Surprise! I’m a Telstra Social Reviewer! #telstrawp7

Finally I don’t have to keep it a secret anymore! It’s official, I am one of the lucky 25 people chosen to participate in the Telstra social review of Windows Phone 7.

Excited is probably an understatement.

For all of those who are checking out my blog for the first time – Welcome! Just so you know little more about me: I work in the web industry and am known for being a little bit of a social media tragic… I am always checking my Twitter/Facebook/Foursquare/LinkedIn/Yammer and was featured on the 7:30 Report earlier this year talking about how I live and breathe social media. I also have a cocktail obsession (you can thank the good people in Melbourne laneway bars for that) and so if I’m not saving the universe one website at a time you can usually find me hanging out around the small bars of Sydney.

However, this whole situation had such bad timing –  I had been using a Nokia e71 for the last two years, much to the amusement of my work friends and non-techy friends as I was one of the only people they knew without a “real smartphone” (their words, not mine). I was able to access my email, Facebook and Twitter so I was pretty much set. However, this all changed on Tuesday when after two weeks of searching and harassing every single Vodafone store in the city, I was finally able to get my hands on an iPhone 4. When my sim card transferred across an hour or so later I already had a missed call…from Mike at Telstra informing me that I was selected to be a part of the review.

I guess the positive spin you can put on this is that I go from no smartphones to two smart phones in a matter of days!

Because I’m super lazy, I thought I’d Q&A a couple of things:

What do I know about Windows Phone 7?
1) It was featured on Beauty and the Geek

2) This:

But seriously, with the market pretty much being owned by Apple and Android at the moment (FYI I’m aware Symbian has the biggest market share, but it’s decreasing), I think that Windows Phone 7 might be able to be a bit of a dark horse in the market – although realistically, it’s not going to absolutely blow either of these guys out of the water in the next couple of years.. but from what I’ve seen around the interwebz, it sounds like Microsoft has started to get their act together with user experience, so it will be cool to see the results.

What has Telstra asked me to review?
The Hardware (HTC Mozart), The Software (Windows Phone 7) and the Telstra Network.

Why am I reviewing?
Telstra has done a Social Review thing before – they saw an awesome benefit in reviews for consumers, by consumers.

What do I want to get out of this experience?
I live for communicating on the web, whether it’s through social media or blogs, and after getting an iPhone I’ve become addicted to apps.  I’d like to see how this new phone really does compete with both my e71 and my iPhone.

Where can I see your reviews?
My main communication platforms of choice are tweeting (follow the #telstrawp7 hashtag) and blogging. But this whole thing is really a two way relationship and I’m reviewing for you – so seriously ask me anything about my experiences! If there is something you want me to test out, let me know. BTW I really wanted to pull a Blendtec, but unfortunately I’m not allow to dismantle the phone while I’m doing the review.

And most importantly…

Are you going to be like “OMG THE PHONE AND TELSTRA IS TOTES AWESOME”?!?
Seriously, no. Like super totally no. The 25 of us weren’t chosen as reviewers because we were able to suck up to Telstra on our application forms. We were chosen because we were honest, and would talk straight when it came to reviewing stuff. There’s also a legal obligation for us to be honest and truthful anyway – on both a personal level and at a Telstra level – and I really can’t afford to be sued right now.

So I guess that’s about it – I look forward to the next two weeks sharing this review with all of you!

As a quick final note – I’m required to tell you that I have been given a HTC Mozart with Windows 7 Phone by Telstra free of charge to review. The comments expressed by me reflect my own user experience and personal opinion and are not made on behalf of Telstra.