Marketplace

Windows Marketplace is at first glance a fancy looking experience, sporting slick graphics, lean design, and a reasonably populated assortment of apps. Unfortunately, when actually using it, edges get quite rough. Let me rub on a few.

(1) There is no sorting option. You are bound to the inherent and rather impalpable logic of the creators of Marketplace when it comes to the sequence in which its entries are listed. While Microsoft offers certain categories like "Top", "Free", and "Highlights", there is no option to sort for rating, alphabetic order, downloads, price, or anything else whithin those categories. This may sound like a minor hassle but has ridiculous implications in reality. An example: Most of us would expect the "Top" category to list the top rated games in descending order of average rating. Not the case. Among the first five results in the "Top" you'll currently find two games with meagre average ratings of less than three out of five stars while some of the highest rated games in Windows Marketplace like 7cave or Carneyvale: Showtime do not even make it into the top 50 of the "Top" category. Can anybody explain this to me?

(2) The rating meter and price tag are omitted in search results. You have to open each entry to see both these informations.

(3) You never know where an app has been stored. There are two distinct storage areas for apps in Windows Phone. First, the main app repository, and second, Xbox Live. Normal applications become stored in the app repository, thus appearing in the main app list and, if you wish, on the home screen. Games are installed within Xbox Live, where they are initially invisible to the rest of the Phone's ecosystem. An Xbox Live item does not display in the main app list but can be added to the home screen. Now there are borderline cases of apps that do not intuitively fit well into either the application or game category. Marketplace does not inform you where an app has been installed, leaving it to you to search the app list and then Xbox Live in order to find the app you just downloaded.

(4) You cannot specify in which category to search. Search results will be a bedlam of applications and music, all crammed into one, often way too long list of hits.

(5) The app crashes - at least on my Samsung Omnia 7. Every once in a while, clicking on a category or an app will cause the screen to black out, render the phone unresponsive for some seconds and then return to home screen. After that, marketplace will fail to open, at least for several minutes, with only a restart of the device providing for immediate remedy. And by the way, not only will marketplace cease to function, Xbox live and the music app (!) will, too.

Update: Issues (4) and (5) appear to have been remedied in the NoDo update. Two down, three to go.