Wondows Phone Challenge

[chris4x4]

Our local Microsoft store had a "Windows Phone Challenge" today, so I conned my wife to go with me to check it out. At stake was a $1000.00 gift card if your phone won. Loosers got a $25.00 gift card, so it was worth killing time and participating in. To rule out netwok speed advantage, both phones were hooked up to the stores WiFi. Now....the Windows phone (A Nokia 900) did have some cool features. For example, take a picture of text, and it can translate the words in the photo to any language. However, aside from that, it seemed very confusing. Anyway, I had to draw a card, that had a challenge listed on it. My challenge was to go to facebook, check a friends status, then text my Wife. Im sure you can text whom ever, however, she was first on my contacts. Anyway, the Windows phone kicked my ass. I got my 25 buck card, and my Wife stepped up and said, "let me give it a shot" (Dinc2). Her challenge was to find the local movie theater listings. She lost. However, this is when I noticed that the Windows phone had shortcuts set up for all these "challenges". I asked the guy "Does your phone support voice comands"?. He said "Absolutly". I proposed a new challenge, in which we activate the voice commands, set the phones side by side, and have them find the location of anything that comes to mind. He agreed, so we set the phones down, and I said "Navigate to UPS store". I saw a UPS box on the floor, so it came to mind. The RAZR found multiple locations, pulled the maps, and began to guide me to the closest to my location within 5 seconds. The Windows phone was left with a list of UPS store options, then began displaying the "thinking" icon in the corner of teh screen. It never got further. So I told the guy "Welp....Looks like the droid won this one" and he replied "That isnt an approved challenge......besides....your phone is ugly." I laughed at the "ugly" comment, mentioned that we could have a battery life contest, to wich he said "well.....you'd probably win that one too". Anyhow, We collected our $50.00's in gift cards, bought a new mouse, and left. It was entertaining, and worth the time. Just thought I would share.

 

[jroc]

However, this is when I noticed that the Windows phone had shortcuts set up for all these "challenges".

Just thought I would bold that....lol. IMO a fairer challenge would have been to let you setup your widgets or shortcuts.

If its not like that out the box on WP7....I dont consider that a fair challenge. And that was the issue a few weeks ago when someone with an Android phone won....he already had his homescreens setup and other things setup.

So my question is how is the live tiles setup out the box when you first turn on a WP7?

 

[chris4x4]

Just thought I would bold that....lol. IMO a fairer challenge would have been to let you setup your widgets or shortcuts.

If its not like that out the box on WP7....I dont consider that a fair challenge. And that was the issue a few weeks ago when someone with an Android phone won....he already had he homescreens setup and other things setup.

So my question is how is the live tiles setup out the box when you first turn on a WP7?

Exactly what my Wife and I thought. The phone out of the box isnt set up with the shortcuts they had. When I questioned them about it, and asked if I could repet the challenges, but with my phone set up the same way, the guy went into some BS, and talked his way into a different direction.

 

[tbhausen]

Gee, and to think the primary way I use my phone is via voice commands. In fact, I just composed this message by talking to my phone!

 

[zoxxo]

There are several people on reddit (Android) who have taken the challenge and won, only to have the Microsoft person snub them and claim they didn't win. Some of those people had to complain and escalate their wins to get the prize promised. There is an article here about how Microsoft has loaded the contest to make the win more possible on their side...

 

[awells527]

I think we should stop calling these "contests" and start calling them "marketing campaigns".