Tag Archives: cell phones

The next iPhone is leaked into the wild

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The fellas at Gizmodo have got their hands on the fourth-generation iPhone, confirming Engadget’s initial report on the device being leaked into the wild.  The new iPhone is thinner and a bit heavier than its 3GS predecessor (it measures 4.50 by 2.31 by 0.37 inches and weighs 140 grams, three more than the 3GS) and everything is more squared off.  The aesthetics of the device go in a different direction with the new model.  The back is entirely flat and is composed of either glass or ceramic.  Also there’s an aluminium border that runs completely around the exterior.  The silent switch, power, and volume buttons are placed in their familiar positions but are now metallic.  Notice I said volume buttons; the single rocker has been replaced with two separate buttons for volume up and down.  Giz theorizes that this will likely result in one of the two buttons being designated as a shutter button for the camera.  The SIM slot is now a MicroSIM slot and its been moved from the bottom to the left side of the phone.  There’s also a second mic located at the top next to the headphone port, likely for noise cancellation purposes.  The display is slightly smaller than the 3GS’s, but its resolution is much greater.  Though Giz cannot determine its exact resolution, they would not be surprised if it sported a 960×640 screen that’s been sitting in the rumor box.  On the back there’s an upgraded camera with a larger lens plus flash.  On the front next to the earport there’s a *front-facing camera*.  Get ready for on-the-go video Skype calls!  Some other nuggets of information: its got a 16% larger battery and the internal components have been miniturized.

This prototype model of the next iPhone unfortunately cannot boot up iPhone OS 4.  That means there’s no way of finding out its storage capacity, how high-rez the screen actually is, and other secrets hidden within OS 4 built for this device (iChat, anyone?).  Do you need proof that this is the real deal?  Head over to Gizmodo and read their exhaustive breakdown for proof.  Until the final model is (likely) revealed this June at WWDC, bask in the photos and video (after the break) Giz has provided with the world.  iPhone HD, you are so close yet so far away…

[Via Gizmodo]

Continue reading The next iPhone is leaked into the wild →

NASDAQ and CEA introduce a Smartphone Index

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This is an awesome sliver of news coming from the business world.  NASDAQ and the Consumer Electronics Association have teamed up to announce NASDAQ OMX CEA Smartphone Index.  The new index is comprised of 84 companies “that are primarily involved in the building, design and distribution of handsets, hardware, software, and mobile networks associated with the development, sale and usage of smartphones.”  The smartphone industry has certainly become an important and impactful industry as of late; receiving its own index in the stock market further cements its significance thus far in the world of technology.  Some of the companies in the index include Apple, Google, and Research in Motion (RIM).  It was given a starting value of 250.00 on April 12; today it currently sits at 257.14.

[Via MarketWatch; Engadget]

Droid welcomes new family member: Droid Incredible by HTC

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Say hello to Droid Incredible.  It joins the Motorola Droid and HTC Droid Eris on Verizon Wireless.  And it packs quite the punch: it’s powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, features a 3.7 inch WVGA (480×800) AMOLED capacitive touch display, its got an 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, and it runs Android 2.1 with the latest HTC Sense overlay.  Besides that, you’ll find the usual suspects like GPS, 3G, WiFi, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.  It goes on sale with VZW on April 29 for $199.99, after a $100 mail-in rebate and a 2-year agreement.

Essentially the Droid Incredible is an updated version of the Nexus One, a phone that is currently only available for T-Mobile (but it’s supposedly come to Verizon later this month).  Its got the same processor but a better camera.  The significant difference lies in the software.  While both phones are 100% Android, the Droid Incredible’s got the HTC Sense UI built on top of it, allowing for a bit more UI customization.  If you’re a VZW customer, the Droid Incredible just became the best Android phone to get; that’s of course if you don’t mind the lack of a physical keyboard.  If that’s a necessity, the orignal Droid (which was recently upgraded to Android 2.1) is the one for you.  Full PR after the break.

