Today, as you are probably aware, I went to see Windows Phone 7 in the flesh, as it were. Though Microsoft never entered the market for simple cell phones, the new Windows Phone 7 is still expected to raise eyebrows and to permanently alter the landscape of the smartphone industry. Sadly I didn’t get any hands on time nor was I able to ask the 30 questions I had collected, however I was given an excellent preview, on a developer device (the LG WG910), of the RTM version of the mobile OS from Oded Ran, Microsoft UK’s head of marketing for Windows Phone 7.
One of the other bloggers was asked to login to his Facebook account on the device and then we saw the people and photo hubs populated with his content, it was surprisingly fast at doing this. The Facebook integration is stunning, its crazy to think this is all inbuilt into the OS. To set a photo from Facebook as the lock screen photo took seconds to do and allowed many other options along the way too.
I also got a look at the new Zune software, not that its much different from the current one.
During the briefing I was able to learn some interesting things though so here they are:
- Sony Ericsson is working on at least one Windows Phone 7 device. Update: I must have misunderstood, Oded said Sony Ericsson were a partner not that they were building a device.
- The developer tools have been downloaded over 380000 times.
- The default email application icon now appears to be the Hotmail logo, much more attractive than the previous featureless logo.
- Wireless sync via the Zune software will be available for all Windows Phone 7 devices, looks extremely easy to set up.
- The new Zune PC software will arrive at the same time as Windows Phone 7, not before.
- It will be possible to stream 30 seconds song previews via Zune on the phone, or the entire song if user has Zune Pass. This can be done over 3G or Wi-Fi.
During the demo a previously unseen MSN app was shown, it looked great. It was specifically about celebrities with the live tile showing a photo of the actor in the day’s top story. The app itself features square and rectangular boxes which consisted of an article title and photo, it was also possible to watch videos with the app. Whilst not being too bothered about celebrity gossip it definitely looks like a great app.
One of the few questions I was able to ask was for Liveside who wanted to know if there will be a Messenger app. There will be. I was also told that partners are working on Messenger apps too, not sure what this means but I wonder if there will be Messenger integration into hubs like the leaked/rumoured HTC Hub.
One of the other bloggers asked if we could see the Marketplace. We told no because Microsoft want the Marketplace to be a surprise when the devices are launched. Oded seemed to indicate that there will be many well know company’s apps in the marketplace that have not yet been shown, anyone got any guesses what these might be?
As I wasn’t able to ask many questions I am trying to organise another chance to Oded some more questions about Windows Phone 7 and you can be sure I will share with you the answers.
P.S. Whilst not being able to take pictures of Windows Phone 7 I was able to take a picture of a neon Bing sign; only at Microsoft would you find that.
