Microsoft is now considered as one of the elder statesmen of the mobility space. The company made public to the world its mobile operating system in April of 2000. The initial release before this was the Pocket PC2000. Shortly after this, it was renamed Windows mobile operating system.
The initial mobile OS was designed to be used on a PDA or a Palm-Size PC, as called by Microsoft. The Pocket PC did not have that many applications. Examples of those that were included are Pocket Word, Pocket Excel, Pocket Outlook, Pocket Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Microsoft Reader, Microsoft Money, Notes, Character recognition support and Infrared (IR) File beaming capability.
Judging by today’s standards, this is a very small list of applications for a mobile operating system. If you look at the example, the T-Mobile Vibrant, it has 64 applications as of date. Looking forward to 2010, Windows Mobile will have taken advantage of 11 years of business but Microsoft has finally decided to retire the Windows Mobile operating system product line.
With the advancement of mobile technologies like Smartphones, Microsoft has made the decision that it is finally time for a new development approach. The company has been doing its hardest to develop the next big thing after Windows Mobile, the Windows Phone 7. This mobile operating system is a sort of goodbye from its predecessor in both philosophy and technology.
Indeed, Windows Phone 7 is in for a fight. Microsoft is a very distant third in the Smartphone area. As of now, the top spot is held by RIM and with Android from Google is trying to get in with Microsoft’s market share.
This May 2010, the Smartphone Platforms include RIM — 41.7%, Microsoft — 13.2%, Apple — 24.4%, Google — 13.0% and the Palm — 4.8%. Will Microsoft be able to reclaim the title it lost with Windows Phone 7?
The Device: Windows Phone 7
The hardware is not what attracted the critics to the Windows Phone 7. In truth it seems that it is just the canvas for the OS platform where it can operate with some basic specs. So the appearance of the phone itself is not that important, but the interface of the Windows Phone 7 is.
Microsoft mentioned that there will be some certain minimum requirements like a 1hzprocessor and at least512MB of RAM. Each phone will also have a 3-button layout on the bottom under the screen (Back, Windows Home and Search).
The Main Walkthrough and Interface
You will notice that Microsoft decided to separate almost entirely from their previous mobile environment and also for anyone who has used the WinMo platform can confirm that it was necessary. WP7OS uses a minimalist approach to the mobile market using subtle color elements but still keeps the transitions and fonts modem. If you are accustomed with Zune, this endeavor is very much related to that kind of interface and the music side of the operating system is the same.
The whole of what is usually considered the desktop or Home is used with two main screens, which consist of an Applications list and a settings are. Another is a Tiles screen where you can place (Pin) animated informational icons, like advanced shortcuts of your calendar, phone and individual contacts or even links to some applications. There is also a feel of supreme efficiency in the design.
You can assume that future applications will allow for their Pinned widget to provide graphical weather maps or dynamic content on the Tiles screen. Still, the main reason for this is so that there will be an action wall of information most important to you. Animated contact icons also display the person’s picture, name and their latest social media status update.
No one knows what to really expect from the Windows Phone 7. There are some dark corners of the environment that many soon hope to fix and some features would be better seen expanded. Still the overall development is very fast, beautiful, socially connected, which is what many customers want to see.
