In a world filled with numerous smartphones, companies are looking to differentiate themselves among consumers, and Microsoft is no exception.
On the heels of the new Windows 8 release, Microsoft's new phones made a big splash. The phones, including Microsoft's flagship device, the Windows 8X HTC and the Nokia Lumia 920, are the next step in Microsoft's big plan to take back market share that is currently controlled by Android and Apple. The phones run Windows 8, which is an operating system that will be standard among Windows tablets, phones and computers.
Cena Fabrizio considers himself to be a Microsoft person and feels that the new design of the phone will help it stand out.
'The phone looks really nice, I think it will be successful because the image quality is really good and it's really fast, which is something that people appreciate,' Fabrizio, a sophomore studying business, said. 'It's very different, it catches my attention and it's like nothing else on the market.'
Not all students feel that the customizable tiles are a plus. Katie Tonn is a sophomore studying environmental science, and doesn't know if the Windows phone can compete with the cleaner looks of Apple products.
'It's really, really fast, that's the big thing,' Tonn said. 'But it's kind of cluttered. All of the different tiles are kind of weird. It doesn't look very nice, it's not very pretty. On the phone that I have right now, I can have different pages, like a page just for games or news, and this (phone) has it altogether, but's it's just a little bit awkward.'
The tiles, which are a feature of the Windows 8 operating system, allows a user to add all their favorite apps and programs to the homepage of the phone. The tiles can be adjusted in size and location. The size of the screen is .5 inches larger than the iPhone 5, but is noticeable larger in width than both the iPhone 5 and 4S.
Schuyler Goodman, a senior studying computer science, has an Android and feels like introducing a completely new design into the smartphone world makes it difficult to keep up with all the different systems.
'It's definitely different from anything else I've seen, but I think that a lot of people stay with Microsoft because they like the way it works,' Goodman said. 'It works pretty smoothly, it's very streamlined, it's not clunky like a lot of Android phones are, I think it will be successful. It's very simple and it's something that you can make very personal to you.'