Copy and paste not on Windows Phone 7, but it's okay

Apple was widely criticized for not having copy and paste in the iPhone until the third major version of the software, so it was kind of surprising that Microsoft won’t include this seemingly-basic feature in the upcoming Windows Phone 7. The software giant said it wanted to focus on other features first but this should be coming in future iterations.

The company insists that the out-of-the-box experience will be good enough where users won’t miss copy and paste. For example, the software will be intelligent enough to know when you come across a link or web address in a message, so clicking on that will launch the appropriate action. This could eliminate the need for copy and paste, Microsoft said.

Microsoft is also working hard to get the operating system pushed out by the fourth quarter, so it had to focus other things first. The company said it will definitely be coming in later versions, though.

“We ended up getting to the point where we said we need to deliver a great experience and there are certain things we can get done in this period of time and certain things we can’t,” said Microsoft senior director Paul Bryan, in an interview with TechRadar.

I think this is a smart move by Microsoft, as it is focusing on a radically-different OS than its previous versions and it has to prioritize. The new user interface looks innovative and could move us beyond this app-centric environment. Copy and paste is an acceptable loss at first if the software works as well as it looks.

Microsoft would also be smart to follow Apple’s lead in implementing this feature, as I still think the iPhone’s way to copy and paste is more elegant than any other platform. It will take killer software and lust-worthy handsets for Microsoft to reach its goal of 30 million sold by the end of next year.

Speaking of the WP7 UI, check out our video of the new mobile platform in action.

[Via TechRadar]

About The Author

Marin Perez

Marin Perez has torture tested cell phones and smartphones for industry leaders like CNET and InformationWeek. He remembers when 4G was just a screen on PowerPoint presentations and is fascinated with the amount of innovation out there. Marin has spent a lot of time with BlackBerry and Android but he finally broke down a bought an iPhone to see what all the hype's about. He also has too many tablets.

Fran

Well, Marin, if you think Copy & Paste is "an acceptable loss" and not all that important, maybe you'd like to explain how to use Office software without C&P.

If you want to copy a sentence from this webpage, and paste it into a word processor document, how will you do it without Copy & Paste? You can't. It can't be done. Windows Phone 7 is crippled.

When you add that to all the other missing features of Windows Phone 7, it becomes apparent that the platform does not stand a chance against Android and iPhone. Dead in the water.
marinperez

Fair point, particularly as the company is pushing WP7 as a business tool. I'm thinking more on a consumer side, where many don't use the word processor on the go that often.

Also, I'm saying it's acceptable if the software is intelligent enough to handle most of the instances where I'd need it – like copying a phone number to make a call, or copying an address so I can look at it in a map.
Guest

It actually does identify phone numbers and addresses as well as email addresses. It part of the smartsense (I think that's what it's called) that they are implementing.

If you need to copy something from a webpage and can't, what's the harm in typing it. Granted it's time consuming, it's a minor problem compared to what you get in WP7. The other features make up for not having full copy and paste.

I agree with the author. Focus on delivering on other, more important things and then add the feature later in an update. At least you won't have to buy an entirely new phone to get this future in the future.
Does it matter

The next Android phone will not have a 7 key, they will work to add that later…. Copy/Paste is a feature I use all the time and should be part of all phones at launch. Microsoft has missed the boat… again
http://www.facebook.com/krisfunn Kris Funn

When microsoft leaves something out its crippled. When apple does it AND overcharges for it..ITS THE MOST INCREDIBLE DEVICE MANKIND HAS EVER CREATED.