After months of development, Microsoft have officially taken the wraps off their brand new mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7. For this first time, the public was able to see the finalised release version of this new OS, and see what it is really capable of.
However, Microsoft also took this opportunity to unveil some of the new mobile phones we can expect to see on shelves in the very near future, which will feature Windows Phone 7. Of these ten new smartphones, five are made by HTC, two by LG, and two by Samsung. The final model, however, is possibly the most exciting…
This is because it’s made by a relative newcomer to the mobile industry, Dell. The Dell Venue Pro is their first Windows Phone 7 handset, and one of their first mobile phones in general, so it is nice to see that they seem to have done such a good job with it. It is also one of the prettiest phones unveiled at the launch, with an AMOLED screen, and sports a unique form factor amongst these ten phones, having a portrait-sliding QWERTY keyboard.
HTC also had a strong showing at the launch, and the undoubted star of their show was the HTC HD7, the official successor to the HTC HD2. With a few new design choices taken from the HTC Desire HD, the HD7 seems to destined to be their flagship consumer Windows Phone 7 device. It also retains the 4.3 inch touchscreen that made the HD2 and the Desire HD so well regarded.
If the HD7 is HTC’s consumer flagship, then it is tempting to think of the HTC 7 Pro as being their new business flagship, as it takes most of its design ethos from the earlier Touch Pro2, with the same QWERTY keyboard and the same tilting screen (albeit with a new hinge mechanism). These two phones are joined by the HTC 7 Mozart, the HTC 7 Trophy and the HTC 7 Surround, although this last phone may not be made available in the UK.
Meanwhile Samsung unveiled the Focus and the Omnia 7, while LG unveiled the Optimus 7 and Optimus 7Q.
As for the operating system itself, first impressions are very good, with the incredible speed and responsiveness standing out as major crowd-pullers. However, it should be noted that this is not, in fact, the final form of Windows Phone 7, as Microsoft will be rolling out updates for it over the product’s life. One of these updates, confirmed for 2011, will include cut, copy & paste, which should please a lot of people who were worried about it being left out.
And so, after months of waiting, the era of Windows Phone 7 is finally upon us. Based on what we’ve seen so far, it’s going to good!