Tag Archives: WP7

Windows Phone 7: 10 devices, 4 launch hardware partners, 60 mobile carriers in over 30 countries worldwide; coming 10/21 in Europe & Asia, early November in U.S.

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Today Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took the stage in New York City to reveal the final details surrounding the launch of Windows Phone 7.  Microsoft first unveiled their new cell phone operating system in February at Mobile World Congress; next they spotlighted developer support at MIX’10; and most recently they detailed Xbox Live integration.  All there was left to do is reveal launch harware and mobile operator partners and device release dates and pricing.  And that’s exactly what went down today in NYC.

Let’s start with the Windows Phone 7 launch hardware partners and the actual devices you might potentially pick up come this holiday season.  Samsung, LG, HTC, and Dell are collectively bringing ten new devices that will run WP7.  The Samsung Focus (codenamed Cetus) features a 4-inch (480×800) Super AMOLED display, 1GHz processor, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, and 8GB of onboard storage with microSD expansion up to 32GB.  It’s the thinnest WP7 launch device measuring at 9.9mm (or .3 inches) thin.  It will launch exclusively with AT&T in the U.S.  The Samsung Omnia 7 features the same 4-inch (480×800) Super AMOLED display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, and 8GB of onboard storage.  It will launch with Orange (France and UK), SFR (France), Movistar (Spain), and Deutsch Telekom on November 8.  The LG Quantum (or Optimus 7Q outside the U.S.) features a 3.5 inch (480×800) display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, 8GB of onboard storage, a slideout QWERTY keyboard, and it comes preloaded with PlayTo, an app that allows users to wirelessly stream content to DLNA-enabled devices.  It will launch exclusively with AT&T in the U.S. and with Telstra in Australia.  The LG Optimus 7 features a 3.8 inch (480×800) LCD display, 1GHz processor, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, and 16GB of onboard storage.  It will launch with Telus (Canada), América Móvil (Mexico), Movistar (Spain), Vodafone (Germany, Italy, Spain and UK), and SingTel (Singapore).

HTC is launching five WP7-powered devices.  The HTC HD7 features a 4.3 inch (480×800) display (it’s the WP7 launch device with the largest display), 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel autofocus camera with dual LED flash (supports HD 720p video recording), 16GB of onboard memory, built-in kickstand, and it comes preloaded with Netflix, Slacker,  T-Mobile Family Room (a note-taking sharing app), and a T-Mobile TV entertainment app.  It will launch exclusively with T-Mobile in the U.S. in mid-November and with O2 (UK, Germany, Ireland), Movistar (Spain), SingTel (Singapore), Telstra (Australia), and Bouygues Telecom (France) on October 21.  The HTC 7 Surround features a 3.8 inch (480×800) display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash (supports HD 720p video recording), built-in kickstand, and 8GB of onboard storage.  What makes this device standout from all the others is the slideout speaker that features Dolby Mobile and SRS Surround Sound technologies.  It will launch exclusively with AT&T in the U.S. and with Telus in Canada.  The HTC 7 Pro will be the first WP7 CDMA device and will launch exclusively with Sprint in the first half of 2011.  It features a 3.6 inch (400×800) display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 576MB of RAM, 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash (supports HD 720p video recording), 16GB of onboard storage, and a slideout QWERTY keyboard.  Update: The 7 Pro will arrive in Europe “early next year.”  The HTC 7 Mozart and HTC 7 Trophy are two WP7 handsets that will not (initially, at least) not make it to the U.S. market.  They both feature a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 576MB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage, and HD 720p video recording.  Here’s where they differ.  The Mozart features a sleek aluminum unibody construction with a  3.7-inch (480×800) display and 8 megapixel camera with a Xenon flash.  The Trophy, on the other hand, features a slightly larger 3.8 inch (480×800) display and a slightly lesser 5 megapixel camera with LED flash.  The Mozart with launch with Orange (France and UK), Deutsche Telekom (Germany), Telstra (Australia) and the Trophy will launch with Vodafone (Australia, Germany, Spain and UK) and SFR (France).

And finally there’s the Dell Venue Pro.  It features a 4.1-inch (480×800) AMOLED display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor,  5 megapixel camera with flash, and a portrait-designed QWERTY keyboard.  It will launch exclusively with T-Mobile in the U.S.

And that’s a wrap on the hardware discussion.  As you can see, all ten WP7 devices are very similar in terms of internals: the 1GHz processor, the 5 megapixel camera, the 8GB-16GB internal storage, 3.5 inch to 4.3 displays, and the handful of slideout QWERTY keyboard-equipped models.  Through the end of the year, WP7 devices will be exclusive to AT&T and T-Mobile; this leaves a wide gap in the CDMA (Verizon/Sprint) playing field.  By the time Q1 of 2011 rolls around, Microsoft better have deals finalized with the other mobile carriers if they truly want to compete in the competitive smartphone market.  Also, hardware partners will eventually have to up their game with better and differentiating specifications and designs if they want to stay relevant.  HTC is doing a fine job so far with the 7 Surround speaker design the HD7’s large 4.3 inch display.  But for now, the WP7 starting lineup is quite impressive.  The stars are certainly aligning for a successful launch.