[Via Engadget]

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Microsoft Kin: the device for “Generation Upload”

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On Monday Microsoft finally lifted the covers off ancient rumored devices dubbed “Microsoft Pink” by introducing their next foray into the mobile space called Microsoft Kin.  Microsoft recently aquired Danger, the company behind the Sidekick; created with Sharp, the Kin devices are essentially next-generation Sidekicks.  At its core, and well all around it, Kin is a social networking phone aimed at tweens.  Microsoft is calling its target market “Generation Upload”, 15-30 year olds who are all about chatting, texting, taking and sharing photos, and constantly updating their favorite social networks like Facebook and Twitter.  Note that Kin is not a smartphone; smart dumbphone is more like it.  Although it’s built upon Windows Phone 7 and shares similar UI aesthetics, it can’t run apps and it’s closed off to many other WP7 features like Xbox Live.  This is all by design, really, since Microsoft is really pushing it strcitly as a social networking device.  Kin contains two family members, Kin One and Kin Two.  Both devices contain three unique features: Kin Loop, Kin Spot, and Kin Studio.

Kin Loop: This is your home screen.  It’s the place where all your social network content gets aggregated and displayed.  Loop aggregates information from four selected services: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Windows Live.  Information is updated in real time (well, every fifteen minutes unless you manually hit refresh).  So what you need to understand is this: the device does not run apps for these services; they live on the phone at all times.  Your profile picture and current status is visible at the top of the screen.  The rest of Loop is covered in recently updated statuses from the friends you converse with most often.  If you want to delve deeper into their page, simply tap their picture and you’ll be transported to their standard profile page.

Kin Spot: There’s a small green spot located at the bottom center of the screen at all times.  This dot allows you to collate all kinds of stuff and share it all with your friends.  For example, if there’s a picture, video website, status update, or map you want to share with one of your contacts, simply drag and drop the content into Spot and you’re one tap away from sending it off to your friends.  Enter Spot by tapping it and select the contact and content you want to share.  Content can be shared over SMS, email, or social networks.

Kin Studio: This is where all your device’s content is stored online.  Everything that you have on your Kin (contacts, pictures, videos, etc.) is backed up to “the cloud.”  In this case the cloud is Kin Studio, a website based on Silverlight that can be accessed on any computer.  So if you lose your Kin, all the data that’s on it continues to thrive online at Studio.  Also, Studio makes for a great way to watch and enjoy your Kin’s content on a larger display.  Studio’s UI is impressive; it features a visual timeline and supports geotagging in a map, allowing you to pinpoint exactly when, say, a photo was taken, and where it was taken, respectively.  It’s a very seamless experience; if you update something in Studio (for example, add a video), the change will take effect on your Kin device, and vice versa.

Kin also comes loaded with a custom IE web browser.  The display is capacitive with multitouch support, enabling pinch-to-zoom in the browser, but there is no Flash or Silverlight functionality.  Also included is a fully functional Zune player (hrm, minus Zune gaming), allowing for music,video, and radio playback.  Zune on Kin will provide the same experience found on Zune HD players and (soon) WP7 devices.  You can stream music over WiFi and 3G and there’s full support for Zune Pass, meaning you will always have access to your entire Zune library.  For Mac users, Microsoft will be providing software to sideload your iTunes music and iPhoto pictures to a Kin device.  Note, this is not a Zune client for Mac, it just a way to get a Mac user’s content from Mac to Kin; no Zune Marketplace access for you!  Now let’s distinguish between the two members of the family. Continue reading Microsoft Kin: the device for “Generation Upload” →

Droid does bra size, underwear detection, & more

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A few weeks back Motorola started a viral video campaign called  “SECRET MOTOROLA DROID UNLOCK CODES.”  In the videos a group of guys enter a series a numbers into a Motorola Droid to enable hidden features.  Some of the new videos have picked up in popularity and are actually quite entertaining.  In the video above, one of these special unlock codes turns the Droid into a bra size and underwear detector.  Look after the break for two more videos featuring the Droid as a taser and animal translator.  Man, what can’t Droid do?

[Via Android&Me; Gizmodo]

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Apple details iPhone OS 4: Multitasking! & more

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Today Apple unveiled the developer preview of iPhone OS 4, the next major release of the iPhone operating system.  OS 4 includes over 1500 new APIs for developers and over 100 new user features.  Of these new features, Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Senior VP of iPhone Software Scott Forstall talked about seven “tentpole” features.  Let’s dive right in, shall we?

