As shown above are the 3 prototype Windows Phones (from L-R:) Samsung, Asus, & a LG device. Today Microsoft unveiled their SDK (Software Developer Kit which can be downloaded here) for Windows Phone 7 mobile OS. Along with announcement, so many goodies were shown coming to WP7 that will make this OS something to be reckoned with. Developers will have the following features to use at their disposal:
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Accelerometer, an intuitive control that responds to motion |
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A Microsoft Location Service to provide developers with a single point of reference to acquire location information |
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Microsoft Notification Service for pushing information to the phone, regardless of whether or not an application is running |
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Hardware-accelerated video with digital rights management (DRM) |
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Internet Information Services Smooth Streaming for the industry’s highest quality content viewing experience |
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Multitouch |
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Camera and microphone support |
So on top of 3D gaming, social networking, and push notifications; we also have Netflix which allows account support and 3G streaming of media (Nice!). WP7 does not allow multitasking so you’ll have to do things the iPhone way, which isn’t a problem at all. The Windows Phone Marketplace will be the only way to get apps on WP7. But the biggest bummer of the day was the confirmation of the HTC HD2 will NOT be upgraded to Windows Phone, they’ll stop at Windows Mobile 6.5.
