By: Tony Novoa (Contributing Editor)
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Well.. Monday certainly was a big day for Microsoft and their Windows Phone product line. With the Advent of the totally revamped and rewritten Windows 7 smartphone platform, they have essentially rebooted their recent reboot of their Windows Mobile Platform in the form of their failed Kin. Microsoft and rebooting… seems to be a long running theme. At MyRealityTech we are all about fair exposure for all things tech and we are excited about what the Windows 7 smartphone platform and the accompanying devices bring to the table. As Microsoft CEO, Steve Balmer said at the opening of his New York press conference: “I’ve been looking forward to this day… for some time, you might say.” I guess we can say that we share that sentiment!
Beginning November 8, the Windows Phone 7 will be available on three AT&T networked phones which will sell for $199.99. Another phone will be offered thereafter by T-Mobile. As for applications, there will supposedly be thousands of third party applications available and during the conference, programs from eBay, Amazon’s IMDB, AT&T’s U-Verse Mobile and EA’s “The Sims 3″ were shown. Not surprisingly, the Windows Phone 7 will connect to the Xbox Live gaming service as well as the Office platform. My understanding is that this will provide support for an integrated to-do list – something that is missing on the iPhone & Android platforms.
The Samsung Focus
As for devices, there were nine Windows Phone 7 devices shown from Dell, HTC, LG and Samsung with the expected variations in interfaces and screen sizes. In this case, our opinion is that the Samsung Focus stands out for its sleek and light design and vibrant, high resolution screen. The phone features a 4″ super-AMOLED display, 110g weight, 1 GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 Processor, 8GB of internal memory and up to 32GB with a microSD card, 5MP camera with 720p HD Video and GSM, HSDPA and UMTS network support. Battery life is documented at 3 hours talk time – a bit light by many standards – and up to 10 days standby time.
All being said, the morning did leave some questions unanswered. Most notably: what of multi-tasking capability? What about support for other carriers beyond AT&T or T-Mobile or the ability to synchronize with non-Windows computers or non-Microsoft Web services? I guess time will tell. In the meantime, we can celebrate variety, innovation and lots of options in this competitive market that will surely continue to keep vendors on their toes and customers salivating at the next new shiny thing to capture their attention.
Want to know more? Go here for more details on Microsoft and Windows Phone 7: Microsoft Windows Phone 7
So, what are your thoughts? Is this the shot in the arm the Windows Mobile platform needs? Are you already down a different path? Sound off and share your thoughts. As always, don’t forget to follow @MyRealityTech on Twitter and “like” us on Facebook for additional chances to win our super cool giveaways. 99% of the time, we choose individual winners exclusively through Facebook & Twitter!
