Final WP7 Developer Tools Released

News
By Daniel Rubino
last updated

Developers, Developers, Developers! Microsoft’s mantra has been one of the key elements to promoting Windows Phone 7. We’ve seen the developer tools in the Beta and Release Candidate stages, but now as promised we get the full version available today. Though currently the release is English only, more languages will be coming in the next couple of weeks.

The timing of the release gives developers a couple of weeks to finalize their apps before the Marketplace opens for submissions. New features include the promised Panorama and Pivot controls, as well as a Bing Maps control. The free download includes all of the development tools in one package; Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone, the Windows Phone Emulator, Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone, and XNA Game Studio 4.0.

[via Windows Team Blog]

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.