Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 7

The Start screen in Windows Phone 7.
Company / developer	Microsoft Corporation
OS family	Windows CE
Working state	Released
Initial release	NA November 8, 2010 EU October 21, 2010
Latest stable release	7.0.7004.0  (October 21, 2010; 3 months ago (2010-10-21)) [+/−]
Latest unstable release	7.0.7338.0  (December 1, 2010; 58 days ago (2010-12-01)) [+/−]
Supported platforms	Silverlight, Microsoft XNA
Kernel type	Windows CE 6.0 R3/7.0 hybrid
License	Proprietary (Microsoft EULA)
Official website	windowsphone7.com

Windows Phone 7 is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform. It is aimed at the consumer market instead of the enterprise market like its predecessor. It launched in Europe, Singapore and Australia on October 21, 2010, and in the US and Canada on November 8, 2010, Mexico on November 24, 2010, with Asia to follow in 2011. With Windows Phone 7, Microsoft offers a new user interface with its design language named Metro, integrates the operating system with 3rd party and other Microsoft services, and plans to strictly control which hardware it runs on.
Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone 7 on February 15, 2010, at Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona and revealed additional details at MIX 2010 on March 15, 2010. The final SDK was made available on September 16, 2010.

History

Operating system development

Work on a major Windows Mobile update may have begun as early as 2004 under the codename "Photon", but work moved slowly and the project was ultimately cancelled. In 2008, Microsoft reorganized the Windows Mobile group and started work on a new mobile operating system. The product was to be released in 2009 as Windows Phone, but several delays prompted Microsoft to develop Windows Mobile 6.5 as an interim release.
Windows Phone 7 was developed quickly. One result was that Windows Mobile applications do not run on it. Larry Lieberman, senior product manager for Microsoft’s Mobile Developer Experience, told eWeek: "If we’d had more time and resources, we may have been able to do something in terms of backward compatibility." Lieberman said that Microsoft was attempting to look at the mobile phone market in a new way, with the end user in mind as well as the enterprise network. Terry Myerson, corporate VP of Windows Phone engineering, said, "With the move to capacitive touch screens, away from the stylus, and the moves to some of the hardware choices we made for the Windows Phone 7 experience, we had to break application compatibility with Windows Mobile 6.5."

Naming

Windows Phone 7 is a rebranding of Microsoft’s old mobile OS called Windows Mobile. Before the official announcement of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft began to refer to devices running Windows Mobile as “Windows Phones”. Microsoft at first announced its new platform as "Windows Phone 7 Series" which initially came under criticism as being too wordy and difficult to say casually. Responding to this, on April 2, 2010 Microsoft announced that the "Series" would be dropped from the name, leaving the platform named Windows Phone 7^[12]. Microsoft's official statement on the matter was:

"Customers want a simpler way to say and use the name consistently. The important thing is keeping the focus on the Windows Phone brand, which we introduced in October and will continue investing in through Windows Phone 7 and beyond."

Launch

In February 2010, a Microsoft press release listed the companies that would help make and operate Windows Phone 7. Hardware (OEM) makers were listed as Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC, HP , LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm; mobile network operators included AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless, Vodafone, Telus, Bell Canada and SingTel.
HP later decided not to build devices for Windows Phone 7, citing that it wanted to focus on devices for its newly purchased WebOS.
Windows Phone 7 supports five languages: English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. Windows Phone Marketplace allows buying and selling applications in 17 countries and regions: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland,Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, and United States.
Windows Phone 7 was released in Europe on October 21, in North America on November 8, and in Mexico on November 24, 2010. A release in Asian countries will follow in 2011.
On October 11, 2010, Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer announced 10 devices operating Windows Phone 7, made by HTC, Dell, Samsung, and LG, with sales beginning on October 21, 2010 in Europe and Australia and November 8, 2010 in the United States. The devices were available on 60 carriers in 30 countries, with additional devices to be launched in 2011.
Microsoft reported on December 21, 2010 that in the first 6 weeks phone manufacturers sold 1.5 million Windows Phone 7 devices to mobile operators and retailers.  On January 26, 2011 Microsoft stated that in the 4th quarter of 2010 it had sold more than 2 million Windows Phone 7 licenses for phones, which manufacturers had delivered to mobile operators and retailers. In January 2011, LG reported about its own handsets: "From an industry perspective we had a high expectation, but from a consumer point of view the visibility is less than we expected". At CEBIT Preview, Deutsche Telekom told Yahoo that its Windows Phone 7 handsets are selling better than expected.

