t-because/
I Won The Windows Phone Challenge, But Lost “Just Because”
By Sahas Katta March 25, 2012 03:26 PM 177 Comments
I headed down to the Santa Clara Microsoft Store this morning after hearing
about the Windows Phone challenge last night. For those not familiar,
anyone who completes a task faster than a Windows Phone on their own smart
phone can win a $1000 Special Edition Laptop assuming they meet some
standard terms and conditions. Those who “get smoked” by a Windows Phone,
have the opportunity to trade in their existing device for Windows Phone.
After signing a waiver agreeing to let Microsoft use a photo of me in their
advertising, I got in line for the challenge. I was using a Samsung Galaxy
Nexus which runs the latest Android operating system on the Verizon
Wireless network. As requested, I shut down my phone and powered it on in
front of an employee when it was my turn. (I’m assuming they don’t want
anyone pre-launching any apps in advance.)
The Microsoft Store employee I was up against then explained the selected
challenge. Her exact words were the following: “bring up the weather of
two different cities.” The one who could do that first would win. I felt
like I struck gold since I knew I already had two weather widgets on my
home screen: one for my current location (San Jose, CA) and another for
Berkeley, CA.
After a three-second count down, I hit the power button on my phone and
said “DONE!” out loud. I had disabled the lock screen entirely, which is
a rather awesome out-of-the-box feature of Android that takes you straight
to the home screen with a single push of the power button. I didn’t even
need to touch the screen, since the two weather widgets were already there.
My opponent finished a split-second later. She had two live tiles on her
home screen displaying the weather of two different cities as well. Why
does it take longer on Windows Phone? She had to perform two actions.
First, she hit the power button to turn on the screen. Second, she had to
swipe away the lock screen. That’s pretty much as fast as it gets on that
platform. Windows Phone takes two interactions. Android takes just one.
I excitedly thought I won out of pure luck. However, I was quickly told
that I lost. I asked for a reason and was told Windows Phone won because “it
displays the weather right there.” That was rather unclear. I showed her
my device which also was showing off the same information with two
side-by-side weather widgets on the center home screen. After pressing for
a better reason, I was told that Windows Phone won “just because.”
After trying to push for a real answer since I clearly won the contest by
their rules, another Microsoft Store employee (possibly a manager) came by
after noticing me asking more questions. Thinking on his feet, he quickly
gave a ridiculous out-of-thin-air reason that I need to display the weather
of different cities in different states and that “my phone could not do
that”.
I calmly and politely tried pointing out that I was absolutely never told
about having to show off two different states, but at this point I realized
there was no point in even attempting to argue since the Microsoft Store
employees clearly had no intention of even potentially discussing the
possibility of considering me the winner.
I was then asked to snap a photo in front of a sign that read along the
lines of “My Android was smoked by Windows Phone” before leaving the
store.
I was quite excited to take the challenge, but left the Microsoft Store in
distaste. I sure hope the purpose of this marketing ploy is to attract new
customers by demonstrating the highlights of Windows Phone, not frustrating
them instead. If anyone from Microsoft would like to have a rematch, I
would be happy to smoke a Windows Phone with Android, again.
--
三生石上旧精魂，
赏月吟风莫要论；
惭愧情人远相访，
此身虽异性长存。
※ 来源:·日月光华 bbs.fudan.edu.cn·[FROM: 58.247.227.*]
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