Hasta La Gadget!

As we’ve seen with the success of iOS and Android (and the disappointments of Palm’s WebOS), applications are essential to the success of smartphone platforms. Customers and developers both want to know what the new Windows Phone 7 will bring to the table.

At the WP7 announcement, Microsoft’s spokespeople were coy about the total number of third-party applications that would be available for the new OS at launch. Instead they touted their own admittedly-impressive integrated applications, including MS Office, Zune for media management, XBox Live for gaming and Bing for search and maps.

Microsoft also spotlighted a few key partners, including AT&T’s U-Verse TV & Video, and cloud service applications from eBay, iMDB, Fandango and Slacker Radio. Major social networking services like Facebook and Twitter, too, are well-integrated into the OS and its applications. It also announced that Electronic Arts would bring The Sims 3 and other games to WP7. Other applications including Netflix and Flixster have already been presented in demos.

When asked directly about the number of apps on the store at launch, an unnamed Microsoft spokesman told Gizmodo, “It’ll be more than iPad at launch. More than the iPhone. “What matters isn’t how many apps we have, it’s that you can find the apps you need.” Of course, the iPhone had zero third-party apps at launch; the iPad about 350. Most rumors have put the total number of apps somewhere in the thousands.

The marketplace for third-party applications is already in place on the new phones. Our Charlie Sorrel reported last week that life-altering music streaming service Spotify will be in the marketplace, at least in parts of Europe where the service is legally available. TeleRead’s Paul Biba reports that e-reading app Wattpad will be ready to go at launch too.

Still, whatever the number, it won’t approach Apple’s 250,000 applications for iOS or Google’s 90,000 for Android. Nor will they have close to as many handsets (or tablets) in the market. Just how quickly can Microsoft rally third-party developers to catch up with Apple or Google?

While Microsoft can’t offer the same number of users right away, developing for WP7 could offer some advantages. Unlike Android, the hardware specs for WP7 phones are more-or-less standard. And while Apple has been criticized for their opaque approval process, Microsoft has promised explicit standards, quick processing and specific feedback to developers whose apps are rejected.

The development tools for WP7 are also well-established. The primary environment for apps will be Silverlight. In March, Windows offered a package of development tools for WP7, including an add-in and express version of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, XNA Game Studio 4.0, Expression Blend (a tool for user interface development in Silverlight) and a phone emulator for application testing.

It’s not only new developers and those coming from other mobile platforms who will be picking these up. Part of the struggle current Windows Mobile 6 and 6.5 developers will face is that they will have to port or rewrite their existing applications to work on the new OS. Even though developers may grumble, and it may take longer for their apps to be ready, it’s still a substantial base to draw upon.

There’s an opportunity, too, for developers (particularly for media and gaming applications) to gain access not just to Windows Phone 7 users, but to XBox Live and other platforms in the Microsoft ecosystem. With Windows Phone, Microsoft is aiming for integration of its product line; if it’s successful, integrated cross-platform applications will be an essential part of that.

See Also:

• Microsoft Announces First Windows Phone 7 Handsets
• Why Windows Phone 7 Will Make Android Look Chaotic
• Hands-On With Windows Phone 7 Series
• Microsoft Tells Windows Phone 7's App Story
• Microsoft's Challenge With Windows Phone 7 Is Wooing Developers …
• A Quick Guide to Windows Phone 7 Handsets

And then, there were three. Apple’s Find my iPhone introduced a rather compelling idea — one that involves locating your phone by tapping into the GPS lock that it was holding onto in someone else’s arms. A few weeks back, Big Red announced a similar service for VZW-branded BlackBerry, webOS and Android phones, and now that Windows Phone 7 is making its red carpet reveal, we’re learning that Microsoft’s newest mobile OS has similar functionality baked in. The feature is teased in a new Microsoft video that shows off the cloud functions of WP7, which also demonstrates the phone staying in sync with contacts added on the PC, playing Xbox LIVE with friends and shooting an image on the phone just moments before viewing it on a Windows 7 laptop. We’re hoping to get a better idea of how the handset recovery system works (and how much it’ll cost) a bit later in the day, but for now that aforementioned video is embedded just past the break.

Update: AT&T has affirmed that this feature will be completely free of charge for WP7 handsets purchased from it. We’re still waiting to hear if it’ll be free across all carriers / countries.

[Thanks, JagsLive]

Continue reading Windows Phone 7’s ‘Find My Phone’ feature teased in Microsoft video

Windows Phone 7’s ‘Find My Phone’ feature teased in Microsoft video originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve seen O2 Germany’s HTC Schubert and a Chinese HD3, but here’s a giant Windows Phone 7 device with “T-Mobile” clearly painted on the upper right-hand corner of the screen. TmoNews got these alleged images of the HTC HD7 from their usual anonymous source along with a partial spec sheet, which actually claims slightly different dimensions for the phone and double the amount of flash memory (16GB in all) than we heard before. Different strokes for different folks, or is one of these two rumors totally off? You’ll probably want to keep both possibilities in mind before considering this last tidbit from the very same source: the phone will reportedly cost $199 on a two-year contract. Or you could just wait for us to blow out all the Windows Phone 7 details tomorrow, of course.

Update: Enjoying the look of this phone from your vantage point in Great Britain, are you? You might be able to pick one up as well — 911sniper apparently found a O2 UK version of the HTC Schubert’s ROM, as reported by Pocketnow below.

HTC HD7 (aka Schubert) pictured in glorious monochrome, headed to T-Mobile for $200? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 10 Oct 2010 15:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know what we always say: never enough battery life. Energizer‘s new AP1201 case for the iPhone 4 should come as a welcome addition to your Apple gadget family. As a slim, protective case of silicone rubber it’s not completely offensive looking (if fact, it’s pretty attractive), and it charges your phone while it’s wearing it. It’s got two charging options — a high speed charging mode which charges the phone first, then the case, while the other option provides simultaneous pass-through charging. The case promises to about double the life of your iPhone, and it’s available now for $69.99.

Energizer AP1201 case for iPhone 4 charges while it protects originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Oct 2010 01:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The low-end LG Optimus S that wowed us earlier the other day has a magenta twin — the LG Optimus T, headed to T-Mobile with very similar hardware. Considering that both carriers’ phones will come in similar shades of purple and black, you could easily be excused for confusing the two — aside from a prominent logo and the physical button arrangement, they’ve got the exact same build. That’s not a bad thing, mind you, as it means the Optimus T is similarly solid as a rock, but there are a few differences here and there, like the lack of dedicated camera and voice buttons this time round. Whether it’s extra bloat (of which there’s some) or a slower chip, the T’s also not as wonderfully lag-free as the S, though both phones would handily beat most of the other low-end Androids we’ve seen.

The 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen’s just as responsive, though the physical buttons here aren’t quite as nice — we prefer Sprint’s distinct, textured keys to the slick plastic rocker for Home and Back and the Menu and Search buttons here. We weren’t able to download Quadrant on the T for benchmarking like we did for its sister phone nor verify the same exact specs inside, but paging through menus we spotted mobile hotspot functionality and WiFi calling, just as originally foretold, not to mention support for old-school FM radio. Now we just wait to see if T-Mobile follows Sprint’s lead and offers the phone at a similarly fantastic price.

Update: It’s a bit of a shame, but LG just informed us the Optimus T won’t have WiFi calling after all — it was originally considered for the device, but the software we saw was apparently a old, out-of-date build. T-Mobile reps wouldn’t confirm or deny that, but told us that the option is something they’d like to bring to more devices later on, though they said it might require Android 2.1 or higher to function properly.

LG Optimus T hands-on (update: no WiFi calls) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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