Windows Phone 7 is a huge step forward for a company that tried to prove over and over again, “no, wait! The next version of Windows Mobile will be better! Styluses are cool!” With the new “Metro” UI Microsoft unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Spain, it hopes to refresh not only its phones, but also its image.

Other companies, like Apple and Google, have produced phones with interfaces made for the touchscreen; they haven’t miniaturized and shoehorned a desktop OS for use with a smartphone. Windows Mobile Classic (as it will now be referred to) was a dud, but rather than tear down the problem and build a solution from the ground up, they kept spraying Glade over their turd of an OS and hoped no one would notice the smell.

Finally, after many accolades over their Zune HD interface and seeing the success of Android devices and iPhones, Microsoft came up with a completely different UI for Windows Phone 7…and it looks great.

From the demo videos on Microsoft’s website, the OS looks responsive and has those little touches (like scroll momentum) that add to the whole experience. However, while some may praise Microsoft for finally entering a worthy phone OS into the game, I see a few issues that tell me their turd might come back to bite me in the tuchas.

First, the interface, while very touch-oriented and simplified, is still quite cluttered. The home screen seems pretty easy to navigate, but once you enter the Music application, for example, so much information is thrown at you that you’re not quite sure where to begin.

To add to that cluttered-ness is a horizontally scrolling UI. I haven’t used Windows Phone 7 yet, but judging from the videos and demos available, much of the interactions with the OS will be by scrolling from left to right. Selecting a contact from your address book brings up that contact’s information. Scroll to the right and you’ll see their current posts to Facebook and other social networks. Scroll further to the right and more information about that person is available. It’s probably no different from pressing a “More” or “Next” button, but it’s unfamiliar. We’ll see if unfamiliar = good when the OS drops.

The Music application is where this scrolling UI looks like it could be most frustrating. If I’m scrolling through my listening history and I suddenly want to go back to the main Music menu, it appears that I’d have to scroll all the way back to the left. There’s no visible menu option or button to take me back to the beginning. I could be wrong here, but that’s what I’ve seen on Microsoft’s website and it doesn’t look very intuitive.

Any new operating system takes time to get used to and I’m sure that once Windows Phone 7 hits our phones, navigating it will become like second nature. My point is that it’s not what we’re used to. Then again, neither was the iPhone OS and that’s taken off like a rocket. I hope Windows Phone 7 keeps it simple and leaves the complicated stuff to its predecessor.

My biggest gripe with Windows Phone 7 is its animations. Why, you ask? Because when I want to access my address book or my XBox Live account, I don’t want to wait two and a half seconds to watch my menu options fly off the screen in a fan formation only to see my selected app appear the very same way. It’s pretty, but hardly useful - similar to the Nexus One’s animated backgrounds.

I know 2.5 seconds isn’t that much time to wait between switching applications, but it’s more time between where I am and where I want to be. Once the novelty of the animations wears off, I’m going to get frustrated at having to wait when all I wanted to do was play a song.

Again, I’m going based off the videos available on Microsoft’s website. I don’t know if things are as bad as they seem. Overall, I’m really excited to see Windows Phone 7 in action, as it looks like a welcome change to the dreck users have put up with for years. I think about how it might integrate with Windows Media Center and I could end up with two cell phones and a PC in the house…