This 10-minute video shows a nice walk through of all the major features of the latest build (6176) of Windows Phone 7 Emulator. This version of the OS emulator is much more complete than previous versions, thanks in part to the neat phone app (kind of a key ingredient) and the new Windows Phone 7 Office apps, which I features in a previous post.
Watch the video or you can check out the latest version of the Windows Phone 7 emulator for yourself here at XDA.
[via]
Some new videos have surface showing off the Windows Phone 7 Office Hub and other cool apps and features. The first video below demonstrates the email capabilities, some calendaring, and how it syncs with the Live Tiles. The second video shows off the Windows Phone 7 Office Hub, where you can get quick access to recent docs, SharePoint files and other office goodies.
This all looks promising… clean, smooth, and pretty intuitive considering how much data they’re showing off. What do you think?
[via]
Hot on the heels of Microsoft’s April refresh to the Windows Phone Developer Kit, they have just released a refresh to the Windows Phone Developer Training Kit, too.
[via]
The Economic Times of India is reporting that a Microsoft is planning a lower-cost version of Windows Phone 7 specs to come after the initial launch of Windows Phone 7 later this year. Aimed at emerging markets and developing countries, this low-end chassis would probably feature a smaller screen with a lower resolution, possibly the HVGA 480 x 320 resolution that was mentioned at MIX.
Says Sudeep Bharati, director, developer tools for Microsoft India’s Visual Studio Team at Tech.Ed 2010:
“The low-cost version of the phone will have a different chassis than version 1 to be launched by 2010 end… The new version may also have a smaller screen and will thus be priced lower to suit developing markets like India. We are in talks with OEMs to gain their feedback on a new chassis”
[via]
The guys over at Engadget have managed to get some leaked specs and pictures of the upcoming Dell Lightning, a portrait-oriented QWERTY slider Windows Phone due to drop this fall with Windows Phone 7.
The specs on this new Dell Lightning are impressive: the zippy 1GHz Qualcomm QSD 8250 Snapdragon processor, a 4.1” OLED display, 5MP camera, 512MB RAM and 1GB of flash storage, plus an included 8GB MicroSD card. It also comes with all basic Windows Phone Chassis requirements: GPS, accelerometer, compass, and FM radio. Plus it looks like this one will be LTE upgradeable in 2011.
Looks like a pretty hot device – here are the full specs:
[via]
The leaked Microsoft document from Tweakers.net gets into a little detail about minimum hardware requirements for the upcoming Windows Phone 7 devices. We already had a good idea of what we were looking forward to, but now we are looking at firm minimum requirements, plus a “Performance Chassis” which boasts slightly better numbers.
Minimum specs look as follows:
The Windows Phone 7 Performance Chassis adds a strict minimum of 480×800 resolution for the screen and something called “gesture interface” support (no details on what that means). There may also be some memory optimization involved.
So, like much of what has come out of these leaked docs: not much surprise here. Of particular interest, however, is the ARM v7 requirement, which keeps Intel’s Moorestown chips.
Check out these other three posts for more details from the leaked Microsoft documents:
[via]
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:
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:
[via]
This screenshot from a leaked Microsoft document that Tweakers.net got their hands on shows the update process for Windows Phone 7 devices.
As you can clearly see, all roads lead to Microsoft! All updates – from Microsoft, manufacturers, carriers or others – will be distributed via Microsoft’s Windows Update service. It looks like the Windows Phone 7 device will check OTA to see if there are updates available, and then you download and install the the updates through your PC using Activesync/Zune software.
This is terrific news! No more waiting for your carrier to put out an updated ROM (which they never do) or tracking down a pirated ROM on the forums because you want the latest version of your OS. Plus, it ensures a consistent experience for Microsoft, one of their primary goals with Windows Phone 7.
Good move, Microsoft.
Check out these other three posts for more details from the leaked Microsoft documents:
[via]
The Dutch website Tweakers.net managed to get their hands on some internal Microsoft documents that outline the OS architecture – including memory, graphics and storage details.
To start with, Windows phone 7 is going to be a 32-bit, dual-layer (User space and Kernel space) OS. There’s no surprise here – with Microsoft’s rigid minimum chassis requirements for Windows Phone 7 there’s no need for any kind of hardware layer, and I don’t see anything shocking in the individual components of the Kernel space. Everything in the Kernel interacts directly with the core components of the Shell and driver services, and then on to your applications. This general layout is quite similar to Windows Mobile 6.x.