1. Multitasking: Apple has finally figured out a way to implement multitasking for third-party apps that preserves battery life and overall performance of the iPhone.  The user interface for multitasking is simple.  When you are inside an app, just double tap the home button to raise the window and reveal a new dock at the bottom of the screen.  This dock houses all of your running apps, and you can jump in and out of them by clicking on them.  When asked about how to close applications, Forstall replied, “You don’t have to.  The user just uses things and doesn’t ever have to worry about it.”  Though that sounds nice and cheery, there actually is a way to close out of an app if you are not using it.  Tap and hold an app in the multitask dock and tap the minus button that appears; this confirms the app is now closed.  Seven multitasking services were detailed:

Background audio – Now you can listen to third-party music players in the background just like you could with iPod.  At the keynote, Pandora was demoed and worked without a hitch.  While listening to your custom playlist in Pandora you can jump into Safari to browse a site or jump into Mail to check your inbox for new messages.  Also, if you are in the lock screen you can double tap the home button and use the audio buttons to control Pandora.

VoIP – Now you can receive and hold onto VoIP conversations even if you jump out of the VoIP third-party app.  At the keynote, Skype was demoed.  Once a call is initiated, you can leave the app and jump into another without losing the call.  A double-high status bar appears at the top of the screen that shows your still on the call.  Also, you can still receive Skype calls even if you are in the lock screen; a notification bubble alerts an incoming call.

Background location – Apple says there are two classes of applications that like to use your location in the background:  turn-by-turn direction apps (like TomTom) and social networking apps (like Loopt).  With an app like TomTom becoming location-aware in the background, now you can leave the app and still receive turn-by-turn directions.  For example, you can set and begin your route, jump into iPod to select a song, and TomTom will still read aloud the directions using GPS.  Turn-by-turn direction apps are fairly power intensive apps, but most users have them running in the car when their device is connected to a power source.  An app like Loopt, which is used more often when an external power source is not charging the device, will use cell towers rather than GPS to find your location.  Privacy concerns are also addressed.  Today, whenever an app wants to use location services, a notification bubble asks you to approve the service.  In OS 4, a new status icon (shaped like an arrow) will appear in the status bar at the top of the screen to inform you exactly when an app is tracking your location.  In the settings menu you can enable or disable location services per app.  Also, an icon will appear next to the app name in the settings menu if that app has tried to access location services within the last 24 hours.

Push notifications – We already know all about Apple’s Push Notification service.  A third-party sets up a server, they send their notification to Apple’s Push Notification server, then Apple sends it to the phone.  Building on push notifications is a new service called…

Local notifications – These are just like push notifications except you do not need a server.  The notifications can come right from the phone.  For example, a TV Guide app can alert you to the premiere of a new TV program you wanted to be reminded of, and all this can be done right on the phone instead of going through back-end servers.

Task completion – This service works just like Xbox’s Active Downloads feature.  Say you are uploading photos to your Flickr account.  Today if you were to exit the Flickr app, the upload would stop immediately.  With OS 4, if you leave the app the photos will continue to upload in the background.

Fast app switching – This is what allows an app to pause and save its state in the background when you leave it for another app.  When you return to it, the app will resume exactly where you left off.  So if you are playing a game of Tap Tap Revenge and decide to check your missed calls, when you return to the game it will start right where you left off.  All this is done without using any CPU power. Continue reading Apple details iPhone OS 4: Multitasking! & more →

LookTell brings “artificial vision” to smartphones for the blind

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LookTel combines the power of a Smartphone with advanced “artificial vision” software to create a helpful electronic assistant for anyone who is visually impaired or blind. You can use LookTel to automatically scan and recognize objects such as money, packaged goods, CDs, DVDs, and medication bottles, as well as landmarks. Point the device video camera at what you wish to “see” and it will pronounce the name very quickly in clear and easy to understand speech. LookTel can be taught to recognize all the objects and landmarks you wish to identify. With a small amount of help from a sighted assistant one can easily teach LookTel to be your helpful assistant for many tasks where vision makes a difference in your independence. LookTel also incorporates a text reader allowing users to get access to print media.

This advanced software from LookTell is absolutely stunning.  If the final product is anything like this beta demo, it is going to be a major technological leap forward for helping the blind interact with every day objects around them.

[Via LookTell; Gizmodo]

The world’s fastest text messager sets new record in a Samsung commercial

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Watch as 23-year-old Franklin Page sets the Guinness World Record for the fastest text message on a touchscreen mobile phone.  The phone used is the Samsung Omnia II which is the first to feature Samsung’s new text entry technology called Swype.  Page, a Swype intern, set the new record at 35.54 seconds, beating out the previous record of 40.91 seconds.  He won the crown typing: “The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they seldom attack a human.”  That’s the 160-character phrase Guinness uses for all text-messaging records.  And the deed was captured on camera and made into an exciting commercial for Samsung.

