The Windows Phone (the new name for Windows Mobile 6.5) final build has been revealed by Microsoft. The preview shows Windows Phone installed on an HTC Touch Diamond2.
The new name comes as the phone will be heavily integrated with Windows 7 on a 3 screen strategy that they have working within the cloud. When a user leaves their PC at the desk to go out and about the cloud setup will allow the user to access everything they need while on the move in effect, taking the PC in a phone with them.
According to the video, Windows Mobile 6.5 will no longer be used. When referring to the operating system the only name provided will be Windows Phone although the premium devices which will come with multi-touch eventually will run Windows Mobile 7 while the slightly lesser versions will be Windows Mobile 6.5… but to make things less complicated MS are grouping everything in to “Windows Phone”.
Features seen in Windows Phone on the HTC were alerts on the lock screen. When switching on the device a list of alerts are seen. The example shown was of a text alert. To access text messages from this screen you touch the text alert, drag it to the side of the screen and the received text message is opened up.
The user interface (UI) has taken a leaf out of the Zune’s menu system and allows you to scroll up and down through the various features of the phone. Automated setup is also part of Windows Phone and when accessing these features you can easily add a bluetooth headset, setup email, set your ring tone and every other basic function of your phone.
The Start button has now changed functions. On previous versions you’d hit start and have a drop down start menu appear. This is no longer the case and instead, when hitting start a bunch of 24-bit icons appear on the screen which are spaced out and a lot easier to hit with your thumb/finger. This menu also scrolls smoothly allowing more icons to be used.
Windows Marketplace was demonstrated. The software running it has large menu’s, again using large text to make finger navigation more simple. Operator stores are also integrated in to Windows Marketplace allowing users to get apps designed for specific operators.
My Phone is another new service mentioned in the video. What My Phone does is syncs all your data from the phone in to the cloud. The reason for this is to keep data safe should you loose your phone or want to buy a new phone. When getting a new clean phone you are just required to log in with you Live ID and once done all your information will be downloaded from the cloud and the phone will require no entry of contacts etc… that can be a pain usually. Data stored in the cloud is everything you need from text messages to contacts to photos to documents to name a few. On the security side the web based app to control all this allows for remote locking of the phone or if needed, remote wiping if the phone is stolen. The free cloud service will allow users to store about 200 meg of data which can be backed up. MS are looking in to a premium option for users who need to exceed that limit.
Internet Explorer has been beefed up too. Websites by default load in to their full desktop versions. The whole page width is viewable on screen and when tapping the screen IE zooms in to the point of interest. If you prefer a mobile browsing experience you can switch mobile browsing to be the default which cuts down images and the layout to a more basic mode.
Unfortunately multi-touch is not an option yet for reasons of there being 150 different phones needing to use the OS and working out a hardware specification for each of them to use.
Microsoft Tag is integrated in to Windows Phone also making it easier to grab information quickly from posters and bill boards using an MS Tag.
New phones will be available soon running Windows Phone. For a full demonstration check out the video below.
Via: SlashGear
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