Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft may be late to the game with a consumer-savvy phone OS, but Windows Phone 7 is aiming to do right a lot of what Google is doing wrong. Based on what I saw during a visit to Microsoft’s headquarters two weeks ago, the Windows Phone 7 team may be on the right track to pose a serious threat to Google.

The crucial part of Microsoft’s new phone strategy is the quality control it imposes onto its hardware partners. Rather than code an operating system and allow manufacturers to do whatever they want with it — like Google is doing with Android — Microsoft is requiring hardware partners to meet a rigid criteria in order to run Windows Phone 7.

Each device must feature three standard hardware buttons, for example, and before they can ship with Windows Phone 7, they have to pass a series of tests directed by Microsoft. (As I mentioned in a feature story about Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has created new lab facilities containing robots and automated programs to test each handset to ensure that features work properly and consistently across multiple devices.)

The effort to control quality and consistency may be just what Microsoft needs to regain some ground in the phone battle. In the wake of the iPhone revolution, Windows Mobile saw a serious decline in market share; the computer-ey, feature-loaded interface just didn’t cut it anymore. Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft’s complete do-over on a mobile operating system, with a slick new tile-based UI. The first Windows Phone 7 handsets are due in stores November.

With brand new test facilities, Microsoft is taking on the duty of ensuring that touchscreens and sensors are calibrated properly, for example, and each hardware model undergoes software stress tests to catch bugs and system errors (see picture above). The end result should be getting very close to the same OS on smartphones made by different manufacturers. That in turn could mitigate the issue of fragmentation for third-party developers: They can effectively code the same app for a large party of devices without much tweaking.

By contrast, Google doesn’t subject manufacturers to similar testing criteria. And we’re seeing the consequences: Some touchscreens work better than others, some apps don’t work on one version of Android while they do on another, and some manufacturers are even cramming bloatware onto Android devices.

Most importantly, a consistent user experience will help customers understand what they’re getting when they’re shopping for a Windows phone.

The OS is going to be the same with identical features on every handset, so as a consumer, your decision-making will boil down to the hardware’s look, weight and size. Compare that to the experience of buying an Android phone, which could be running a different version depending on the handset you buy: Donut, Eclair, Froyo, blueberry pie, Neapolitan or whatever Google chooses to call it eventually. You won’t have to ask yourself, “Am I going to get X on this phone or do I have to get another one?” because they’re all running the same OS with a few variations in hardware.

The inevitable question that arises is what Windows Phone 7 means as a competitor to iOS. It’s tough to say.

I haven’t spent quite enough time with a final version of a Windows Phone 7 device yet. Still, I think the Phone 7 user interface is refreshingly different compared to the siloed-app experience of iOS. But Apple is so far ahead in terms of cultivating a rich mobile ecosystem that I don’t think Steve Jobs needs to be sweating just yet.

Google, though, needs to get Android’s story together, because the fickle platform gets more confusing and convoluted every day, and it could have the same destiny as Windows Mobile.

Brian X. Chen is author of an upcoming book about the always-connected mobile future titled Always On, due for publication in spring 2011. To keep up with his coverage on Wired.com, follow @bxchen or @gadgetlab.

Photo: Mike Kane/Wired.com

The Windows Phone 7 section of the Zune Marketplace looks a bit like a barren wasteland at the moment, but there’ll be worthy apps aplenty ready for next month’s launch. Here are your first priority downloads. More »

NEW YORK — Microsoft on Monday unveiled details on the first phones running its brand new Windows Phone 7 operating system, the software giant’s answer to Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS mobile platforms.

The phone will be available on AT&T (who co-hosted the event) and T-Mobile networks stateside beginning Nov. 8, with handsets from HTC, LG, Dell and Samsung.

“We have a beautiful lineup in this first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “Microsoft and its partners are delivering a different kind of mobile phone and experience — one that makes everyday tasks faster by getting more done in fewer steps and providing timely information in a ‘glance and go’ format.”

Windows Phone 7 is a complete overhaul of Windows Mobile, which with Nokia, Blackberry and Palm had dominated smartphones before Apple and Google entered the market beginning just three years ago. Windows Mobile currently has just 5 percent of the global smartphone market, down from 9 percent only a year ago, according to Gartner Research. Worldwide, Android has already shot up to 17 percent, Apple to 14 percent, with Nokia/Symbian and RIM/BlackBerry leading with 41 and 18 percent respectively.