Memory on Windows Phone 7 devices will be organized differently. Like Windows Mobile 6.x, up to 2GB will be available to each layer but, unlike WM6, the non-kernel memory is limited to nice, big 1GB per application instead of a measly 32MB on 6.x. This means much more memory available to apps and – ironically – better multitasking (even though multitasking is gone in WP7).
File storage is taken care of on Windows Phone 7 using IMGFS and TexFAT, for system files and user storage respectively. The user storage will employ a Unified Storage System structure, which means users will see a unified list of files, regardless of their actual storage location.
Graphics is taken care of on the Microsoft side by a generic 2D graphics runtime and a Direct3D 11 runtime for 3D graphics. This uses the same Direct3D11-on-top-of-10-on-top-of-9 scheme we’ve seen on the desktop version of Windows 7 and leaves actual 2D and 3D drivers to the manufacturer.
So is this good or bad?
Nothing here stopped me in my tracks, but a few things are of note:
The document that Tweakers.net nabbed was clearly marked “revision 3.0” and makes no bones: “The Architecture for Windows Phone OS 7.0 describers features that are subject to change, and should therefore be considered preliminary.” Still, a little fodder is always fun.
Check out these other three posts for more details from the leaked Microsoft documents:
[via]
I just read over on Engadget that some folks over at ZuneBoards have announced that the Zune HD – and all its predecessors – have been hacked open!
The Zunes have been pried open before, but not to this full extent. According to ZuneBoards, this hack gives developers access to “everything XNA withheld before”, meaning any application that can run on Zune hardware… games, apps, emulators, anything.
This might have implications for Windows Phone 7 when it is released later this year, says WMExperts, as Windows Phone 7 is also a closed environment like the Zune. With this new Zune hack, which allows for limitless side-loading of apps from any source at all, are we looking at the possibility of the same work-around on Windows Phone 7?
[via]
These grainy video snapshots are from Manan’s website, where he has posted a couple neat videos from Microsoft’s Hyderabad IDC guys at Tech Ed India 2010. Understandably excited to present their work, they demoed a 3D spinning browser, and in another they played with the X and Y orientation of a video while it was playing. Neat tricks, guys!
[via]
I read an interesting post over at PocketNow in which Chuong Nguyen looks at the likelihood of the new iPhone OS4 starting a fragmentation of the iPhone market. I say ‘Yay!’
Since iPhone OS3-and-under iPhones and iPod Touches won’t be upgradeable to iPhone OS4, Apple will inevitably end up with iPhone users wanting to run apps their devices don’t support, and possibly unable to re-install their OS or legacy apps after a crash or a hard reset. Chuong goes on to compare this to the fragmentation troubles that Android now finds itself facing and from which Windows Mobile has long suffered.
He correctly points out that the schism in Apple’s case comes from a software update, not hardware differences. In Android-land, the fragmentation comes not only by way of software updates (from both Google and the open-source community) but also from hardware differences between devices, like strange screen resolutions, differing CPUs, GPUs and form factors, touchscreen/not touchscreen, etc.
And Microsoft?
Microsoft Partner Group Program Manager for the Windows Phone Application Platform & Developer Experience (catchy title) Charlie Kindel recently refuted suggestions that Microsoft had forgotten about business users when designing Windows Phone 7 series devices:
“Windows Phone 7 Series will be a great business phone. We applied the same end user focus to designing the phone’s business capabilities that we did with every other element of the phone. We asked people and even IT administrators what they need from a phone. The answer was consistent. They want a single device that excels at core business functions like email, reading and editing Office documents and collaboration, while also offering rich features and capabilities that help people stay on top of the different parts of their lives, at home and at work.
“We expect Windows Phone 7 Series to appeal to people who are active, connected and working, so Exchange & SharePoint integration and the features within the new Office hub are core to the phone’s value. Similarly, we know that people add these phones to corporate networks and that we need to make that process easy for administrators. Interestingly, when we talk to corporate IT staff and business decision makers they ask us to give them a compelling phone that will not only improve productivity, but also appeal to the end user’s “whole life,” as people wish to carry only one Smartphone to meet both business and personal needs. We think Windows Phone 7 Series will do this better than any other phone on the market today.
For us, it’s not a matter of ‘consumer’ OR ‘corporate.’ We view our target customer as the kind of person who is looking to technology as a helper in their lives, and we find this kind of person in small businesses, all the way to the largest corporations. Whichever end of the spectrum they are in, we are building a phone that works for them, in their environment.”
What do you think? From an IT perspective, it certainly can’t hurt that Windows Phone 7 will be soooo much more limited in terms of functionality. The UI is locked down, the app space is trimmed, and functionality is cut back (with no cut/paste or multitasking)… generally all things that The Man likes.
