A long-awaited event in the mobile market has happened at last - Microsoft has finally unveiled its Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system. Now in a very short run lucky customers will be able to try their hands on first WP7 handsets. And the thing is they will have a really wide range of choice - unlike Apple, its primary competitor that conquers the smartphone market with just one iPhone, Microsoft in partnership with Dell, HTC, LG, and Samsung announced the release of nine Windows Phone 7 handsets at once.
Besides the peculiarities and distinctive features of each model, all of them will have a number of functions and characteristics determined by the common mover they share - Windows Phone 7 operating system. It will partially define the appearance of the handsets, their user interface, and main functionality. Thus all of them will have three hardware keys (still there are variations - for instance, Dell Venue Pro - will additionally possess slide-down vertical qwerty keyboard), at least 4 inches touch screen display, powerful camera, etc.
As for user interface, its main distinctive feature will consist in so-called "hubs" - innovative way of organizing the phone's menu. Still the owners of Zune HD will probably find the interface quite familiar, because they really have much in common. Every hub on the phone screen is not just a plain icon, but a way to deliver versatile and constantly updated information about a particular section. For instance, People Hub gathers and delivers information about all your friends from both phone contacts and social networks and is live, meaning that the information such as status update or picture change can immediately appear on your phone screen.
Windows Phone 7 Series will also provide its users with a direct access to their favorite applications and services, both for work and fun. For instance, Office Hub will allow to manage and sync documents between phone and PC, as well as provide an easy access to Outlook Mail application. In turn Xbox owners will have a possibility to use a mobile version of Xbox Live service, as well as purchase various games and applications from Windows Marketplace.
With any of Windows Phone 7 phones you will also have a straight and easy access to all your multimedia files. The Pictures Hub will show all the pictures you want, including uploaded ones, photos taken by your phone, or most recent pictures of your friends from the social networks. You will also be able to share your photos with your friends easily. And, of course, music and video files. As it was already mentioned, Windows Phone 7 Series has much in common with Zune HD's interface. And the same thing repeats concerning multimedia - WP7 handsets will have almost the same music and video features as Zune HD. Multimedia player will allow the playback of your favorite songs and movies if their format is supported by the device. But even if you have your multimedia files in one of the unsupported formats, you can easily convert audio and video with a conversion software. And it is still possible to manage and transfer files with the Zune PC software.
All abovementioned and many other features of Windows Phone 7 Series will be available to the prospective customers by holiday season 2010, when first WP7 handsets will be released.