From the user’s point of view, the most significant innovation of Windows Phone 7 will probably be the UI design, organized around what Microsoft calls “Hubs.” Instead of a flat screen offering a grid of applications, services will be grouped in tiles according to the tasks they perform. For example, “Music” might include an onboard Zune-like media player, but also streaming services like Slacker Radio. Each hub prioritizes recent or favorite files or apps and will be able to integrate with social, sharing and streaming services in the cloud.

The primary hubs for Phone 7 will be People (with integrated contacts, phone and text messaging, and social networking), Pictures (including photos on phone, but also on Windows Live, Office (OneNote, Word and Excel Documents, SharePoint), Music/Video (Microsoft’s Zune and subscription service ZunePass, iHeartRadio, and Slacker Radio), Games (multiplayer gaming with Xbox Live).

Many of these services will be built in to the OS or pre-packaged by the hardware manufacturers, but third-party applications will be also be available for distribution through Microsoft’s app store. These applications will be able to use WP7’s built-in location and communication services.

“Thousands of applications are being developed right now,” said Microsoft developer Joe Belfiore. “Our goal is to work with our partners so their apps have elegant coexistence with what’s already on the device.” Belfiore demonstrated apps from eBay, IMDB, AT&T’s UVerse Mobile, but did not announce the number of apps available at launch or details about an app marketplace.

Microsoft is also trying a new approach to smartphone hardware. While Apple and Blackberry have designed devices tightly built around their own software, and Android has generally allowed hardware OEMs to put the OS on whatever device they wish, Microsoft has taken a hybrid approach, specifying standards for their hardware partners to meet in order to carry Windows Phone 7. These include three specific buttons – a menu/home button with a Windows logo, a back button, and search, plus other processor and screen resolution requirements.

The initial group of WP7 phones on AT&T are the HTC Surround, the LG Quantum, and the Samsung Focus. All three feature a 1-GHz processor, Wi-Fi, a 5-MP camera with 720-MP video, and each will cost $199.99 with a new contract. The HTC Surround is game- and media-focused, with a 3.5-inch screen, 16-GB storage, two Dolby Surround speakers and a kickstand to prop the device up on a flat surface. Samsung’s Focus offers the most screen real estate, with a 4-inch 800×480 Super AMOLED WVGA touchscreen, but only 8 GB of storage. The LG Quantum is optimized for text entry, with a 3.5-inch screen, 16 GB of storage and a slide-out landscape QWERTY keyboard.

Like Apple and Android (and Microsoft’s desktop software long before that), Microsoft has also designed Windows Phone 7 to complement other devices and services in the Windows ecosystem. It offers cloud syncing from the phone to the desktop through WindowsPhone.com, tight integration with Windows Live’s cloud-based office, storage, contacts/calendar, e-mail/instant messaging, file-sharing and media-management services, and gaming downloads and social networking through Xbox Live.

The most thorough integration, though, may be with Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. Every WP7 phone will have a search button that will connect with Bing to search web results, maps, directions, media or shopping. Bing’s search results will in turn be closely tied to the sharing and communication services on the devices. The mobile front-end client for Bing was smooth and versatile, but some may note that Microsoft did not show or announce the possibility of using another search backend as the default.

The other major worry about WP7 was the lack of copy and paste at launch, which Belfiore confirmed. However, he promised that a free update adding copy and paste would be pushed to all WP7 devices in early 2011.

The two major emphases I see in Windows Phone 7 are the integrated social networking and cloud services and the push towards casual gaming. EA’s The Sims 3 for Windows Mobile is a terrific example of the confluence of those two. Just as with the Xbox and Kinect, the development of Xbox Live for mobile has taken strong cues in look and feel from both Nintendo’s Wii and the success of iOS in casual gaming for all ages. There’s very little here that’s directed for the Xbox 360’s hard-core gamers, but there’s plenty here for people who love to play games and share media with their friends.

Microsoft’s hope is that these features will differentiate Windows Phone 7 devices from the rest of the market. Users already engaged with Microsoft devices and software, from the Windows 7 desktop OS and MS Office to the Xbox or Zune, will benefit the most from their integration on the smartphone. Others may find Phone 7’s interface and its reorganization of applications and services more intuitive or appealing.

