Windows Phone 7 launched with a dizzying variety of handsets. On closer inspection though, all nine WP7 devices hitting retail space in 2010 feature the same processor and display resolution. So outside of a few notable hardware variations, software is going to be a big differentiator for consumers. That’s why LG has teamed up with Microsoft to offer a revolving portfolio of free, so-called “quality” apps to owners of LG Windows Phone 7 handsets. Ten free apps valued at more than $30 will be given away every 60 days via the LG Application Store — that’s 60 apps per year. These are in addition to the free apps already developed exclusively for LG handset owners like the PlayTo media streaming app we fawned over during our Optimus 7 review. Keep it up LG and your mobile handset division might finally pull itself out of the ditch. See the first ten apps listed after the break.
Why yes, yes it is another Windows Phone 7 device review. Not that we’re complaining. It’s not everyday that a new mobile operating system this polished arrives at our doorstep. Having already gone in depth with Microsoft’s entirely new OS and half dozen or so other WP7 devices, it’s now time to dive deep into the life and times of the HTC Trophy (codenamed, Spark). And it’s about time. We first saw the words “HTC” and “Trophy” on the same page in a roadmap leak all the way back in 2009. Several of the leaked handsets eventually launched — but not the 3-inch portrait QWERTY Trophy running Windows Mobile 6.5. Perhaps that original design was scrapped along with WinMo’s relevancy to the consumer smartphone market. We don’t know and we may never know. What we can tell you is what it’s like to live with a production HTC Trophy for a week — an average speced touchscreen slate offering anything but a middle-of-the-road experience.
This review is primarily of the HTC Trophy hardware. Check out our full review of Windows Phone 7 for our thoughts on the OS.
Welcome to the 2010 Professional Developer Conference, aka PDC, from whens we’ve got a few bits of info on Windows Phone 7 for you. PDC2010 was kicked off with a keynote speech by Steve Ballmer and Scott Guthrie that said some very nice things about Windows Phone 7′s investment in the WP7 development community. They know that these developers can make or break the whole project, so they’ve done a few things to help them finish up their first round of WP7 apps: hint: free stuff.
First, all paid PDC conference attendees will get a free Windows Phone 7 device (because it’s always good to have the device you’re designing for lying around to test with.) Then, they gave a few notes on how big the Windows Phone Developer community currently is: 12,000 developers registered with Marketplace, up 40% from last month, with more than 100 adding every day.
Then noted that on November 3rd, developers may submit their applications “with the self serve capabilities of Marketplace for developers.” A tiny but important note to add to this is that there’ve been som revisions to Marketplace policies which everyone should check out here.
Then, presenters! A giant list (which you can see here) of PDC presenters share tips on optimization and testing and all that fun stuff developers love to hear for hours on end. To see the presentations as they happen, yes LIVE STREAMS, take a peek over at the Microsoft PDC site and get out your popcorn and pens and pads and peel your eyeball skins up for great talks.
Welcome to one giant jungle cat of a Daily Slash, so wild and crazy I keep calling it the daily Slasher in my head. Two giant bits of news hit at once: the Back to the Mac event and the release of Windows Phone 7 handsets (hint: we’ve got three of em to look at!) Plus a whole torrent of other wonderful and fabulous bits of news that’d otherwise be big but was sort of CRUSHED by those two big guns. Shall we? Let’s begin!
And that’s basically a day in the life of a team of people who are utterly, uniquivicably, irreversably obsessed with technology. To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily SLASH!]
As you may well know, at any given point in the day, it’s late enough in the day that it’s already a completely different day on the other side of the world. Right now, it’s October 21st in New Zealand, which can mean one one thing: there’s a dude who has seen Lord of the Rings more than 50 times, and now he is able to purchase a Windows phone 7 handset. He is so very happy about this, and the people selling it to him seem joyous as well.
This dude, who will be more than likely forgotten in about 10 minutes for his awesome achievement, is named Jourdan Templeton and is a Computer Science student at the University of Waikato. His feat is to be the first person in the entire world to purchase a Windows phone 7 handset, hooray for him! It appears that it might be a HTC 7 Trophy – a phone which, if you ask me, isn’t quite as hot as the HTC 7 Mozart. You be the judge whenever you get your claws on them.
Of all the Windows Phone 7 launch devices, AT&T’s HTC Surround is likely the most curious. It’s a landscape slider built on the same basic internals as the rest of its platform siblings, but there’s no keyboard under that screen — the quarter-inch slide reveals an aluminum speaker bar and integrated kickstand, which combine to create a tiny little stereo system of sorts. Mix in Windows Phone 7′s heavy Zune integration, add in a dash of Dolby Mobile and SRS Wow “virtual surround” audio processing, and top it all off with 16GB of internal memory, and you have what might be the ultimate phone for on-the-go media consumption. But does the Surround live up to all that promise? Read on to find out!
This review is primarily of the HTC Surround hardware. Check out our full review of Windows Phone 7 for our thoughts on the OS.
Steve Ballmer’s already working the salesman magic, but Microsoft won’t try to sell you Windows Phone 7 solely on stage — find a pair of familiar-looking debut TV spots for the new platform right after the break.
Well hello there giant Windows Phone 7 handsets. This interactive sidewalk display was just unveiled at the Telstra store in Melbourne Australia. On the left we’ve got what looks to be the HTC Mozart already rumored for Telstra. The device on the right, though, is a previously unseen LG Windows Phone 7 device. Best of all is the “coming 21-10-10″ text in the fine print that matches up nicely with the rumored European launch date. Don’t worry, in a few hours we’ll have all the details nice and official like.
We’re getting close, very very close to the official launch of the Windows Phone 7 OS. And while the US might be waiting until November for actual handsets to go on sale, Europe looks set for an October release… just like we heard from Microsoft back in August. Things are even rosier in the UK where all five major operators will have Windows Phone 7 devices in stock. Now, according to a screengrab we’ve received from an internal Phones 4U system, we know that the HTC Mozart is on deck for a late October UK retail debut. To start with, the 119 x 60.5 x 11.9 mm touchscreen slate will feature a 3.7-inch 800×480 pixel TFT LCD, 1GHz CPU, 8MP camera with Xenon flash and 720p video recording, a 1300mAh battery, 8GB of memory, and a bevy of sensors for ambient light, gravity, compass, and proximity. Other specs include a 3.5-mm audio jack naturally, surround sound, Bluetooth 2.1, A-GPS, and 802.11n WiFi. Expect it to be sold free with the usual £35 per month carrier tithe. Man, you thought deciding on a smartphone was tough now, just wait until we’ve got WinPho 7 and MeeGo (hopefully) devices on the market before year’s end.
Update: Looks as if an Orange help guide all but confirms that the Mozart will be coming its way in the UK. Thanks, Gears!
We were a bit surprised to find LG’s prototype Windows Phone 7 device for developers, soon to be unveiled officially as the Optimus 7 when released in its production form, hanging out in the wilds of IFA. Nevertheless, there it was, streaming DLNA content to a WiFi enabled TV. LG worked with Microsoft to develop a custom DLNA media sharing capability for its GW910 handset. Just one of the ways hardware partners are able to differentiate themselves on the otherwise locked down Windows Phone 7 platform. It certainly makes sense that LG would play to its strengths in the television industry as it moves to market with the device as early as next month according to our sources. Watch the trick flip-to-TV photo sharing interface in action after the break.
