Rumors are as alluring as they are frustrating. One sought after piece of information is blurted out by someone and from there on out it’s like a game of telephone: by the time it reaches you, it’s a completely different story. Sadly Windows Phone’s first major update has suffered from tons of misinformation, misinterpretations, and speculation. But after quite a rollercoaster of ups and downs, Microsoft has finally pushed the final version of their much anticipated NoDo update (officially titled the March Update).
After all of the mass hysteria and public blunders you’d think the update would match the noise. Let’s get this out of the way right now: NoDo isn’t revolutionary. But while it won’t save Windows Phone and solidify Microsoft as a competitor on equal footing with other platforms, NoDo is still an essential update that is further proof Microsoft is willing to take the time to see this operating system grow.
Jump past the break for an in-depth breakdown of what to look forward to.
Copy and Paste
As the headlining feature of NoDo and the most obvious change to the end user when using the update, everyone has their eyes on Microsoft’s approach to modern copying and pasting. Luckily, not only does the function work well but it’s actually better than I originally expected it to be. The basics are simple: if you have any selectable text (document, text on a web page, text entry area, etc.) you simply tap on a word. As you can see in the image above, once you tap a word it’s highlighted, there are two tiny arrows pointing outwards on both sides, and the classic clipboard icon pops up over the selection. The arrows are smoothly and easily dragged around and once you’ve made the selection you wanted, you tap that clipboard icon and the text is copied. The next time you open up your on-screen QWERTY keyboard, the same clipboard will appear in the auto-correct region above the letters; tap it to paste whatever text you copied. The icon hides after pasting it once, but if you just place your finger on the auto-correct region and swipe to the right the icon will reappear and you can re-paste the same selection if you choose to.
Copy and paste also extends to a few different areas of the OS. If you open a text conversation and tap & hold down on a message, a white options menu pops up and a new Copy option has been added. If you tap it, all of the text in the message is saved to your clipboard for later use. Another area where copying has appeared is web browsing; if you tap and hold on any link, a similar white menu opens up and now there’s a Copy Link option. These two are proof that Microsoft has gratefully decided to expand the functionality beyond just simple text selection and embedded it in other areas for even easier usage.
The much needed feature fits like a glove on Windows Phone—it’s intuitive, doesn’t disturb the Metro design language, and it just feels good. Having an iOS device and comparing it with Microsoft’s take, Windows Phone feels smoother and more accurate. But when I compared the two, I also noticed a glaring flaw—copy and paste is limited to text only. Sadly, if you were planning to do some more comprehensive copying and pasting of graphics, pictures, and text you’re going to be severely disappointed. Another limitation of Windows Phone’s copying is that you can only copy words, not individual letters which is an odd omission.
That being said, copy and paste works extremely well in its current iteration. It seems unnecessary to make such a big deal out of copy and paste on a phone, but when you realize it’s not there you have to think to yourself, “really?” It’s something that probably should’ve been in the OS since the beginning but the fact that copy and paste in some form is present at all is a step in the right direction for Microsoft to minimize those mistakes.
Speed, Speed, Speed
Another big promise with NoDo was the improvement of app loading times. This has been a thorn in WP7’s side since launch, especially for Xbox Live games which tend to take much longer to load. I’m not planning to hit you over the head with a barrage of charts, data, and video comparisons. Instead I’ll say this: NoDo feels faster.
Using it on a day-to-day basis so far has been extremely pleasant and, while app loading is still far from instantaneous, it feels like a marked improvement. Also, loading Rise of Glory was noticeably faster than before the update as was starting a Quick Match within the game. In addition to that, WP7’s current form of multitasking (quitting an app with the Start button and going back to it later with the Back Arrow button) feels more snappy. I had made a habit of using this method of ‘multitasking’ before the update and since installing it I’ve already noticed much more speed and much less hesitation.
For example, when using Twitter I tapped on a link in a tweet and used IE to see the page. Then my phone notified me that I had a new email and I quickly went to check it. After reading the email I jumped back to IE and jumped back once more to Twitter and continued reading more tweets. Before the update, all of this would take about a minute or so but after the update I left Twitter and came back within about 45 seconds. Clearly not a drastic improvement, but that is most likely due to Microsoft’s limited multitasking or even the app’s handling of tombstoning. If we had that swanky Card view I’d imagine NoDo’s speed improvements would be essential to increasing workflow speeds tenfold.
But as of right now, NoDo bring along welcome speed improvements to the entire OS. Also one thing to note is that apps that have been coded to work with NoDo seem to perform better than others, which would seem obvious to some but raises the question of how developers can enable WP7’s faster reflexes.
Better Marketplace Search
Microsoft also promised that NoDo would include an easier way to search in the Marketplace. Before the update, searching in the Marketplace was a real mess; Search wouldn’t filter so apps, artists, playlists, and albums would get mixed up with each other depending on what you searched for. People would get so annoyed with unfiltered searching that alternative searching apps like Marketplace Search were released. It was a headache people assumed Microsoft would’ve handled better from the beginning, but they’ve made up for it now…sort of.
Search still doesn’t filter in the way you may want it to, like via an option or through an AppBar, but they’re solution is at least more intuitive. When you enter the Marketplace and press the hardware search button, it takes you to ‘Marketplace Search’ just like before. However, Microsoft has improved the ‘Marketplace Search’ to automatically show apps at the top of the list before showing music. But they’ve gone even further than that—now if you enter the Applications or Games category from the main menu and then press the hardware search button, you get the new ‘Apps and Games Search’ which specifically only shows those. If you enter into the Music category from the main menu, you get ‘Music Search’.
In practice it works well, and the fact that the general Marketplace Search now shows apps at the top saves a lot of time. The solution isn’t amazing as many would probably prefer a way to filter search results on-the-fly, but Microsoft has provided a much needed quick fix here.
Conclusion
That’s mostly it. Like I said, NoDo isn’t exactly the update to make Microsoft capable of taking Apple and Google toe to toe. But receiving any kind of software update at all in today’s smartphone world is a blessing in and of itself, and NoDo does right some of Microsoft’s wrongs thus far. But NoDo is more than that; it’s also a sign from Microsoft that, despite any public naysayers, they are committing to the platform. MIX 11 is just 6 days away from today and we’ll be hearing more from Microsoft about their plans for the rest of the year and the next update for Windows Phone 7. But for now, enjoy NoDo for what it is: an update that just makes something great even better.
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