It’s a beautiful interface, competitively priced and extremely well-integrated with Microsoft’s other core products. The irony is that two of these core products – Office and the Xbox – have been largely separate until now. Users may just have a difficult time deciding whether it’s a phone for business or pleasure – or whether Microsoft can succeed in trying to do both at the same time on one device.

Photo: Tim Carmody/ Wired.com

Window 7 Phone launches today in New York. Fortunately for us, “today” starts earlier over in Europe, and Samsung Russian has already outed the Omnia 7 aka. “the first smartphone based on the Samsung Windows Phone 7″, and it looks sweet.

We’re very excited about Microsoft’s new phone OS here at Gadget Lab, and the success of all these phones will be down to the operating system. One thing’s sure: the hardware certainly won’t be letting anyone down: The Omnia 7 runs on a 1GHz Qualcomm processor (the same QSD8250 model found in the Google Nexus One), sports a 4-inch, 800 x 480 AMOLED display, a 5MP autofocus camera which can also shoot 720p video in H.264 and WMV formats (among a couple others) and A-GPS for navigation.

The battery will power the handset for six-hours of talk time and 13-days standby (3G) – video-playback time is absent. There’s also an FM radio, and maps and search are powered, unsurprisingly, by Microsoft’s Bing.

So far, so what, right? This is a good set of specs, for sure, but hardly different from any other smartphone. The secret sauce comes with the Windows 7, which integrates social features and gives you constant updates from your Twitter and Facebook, as well as syncing all your online content and contacts and syncing music and movie syncing at home over Wi-Fi.

If Microsoft has managed not to mess this up, and has built something as good as the preview I saw back in February at the Mobile World Congress, then Win Phone 7 could be very hot indeed. On the other hand, Microsoft has called this OS “Windows””, when it doesn’t actually use any windows, so it’s still possible that moronic, inter-departmental corporate bickering has ruined things already. Full specs press release below in case they get pulled in the next few hours.

Omnia 7 – the first smartphone based on the Samsung Windows Phone 7 [Samsung Russia]

See Also:

• Gadget Lab Podcast: Windows Phone 7 and the Madness of Sony and …
• Microsoft Tells Windows Phone 7’s App Story
• Hands-On With Windows Phone 7 Series
• Microsoft’s Challenge With Windows Phone 7 Is Wooing Developers …

Follow us for real-time tech news: Charlie Sorrel and Gadget Lab on Twitter.

Samsung Omnia 7, smartphone Winows Phone 7
Network HSUPA 5.76 MB / sec. / HSDPA 7,2 Mb / sec. (900 / 1 900 / 2 100 MHz)
EDGE / GPRS (850 / 900 / 1 800 / 1 900MHz)
Dimensions 122,40 x64, 20×10, 99mm
Weight 138gramm
Display 4,0 “SUPER AMOLED, WVGA (800×480)
Operating System Windows ® Phone OS 7
Processor Qualcomm QSD8250 1GHz
Battery Standard: Li-ion, a 500mA / h
Talk time: 2G / 520 minutes, 3G / 370 minutes
Standby Time: 2G / 390 hours, 3G / 330 hours
Communications BlueTooth® 01.02, USB 2.0, WiFi b / G / n
Memory 8GB
Luggage 5MP, autofocus
Video HD-quality recording (720p) @ 25fps
H.264, H.263, MPEG4, WMV
Music MP3 / AAC / AAC + / eAAC + / WMA / AMR-NB / AMR-WB / MIDI
FM-radio with RDS
Ext. Features Metro UI, A-GPS, Bing Map, Bing Search

Moscow, October 11, 2010 – The company Samsung Electronics, a leader in mobile phones, winner of numerous awards for innovation, announces the release of the smartphone Samsung Omnia 7 (model GT-I8700).

This smartphone is the first in Eurasia, the mobile device on Windows 7. Samsung Omnia is equipped with seven 4-inch SUPER AMOLED-display with touch controls, a processor with a clock speed of 1GHz, 5-megapixel camera. The smartphone will offer customers various razlecheniya with pre platforms: Gaming Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE ® and Zune ® for music and video.

