I have just watched the Microsoft keynote so its a little early to say whether the new Windows Phone 7 will be a success but what I can say is that Microsoft are back in the game. The experience is light years away from Windows Mobile, the UI is very fluid and very Zune like. It looks like Microsoft have really paid attention to the user experience, as Media Center users we are all familiar with the pivot style of UI and this is everywhere in Windows Phone.
I really like the idea of the hubs where information from various sources is brought together. The Pictures hub is a good example where pics are pulled down from Windows Live, Facebook, and the desktop without needing separate applications.
The media features are handled by Zune, its basically a Zune HD. I still prefer using my Zune HD over the iPhone for music and podcast mainly because I don’t like iTunes software and really like the Zune desktop software. In fact the phone is a Zune and you use Zune software to sync up with the PC which is a welcome change from the old Windows Mobile Devices software
The keynote did leave a lot of questions, like what is the 3rd party story? I want to start developing for Windows Phone and there was no talk of the development platform or the tools needed to start developing. Hopefully at MIX they will announce an SDK and explain about the marketplace, I think 3rd party apps are critical for the platform to succeed.
Steve Ballmer said devices would be ready for “holiday 2010” so I expect early November, I imagine demand will be high as long as Microsoft can keep up some momentum
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