Features

User interface

Windows Phone features a new user interface, based upon Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 design system, codenamed Metro. The home screen, called the "Start screen", is made up of "Tiles". Tiles are links to applications, features, functions and individual items (such as contacts, web pages, applications or media items). Users can add, rearrange, or remove Tiles. Tiles are dynamic and update in real time - for example, the tile for an email account would display the number of unread messages or a Tile could display a live update of the weather.
Several features of Windows Phone 7 are organized into "hubs", which combine local and online content via Windows Phone 7's integration with popular social networks such as Facebook and Windows Live. For example, the Pictures hub shows photos captured with the device's camera and the user's Facebook photo albums, and the People hub shows contacts aggregated from multiple sources including Windows Live, Facebook, and Gmail. From the Hub, users can directly comment and 'like' on social network updates. The other built-in hubs are Music and Video (which integrates with Zune), Games (which integrates with Xbox Live), Windows Phone Marketplace, and Microsoft Office.
Windows Phone 7 uses multi-touch technology. The default Windows Phone 7 user interface has a dark theme that prolongs battery life on OLED screens as fully black pixels don't emit light. The user may choose a light theme instead, and can also choose from several accent colors. User interface elements such as tiles are shown in the user's chosen accent color. Third-party applications can be automatically themed with these colors.

Text input

Users input text by using an on-screen virtual keyboard, which has a dedicated key for inserting emoticons. Spell checking and word prediction are supported, and users may change a word after it has been typed by tapping the word, which will invoke a list of similar words. Phones may also be made with a hardware keyboard for text input. Pressing and holding certain keys will reveal similar characters. The keys are somewhat larger and spaced farther apart when in landscape mode.

Web browser

Internet Explorer Mobile on Windows Phone 7.

Windows Phone 7 features a version of Internet Explorer Mobile with a rendering engine that is "halfway between IE7 and IE8".
Internet Explorer on Windows Phone 7 allows the user to maintain a list of favorite web pages and show a tile linking to a web page on the Start screen. The browser supports up to 6 tabs, which can all load in parallel. Other features include multi-touch gestures, a streamlined UI, smooth zoom in/out animations, the ability to save pictures that are on web pages, share web pages via email, and support for inline search which allows the user to search for a word or phrase in a web page by typing it. Furthermore, Adobe has announced that Flash Player 10.1 will be released for Windows Phone 7. Microsoft has announced plans to regularly update the Windows Phone 7 web browser and its layout engine independently from the Windows Phone Update system.
In a demo, Microsoft said that users will be able to stream YouTube videos from the browser. Clicking on a video from the mobile YouTube website will launch the video in a standalone app and will also add the YouTube video to the Music + Video Hub.

Contacts

Contacts are organized via the "People hub". Contacts can be manually entered into contacts or import from Facebook. A "What's New" section show news feed from Facebook and Windows Live updates made by your contacts. A "Me" section show the phone user's own Facebook status and wall. Contacts can be added to the home screen by pinning them to the start. The contact's "Live Tile" displays their Facebook status and profile picture on the homescreen and the contact's hub displays their Facebook wall as well as all of the rest of their contact information.

E-mail

Setup support Hotmail, Outlook, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, and other email services and also features support for POP and IMAP accounts. Contacts and calendars are sync along with emails. Users can also search through email with keywords in email contents, subjects, senders, and receivers.

Multimedia

The Music + Video Hub on Windows Phone 7.

See also: Zune

Zune for Windows Phone 7 is an application providing entertainment and synchronization capabilities between PC and Phone.^[] Windows Phone 7 multimedia experience is divided in to two distinct hubs, Music + Videos hub and Pictures hub, both of which are similar in appearance and functionality to that of the Zune HD.
The "Music + Videos hub" plays music, videos, and podcasts, and allows users to access the Zune Marketplace to buy music or rent it with the Zune Pass subscription service, and view artist biographies and photos.^[
The "Pictures hub" displays the user's Facebook and Windows Live photo albums alongside photos taken with the phone's camera. Users can also upload photos to social networks and comment on online photos directly from the Pictures hub. Multi-touch gestures permit zooming in and out of photos.

