Windows Phone 7 UI

Microsoft Phone UI from Techspot on Vimeo.

If you want to experience the features first hand, as I did in all these screenshots, first install the required developer tools to get the emulator. After you're all set up, download the .BIN file from here and then follow the instructions posted at XDA-developers to unlock the emulator. It’s still an early build of WP7S, but it should be interesting to poke around and explore. You can interact with the live tiles, check out the hubs, fumble around with the elusive voice search feature, and even use basic apps that are preloaded.

Windows 7 Tablet Review [Video]

Umang Dokey’s Windows 7 Phone Series tablet concept is rather enticing, and it even manages to feel genuinely like a Microsoft product, with its mixture of impossible sci-fi concepts (3D video conferencing) and gray office mundanity (a keyboard).

The (non-embeddable) video shows the slim device in action, though it’s all computer generated graphics, as the device doesn’t actually exist. The keyboard is also a fold-out stand, depending on how far you rotate it from its hole in the back (and if you do decide to go all QWERTY, the rest of the unit will surely just topple backwards). The two webcams sit far apart on either side of the 8-inch touch-screen, and when used to make 3D would probably give you the viewpoint of Admiral Ackbar. The Bezel is really too small to let you hold the device without covering the screen with a thumb, and around the back are a couple of recessed joysticks for gaming. It looks lovely, and would probably be awful to use.

But the biggest takeaway from the demo video is that Windows Mobile 7 (sorry, but the official name is too much of a mouthful: just look at that headline up there) is perfect for a touch-screen tablet, with all its floaty, scrolling UI elements. This is what Microsoft should be working on, not some awful Windows 7 tablet.

Windows 7 Tablet Concept from Techspot on Vimeo.

Tablet Concept [Umang Dokey via da Giz]

Silverlight for Symbian S60

Microsoft has announced the launch of its Silverlight platform designed to work with Symbian S60 devices at the ongoing MIX10 conference at Las Vegas.
This is the first time that Microsoft has bought the Silverlight platform to a non-Microsoft mobile platform. Silverlight is a cross platform implementation of Microsoft's .NET Framework for creating interactive applications for the web on desktop computers and of late, mobile phones.
The current Silverlight beta for Symbian comes in two forms - one as an installer for Symbian ^1 (S60 5th edition) devices and the second one in the form of a developer tools suite for developing Silverlight applications for Symbian devices.
Microsoft seems to be aware of the fact that Symbian is, by far, the biggest Smartphone platform out there and for the same reason, will help extend the reach of Silverlight. While we are yet to see the first applications based on Silverlight for Symbian devices, there is an increased hope that we wouldn't have to wait much for the first ones to start trickling in.
If you happen to be a developer, you might want to check these links for further details:
Download Silverlight for Symbian - Beta Developer Tools
Download Silverlight for Symbian – Beta

Do take a look at the screenshots of the Bing and the applications - both which use Silverlight

Windows 7 SP1 Screens Leaked

Microsoft made Windows 7 operating system available from October 22, 2009 which was about three months back. A Microsoft centric Spanish blog Muywindows posted exclusive screenshots of Windows 7 Service Pack 1 Demo installer. Obviously, we foresee first Service Pack for Windows 7 in works at Microsoft's Labs.
Usually, the first Service Pack from Microsoft comes at least after a year the launch of Operating System. Windows Vista was launched on January 30, 2007 and its first Service Pack came out on February 4, 2008. Now, Windows 7 was launched globally on October 22, 2009 so ideally, we may expect the Service Pack 1 to arrive sometime year-end. That's when the Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference takes place.



Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is purported to have about 150 updates in the current build. One may expect support for newly released hardware and USB 3.0 supporting devices along with several other fixes. The blog also revealed that Microsoft will send them Windows 7 SP 1 Demo preview in coming few weeks. This Service Pack 1 will be passed to selected Testers in July and final version is expected in late 2010.
It's kind of early to predict when exactly will Microsoft release this first Service Pack. If we compare it with Apple's releases then Mac OS X Snow Leopard also got major updates in two weeks after the OS was released. Unlike Microsoft, Apple doesn't offer any 'Service Pack' for its OS but does release major updates time to time.

Windows Mobile glitch dates 2010 texts 2016

Microsoft on Tuesday said it is investigating reports of a glitch causing some Windows Mobile devices to attach the wrong date to incoming SMS messages.

The glitch, which applies to text messages sent after New Year's Day, causes them to appear to have been sent in 2016.