[Via SeattleTimes; Gizmodo]

First WP7S ad does the trick

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Meet Anna, Miles, and Luca.  They are the ficticious family Microsoft has decided to use in their first commercial spotlighting their brand new mobile OS.  Windows Phone 7 Series is shown off in all its panoramic glory by way of enlarged heads up displays.  Thought it’s nothing spectacular, Microsoft gets it right by featuring the OS’s most prominent features like the connected people hub, photo sharing, and Xbox Live.  With WP7S devices due out this holiday season, let the marketing blitz begin.

[Via Engadget]

Microsoft details WP7S at MIX’10: developers, developers, developers

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This past week Microsoft revealed more details surrounding its brand new mobile phone platform, Windows Phone 7 Series.  During their WP7S launch event last month, Microsoft showed off all the UI basics and promised more information to come this month at their annual conference held for developers and web designers called MIX.  And boy did they deliver.  MIX’10 proved to be a highly informative conference, focusing on how developers will get their applications onto WP7S devices.

Technical details.  Third-party developers will have access to XNA and Silverlight tools to create applications for WP7S devices.  Microsoft is offering free dev tools, providing Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone and Expression Blend for Windows Phone, to get things started.  In addition to these programs, developers also have access to many services like Microsoft Location Service, allowing devs to make their apps location-aware, and Microsoft’s Notification Service, a push notification system much akin to Apple’s that allows devs to send notifications to users of their apps, regardless of the app being open.  Notifications slide down in a tray at the top of the screen (less obtrusive than Apple’s pop up way of doing it).  Other prominent services that devs are given include multitouch, accelerometer, and camera & microphone support.  If you are a developer or know someone who is a developer, Microsoft is offering free beta versions of the dev tools today at developer.windowsphone.com.

Where will all the apps be sold, you ask?  In the Windows Phone Marketplace, of course!  Just like the rest of the hubs, the Marketplace hub will be “panoramic,” meaning menus are opened with left and right slide gestures.  Microsoft is encouraging all developers to create trial versions of their full apps.  The Marketplace supports credit card purchases, operator billing, and ad-supported content.  Purchased apps can be pinned to the user’s home screen for easy access.  Finally, the revunue split:  70% goes to the publisher, 30% to Microsoft.

Marketplace partners.  Microsoft announced the first slew of app partners and they include exciting picks like Pandora, Sling, Shazam, EA Mobile, Namco, Foursquare, and the Associated Press.  Look after the break for a full listing of all partners.  A majority of the demos show that at least this initial batch of apps will deeply integrate with the WP7S look and feel (think panoramic views and shiny, sleek interfaces).  Many of them show off 3D animations, incorporate images and video, and they can reach into your local content (like a photo editing app opening up a picture you took).  The most interesting app demo came from Netflix.  They demoed a prototype app that supports Watch Instantly, allowing a subscriber to browse and watch their Netflix collection on the go.  Unfortunately this was being pushed as a concept, and we likely won’t see anything like it for some time.  Another exciting app demo showed off the gaming capabilities of WP7S devices.  The Harvest is a 3D Xbox Live-supported title that excited developers with its gorgeous graphics, destructable environments, and Xbox Live in-game leaderboard, gamerscore, and acheivement support.  Look in the gallery below for screenshots from some apps.

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Lingering questions are answered.

Multitasking: WP7S will not support true multitasking.  Microsoft’s first-party applications will run in the background when exited, but third-party apps will remain in a suspended state until the device needs additional resources.  For example, Microsoft apps like Internet Explorer and the Zune music player will run in the background, but other apps like Yelp will be forced to quit when not in direct use at any point without notification when you start opening other apps and the device needs to access more resources.  This “intelligent app management” is also purportedly found in Google’s Android OS.

Copy & paste: Following in the footsteps of its big competitor, WP7S will not support the copy & paste function at launch.  Apparently this was a conscious decision made by Microsoft; they believe cell phone users do not use this function very often.  Instead, Wp7S devices will use a data detection service that recognizes text input like phone numbers and addresses.  Hopefully they won’t take as long as Apple did with bringing clipboard functionality to its mobile OS.

What’s contoso?: Contoso is the placeholder name Microsoft added to the Marketplace UI, and now we know its purpose for being there.  Microsoft has alloted a space in the Marketplace for phone carriers to put their own branded store.  So this is a separate place where Verizon Wireless can sell their content to users, for instance.

