When Microsoft first displayed its Windows Phone 7 laden prototype, most people, like me were a bit surprised because the prototype, demo handset was NOT made by HTC, arguably Microsoft's most trusted hardware partner when it comes to Windows Mobile hardware.
The handset that was showcased at the Mobile World Congress 2010 (and in the promotional photographs and videos) was made by Asus. Many wondered if this was due to some strain in the relations between HTC and Microsoft. That doesn't seem to be the case as HTC's CEO Peter Chou has confirmed in a recent interview with Forbes that there are no issues and that HTC would be bringing out its first WP7S handset before year end. However, has not divulged as to what the handset would be like.
HTC has been concentrating a lot on Android of late - for which it has designed many capable handsets like the Nexus One, The Hero and the Legend. As for the first Windows Phone 7 Series device from HTC, we wonder if it would be as capable as HTC's current Windows Mobile flagship, the HD2 or the recently announced Android flagship - the EVO 4G. Let us wait and watch.
HTC Windows Phone 7 Series Device Soon
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]
Windows 7 Mobile completely unveiled
Windows Phone 7 Series. Get used to the name, because it's now a part of the smartphone vernacular... however verbose it may seem. Today Microsoft launches one of its most ambitious (if not most ambitious) projects: the rebranding of Windows Mobile. The company is introducing the new mobile OS at Mobile World Congress 2010, in Barcelona, and if the press is anything to be believed, this is just the beginning. The phone operating system does away with pretty much every scrap of previous mobile efforts from Microsoft, from the look and feel down to the underlying code -- everything is brand new. 7 Series has rebuilt Windows Mobile from the ground up, featuring a completely altered home screen and user interface experience, robust Xbox LIVE and Zune integration, and vastly new and improved social networking tools. Gone is the familiar Start screen, now replaced with "tiles" which scroll vertically and can be customized as quick launches, links to contacts, or self contained widgets. The look of the OS has also been radically upended, mirroring the Zune HD experience closely, replete with that large, iconic text for menus, and content transitions which elegantly (and dimensionally) slide a user into and out of different views. The OS is also heavily focused on social networking, providing integrated contact pages which show status updates from multiple services and allow fast jumps to richer cloud content (such as photo galleries). The Xbox integration will include LIVE games, avatars, and profiles, while the Zune end of things appears to be a carbon copy of the standalone device's features (including FM radio).
Besides just flipping the script on the brand, the company seems to be taking a much more vertical approach with hardware and user experience, dictating rigid specs for 7 Series devices (a specific CPU and speed, screen aspect ratio and resolution, memory, and even button configuration), and doing away with carrier or partner UI customizations such as Sense or TouchWiz. That's right -- there will be a single Windows Phone identity regardless of carrier or device brand. Those new phones will likely look similar at first, featuring a high res touchscreen, three front-facing buttons (back, start, and perhaps not shockingly, a Bing key), and little else.
Carrier partnerships are far and wide, including AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, while hardware partners include Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC, HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm. We're told that we likely won't get to see any third-party devices at MWC, though Microsoft is showing off dev units of unknown origin, and the first handsets are supposed to hit the market by the holidays of this year.
engadget Hands on:
Enable Windows 7 Hidden God Mode
As indicated by enthusiasts around the Web, there is a simple way to access a hidden "God Mode" in Windows 7 and Vista. With a name like that, your expectations might be a little high -- and no, Windows is not secretly invincible -- but the trick is awesome nevertheless.
"God Mode" simply provides users with a centralized Control Panel for all of Windows' settings, from changing your desktop background to setting up a VPN or partitioning your hard drive. In all, there are nearly 50 categories and most have several entries.
It's almost comical how simple it is to access it:
1. Create a new folder. Anywhere is fine, I created one on my desktop
2. Rename the folder to: God Mode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} *Note: The "God Mode" chunk can be called anything you want.
3. The default folder icon will change to a Control Panel icon, and you can open it to view all of the settings.
User reports suggest that it may crash Windows Vista 64-bit, so proceed with caution. For what it's worth, I've successfully used the "feature" on Windows 7 Home Premium and Ultimate 64-bit.
As an additional note, having the undocumented feature disclosed all over the Web, Microsoft has decided to be more open about it admitting similar commands have been available even before Vista. They have also revealed other text strings that create similar "God Mode" folders, List of god mode folders.