DK Tyre (JK Shin), President and Head of Mobile Communications of Samsung said: «Samsung Omnia 7 – this is our first smartphone based on Windows Phone 7. We are confident that consumers will celebrate its performance, design, and ample opportunities for entertainment. ”

4-inch SUPER AMOLED-display smartphone allows you to work with high-quality images even in bright daylight. The new model has a high speed data transmission. For example, a music file 4 MB downloaded in just 4.4 seconds and upload the video of 40 MB is up to 56 seconds. Thanks to clear the work of the speaker and microphone sensitivity of the conference will take place without any interference. Users will surely appreciate the design of the device, the elegant minimalism of the body and chrome surfaces.

With the new smartphone Samsung Omnia 7 customers will have access to popular entertainment services like Xbox LIVE ® and Zune ®. Gamers will benefit from an extensive library of games and content service Xbox LIVE, and the music lovers and film fans are passionate about the millions of videos and music service Zune. Omnia 7 automatically synchronizes all content from your computer via Wi-Fi connection. High-quality 5-megapixel camera with LED-flash helps capture interesting moments.

Samsung Omnia 7 Ways to be a convenient mobile assistant in everyday life. Intuitive dynamic interface of the operating system Windows Phone 7 is simple and convenient, and information hubs Windows Phone Hubs help to organize all the information and tasks. Customizable home screen feature advanced the concept of “information tiles”. Instead of boring icons “information tiles” display constantly updated information from the network news and weather, the status of friends in social networks, scheduled meetings and much more.

Another useful feature of the new smartphone – advanced tools for working with social services. Users can literally on the move to share photos, leave comments on pages of friends, or just chat. And all this – at the touch of a button.

Joe Belfiore, Microsoft’s man in charge of mobile, has a favorite word when he talks about Windows Phone 7: “holistic.” The company’s mobile infrastructure underwent a sea change to make an operating system based on what users want, which required retooling its entire phone manufacturing and design strategy.

It even involved building robots, like the one pictured above, to make sure handsets work like you expect them to.

Joe Belfiore, Microsoft's corporate vice president of Windows Phone Program Management. Photo: Mike Kane/Wired.com

“We’re taking responsibility holistically for the product,” Belfiore said. “It’s a very human-centric way of thinking about it. A real person is going to pick up a phone in their hand, choose one, buy it, leave the store, configure it and live with it for two years. That’s determined by the hardware, software, application and services. We’re trying to think about all those parts such that the human experience is great.”

Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft’s complete do-over of a mobile operating system after the earlier Windows Mobile plummeted in market share and popularity in the wake of Apple’s consumer-savvy iPhone and Google’s prolific Android devices.

Referred to as “7″ by the engineers developing the OS, the project has been in the works since December 2008, when Microsoft decided to scrap all of its efforts on Windows Mobile 7, which would have been an iteration of the older operating system largely focused on business customers.

At a New York press conference on Monday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will announce hardware and carrier partners who will be supporting the operating system when the first Windows Phone 7 smartphones finally ship November. AT&T will be speaking at the event as well, suggesting that the telecom company will be among the initial carriers offering the OS.

In exclusive interviews with Wired.com, Microsoft staff spoke about the radical transformation in mobile strategy that was necessary to make Windows Phone 7 possible. The company had to purchase brand new lab facilities, hire and shuffle around top managers and reorganize its entire design department to rethink mobile.

Belfiore explained that years ago with Windows Mobile, the process was such that a mobile carrier and manufacturer would determine the features they wanted on a phone, and then they’d issue a list of specific instructions to OS makers such as Microsoft. This M.O. led to the creation of Windows Mobile, which has been knocked by critics (and even some of Microsoft’s own designers) for being overloaded with features and unfriendly to users.

“It was trying to put too much functionality in front of the user at one time as it could, and it resulted in an experience that was a little cluttered and overwhelming for taste for a lot of people today,” said Bill Flora, a design director at Microsoft. “It felt computerey.”

However, after Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, Steve Jobs rewrote the rules of the wireless game. He slyly negotiated an arrangement with AT&T to carry the iPhone without even showing the carrier the phone. As a result, Apple was able to tightly control the design of the iPhone’s OS and hardware to deliver a mobile experience tailored for the customer to enjoy rather than the carrier.

In the aftermath of the iPhone, manufacturers have been racing to deliver competitive smartphones tailored to quality consumer experiences. And Microsoft acknowledges that Windows Phone 7 is benefiting from this paradigm shift.

“The success of the iPhone certainly had an impact on the industry and an impact on us,” Belfiore said. “And we said there were a lot of things we could do to deliver a solution that’s different from the iPhone but have some of its benefits.”