Windows Phone 7‘s minimalist interface is “a true design marvel,” the first really fresh and successful approach to a mobile platform since the iPhone, says Andy Inahtko. What I like about it most myself is how plain it is, how unashamedly computerized. It’s a well-implemented answer to the shiny, gradated skeuomorphic style used by Apple and others, where natural textures and objects are emulated pseudo-realistically in the interface design. As perceived resolution gets higher, my feeling is that Apple’s UI style — and Apple is very good at UI — becomes harder to do without it looking cheesy. A kind of UI uncanny valley, if you will. Adam Greenfield recently had a few thoughts on that, too.