Windows Phone 7 Series: Everything Is Different Now

Gizmodo ^ | 2-15-2010 | matt buchanan

[aft_lizard]

It's astounding that until this moment, three years after the iPhone, the biggest software company in the world basically didn't compete in mobile. Windows Phone 7 Series is more than the Microsoft smartphone we've been waiting for. Everything's different now.

Today, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft is publicly previewing Windows Phone 7 for the first time. The brand new, totally fresh operating system will appear in phones this year, but not until the holidays. All of the major wireless carriers and every likely hardware maker are backing it, and they'd be stupid not to. It's awesome. Further details are forthcoming, but here is what you need to know:

The name—Windows Phone 7 Series—is a mouthful, and unfortunately, the epitome of Microsoft's worst naming instincts, belying the simple fact that it's the most groundbreaking phone since the iPhone. It's the phone Microsoft should've made three years ago. In the same way that the Windows 7 desktop OS was nearly everything people hoped it would be, Windows Phone 7 is almost everything anyone could've dreamed of in a phone, let alone a Microsoft phone. It changes everything. Why? Now that Microsoft has filled in its gaping chasm of suck with a meaningful phone effort, the three most significant companies in desktop computing—Apple, Google and Microsoft—now stand to occupy the same positions in mobile. Phones are officially computers that happen to fit in your pocket.

Windows Phone 7 is also something completely new for Microsoft: A total break from the past. Windows Mobile isn't just dead, the body's been dumped, buried and paved over by a rainbow brick road.

[aft_lizard]

Besides the author's hubris this is a very impressive sounding phone but it is a long time away before release but if it holds up to it's promises it will be very interesting to watch.

[Ingtar]

I’ve seen a bit of it. The Microsoft fellow even said, “This is the software we should have released years ago.” It looks promising.

[astyanax]

Ooh! It has OneNote on it!
I’m sold.

[LexBaird]

Pardon me if I don’t swoon over software that is still 10 months from release. Vaporware, thy name is MicroSoft.

[astyanax]

OneNote? Vaporware?!
Hardly.

[LexBaird]

"The brand new, totally fresh operating system will appear in phones this year, but not until the holidays."

Until it is released, it is vaporware. MS has a history of promising things in "forthcoming releases" that don't materialize.

[steve86]

This is a parody?

[astyanax]

"The brand new, totally fresh operating system will appear in phones this year, but not until the holidays."
What does that have to do with OneNote?
Or are you intentionally being obtuse?

[LexBaird]

Listen, dude, you're the one bringing up OneNote, not me. I'm the one saying that the Windows Phone 7 Series isn't out, so giving it adoring press is unwarranted. Given their track record, just because they say something will be in a release is no guarantee it will be, or even that the release will be anytime near when they say it will be. Or have you forgotten the whole Longhorn/Vista saga?

[astyanax]

Generally I stop at “dude” but I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Yes, I’m the one who brought up OneNote, because that would be a fantastic app on a portable phone. As for the “adoring press”, well, that wasn’t me “dude”.
Not intentionally obtuse, just like whining, huh?

[SmokingJoe]

MS has a history of promising things in “forthcoming releases” that don't materialize

Like what for example?
Oh wait, you mean like Windows Mobile, XBOX, XBOX 360, Zune, Zune HD, XBOX Live, Windows 7, Halo 3, Halo 3 ODST, etc right? Why the heck would Microsoft not release Window Phone 7, when Microsoft is already releasing Windows Mobile 6.5 as we speak?

[SmokingJoe]

Windows Phone 7 Tablet: Giant Zune

Whoa there, big boy! Windows Phone 7 isn’t even powering a real smartphone yet, and we already have a tablet concept based on the platform, created by designer Umang Dokey.

It’s a sexy-looking beast, with an 8” screen, two joysticks on the back and a built-in stand that turns it into a coffee table-style PC. The designer has also envisioned 3D video calls and a keyboard built into the stand, but let’s not get too excited about it all yet: It’s just a concept, very far from being an actual product

http://mashable.com/2010/03/18/windows-phone-7-tablet/

[LexBaird]

Please read for clarity. I didn’t say they didn’t have releases. I’m saying that the releases don’t always have the features in them that they announced would be. For glaring example: Windows Vista vs what was announced to be in “Longhorn”.

[SmokingJoe]

Th features announced so far for Windows Phone 7 are already there in beta and were demo’d at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona Spain. Prior to Barcelona, Microsoft had announced ZERO features about Windows Phone 7 to anyone. It was all rumors, so I don’t know what you are going on about.