When Microsoft said we would learn more about Windows Phone 7 Series at this weeks MIX10 Conference, they weren't kidding. Phil wore out two keyboards yesterday doing a fantastic job of delivering all this info to you.
A lot of information on Windows Phone 7 Series was offered to the developer community and in the process, the non-developer community learned more about the new operating system as well. There was enough material and information being thrown at us we felt a recap of the highlights was in order.
After the break you can catch the highlights from the day plus a walk down memory lane with what we learned from this year's Mobile World Congress as it relates to WP7S.
A very busy day
The amount of information being offered by Microsoft and its partners concerning Windows Phone 7 Series was a bit overwhelming. While Microsoft gave us an overall feel for WP7S at the Mobile World Congress, we began to see more of what is under the hood with WP7S at MIX10.
In addition to MIX10's keynote presentations, break out sessions and workshops a live stream is available that offered thirty minute spots for the various aspects of Windows Phone 7 Series development. Here are some of the highlights from the day.
- Microsoft announced and released Windows Phone 7 Series Developer's Tools. Developers will have a limited environment to focus on that includes one styled processor, one graphics accelerator, and two screen resolutions. Microsoft hopes this will make it easier to approach WP7S and address the fragmentation complaints that surrounded Windows Mobile app development.
- Microsoft also released an impressive list of Windows Phone 7 Series Developers already partnered to work on WP7S apps.
- Silverlight 4 and XNA are at the center of the development tools and will bring more immersive apps and 3D games to the table. In the development demonstrations of Silverlight 4, Microsoft's goal to offer a simple, straightforward and developer friendly environment was very evident.
- Details of the services at the disposal of developers were released with multitouch and push notifications being a re-occurring feature.
- Multi-tasking on WP7S has been a dominant question and Microsoft shed more light on WP7S's ability to multi-task. It's not all good news in that, initially, 3rd party apps will not be able to run in the background. Instead, they will need to rely on notifications to alert users of changes. Native apps such as the WP7S browser and Zune will be able to run in the background when necessary.
- To bring Marketplace in line with WP7S's design continuity, Marketplace will receive a Makeover when Windows Phone 7 Series launches. The new design follows the panoramic experience of WP7S.
- While specific devices are still a bit of a mystery, Samsung joins the WP7S Party by offering a sneak peak at their WP7S phone.
- While several WP7S apps were demoed, the ability to stream movies from Netflix on your Windows Phone was rather impressive.
- Finally, once again we were informed that there will be no upgrade for the HD2.
Mobile World Congress 2010 Flashback
Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone 7 Series at this years Mobile World Congress. While we've learned a lot more about this new OS at MIX10, the initial presentation left quit an impression on us. Looking back, has the details revealed at MIX10 helped to clarify what we saw in Barcelona? Here is but a snippet of our thought on WP7S after Barcelona.
- Dieter and Phil were able to spend some hands-on time with Windows Phone 7 Series.
- Our first impression of Windows Phone 7 Series's features and interface.
- WP7S was more than enough to fill up a Podcast from Barcelona.
- Once the dust settled, we seemed to have more questions than answers. Will the same hold true after the MIX10 Conference is over?
Now that the dust has settled from day one of MIX10, we're setting our sites on day two. We hope to hear more about hardware, development tools and software. Dieter is in Vegas, has his track shoes on and as more information is revealed concerning Windows Phone 7 Series, we'll pass it on.
Reader comments
WME @ MIX10: Day One Recap
Hhmm, I am not sure how I should put this down.
Based on the news, HD2 is still THE hot cake. So grab it while you can! First, you have Apple that is trying to take HTC off the shelves. Then you have Microsoft going nutcake about the MiPhone direction.
I certainly understand why Microsoft is trying to break the barriers to produce an OS that is capable of handling real gaming experience or any other hungry graphics application in a phone.
I also foresee that Sony have some difficulty in the future in the portable gaming area.
Until...multi-core phones arrive?!? Microsoft gonna scratch its head and build... uh ... WP7.5 or WM7.5. Quite laughable.
No multi-tasking? Sure. I am gonna hold the HD2 for a while.
The article posted over here is really nice and informative. I liked the sharing feature on Zune, although lack of Zune users made it really a moot point.