Will Windows Phone 7 Be Microsoft’s Best Phone OS Yet?
Will Microsoft be able to stay in the smartphone market with Windows Phone 7, with the death of the Microsoft Kin platform 46 days after its introduction to the market what does Microsoft have up it’s sleeves for Windows Phone 7? With the news being focused on the iPhone4 and Android phones it is time for Microsoft to reclaim the market with something that they first created. Microsoft was the first company to actually streamline the Smartphone platform with the introduction of Windows CE for mobile devices. Windows CE ran in many devices and still do to this day. Windows Phone 7 will have alot of nice features and I will be going over them today in this post. The projected launch period for Windows Phone 7 is the 3rd Quarter (Christmas time). Here are the main features that are going to be a part of the new phone OS.
Microsoft will be bringing a version of their Live Messenger to the Windows Phone 7, which will allow you to talk to anyone on your friends list.
User interface
The completely new user interface, named “Metro”, looks very similar to that of the Zune HD. The home screen (called the “Start screen”) is made up of “tiles”, which by default are links to important features, such as phone, music and videos, email, office, and contacts. The User can customize the tiles, delete them, or add their own – by pinning an application (or “experience”), media item, favorite contact, or almost anything to the Start screen, it becomes a tile. Tiles are dynamic and update in real time. Tile contents are organized via “hubs” which combine both local and online content. Windows Phone 7 will have a more friendly touchscreen UI than previous Windows Mobile devices by using multitouch technology. Integration with popular social networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Windows Live will be included. Windows Phone 7 also features integration with Xbox Live, Zune, and Bing services. At launch, Windows Phone 7 will not have the ability to cut, copy, and paste. It will recognise telephone numbers and addresses, but Microsoft says the majority of users don’t need ‘cut, copy, and paste’.
Browser
Software updates
Andy Lees, Microsoft’s senior vice president of mobile communications, confirmed in an interview that the version of Internet Explorer Mobile on Windows Phone 7 would not support Adobe Flash at launch, citing “performance reasons.” Later, Adobe Systems released a statement to clarify, saying “developing Flash for Windows Phone 7 (and Adobe) has been deeply involved with Microsoft.”. Since then, Adobe has announced that Flash 10.1 will be released for Windows Phone 7 within months after launch. He also stated that the browser is “halfway between IE7 and IE8rendering engine.”Its web browser will be a modified version of Internet Explorer 7, rather than being based on the current IE8. In addition, Microsoft’s Silverlight technology will not work from within the Internet Explorer web browser.
Microsoft plans to regularly update IE Mobile independently from the “Windows Phone Update” system, meaning the browser will be able to automatically update itself and the layout engine.
According to Microsoft documentation, software updates will be delivered to Windows Phone users via Microsoft Update, as they are for desktop Windows users. The software component, called Windows Phone Update, exists both on the phone (for smaller updates, over-the-air) and in the Zune PC software (for larger updates, via USB connection). Users will be notified to attach their phones to a PC if such an update is required. Charlie Kindel, Program Manager for the developer experience of Windows Phone, confirmed that the update infrastructure system for Windows Phone 7 was already set up and in place and that Microsoft is “in a position where we have the systems in place to effectively and reliably deliver updates to (Windows Phone 7) users”.
Unlike with Windows Mobile, Microsoft plans to use the update process and functionality in Windows Phone 7 effectively. Microsoft has talked about the idea of “Delighters” – updates that will be regularly rolled out over time to extend the platform in unique and interesting ways. This confirms the rumors from May 2009, in which a Microsoft job ad explained that the Windows Phone team wanted to improve the update process for their mobile platform, and make it more seamless.
All third-party applications can be updated automatically from the Windows Phone Marketplace application store.
Content restrictions
Microsoft will be enforcing content restrictions on Windows Phone 7 applications, by preventing users from sideloading applications as they previously had done with Windows Mobile. This results in all applications having to pass through the Windows Phone Marketplace where content restrictions apply.Users are free to sync whatever content they want to their phone or view any website from the web browser.
Microsoft said that applications containing pornography will be prevented from being installed on Windows Phone 7, as well as applications containing images that fit the definition of “sexually suggestive”. Violence and all nudity will be censored from apps. Suggestions or depictions of prostitution, sexual fetishes, or basically anything that “a reasonable person would consider to be adult or borderline adult content” will be forbidden from Windows Phone 7 apps.
Microsoft elaborated that it would disallow apps containing “images that reveal nipples, genitals, buttocks, or pubic hair”.
Advertising platform
Microsoft has highlighted its intention to make Windows Phone 7 into an advertising platform. Microsoft’s General Manager for Strategy and Business Development, Kostas Mallios, said that Windows Phone 7 will be an “ad-serving machine”, pushing advertising and brand related content to the user. The platform will feature advertising tiles near applications, and a sliding box known as Toast, which will bring updating advertising notifications. Mallios said that Windows Phone 7 will be able to “preserve the brand experience by going directly from the web site right to the application”, and that Windows Phone 7 “enables advertisers to connect with consumers over time”. Mallios continued: “you’re now able to push information as an advertiser, and stay in touch with your customer. It’s a dynamic relationship that is created and provides for an ongoing dialog with the consumer.”
Technology publication The Register said that Microsoft’s Toast is a radical departure from iAd and Google’s web ads, in that it will push advertisements to Windows Phone 7 users even when there are no browsers or applications running.
This could be Microsoft’s ticket back into the Smartphone platform game, they sure do need to catch up with Google and their Android platform and Apple with thier iOS4.
Features source: Wikipedia
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