[via]
Mary Jo Foley has just posted that the first Windows Phone 7 devices out of the gate won’t have browser support for Silverlight. We already knew that Silverlight 4 won’t be ready in time for the Windows Phone 7 launch, but Microsoft had been distributing version 3 with SDKs anyway.
Well it turns out devices compiled for Windows Phone 7 written in Silverlight will run fine, but Microsoft doesn’t plan to support in-browser Silverlight plugins until a later release:
“In its first release, the Windows Phone browser does not support a browser plug-in model. We are evaluating this for future releases of Windows Phone. It is very straightforward to take an existing Silverlight browser based application and re-compile it to target the Windows Phone. Silverlight 4 has not yet been released. We will be sharing more details on Windows Phone support for Silverlight 4 once both products are in the market. Stay tuned.”
[via]
Microsoft just announced the long awaited Project Pink details – now to be known as Kin. Using the themes of “Kindred Spirits”, two phones (imaginatively called the Kin 1 and the Kin2) feature a new UI on some hip-looking smartphones.
Built by Sharp, the two new Kin 1 and Kin 2 phones are heavy on the cameras! Microsoft has placed a huge emphasis on the quality of the cameras, “especially in dim light”, on the Kin 1 and Kin 2, which feature a 5 and 8 megapixel camera respectively. The Kin 2 even shoots 720p video.
Still on the multimedia side, the Kin phones will both ship with Zune app, including the Zune Service.
The Kin Loop
Kin takes the ‘hub’ idea of Windows Phone 7 and brings it to a lower-end, ‘amplified, not simplified’ OS. The Kin Loop is a customizable contact screen that pulls in the latest social networking feeds from all your friends. The latest Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and, of course, Windows Live updates will be pulled right onto the phone.
The Kin Spot
The Kin Spot is a cool feature that allows users to drag items from pretty much any screen onto “the spot” – pics, videos, web pges, search results, even contacts, then send them, txt them, upload them or otherwise begin a conversation with those items Everything is also geo-tagged, so you can pull up your pics on a Bing map. Cool ideas.
Kin Studio
Microsof’t’s MyPhone on steroids, the Kin phones automatically store everything you do – pictures, videos and communications – and displays them to you on a "timeline”. Almost creepy, but with the way our phones are integrated into our lives these days I suppose it makes sense.
Applications
The Kin 1 and Kin 2 also feature some essential and solid looking apps, namely a handy global search, a decent looking web browser that includes pinch-and-zoom.
—
Microsoft has teamed up with Verizon and Vodafone for distribution and – just before signing off with the “the new Kin: the phone experience that connects what you love to the people you love – Microsoft said the phones would appear on shelves in May.
It would be easy to assume that the Kin is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction designed to stop the hemorrhaging while they get Windows Phone 7 to market. After all, Apple has just announced their iPhone OS4 and and dropped the iPad, and Android is grabbing market share quickly.
But let’s not forget that Project Pink has been around for years now, so this is not a reactionary move. Microsoft has made no secret of their plans to keep Windows Mobile 6.5x devices around under the “Classic” brand, so perhaps these Kin devices will stick around in the long run be lower-functioning family of devices.
Regardless of the future of the devices, the Kin Studio is not a product that was developed on the side. I firmly believe we’ll see this incorporated into the MyPhone experience and integrated tightly into both the Zune and Windows Phone 7 devices, plus I’m sure your XBox world.
To me, the most revolutionary thing about what I’ve seen of Windows Phone 7 is the reorganization of data around the hub idea, and that seems to be the biggest feature of these new Kin phones (in form of the Kin Loop). In that sense, I’m really eager to see how the market receives the Kin.
We’ll surely be digesting this announcement for a while… any thoughts from you guys though?
This little video walkthrough explains the Zune music component of Windows Phone 7 OS. For anyone who has been trying to make do with the built-in Windows Media Player for WM 6.x or even the aftermarket apps like PocketMusic, this video should spell welcome relief!
Microsoft has decided (wisely) to drop the word “Series” from their mouth-mashing title for Windows 7 devices. So, no longer will we be buying Windows Phone 7 Series Phones, it will be Windows Phone 7 Phones. Better? I guess… but I think the offending word in the title was “Phone”, no?