Games

Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 brings Console-like gaming experience to phones by displaying the user's avatar in a 3D fashion. Via "Games Hub", the users are able to interact with the avatar, view gamerscore and leaderboards, message Xbox Live friends, and Spotlight. Multiplayer (turn-based) gaming with live multiplayer are also released. Microsoft has unveiled more than 50 premium Windows Phone 7 Games titles at Gamescom that makes use of Xbox Live on mobile. Furthermore, as for now, Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 is not offering any real-time multiplayer games but the current development is signifying the chances in future . Some key features of Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7 include ability to be signed in simultaneously on the console and phone, send and receive messages between Console and Phone, unique gamer points only available by purchasing the gaming title on the phone, etc.

Search

The Bing application on Windows Phone 7.

See also: Bing (search engine) and Bing Mobile

Microsoft's hardware requirements stipulate that every Windows Phone must have a dedicated Search button on the front of the device that performs different actions. Pressing the search button while an application is open will allow users to search within applications that take advantage of this feature; for example, pressing Search in the People hub will let the users search their contact list for specific people.
In other cases, pressing the Search button will allow the user to perform a search of web sites, news, and map locations using the Bing application.
Windows Phone 7 also has a voice recognition function, powered by TellMe, which allows the user to perform a Bing search, call contacts or launch applications by speaking. This can be activated by pressing and holding the phone's Start button.
Bing is the default search engine on Windows Phone 7 handsets due to the deep integration of functions into the OS (which also include the utilization of its map service for location-based searches and queries). However, Microsoft has stated that other search engine applications can be used.

Office suite

Microsoft Office Mobile on Windows Phone 7

The "Office hub" organized all Microsoft Office programs and documents. Microsoft Office Mobile provide operability between Windows Phone 7 and the desktop version of Microsoft Office. Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, OneNote Mobile, and SharePoint Workspace Mobile allow Microsoft Office file format to be view and edited on the go.

Sync

Zune Software manage the contents on Windows Phone 7 devices and Windows Phone 7 can wirelessly sync with Zune Software. In addition to accessing on the Windows Phone 7 devices, Zune software can also access the Zune Marketplace to purchase music, videos, and all apps for Windows Phone 7. While music and videos are both stored locally on the PC and on the phone, apps are only stored on the phone even if purchased from the Zune Software. Zune Software can also be use to update all Windows Phone 7 devices. Although Zune Software is unavailable on Mac OS X operating system, Microsoft has released Windows Phone 7 Connector which allow Windows Phone 7 devices to sync with iTunes for Mac and iPhoto.

Software updates

A test notification of an "update available" pop-up in the Windows Phone 7 emulator.

According to Microsoft documentation, software updates will be delivered to Windows Phone users via Microsoft Update, as is the case with other Windows operating systems. Microsoft has the intention to directly update any phone running Windows Phone 7 instead of relying on OEMs or wireless carriers. 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.^[52] Microsoft has said that in the future, all updates, both large and small will eventually support over-the-air downloads.^[53] Charlie Kindel, Program Manager for the developer experience of Windows Phone, confirmed that the update infrastructure system for Windows Phone 7 was available 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".^[54]
Microsoft plans to regularly ship minor updates that add missing features, such as copy and paste, throughout the year, and major updates once a year.^[55]
All third-party applications can be updated automatically from the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Advertising platform

Microsoft has also launched an advertising platform exclusively for the Windows Phone 7 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 toast notifications, 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."