In addition to revealing hardware and mobile carrier partners, Microsoft also shared some information regarding software developments.  Though they weren’t specific about the exact number of launch apps for Windows Marketplace, they did show off bunch of promising apps.  They include Twitter, eBay, Fandango, Netflix, Slacker, IMDb, and games such as Tetris, The Sims 3, Monopoly, Need for Speed: Undercover, and The Harvest.  AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega was on hand to show off the AT&T U-verse app.  The app will be preloaded on all AT&T WP7 devices and will allow users to download and watch TV shows on the go.  If you are already a U-verse subscriber at home, accessing and downloading content off the app is free.  You will have the ability to manage your DVR recordings, access TV guide listings and an On Demand library.  If you are not a subscriber, AT&T will offer a $9.99/month plan to watch TV on the go when WP7 launches wide in November.  (Keep in mind, “live” TV is not available; you are simply downloading content to watch now or later.)  In related news, AT&T has confirmed that Xbox 360 owners will have the ability to use their console as a U-verse receiver starting October 15.  New subscribers can order a $99 Xbox installation kit and a technician will load the software onto the console for you; current subscribers will be forced to pay an extra $55 on top of the $99 installation kit to make the switch from set-top box to Xbox.  And here’s one last software tidbit: Microsoft promises a free software update bringing copy-and-paste functionality to all WP7 devices will be pushed out in “early 2011.”  Update: In a statement Microsoft confirms that public beta software will be available for Mac users to sync “select content” with their WP7 device later this year.  Look after the break for the first two WP7 commercials!

Apple, Google, RIM…it’s on.

[Via Engadget, here, here & here; Quantum image via PhoneArena] Continue reading Windows Phone 7: 10 devices, 4 launch hardware partners, 60 mobile carriers in over 30 countries worldwide; coming 10/21 in Europe & Asia, early November in U.S. →

Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 detailed

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With the launch of Windows Phone 7 just around the corner (Microsoft says Holidays 2010, other sources hint as early as October), it is about time Microsoft further detailed its Xbox Live gaming initiative on the forthcoming mobile platform.  If you own an Xbox 360 and have an Xbox Live account, navigating the Xbox Live gaming hub on a Window Phone 7 device will be a very familiar experience.  The first “tab” within the hub is named Profile and it stores your Xbox Live avatar, gamerscore, and message notifications.  Your avatar can be interacted with by tapping on it, shaking the phone, and spinning the phone in various orientations.  If you select the message notifications icon, you will be brought to the Messages tab where you’ll find a list of text and voice messages left by your Xbox Live friends.  You can send and receive messages on your device in real time just as you would on the console.  There’s also an Achievements tab that shows you all of your collected acheivements, categorized by game, on the phone and console.  You can tap a game title to view the specific achievements awarded within each game to see when you received them; you can then select a specific achievement to see how you received it.  The Friends tab congregates a bunch of your Friends’ avatars; tap anywhere on this screen to bring up your friends list.  You can see who is on and offline, what games your friends are currently playing, view friends’ acheivements, and compare your achievements to a specific friend’s achievement list.  If you click a friends’ gamertag from the list his (or her) avatar will fly on screen and you can view personal information like gamerscore, location, and bio.  It all works exactly in line with what you’re used to on the console; there are no surprises here.

Microsoft went all out on Avatar interaction and customization on the phone.  In the Profile tab you can select a button to enter the Avatar Closet.  Here you can customize your avatar with clothes, hats, and all kinds of gear.  You can use your finger to spin the avatar around to view its new style from various angles.  What you do with your avatar on the phone is reflected on the console, and vice versa.  At launch time, only free items will be available to download in the Avatar Closet.  However if you purchase a new look on the console, that will be reflected on the phone.  In addtion to customizing your avatar you can make them utilize Avatar Gadgets.  These are simple productivity tools that feature your avatar on-screen.  They include a flashlight, ruler, level, and coin toss.  Sure this is all a bit gimmicky, but it looks fun!

Now let’s talk about what’s most important here: the games.  Microsoft has announced the first wave of Windows Phone 7 games, and they include a list of over 60 titles from Microsoft Game Studios and popular third party developers like Gameloft, THQ, and Namco Bandai.  Microsoft promises that new titles will be added to the collection on a weekly basis once the platform is officially up and running.  Of the limited number of games previewed, it was  Crackdown 2: Project Sunburst (from MGS) that really impressed.  The tower defense game will use Bing Maps to present a bunch of baddies marching down real streets in your neighborhood.  You can use pinch-to-zoom, screen rotation, and finger tracking to guide the game.  Gameloft will bring Splinter Cell: Conviction, Let’s Golf 2, Earthworm Jim, Assassin’s Creed, and The Oregon Trail; Glu Mobile is working on Guitar Hero 5; Konami’s got Frogger and Castlevania; and Microsoft Game Studios will lead the way with Halo: Waypoint and The Harvest.  The launch lineup is exciting to say the least.

A couple side notes concerning the games.  (1) The full multiplayer experience you’ve come to know and love on the console will not be playable on phones at launch.  Only turn-based multiplayer games like Uno will be available to play over the Internet with friends.  (2) Every game will have a try-before-you-buy demo.  If you download a demo and decide you want to purchase a game, you’re only one click away from unlocking the game’s license to play to your hearts content.  (3) All WP7 Xbox Live games have a 200 gamerscore.  And remember, if you unlock an achievement on the phone this will be reflected on your gamerscore on the phone and the console.

Fellow gamers, Xbox Live on a mobile phone is coming soon.  Friends, messaging, achievements, avatars, exciting first and third party games.  Microsoft has all the ingredients to make Windows Phone 7 not only a competing but dominant force in mobile gaming.  Execution is key here.  If Microsoft can really pull off the Xbox Live experience on their new mobile platform with heavy developer support, an evolution of the mobile gaming landscape is on its way.  Apple be afraid, very afraid.

Look after the break for the full PR, which includes the list of launch titles, and an intro video.

[Via Xbox; Engadget; Gizmodo] Continue reading Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 detailed →

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 →