Windows Mobile 7

The folks from engadget has uncovered this bit of info from MWC2010. So the old rumor of Media and business edition of windows mobile that was posted earlier looks very much possible.

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Here are some more wm7 rumors.. most of the things are repeating itself from the previous wm7 rumors.. I have used bold text to highlight some of the new ones…

via WMPU – tweakers.net – chainfire.eu

Microsoft will drop much of the business side of WM in favor of the consumer side. The traditional business offerings like Office / Exchange functionality will of course still be supported, but the focus will be shifted to gaming and multimedia. The Xbox and Zune brands will be represented, the Zune player willl be included and it will be possible to wirelessly exchange data, multimedia, and games with the Xbox 360.

The first batch of phones that will be released will have pretty much the same chip specs, and HTC, Samsung, LG and SE will be the ones to deliver this first batch of phones. In this first batch (September 2010), the OEMs are apparently not allowed to make big changes, they all have to use the same interface.

This means, no custom UI like Sense, no Opera Mobile either. Instead the default WM UI will be used and a new PocketIE based on IE7, but with some functionality from IE8.

The second batch (end of 2010) will be allowed to have small changes, but likely only theme-based and addition of some custom application.

Only at the third batch (early 2011) will the OEMs be allowed to add their own interfaces, like Sense, Panels, TouchWiz and S-Class.

The official announcements of the WM7 phones are not expected to occur more than a few weeks before actual release of the OS, [CF: so we probably won't see official (unleaked) specs and such before the end of July (based on the September release date)].

As hardware goes they say mostly the same as the chassis 1 specs. 1 Ghz+ CPU, Open GL ES 2.0, 800×480+, 3.5″+, 384mb+ (possibly 512+).

According to those we have seen the WM7 interface, it is nothing revolutionary. It should have standard multi-touch support and supports only capacitive. The interface is said to be a hybrid of iPhone / Android / Zune HD elements.

Apparently those that have used WM7 builds differ in opinion about the software. Some state it is much faster than for example the 3GS, while others mention apps are slow to start and experiencing ‘hickups’.

Apps-wise, old applications will in principle not be compatible with Windows Mobile 7, throwing away many thousands of apps that are currently available. It may be compatibility for old apps will be emulated, but this is not clear yet. How exactly this will work will likely be explained at MIX 2010 in March.

It certainly seems like only .NET apps will be supported [CF: ugh!], however it is not clear if the Compact Framework will be a part of that .NET support.

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ppcgeeks.com is claiming to have some info about WM7. they have not mentioned the source of their info and to me it looks like they have put together a collection of all the rumors in to one post. Here is the info from the post

-At the Mobile World Congress event on February 15th, 2010, Windows Phone 7 will be unveilved, although at this time plans are only to unveil the user interface of the new platform . Specific indepth functionality of the device will most likely not be shown.
-The User Interface is based upon codename “METRO”. It will be very similar to the Zune HD User Interface with a complete revamp of the “Start” screen. The UI is “Very Clean”, “Soulful” and “Alive”
-Unfortunately there will be no Flash support at the get go as there was not enough time to implement these features.
-Windows Phone 7 will only support application installation through service based delivery. (i.e Marketplace). Application installation via storage card will not be possible.
- No Multi-Task support. Applications will “Pause” when in the background, however will support notifications via push notifications.
-Marketplace will now support “try before you buy” as well as an API
-No NETCF backwards compatibility. This means the original rumor of no backward compatibility for applications holds to be true. That being said, there are high hopes of porting the NetCF to the newer platform easily.
-Microsoft is confident that devices will be ready by September 2010
-Full Zune Integration
-Windows Mobile Device Center will no longer be used. Zune software to take over syncing via PC.
-OEM Interfaces will not be allowed to run on the device. Say goodbye to Sense UI / SPB Mobile Shell / Point UI / Infinity, etc, etc
-Full XBOX Gaming Integration (Gamer tag, achievements, friends, avatars, merchandising, etc)
-Full support for social networking

Hang in there people we only have to wait for about a week before we can lay some of these rumors to rest. The MWC WM7 demo will be held behind closed doors so we will most likely miss the action but those who were invited to see the event could shed some light on what we could expect from WM7.

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