TheWindowsPhone

These leaked Microsoft documents from Tweakers.net keep giving more and more goodies. In addition to great details on hardware specs, OS architecture, and the Windows Update process for Windows Phone 7 devices, the documents also outlined the types of customizations OEMs and carriers will be allowed to make.

As we pretty much knew already, carriers and OEM manufacturers will not be allowed to change the UI very much. The leaked documents show that minor changes to the interface will be allowed:

• Connection icons (3G, etc.)
• Add logo and tiles to home screen, can NOT remove default Microsoft tiles
• Can add apps BUT:
  • maximum of six apps
  • must be approved my Microsoft first
  • no bigger than 60MB total
• Change web search provider in IE only, other apps still use Bing
• Customize the boot screen
• Add wallpaper and ringtones
• Camera software can be tweaked

While we already knew the total customization available on Windows Mobile 6.x with apps like Spb Mobile Shell or HTC’s TouchFlo/Sense UIs was gone, it still hurts to see it in black and white. Microsoft is really reigning in the carriers and OEMs here in an effort to maintain a consistent(ly high) user experience.

That said, Microsoft is implementing some nice controls on bloatware, which should help address one of the primary causes for poor user experiences on Windows Mobile devices in the past.

Check out these other three posts for more details from the leaked Microsoft documents:

• Leaked Docs Show Windows Phone 7 Architecture
• Windows Phone 7 Update Procedure Detailed in Leaked Docs
• A Bit More Detail on Windows Phone 7 Hardware Requirements

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The good folks over at Telus Mobility have just dropped a shiny new HTC Touch Pro2 on my front door, so I’ll be giving it a long-term evaluation from now through the summer. I must say… I like!

After the inglorious end of my Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 last week I was a little hesitant to try another slider, but this HTC is built like a brick house and feels like it might last me long enough to send it back to Telus in one piece.

Beyond the really solid build, the specs are nice and my initial impression is very favourable: I like the TouchFlo interface (first time I’ve used it extensively), the big, bright 3.6” touch screen is beautiful, the camera is nice, and most importantly for a slider phone: the keyboard is great! The keys are huge and spaced apart, with just the right tactile feel, and you can get at almost any character you would ever need without going into a symbols menu.

Anyway, a solid thanks to Telus for the new toy, and I’ll keep everyone posted on my thoughts!

Last year some smartphone specs were leaked out of Microsoft that many guessed were Microsoft’s Project Pink Chassis: a.k.a. the magical Zune Phone. Well Mary Jo Foley over at ZDnet seems to think that this Chassis was actually part of an evolving discussion at Microsoft on how to lock down their phone ecosystem so that they had fewer hardware partners that were required to adhere to much stricter specifications.

On a recent “Frankly Speaking” podcast (feb 20) the Microsoft Australia Developer Evangelist hosts Michael Kordahi and Andrew Coates discuss the three different chassis that will be available for Windows Phone 7 Series devices. Chassis 1, which was the one in circulation already, was for big, touchscreen-only devices with 1GHz processors a-la HTC HD2.

Chassis 2 phones will feature hardware keyboads – either Palm Treo-esque or of the sliding QWERTY variety – and touchscreens. Then there was Chassis 3, which they guessed might be candybar form factor.

They suggested that Chassis 1 devices would be the first out of the gates around Christmas, but offered no details on when the Chassis 2 and 3 devices might be available. We’ve already seen a prototype of the LG “Chassis 2” type design, with a sliding QWERY keyboard, so maybe we’ll see more than just Chassis 1 devices at Christmas?

The sheer variety of hardware devices available will certainly be one of the main advantages of Windows Phone 7. By locking in some rigorous hardware requirements for partners and OEM manufacturers Microsoft can ensure a consistent user experience across a broad spectrum of devices.

Microsoft officially launched Windows Phone 7 Series (previously referred to as Windows Mobile 7, Windows Phone 7, or even Photon) on Monday, dropping the gauntlet on what will shape up to be a mighty mobile battle come Christmas.

