisfying my want for change. So simply put, what is the most innovative, and frequently updated OS that is best for my 3 main things, Coding/Android development, music, and news. I want it to be well rounded in other categories too, I don't want to try and edit a photo on a piece of horrid software for example.
What do you consider to be the best OS?
What do you use and why?
I use OSX on my laptop and Android on my phone. OSX is fast, intuitive, and aesthetically pleasing. I think one of the reasons why Apple hardware is so expensive is precisely because of the software it runs.
rizzodg said:
I use OSX on my laptop and Android on my phone. OSX is fast, intuitive, and aesthetically pleasing. I think one of the reasons why Apple hardware is so expensive is precisely because of the software it runs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope Apple products are over priced and expensive for the same reason "premium" bottled water and power balance bands exist. Because people are dumb and want to believe that things are better than they actually are. Buy apple products if you like just don't delude yourself its anything special.
Besides that you didn't actually answer the ops question, but nice add shill.
Why in your opinion is OSX good for coding?
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D X515m using xda premium
I just have Windows because I built the computer for gaming and it was the easiest way to reliably get mainstream games to work well on it.
It's a Catch-22 - because myself and relatively few other people are on Linux and demand gaming content, no one is making it - and because no one is making it, we stay with Windows (at least for gaming). I think if game developers released for Linux it would boom like Android has, but everyone is too afraid to make the first step - and props to the people who fuss around getting games to work on Linux via wine and such - I just don't want to deal with it.
I've had Windows DOS, 95, 98, ME (blame parents), XP and now 7. I used a MacBook for a few years that had Leopard on it. I don't think it makes a great deal of difference to the end-user between Windows and Mac - that was my experience. I'm really tired of the look of OSX and Apple's products in general - Windows 8 "not Metro" has a nice look, though I haven't bothered to upgrade yet (no touchscreen monitor or anything, so meh). I used pretty much the exact same programs on Windows and Mac. I used Open Office / NeoOffice, PhotoShop CS3/CS5 (until Adobe pissed me off and now screw them - glad I'm not a professional and can get away with not bothering with their products any more), Chrome/Firefox, et cetera.
Apple's code terminal looks like, prettier, I guess.
When I bought my MacBook, it was a good choice for the money at the time - but things have changed a lot since then. I don't feel Apple's products are a good value any more and I feel like they're falling behind the times by not taking any chances with their design.
I don't think OS is really important for music and news unless you want to use very specific programs. Even Chrome OS could do that.
My grandparents use Kubuntu.
But why tie yourself down to just one OS ? Have a few - switch when necessary. Why not ? Buy a couple of cheap sub-500Gb HDDs if you want to play around without partitioning. You can use a VM program for even faster access to use what you want as you need. I would like to do this with Mint eventually but I'd like to get a second redundant drive for my main one first. Because I have much paranoia.
I've found plenty of great software that's available free for Linux as well as Windows - so I don't think it's a huge issue other than games or if you have a specific software you need to use for which the Linux equivalents don't provide what you need. Perhaps write down programs you'd like to use and see what there is ? Or write down what you want out of an OS ?
But, if you want variety, why pick when you don't have to ?
Using linux for few years, now I hate using anything else ...