"Microsoft is aware of reports that phone messages received after 1/1/2010 may be dated 2016," the software maker said in a statement. "These reports have not yet resulted in widespread customer inquiries; however, we are working closely with our manufacturing and mobile-operator partners to investigate the cause and correct the issue, as appropriate."

Windows 7 Mobile

Windows Mobile 7 is clearly designed for better media playback, with screenshots indicating a much-improved Media Player and photo gallery application. Mobile Internet Explorer runs full-screen web pages in a minimalist interface, and has "tabbed" browsing, except you can switch tabs by shaking the phone.

Music player and image gallery

Internet Explorer works with shakes

Juggling images

The OS will dynamically resize elements of the user interface, prioritizing them and making them easier to hit. Corners, like the close button, scrollbars, icons and the title bar/status bar, will all be able to grow to make things easier on the user.

Waking up the device

Waking up transition effects

Gestures for scrolling (horizontal and vertical), task and menu access, press and hold controls, list items, press and drag, and launching shortcuts will also be available. The Windows Mobile 7 device will also be able to detect finger velocity, scrolling further if the user's finger moves faster.

When the user flicks to scroll within a list, a scroll handle will appear on the side. If the user touches it, the user can drag the scroll handle up and down for faster scrolling. This replaces the scroll bar. The more the handle is moved, the faster the screen will scroll.

The new Windows Mobile application • scrolling with the scroll handle

When using the keyboard, the letter enlarges and appears above your finger when you hit it, just like on the iPhone. When highlighting text, a zoom/edit box appears above it to show what you are highlighting. When in full page view in IE Mobile, if you hit an area with links it will zoom in with a bubble and help you choose from the links.

Zoom bubble in IE • iPhone-style virtual keyboard • highlighting text in Word

Motion Gestures

There will be various finger motion gestures, used for scrolling vertically and horizontally, task and menu access, pressing and holding on controls, list items, pressing and dragging, and launching shortcuts.

Some UI elements, called Spinner and Pivot, will have a gesture where you swipe them from left to right. In a Spinner, you have a single item with left and right buttons next to it, but instead of hitting the left and right buttons, you can just swipe to change the option.

There will also be motion gestures, where the user moves the device to invoke certain commands. Microsoft Research has a technology concept that uses the device's camera as a motion sensor, enabling motion control while using the device. It will also support changing screen orientation when turning the device sideways, just like the iPhone does, but using the camera, not an accelerometer. These gestures will require the camera to be operating all the time a gesture may be used, which will affect battery life. And we couldn't help but scratch our heads how this will work in pitch dark environment.

There's also a part talking about allowing the user to "doodle" on the screen, letting users draw doodles on the device lock screen, as well as shake the screen to affect the wallpaper (like making water run, or blurring an image). The iPhone's lock screen is an iconic part of the device, and Microsoft wants to have a cool lock screen without copying Apple, so the plan is to give you fun things to do on the lock screen.

"Doodling" on the main unlock screen

There's a list of gestures that are being explored and may or may not make it into Mobile 7, including a gesture to dismiss an on-screen notification by shaking it off the screen, a gesture to automatically take you to a Smart Search notification panel, turning the phone like turning a key to unlock it, Pivoting by gesturing the phone sideways, moving through lists by shaking the phone up or down, switching the camera into black and white or other modes by shaking it down, adjusting camera aperture and shutter speed by rotating the camera, sending a file by "tossing" it to another device.

Pivoting through system tabs with shakes

Applying camera effects with gestures

Microsoft clearly has a lot planned to make Windows Mobile 7 the revolution it needs to be to compete with Apple, and Windows Mobile 7 is going to bring some cool and excitement to Microsoft's smart phones. Too bad we are going to have to wait for it at least a year more

Microsoft Office 2010

Microsoft Office 2010, codenamed Office 14, is the successor of Microsoft Office 2007, a productivity suite for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Office 2010 includes extended file compatibility, user interface updates and a refined user experience. It will be available for Windows XP SP3 (32-bit), Windows Vista, and Windows 7. With the introduction of Office 2010, a 64-bit version of Office will be available for the first time, although only for Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems. Office 2010 is not supported on Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.
Office 2010 will mark the debut of free online versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, which will work in popular web browsers (Windows Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari) but not in the Opera browser. Microsoft has confirmed that it will be released in the first half of 2010, and a public beta was made available in November 2009. A new edition of Office, Office Starter 2010, will replace the current low-end home productivity software, Microsoft Works.