A whole new OS

Windows Phone 7 Series Phones, as the new devices will be officially known (yikes), will be a complete departure from the Windows Mobile devices we are all familiar with and feature a brand-new, possibly revolutionary UI. The Start menu? Gone. Touch elements designed for six-year-old fingers? Gone. In fact, Microsoft’s new OS is aiming to change the mobile phone paradigm by shifting away from an app-centric model to an experience or task-based system that groups your personal data, social networking streams, location-based services, and media sources into what Microsoft calls ‘hubs’ (more later)

Reflecting their determination to re-define the relationship between end-user and their phone, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced at the Barcelona 2010 Mobile World Congress:

“In a crowded market, filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 marks a turning point toward phones that truly relfect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

Joe Belfiore, vice president of Windows Phone, said it was time to stop thinking about mobile phones like PCs:

“A phone is not a PC, it’s a smaller, more intimate device,” he said. “Too many phones are made to look like PCs. We wanted to come up with a user design that was different, that moved beyond the metaphor of the PC.”

Live Tiles

This ain’t your daddy’s Windows Phone. Microsoft has taken advantage of the fact that it is so late with this product to properly think out how people use their mobile devices. They have no doubt heard for years now about how un-finger-friendly Windows Mobile is and how counter-intuitive it can seem compared to its competition. They’ve seen people complain about icon overload and the app-to-app routine on the iPhone (one app for Facebook, one app for twittering, one app for YouTube, etc); The result? Live Tiles.

The new home screen on WP7 devices will consist of several vertically-scrollable live tiles. The main screen shows 5 live tiles: Internet Explorer, Phone, Text, People. Each of these boxes is “live” and auto-updates with real-time information from all of your various info sources. So when your friend updates his Facebook page, that update shows on the Friends tile. If you miss a phone call, the Phone tile updates to show the number of missed calls, and your most recent photos fade in and out in the Pictures tile.

Hubs

Clicking on any of these main live tiles will bring up the corresponding Hub. There are a bunch of default hubs that will ship with WP7: People, Games, Xbox Live, Pictures, Music & Video (with support for more than just Zune accounts), Zune, Office (with support for multiple exchange accounts), and of course the Marketplace. These hubs pull in data from all of your various sources and present it in a task-oriented manner, rather than using a separate app for each service you use.

For example, the above pic shows the People hub. The first screen you will see when you click on the People tile is the ‘Recent’ screen. Scrolling right will give you all of your peeps, scrolling right again will show you the What’s New tab, which lists all of your friends’ most recent social media updates,

Similarly, when you tap on the Music and Video tile, up pops the Zune menu. Scrolling to the right brings up your History, continuing to scroll brings up the “What’s New” tab, and then Apps that are music or video related. Hubs create an easy way to browse all of your data – both on-device and online – by topic or experience. Very cool.

X-Box and Zune Integration

While Microsoft’s mobile lately may have missed the mark, they have had remarkable success with their X-Box and Zune line. The X-Box model has been a decade in the making and Microsoft has earned a very respectable share of a competitive market – something it needs to do with WP7. The Zune HD was released last year to terrific reviews and great critical, if not commercial, success.

Microsoft is finally taking advantage of these successful platforms and fully integrating X-Box Live and Zune with Windows Phone 7 Series devices. Mobile gaming might be limited initially, but expect this to be a major component and battle ground in the coming year or two, and Microsoft (for once) has a clear advantage over rivals like Palm and Apple here.

As for Zune integration, you can almost thank the Zune for the new UI. Internally at Microsoft, the UI for the Zune HD was referred to as Metro; the same name they use to discuss the Windows Phone 7 Series interface. Beyond that, expect to see complete integration with the Zune service and any Zunes you might have lying around.

Manufacturers and Carriers

Just as with Windows Mobile, Microsoft has lined up a top-notch list of manufactures who are eager to start putting out Windows Phone 7 Series devices. The list includes longtime Windows Mobile supporters HTC, LG, Samsung and Toshiba, as well as Garmin-Asus, on-the-fence Sony Ericsson, and even Dell.

Unlike with Windows Mobile, however, and this is absolutely critical, Microsoft has imposed a Chassis requirement for all WP7 devices. This means that all WP7 phones will need have a minimum hardware spec that – so far – includes several mandatory hardware buttons (home, search and back), CPU and screen size/resolution requirements, plus an accelerometer, GPS, camera and other goodies.

This Chassis system should help maintain a good user experience and avoid manufacturers putting out shoddy hardware that gives Windows Phone 7 devices a bad rap.

Carriers will include all of the Big Four US carriers: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon – as well as Deutsche Telekom, Orange, SFR, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telstra, and Vodafone. Rogers and Telus haven’t made any comment yet.

