Windows Phone 7 Series – has Microsoft pulled it off?
Probably the most anticipated event at Mobile World Congress has finally passed, and with it, Microsoft has announced a whole new direction with it’s mobile platform, which has been rebranded Windows Phone 7 Series. Although WP7S devices aren’t expected to start shipping until near the end of the year, the folks at Redmond have definitely taken a ground up approach with the new OS, UI and hardware. Microsoft will be much more strict on the minimum hardware specs, which is a good thing, since in the past there were some manufacturers one would avoid like the plague because of lousy specs. That should be a thing of the past.
From a UI perspective, the new phone will be using the same concept as seen in the Zune and on the Windows Media Center software (internally called Metro): nice, big, easy to navigate lists in a vertical layout, with horizontal motions leading one deeper into a feature. I’ve always liked the way both WMC and the Zune software UI functioned, and I’m glad to see that the same basic concept is coming here. Being a phone, there is a deep integration with social networks, including not just contacts, but built in support for web photo galleries, streaming media sources and much more, not to mention integration with Xbox Live. It’s also worth noting that with deep Zune integration, we can probably expect more international Zune services announced before the first phones ship.
Although the details are slim at the moment, Microsoft will still be working with a number of international carrier and hardware partners, including all the ‘big names’ for Windows Mobile past: HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG are all there. Although there will be a stricter base line to the OS, manufacturers and carriers will be allowed to make customizations, which suggests, for example, that someone like HTC would still be able to build a new version of Sense for WP7S devices.
No word yet on loading applications outside of the Marketplace, but on every other feature and spec, it looks like Microsoft has shown that they’re back in the mobile space in a serious way. Many more details will be announced at MIX 2010 in March.
Video of Windows Phone 7 in action
Video from the Windows Team Blog.
[…] officially announced Windows Phone 7 Series (WP7S) back at Mobile World Congress this past February, but a lot of details were left out. Now that the MIX developers conference […]
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