Breaking Down Windows Phone 7’s Features

When Steve Ballmer went up onstage, everyone was so busy drooling over the impressive new Windows Phone 7 user interface that actually paying attention to the presentation of the finer aspects of the platform’s new features was totally out of everyone’s minds. Thankfully, some thoughtful souls took time to jot down some key notes and highlights for use to review.

Here’s a quick breakdown of all the cool new things WP 7 brings:

First off, this is not the old Windows Mobile OS. While the name change is superficial (Windows Phone 7 is not quite as catchy as Windows Mobile 7), everything else is fully functional. The stylish new operating system is based on the concept that the “phone is not a PC”. Accessing information, files, and other phone content has always been mimicry of desktop computer interfaces. Now, WP 7 delivers an entirely new user experience that will change the way you look at your mobile phone.

WP7 also introduces the new customizable Tiles. These, combined with the larger than life user menus make for an impressive presentation on your phone screen. Tiles are basically specialized widgets that can be customized to contain almost any kind of information. You can even sync it to a specific Facebook contact and get a live feed of their status updates. The large menus may look like they are oversized, but in practice, they look awesome. The bleeding effect at the edge of the page is stylish and reminds you that you can always pan around to see the rest.

Also new to Windows Phone 7 is the introduction of Xbox Live Games service for the mobile phone. Right now, there are no game demos out yet so it is hard to say how much of an actual benefit this is. MS has yet to release a game line up too.

Read more on WP 7 at the source

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