WP7: Do or Die for Microsoft

By most accounts, it’s do or die time for Microsoft. For whatever reason, most likely because they simply underestimated the growth of the smartphone/mobile market, Microsoft hasn’t taken the mobile space very seriously for the past four or five years… despite being one of the first out of the gate.

By the time the first Windows Phone 7 Series device hits the market, we’ll be looking at a new iPhone, a new version of Google’s Android, and an updated webOS from Palm… very serious competition for Windows Phones. If Microsoft blunders, they might just miss the last train out of the desktop station.

I read an interesting post over at PocketNow in which Joe Levi compares some key aspects of Windows Mobile to Google’s Android. The article just brushes the broad strokes, but Joe correctly identifies the licensing model as one of Windows Mobile’s main obstacles in the near future. With Android’s open sources, no-license approach which gives Google faster development cycles, quicker deployment to partners, and faster adoption on handsets.

Microsoft has recently signed a deal with Bsquare to handle all their licensing, a move that might end up sinking them, as I contemplated out loud in an earlier post. By adding yet another layer of corporate bureaucracy to their model, Microsoft risks slowing losing any meager momentum they still have.

Thoughts?

Maybe it’s no Windows Mobile 6.5, but it’s nice to know HTC isn”t ignoring the poor schleps who don’t get Windows Mobile 6.5 upgrades.

For users of the not-too-long-ago really hot HTC Touch HD, HTC has just put out two new updates for Windows Mobile 6.1:

• Office Mobile Enhancement: “this update is applicable to all ROM Versions” and “updates your Office Mobile products to make your life even more convenient, giving you the flexibility to work the way you like. Now with enhanced Find & Replace functionality, this feature frees you to quickly edit your documents on the go”.
• Notifications Enhancement: “this update is applicable to all ROM Versions” and “combines your SMS function with our unique notifications to bring you your messages as soon as you get them. You will receive notifications whenever your phone is powered on and has reception, allowing you to stay close to the people you care about while on the go”.

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Is Windows Mobile 6.5 is helping to drive sales of HTC Windows Phones? According to HTC CEO Peter Chou:

HTC is currently cooperating with a number of carriers in Europe, including T-Mobile, Orange and Vodafone, to promote the sales of HTC HD2 and demand from those carriers is outpacing supply, Chou indicated.

Digitimes and HTCPedia read this as evidence that WinMo 6.5 is helping to sell devices, but you’ve got to wonder: HTC makes excellent quality devices, has completely replaced the Windows Mobile interface with TouchFlo, TouchFlo 3D, and now Sense and just re-branded themselves and launched a new, expanded marketing campaign… so is this demand for their devices thanks to Windows Mobile 6.5 or in spite of it?

Anyone care to hazard a guess?

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One of my favorite RSS readers on my old HTC Tytn was SmartRSS reader from BeetzStream has just been updated to a new version, SmartRSS Touch Edition. I only stopped using SmartRSS because another, more touch-friendly RSS reader came across my lap, but I’m now evaluating the demo version of the new version of SmartRSS to see if I should switch back.

Here’s what BeetzStream’s website has to say about the new SmartRSS Touch Editiion:

• iPhone Touch style application
• Fingers/Stylus inputs only, no key is used
• Requires Windows Mobile Professional edition, i.e. it needs a touch screen, SmartPhone devices won’t work
• Needs .Net CF 3.5: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=AB99342F-5D1A-413D-8319-81DA479AB0D7&displaylang=en
• Works best with VGA devices, QVGA(240×320) is mininum
• Supports WM 6.0, 6.1, and 6.5.   Should work with WM 5.0 as well, if .Net CF 3.5 is installed

Watch the little video to get an idea of how it works, then head over to BeetzStream’s website to download an evaluation copy. I can’t figure out where to buy it, should you decide to… doesn’t look like there’s a link anywhere…

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This video shows a port of HTC’s TouchFlo 3D version 1.3 running on a Samsung Omnia 2. TouchFlo looks quite comfortable on the Omnia 2, but 1.3 is a pretty old version. No word on where you could nab this, but if I find out I’ll post the link.

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Herg, a developer at XDA, has ported Sony’s X1 Panels over to the HTC Touch Pro2. There is also a link for additional Panels you can download, but it doesn’t look like many work just yet (no Facebook, no Skype, but yes to Windows Live). Check out the download links here at mobilitydigest if you want to give it a whirl, and please report back with your thoughts!

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