Windows Phone 7 App – HAWP7
Its not taken long but I’ve written my first app, called at the moment a very boring name of HAWP7 the app allows me to turn on or off lights in my house.. It is actually is part of a wider system that I am working on which is being called HA (my creative name thinking skills need working on). HA or Home Automation System is program I am working on with Andy over at A-Jackson.co.uk. The idea is that HA will be able to control all aspects of home automation in our homes, currently still in the early days we have been developing it along side our final year projects, at times its taken over as it seems much more interesting than our projects do.
So having just got a Windows Phone I’d thought I’d write a client to interface with the HA Server I have running on my WHS, so after a little coding help as I’m not a programmer but seem to be getting quite good I came up with this.. A client that allows me to turn on or off all the x10 devices I have, which isn’t many to be honest but I’ve nabbed some more of ebay! The app shows via the light bulb image what lights are currently on and once pressed the devices are turned off via HAServer on the WHS and the list of devices updated.
New Phone – HTC HD7
I’ve been after a new phone ever since I cracked the replacement screen about a week after replacing it. My 24 month contract has been stopping from getting a new phone as I still have a couple of months to wait. Not anymore though, the other day I decided I’d actually get a new phone, the idea has been flying around for quite some time (the idea being to get a phone out right and get a cheaper sim-only contract). I dislike paying £35 a month and being strapped down for 2 years and I think I’d get better value for money buying a phone out right and paying £10-£15 a month instead. Plus it also means I can trade/sell/buy another phone when I like!
So, I don’t know why but I somehow came to the conclusion that I wanted a HD7 with Windows Phone 7 and I’m glad I did. The phone is awesome, after having the same standard interface on the iPhone it is refreshing being able to swipe around Windows Phone 7. Its clean and simple and doesn’t get cluttered up when you install more than 10 apps. One of my dislikes with the iPhone is that you had to manage the interface, you had to decide where apps go and within no time you have around 5 screens of apps… WP7 is much simpler giving you an alphabetical list of applications..
Coming from the 3GS it is also nice to have a bigger screen although WP7 doesn’t seem to maximise the space it has available I think it works though, gives a much cleaner, less cluttered user interface.
One major annoyance though is that BBC iPlayer isn’t supported, although I read that Flash will soon be available it’s quite annoying not being able to watch iPlayer whenever I like. You have to remember it’s pretty new compared to Android or iPhone so I suspect it will be addresses soon!
This post seems to have developed in to more of a review / how WP7 is better than iPhone and I suppose it is in my mind. Although I did like the iPhone when it first arrived after two years and the fact everyone seems to have one takes away that brand new gadget that no one else has feeling, which for a techy person like me, is pretty important to be honest… This brings me to its development support…
Unlike Android you have to pay the £65 to unlock your phone for development, even just to run your own homebrew apps you’ve got to part with £65… I was annoyed when I discovered this information and was ready to start hacking the phone to bypass it, however I remembered and learnt that Microsoft likes students and offers it free with Dream spark which is great but I’m only a student for another couple of months and after than its £65 down the drain every year, maybe I should develop an app to recover the cost? Any ideas?
It is quite annoying that you have to pay but I can see why, it’s slightly disconcerting that Android and Google provide no moderation on its app store. Being open source is great but as everyone learns from the days in high school… Not all the kids play nicely… Hearing that over 50,000 Android devices are infected with a rootkit, whispering back to hacker HQ with you information is a little scary. You shouldn’t have to worry about your phone getting a virus; you want it to just work.
Anyway, the phone is pretty awesome, the battery life opinion is yet to be decided upon but generally I’m very happy with it. The People/Contacts tile is great adding everyone you know on Facebook, Outlook and Windows live which prompts you to remove those contacts you’ve not spoken too since forever but a little contract purge is something everyone has to do sometime…