Hardware minimum requirements: capacitive touch; A-GPS, accelerometer, compass, light and proximity sensors; 5 megapixel camera with flash and an independent camera button; 256MB RAM, 8GB Flash; DirectX 9 & codec acceleration; an ARMv7 Cortex/Scorpion CPU; and Back, Start, and Search face buttons.  Initially Microsoft will require all handsets to boast a 800 x 480 (WVGA) resolution screen.  An update will allow for 320 x 480 (HVGA) screens at a later undisclosed date.

Exsisting WP7S devices: At Mobile World Congress, we were introduced to the Asus model.  At MIX, two new devices were unveiled–a Samsung slate and LG slider (the first with a keyboard).

All in all, MIX’10 was a huge invitational for all developers and Microsoft welcomed them with open arms.  Microsoft is making it extremely easy for developers to jump into Windows Phone 7 Series by offering free dev tools.  With their stringent hardware minumim requirements and terriffic initial batch of app partners, the apps out of the gate should look great and function well.  With graphics-intensive games like The Harvest linking Xbox Live to cell phones, Microsoft could very well raise the bar for mobile gaming, giving the App Store and its growing number of sub-par games (and even the likes of DS and PSP) a tremble in their boots.  I am really digging Microsoft’s start-from-the-ground-up mentality and I am excited to see what developers can do with their brand new mobile platform.  However, as many have pointed out, Microsoft is stuck in a classic case of Catch-22: Microsoft wants customers to choose WP7S phones and developers to write programs for them.  But developers won’t bother pushing their apps into the Windows Phone Marketplace if customers aren’t attracted to WP7S phones, and customers won’t purchase WP7S phones if they don’t offer a wide-ranging marketplace of apps!  Microsoft still has more work to do.  Priority number one?  Come up with a good marketing campaign.

[Via Engadget, here, here, here, here & here; Gizmodo; Slashgear]

Continue reading Microsoft details WP7S at MIX’10: developers, developers, developers →

Microsoft unveils Windows Phone 7 Series

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Forget everything you know about Microsoft’s dated Windows Mobile OS.  This week at World Mobile Congress 2010 in Barcelona Microsoft unveiled the latest version of their mobile OS.  It has a new name, Windows Phone 7 Series (that’s a mouthful!), and more importantly it has a new look.  When I say “new” look I mean it; Windows Phone 7 Series (WP7S) features a brand spankin’ new user interface that entirely scraps Windows Mobile and does not look back.  Think of it as iPhone OS or WebOS new.  Such a vast overhaul of a staple service is an unexpected but necessary move by Microsoft; it really was the only option Microsoft had to choose in order to stay relevant in today’s highly competitive mobile space.

The software and user interface changes that define WP7S is where I will begin.  There are no Start and drop-down menus, check boxes, and cluttering windows that adversely affected Windows Mobile users of the past.  WP7S provides a fresh and clean experience, introducing organized and constantly updating “tiles” and “hubs.”  Microsoft calls tiles “super icons” and they live on the home screen.  The tiles are movable and user-configurable and animate when new updates are present.  You can populate the home screen with an infinite number of tiles that can lead to apps, websites, contacts, photo galleries, and hubs.

Microsoft touts a hub as being an “app that makes sense of your apps.”  In other words, a hub is a place that can aggregate specific information, providing you designated places for information you seek.  When you click on a hub you enter a horizontal-scrolling interface and you can “pivot” left and right to access additional screens within the hub.  The following hubs have been revealed by Microsoft: people, pictures, games, music + video, marketplace, and Office.

The people hub brings together contacts from various email accounts and social networks like Gmail, Exchange, Windows Live, and Twitter, aggregating tons of information from your contacts including status updates, images, and more into a single list.  The people hub breaks down into the following categories: Recent, All, What’s New.  The aggregation not only takes place in the What’s New feed, it also lives in contact cards.  So for example, you can click a contact name in the Recent or All sections, view the contact’s basic information such as cell number and email address, andyou can, say, comment on their Facebook status.  You also have the option to “pin” a contact to your home screen, turning it into a live tile for easy accessibility.

