This past week has resulted in several announcements of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series at the MIX10 event. If you haven't caught up with news of all the features, here is a quick list of what was announced:
- Cross-platform gaming
- Free Developer Tools
- Microsoft Notification Service
- Microsoft Location Service
- Silverlight
Alongside with the new features, Microsoft revealed information on it's Windows Phone Marketplace (much like the iTunes and Android's Marketplace.) Microsoft's new marketplace included the following features:
- Hub View
- Purchase Options
- App Trials
- Zune Client
The list of launch party developers and some information on apps was also released. The list of first round app partners included the following:
AWS Convergence Technologies ? WeatherBug, Citrix Systems Inc., Clarity Consulting Inc., Cypress Consulting, EA Mobile, Fandango Inc., Foursquare Labs Inc., frog design inc., Glu Mobile Inc., Graphic.ly, Hudson Entertainment Inc., IdentityMine Inc., IMDb.com Inc., Larva Labs, Match.com LLC, Matchbox Mobile Ltd., Microsoft Game Studios, Namco Networks America Inc., Oberon Media Inc., Pageonce Inc., Pandora Media Inc., Photobucket Inc., PopCap Games Inc., Seesmic, Shazam Entertainment Ltd., Sling Media, SPB Software Inc., stimulant, TeleCommunications Systems Inc., Touchality LLC and Vertigo Software Inc
You can read further into the information provided above in our Windows Phone 7 Series: Compilation of Information posted earlier this week which provides pictures and videos of some of the clips from MIX10's announcement that day.
Despite all the hype about the new windows mobile OS, there were some hiccups that quickly arouse and sparked the attention of many. Amongst those was a lack of copy/paste feature and lack of multitasking (which seemed to be an issue for many on the iPhone as well.) Today, Microsoft released another official statement about the copying/pasting. Here is what they had to say:
Windows Phone 7 Series will not initially offer copy and paste; instead, we try to solve the most common uses for copy and paste via single-tap action. For example, people often want to take an address and view it on a map, highlight a term in the browser and do a search or copy a phone number to make a call. Instead of the user manually doing a copy and paste in these scenarios, we recognize those situations automatically and make them happen with just one touch. In our early testing people have been pleased with this approach, but we're always listening to feedback and will continue to improve our feature set over time based on what we hear.You can read our full featured article on the lack of copy/paste and lack of multitasking for detailed information on the topic and what Microsoft has decided to do about each. Each article written also has an audio clip of Microsoft's Todd Brix so you can listen in on what Microsoft had to say about each as well. Although they don't provide each feature as one would expect, they haven't completely left the space blank and instead have features that work similarly to each which is a sign of relief. Rumor has it that multitasking will eventually be included down the road with an update that will include third-party apps as well (not just first-party apps) and the feature they substituted with copy/paste although isn't very convincing can turn out to be pretty good. Time will tell how this plays out as the Windows Phone 7 Series is still currently in development.
More news spilled today as well about an unlocked emulator which was hacked earlier today by using the develop tool kit. Microsoft released a statement about the unlocked emulator earlier today and here is what they had to say:
We are extremely pleased with the level of excitement we're seeing for Windows Phone Developer Tools. When we decided to provide a Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator as part of the tools, we anticipated that people would attempt to unlock and explore the code. We have been very clear that the emulator is based on early code and is not reflective of the final user experience. Windows Phone 7 Series is still under development. The UI has been disabled to avoid confusion and allow developers to focus on testing applications on the underlying platform. We continue to recommend that developers use the emulator as provided to avoid any issues and unpredictability that may be introduced by an unlocked version.You can also read and see a video about the unlocked emulator by reading our article, which was written earlier today.
Not only was the unlocked emulator revealed today but so was Microsoft's Office Suite, which gave us a glimpse of how writing documents on a Windows Phone 7 Series based phone might be like. Although it isn't a finalized version you can get a general idea of what it will be like. One of the more interesting things about the suite is that it gets it's own hub in the Windows Phone 7 Series theme so it will definitely be considered handy and useful for businesses and enterprise solutions as well as students. Microsoft seems to be aiming for a wider range of consumers who would find solutions they are seeking in a phone in their Windows Phone 7 Series.
Those covered all of this week's Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series announcements and whether you wanted to read about something in specific or get filled in on everything you should be covered! We'd like to hear your thoughts and comments about the whole event and the unveiling of Microsoft's new mobile OS, so share your thoughts and comments below!
