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 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:
