MWC: Windows Mobile 7 Series shows Zune's influence

Windows Mobile is gone: the Windows Phone is here.  Microsoft's new mobile OS will be called Windows Phone 7 Series and will replace the ageing Windows Mobile 6.5 interface


We've been waiting for news of this major update for a long time, and it was finally launched yesterday afternoon at the MWC.  Taking the Windows Phone brand that appeared with Windows Mobile 6.5, the new version of the OS is a radical change.  Microsoft has clearly spent some time learning some hard lessons from Apple and Google.  The updates aren't just on the surface either: the whole thing has been redesigned, from the development down to relations with carriers.

Interface: 'ZunePhone' rumours come true


Although Microsoft's MP3 player was never a big hit on this side of the Atlantic, it was an excellent little device in many ways, and had a great interface and software for managing your digital content.  The results are pretty impressive: they can't quite match the standard set by arch rival Apple, which the rest of the competition follows (or even copies), but the new look is actually more stylish (though very minimal) than the iPhone's.  If you're wondering what it looks like, try launching Windows Media Centre and imagine what it look like on your smartphone.

We will, of course, have to wait until we can actually try it out on a handset to see what the new OS is really like, but as you can see, it can finally compete with Android and OS X Mobile again in terms of style.

Let's finish with one interesting piece of news: during the very brief Q&A that followed the presentation, Microsoft confirmed that manufacturers and operators won't be able to customise the interface as is currently the case  with for instance HTC's Sense.  Microsoft designs the look and feel, and that's it: manufacturers won't even be able to choose their own icons.  Instead, to stand out they'll have to offer innovative apps and services, and above all, great hardware.  This decision shows just how much the world of smartphones is beginning to look like that of regular computers.

Joe Belfiore and hubs

Joe Belfiore, the project lead for Windows Phone came to show off the new OS, rather than Steve Ballmer, who said a few words only in other parts of the programme.  And it's hubs that are at the heart of Windows Phone: as their name suggests, they concentrate all the functionality of a particular activity in one location.  So the 'social' hub gives access to all of your social networks and messages while the 'photo' hub is a gateway to your albums, whether you've copied them from your computer or taken them using the camera.  Similarly, the 'music and video' hub will bridge the gap between music you've downloaded online and videos and other content linked to the track that's currently playing.


The 'gaming' hub links the games you've downloaded with your Xbox Live account, meaning you can take your avatar with you, like the Mii you can share between your Nintendo Wii and DS.

But that's not all: Windows Phone 7 opens up these different hubs.  They're all interconnected, which should allow a powerful new way of using your phone--or a confusing mess, depending on how it's implemented.  If Microsoft has got it right, we hope you'll be able to go into your photo hub and see not just your own photos, but also those of your Facebook friends once you've signed using the social hub--and that it works transparently.

E-mail, calendar, contacts and Office: the next step

The list of hubs keeps on going: you can use one to synchronise your mail, contacts and Office documents.  That's another much-needed improvement, and there's now total compatibility not just with Outlook and Exchange (which provides support for push e-mail), but also other Microsoft apps like OneNote, SharePoint and Office Mobile.  The calendar app has been redesigned to make it simpler and easier to use.  And as we mentioned above, connecting between different hubs will allow you to keep information about your contacts and to the Facebook profile, Twitter feed and so on.

And the rest

Of course, Microsoft has included Bing in Window Phone, and Joe Belfiore showed off a great demo of the maps app to look for a sushi restaurant in Barcelona and look for reviews using Bing.   For synchronising, you can use an app that looks just like a Microsoft-made iTunes and seems to be reasonably well-designed.

So everything's perfect?

Perhaps.  Or perhaps not.  To be honest, we still don't know that much.  Although the OS itself seems ready, it was demoed on what looked like a Zune HD and the first handsets to actually use it won't be available until the summer.  Other questions remain--surrounding, for instance, the web browser.  The only news that we have is that it will be derived from, and relatively similar to the PC version of Internet Explorer, which is neither particularly new nor well-loved.  We also don't know whether it will offer multitasking or not.  As for Bing, it's struggling to make inroads in Europe.

We'll have to wait until the first Windows Phone 7 Series phones actually arrive before we can give any definitive answers, but we have heard rumours that Toshiba is showing off its new K01 on its stand at the WMC, which is running Windows 7 Series.

Whether that's true or not, some big changes have been made and have radically altered Microsoft's view of a mobile OS.  Steve Ballmer described how the firm has shifted to a more tightly vertically integrated model, having more detailed discussions with manufacturers with a view to improving the 'user experience'.  We've seen a list of the main partners which includes names like LG, Sony Ericsson and Qualcomm.  It seems that Microsoft is keen to work together with hardware manufacturers to produce better phones, which isn't a bad idea at all considering the state of the current crop of Windows Phones.

What about Flash?  Well, we've kept the best news until the end: one of the speakers in the Q&A confirmed that there won't be any support at launch. But Steve Ballmer piped up immediately afterwards and seemed delighted to be able to join Adobe and Google in taking on Apple: Microsoft has absolutely nothing against either Adobe or Flash, he commented; it's just that support won't be ready immediately on launch.

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