When it comes to smartphones, the competiton between major operating systems is as intense as it can get. Countless comparisons have been made between Android and iOS, the apps they support and how smoothly they run. Recently, another big player entered the niche making it a three way competition. With the release of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft announced its entry into the smartphone niche. Even before it was launched, both people and critics had high hopes from the software giant. And Windows 7 did not dissapoint at all.

As of now, smartphones powered by Windows Phone 7.5 Mango are doing exceedingly well in the market. As a matter of fact, the OS has come as a much needed breath of fresh air with its clean interface, Live Tiles, integration with Facebook etc. To sum things up, Windows 7.5 Mango has managed to impress one and all with the simplicty of design and techinical efficiency. So, if you are looking for a new smartphone, you might want to check out the range of Windows smartphones.

1. Nokia Lumia 900- We are not surprised that Nokia Lumia 900 was the flagship model of Nokia when it came out with its range of Windows smartphones. Truth be told, Nokia outdid itself with the stunning design, clever interface and impressive performance. The Nokia Lumia 900 comes with a 4.3 inch touchscreen, AMOLED display, 1.4 GHz processor and Windows 7.5 Mango processor. Even as the phone has its problem areas in the form of non-expandable 16 GB memory storage and a not-so-impressive camera, it is definitely groundbreaking for a phone powered by a first generation OS.

2. Nokia Lumia 800- The Nokia Lumia 8oo has much in common with the above mentioned smartphone- both of these have AMOLED display, 1.4 GHz Snapdragon processor and of course, Windows 7.5 Mango. However, the screen size of the Lumia 800 is smaller and the physical built quite resembles that of Nokia N9. In terms of user experience, the Lumia 800 is just as impressive as its higher model.

Clearly then, Nokia has established has a sort of monopoly in the domain of high performing Windows smartphones. Having said that, other companies have also forayed into this new and exciting territory yielding some very satisfactory results. HTC, for instance, came out with HTC Radar and HTC Titan II, both of which use the Windows OS. In the same vein, Samsung also produced the Samsung Focus Flash and Samsung Focus 2. These Windows smartphones are rated among the best ones available in the market as of now. If you are looking for something that departs from the iOS and Android without compromising on the quality and performance, Windows 7.5 Mango is the ideal choice for you. Except that there is one tiny glitch.

So, what exactly is the problem?

Luckily, the problem with buying a Windows smartphone is temporary. A couple of months ago, Windows announced a new upgrade, the Windows Phone 8, which will be released in the market later this year. This upgraded version will have multi-core processor support, NFC wireless sharing, bigger screen and the much talked about Wallet feature which will allow you to make payments through your cell phone. So far, so good. However, Microsoft also announced that this upgrade will not be available for phones running on Windows 7.5 Mango. Instead, these phones will be upgraded to an intermediary Windows 7.8 version which will have some new features. Honestly, this just sounds like a feeble image of what the Windows 8 promises to be. To  make matters worse, apps which would be built for Windows 8 will not be compatible with Windows 7.5. And this precisely is the problem. As of now, it simply doesn’t make sense to invest in a phone running on Mango 7.5 when a better version will be available in a few months. In spite of this, Windows Phone has the makings of a great smartphone OS, one that should be able to challenge the like of Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S3 in the future.