The pictures hub brings together pictures from your own (local) personal collection, social networks, and other cloud-based collections from sites like Facebook.  The pictures hub breaks down into the following categories: Gallery (organized into albums, all, and favorites sections), latest synced or snapped pictures, What’s New.  The What’s New feed aggregates the latest pictures taken and posted by your contacts.  (See the pattern here?)  When viewing your own pictures, you have the option to upload them to Facebook (and other sites); you can also label favorites and create new albums within the pictures hub.

The Office hub is the “productivity” hub.  Office for WP7S emphasizes OneNote and SharePoint.  The Office hub breaks down into the following categories: OneNote, Documents, SharePoint.  OneNote is a place where you can, well, take notes.  You can create new “pages” for things like grocery lists, meeting notes, and to do lists.  You can create notes by typing, taking a picture, or using your voice.  These pages/notes can then be synced back and forth to your PC.  The Documents category is the place where all your documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) synced from your PC are saved.  SharePoint allows you to share documents on a company SharePoint server for document collaboration.  The Office hub will work hand-in-hand with Office 2010.

The music + video hub brings the Zune HD experience to WP7S devices.  In fact, Microsoft is proud to say that “Every WP7S phone will be a Zune.”  The music + video hub breaks down into the following categories: Zune (music, video, podcast, radio, marketplace), History, New, Apps.  What’s most prominent here is that Microsoft will be partnering with third-party developers to provide different ways to listen to music.  Pandora was name dropped, so you can expect to see music streaming services gain access to the music + video hub.

The games hub features Xbox Live!  It breaks down into the following categories: Spotlight provides new games information; Xbox Live shows you your live avatar, gamertag, gamerscore, and profile picture; Requests inform you that someone is “nudging” you, letting you know it’s your turn in a game, and lists game invites; Collection is the area where you can build a list of Xbox Live-supported games that support achievements.  These games will have interactive components that talk to your Xbox console, the PC, and other WP7S devices.  Additional information about what type of games we’re talking about here was not disclosed.

The marketplace hub was not demoed at the launch event but since then unofficial pictures have surfaced that reveal its basic organization.  Microsoft promises that more information about apps, app development, and the marketplace will be revealed at this year’s MIX10 event next month.

With hubs out of the way, the remainder of the tiles on the home screen include Phone, SMS, Email, Calendar, Internet Explorer, and Bing Search/Bing Maps.  Microsoft is really pushing its Bing search services on WP7S devices.  Users will be able to search specific keywords to pull up local news, information, maps, and directions.  Easy and straightforward.

Microsoft plans on releasing WP7S during the Holiday 2010 window and they have many hardware and carrier partners lined up.  They include Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC, HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, and Toshiba; carrier support comes from AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone.  Let’s just say there will be a plethora of WP7S devices later this year.  (Side note: Unlike stylus-wielding devices of the past, WP7S is focused purely on touch input and requires manufacturers to include at most only three face buttons–Back, Start, and Search.  Other hardware-specifics like required internal specs were not mentioned.)

It all comes down to this:  Can Microsoft pull themselves out of the wreckage that was Windows Mobile and regain market (and mind) share in a highly competitive environment that Apple and Google have quickly taken over?  With Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft clearly defines that they finally understand that the mobile phone is very different from a PC.  In fact, during the launch event Microsoft corporate VP of Windows Phone Program Management Joe Belfiore kept reiterating, “The phone is just not a PC.”  With this knowledge, they built a brand new, visually beautiful mobile OS from the ground up, leaving out all complexities and incorporating much simplicity.  On a PC it feel natural to have various windows open to access Facebook, contacts, and Flickr.  Dealing with this mess on a small mobile device does not make sense, so Microsoft came up with an extremely intuitive way to aggregate all this information into live tiles and interactive hubs, making it very easy to see and respond to your friends and family.  Many questions remain; for instance, we still don’t know much about the marketplace and app development, and overall developer input.  From the looks of it Microsoft will put devs front and center stage, giving them access to create smart apps that will supplement the 7 Series experience.  If they learned anything from Apple and the iPhone, app existence and support is crucial for a mobile OS to succeed in today’s cell phone industry.  But with a company whose CEO is famed for screaming “Developers, Developers, Developers,” I have no doubt Microsoft will come out victorious as a worthy competitive force in the mobile space.

Check out the gallery below for additional UI shots.  Look after the break for a bunch WP7S-related videos; they include a quick features tour, a 20 minute demo, and the streamed launch event.  You’ll also find the official press release there, too.


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Continue reading Microsoft unveils Windows Phone 7 Series →