Features removed from Windows Mobile

Windows Phone 7 lacks some features that were found in earlier versions of Windows Mobile. Among the features that have been confirmed to arrive in the near-future include cut, copy, and paste, full multitasking for 3rd party apps, and Adobe Flash. Windows Phone 7 supports upgradable storage via an SD Card; however the SD card memory will be merged with the phone's internal storage, and changing the SD card will make the phone reset to factory settings. Windows Phone 7 does not support connecting to Wi-Fi (wireless) access points which are hidden or have a static IP address, tethering to a computer (although it can be done via a hack on the Samsung Focus), videocalling, VoIP calling, USB mass-storage, universal email inbox, universal search,, a system-wide file manager, Bluetooth file transfers, USSD messages, or custom ringtones.
Windows Phone 7 devices only support syncing with Exchange ActiveSync over the network. There is no support for syncing with Exchange ActiveSync using a cable or cradle.
In the enterprise, Windows Phone 7 does not support Office documents with security permissions, IPsec security, on-device encryption, strong passwords, or internet sockets. While the older Windows Mobile phones supported the full range of Microsoft Exchange Server policies, Windows Phone 7 only supports a small subset of Exchange features. The Calendar app no longer has a 'Weekly' view. The list of past phone calls is now a single list, and cannot be separated into inbound, outbound or missed calls.

Marketplace

Windows Phone Marketplace on Samsung Focus

The Windows Phone Marketplace is used to digitally distribute music, video content, podcasts, and third party applications to Windows Phone handsets. The marketplace is accessible using the Zune Software client or the marketplace hub on devices (though videos and podcasts are not downloadable through the marketplace hub and must be downloaded and synced through the Zune software) . The marketplace is managed by Microsoft, which includes an approval process.

Music and Videos

Zune Marketplace offers 6 million songs up to 320 kbit/s in DRM-free MP3 format from the big four music groups (EMI, Warner Music Group, Sony BMG and Universal Music Group), as well as smaller music labels. It offer movies from Movies from Paramount, Universal, Warner Brothers, and other studios and also offer television shows from popular television networks.
Mirosoft also offer Zune Pass music subscription service which allows subscribers to download an unlimited number of songs for as long as their subscription is active.

Third Party Applications and Games

Development

Applications and games for Windows Phone 7 must be based on XNA or Silverlight 4 only. Microsoft offers Visual Studio 2010 Express and Expression Blend for Windows Phone (phone development versions of larger applications) for free. On November 29th 2009, Microsoft announced the Release to web (RTW) version of its Visual Basic Developer Tool, to allow development in Visual Basic.

Submission

Registered Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Live developers can submit and manage their third party applications for the platforms though the App Hub web applications. The App Hub provides development tools and support for third-party application developers. The submitted applications undergo an approval process for verifications and validations to check if they qualify the applications standardization criteria set by Microsoft. The cost of the applications that are approved is up to the developer, but Microsoft will take 30% of the revenue (the other 70% goes to the developer).

Announced APIs

Microsoft has said that several Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are coming to the platform to give developers access to more of the phone’s hardware. For instance, all Windows Phone 7 handsets are required to have an electronic compass, but because the API is not yet released, third party developers will not be able to develop applications that use it. Microsoft has confirmed that this API will be released in the future. Similarly, the networking API currently does not give access to sockets, which means third party developers cannot make Voice over IP applications. Microsoft has also confirmed that this access will be added.

Distribution and Content Restrictions

In order to get an application to appear in the Windows Phone Marketplace, the application must be submitted to Microsoft for approval. Microsoft has outlined the content that it will not allow in the applications, which includes content it deem “sexually suggestive”. This includes content depicting nudity (nipples, genitals, buttocks, pubic hair), prostitution, and sexual fetishes.

Hardware

Samsung Omnia 7 running Windows Phone 7

Minimum requirements

Microsoft has said that it is issuing "tough, but fair" hardware requirements to manufacturers.^[89] All Windows Phone 7 devices, at minimum, must include the following:

Minimum Windows Phone 7 device requirements
Capacitive, 4-point multi-touch screen with WVGA (800x480) resolution
1 GHz ARM v7 "Cortex/Scorpion" or better processor
DirectX9 rendering-capable GPU
256 MB of RAM with at least 8 GB of Flash memory
Accelerometer with compass, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor and Assisted GPS
5-megapixel camera with an LED flash
FM radio tuner
6 dedicated hardware buttons - back, Start, search, camera, power/sleep and Volume Up and Down.