Hasta La Gadget!

The Bluetooth SIG has a long history of promoting its members’ “special interests” by leaking valuable tidbits about their handsets before they’re announced. The recently unearthed LG C900 is the latest of these, being pegged for a launch date “around” September 28th by the SIG’s detail page on the phone. The QWERTY slider, which is referred to in C900N, C900k, and C900B versions, will be available in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. Phone Arena conjectures that the launch date lines up with AT&T’s marketing materials timing and the slated Q4 launch of Windows Phone 7, so the C900 probably has a decent chance of being the first Windows Phone 7 phones to market if LG’s own GW910 or some more secretive set doesn’t beat it to the punch. Still, September is a bit earlier than any of the launch windows Microsoft has managed to let slip, and as far as we know Microsoft won’t even be accepting apps in the Marketplace before October.

LG C900 due to bring Windows Phone 7 to market near September 28th, according to Bluetooth SIG originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 09:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s held the line since its February announce that Windows Phone 7 is going to be ready in time for the holidays this year — and from what we’ve seen recently, we believe it — so today they’re announcing another small step in the process by finalizing the dev tools that first bowed at MIX in March. Specifically, the gold build will be hitting streets on September 16, just a little under a month from today, while the Marketplace will start accepting apps sometime in early October. Now, if you want to throw a little conjecture at this and make a few assumptions along the way, you could reasonably argue that Microsoft wants a healthy catalog of apps available for purchase on launch day one and that it’ll probably take them at least a week or two to approve those first titles — which means that if everything goes perfectly, we could theoretically see retail hardware on shelves by the end of October. Again, that’s purely conjecture on our part, but it’s pretty juicy to think that we could be playing with a Cetus in around two months’ time, isn’t it?

Windows Phone 7 dev tools go gold September 16, Marketplace taking submissions in October originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re prepping for a Windows Phone 7 purchase later this year and the Cetus doesn’t really do it for you, we understand — not everyone can live without a physical keyboard, and devices like the Touch Pro2 have gotten us used to the idea that Windows Mobile and great QWERTY go hand-in-hand. To that end, we present to you the LG C900, a rounded landscape slider equipped with a four-row keyboard and a simplified two-button capacitive layout beneath the screen paired with a chrome Windows key. Notably, this is the first time we’ve seen carrier branding on Windows Phone 7’s home screen in the wild — you can see AT&T’s logo prominently displayed as a tile in one of the pictures in the gallery after the break. We’re not sure we’re digging the matte plasticky look up front, but to each his own, we suppose.

Exclusive: LG C900 for AT&T has Windows Phone 7, shows off a little carrier branding originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you examined the fairly impressive roster of Windows Phone 7 Xbox Live launch titles that Microsoft waved proudly in our face the other day, you might’ve noticed that EA is particularly absent from that glorious list. Well, the folks at Mobile Entertainment bothered to ask EA Mobile about that absence, and EA had this terse reply: “We are constantly evaluating new platforms and opportunities, but have nothing to announce right now.” Pretty eye opening, right? In absence of facts, there are all sorts of avenues for conjecture. EA could be holding out for a better carrot from Microsoft, checking to see how successful the platform will actually be, or just playing its titles close to its chest. Or maybe they’re just resting after a long round of Madden testing and binge potato chip eating. We’re not going to get all worked up about it right now: it’s not like we’re short on platforms right now suited to shepherding the hapless lives of our Sims.

EA a notable holdout on Xbox Live for Windows Phone 7, doesn’t have much to say on the subject originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve known that proper Xbox Live gaming (powered by XNA) was coming to Windows Phone 7 devices, but we’d yet to see any of that thumb-spraining goodness in action besides a brief demo and a few developer videos. Well, Microsoft has finally come clean with details about its launch strategy for the platform, and from where we sit, it’s definitely looking pretty promising. First off, the company has announced a full list of launch titles for WP7 handsets, including some familiar names and franchises like Castlevania, Halo: Waypoint, Star Wars, Crackdown, and Guitar Hero, alongside a handful of newer properties like the ultra-cute ilomilo, produced in-house by Microsoft Game Studios. In total, the company will launch with over 60 game titles, with new offerings appearing every week in the Xbox Live Marketplace, just like its big brother console version. We’ve got all the details, a full list of the launch titles, and our hands-on preview after the break — so read on to get the scoop!

Continue reading Xbox Live launch titles for Windows Phone 7 finally revealed, we’ve got the full preview

Xbox Live launch titles for Windows Phone 7 finally revealed, we’ve got the full preview originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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