Engadget has put a nice little chart together that compares key features of iPhone 3 and 4 to Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows Phone 7. Funny, it almost makes Windows Mobile 6.5.3 look like the most capable OS of them all!
| iPhone OS 4  |
iPhone OS 3.1.3  |
Windows Phone 7  |
Windows Mobile 6.5.3  |
| Kernel Type | OS X | OS X | Windows CE 6 | Windows CE 5 |
| Platform Adaptability | Good | Good | Good | Excellent |
| Platform Age | Adolescent | Adolescent | Young | Mature |
| First-party Enterprise Support | Exchange | Exchange | Exchange | Exchange |
| Wireless Tech | GSM, WiFi | GSM, WiFi | GSM, CDMA, WiFi | GSM, CDMA, WiFi |
| Screen Gestures | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| Screen Tech | Capacitive | Capacitive | Capacitive | Capacitive / Resistive |
| Multitouch | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| UI skinning | Limited | No | No | Yes |
| Input methods | Virtual / external keyboards | Virtual keyboard only | Virtual / physical keyboards | Virtual / physical keyboards, T9 / triple tap, character recognition |
| Notification style | Modal pop-up, icon badge | Modal pop-up, icon badge | Unobtrusive banner / pop-up | Modal pop-up |
| Contact integration / management | Exchange ActiveSync, Mac OS Address Book, Google Sync | Exchange ActiveSync, Mac OS Address Book, Google Sync | Exchange ActiveSync, Google Sync | Exchange ActiveSync, Google Sync, Domino, BlackBerry |
| Multitasking | Limited / managed | No | Limited / managed | Yes |
| Copy / paste | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Media support / ecosystem | iTunes | iTunes | Zune | None |
| Global search | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Firmware updates | Tethered | Tethered | Tethered, OTA | Tethered, limited OTA |
| Browser Engine | WebKit | WebKit | Trident (IE) | Trident (IE) |
| Tethering | Yes (varies by carrier) | Yes (varies by carrier) | Unknown | Yes |
| Stereo Blutooth | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SDK Availability / Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Official App Store | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| App Availability | High | High | Low (unreleased) | Medium |
| Native Applications | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Unsigned Applications | No | No | No | Yes |
| On-Device App Management | Excellent | Good (no folders) |
Good (no folders) |
Good |
This chart is straight from the Endgadget article. Like I said, I count 6 green boxes under Windows Mobile 6.5.3… more than any other. What do you guys think? Is Microsoft moving in the wrong direction with Windows Phone 7? Losing multitasking, copy/paste and native apps – three things that made 6.x stand out over the years…
[via]
Microsoft business marketing manager James McCarthy has confirmed stories about a minimum system requirement of sorts for all new Windows 7 devices. Stories about this chassis were appearing in the Spring, so I’m not sure why it is big news, but it is reassuring to hear they are still committed to high-quality devices landing in stores.
The basic Windows 7 Chassis, once called Pink, I believe, looks like this:
WM7 Chassis 1 Specification
Core requirements:
Peripherals:
Options:
Microsoft has also announced HTC and Acer as OEM manufacturers for Windows 7, and has indicated they plan to work more closely with these and other OEM manufacturers as Windows 7 nears launch. You can read the article that got me on this track here, at itPro.com.
   |
@AllAboutBdg WTS : Accessories for ANDROID Apple BB Symbian WP7 http://t.co/1bTLlQ6 http://t.co/ZoaWIPa 085659988815 #fjbBDG
RT @JesseLiberty: #WP7 - Posted: What's Coming in Mango - Reminders... http://wp-7.me/MangoReminders @jualbelihpjkt WTS : Accessories for ANDROID Apple BB Symbian WP7 http://t.co/1bTLlQ6 http://t.co/ZoaWIPa 085659988815 #FJBkaskus
#WP7 - Posted: What's Coming in Mango - Reminders... http://wp-7.me/MangoReminders
@jugglerKENTO 俺も前はiPhoneにしたくてしょうがなかったんだけど今みんなiPhone使ってて使いこなせてなさそうなやつもiPhoneにしててなんかいやになったから他のスマホあるいはWindowsPhoneにするかも iPhoneももっと何か変わったら考える @jualbeli_HP WTS : Accessories for ANDROID Apple BB Symbian WP7 http://t.co/1bTLlQ6 http://t.co/ZoaWIPa 085659988815 #jualbeli
A WP7 elérte a 7%-os részesedést az USA-ban: A WP7 elérte a 7%-os részesedést az USA-ban, látható a Nielsen márc... http://bit.ly/iS3KQv
New iPhone Twitter app heavily copies Metro UI: Posted on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 05:48:00 EDT by ... http://bit.ly/lIvpB1 #windowsphone #tech
