Preview! Windows Phone OS

Windows Phone will be available in North America in October 2010, Canada will be getting the first devices the same time as the US. Here's a preview of the interface as well as some of the features. Canadianreviewer.com got a preview during the XBox 2010 preview event. We list down our observations.

Our initial impressions from the brief time we spent with the devices (one from LG and another from Samsung) is that the OS is highly responsive. The scrolling, Zune-like presentation of information as well as invoking apps, bookmarks and links to people and places is fast. Microsoft has given manufacturers a set of standard hardware requirements to ensure that Windows Mobile will work in a similar way across devices.

Yes, there's no cut-and-paste yet but we like what the foundation for Microsoft's next-gen mobile OS looks like. If they can entice developers to pour time and energy into the ecosystem as well as price the handsets competitively I think we're going to have a solid competing platform to iOS and Android. 

Windows Mobile: 13 Things Worth Mentioning

1. All the shadows and interface leftovers of earlier Windows Phone versions are all but gone. Yay!
2. Bing! is the default search, complete with awesome images just like in desktop.
3. The social aspect of Windows Phone is really dynamic (like bookmarks, but live!) Very similar to one of our favourite iPad content apps FlipBoard.
4. Seeing your contacts' faces on the home screen and being to access them them with two clicks is the most personal, almost emotional implementation of social widget we've experienced.
5. The UI (user interface) is really well designed. Subtle clues such as loading or refresh indicators, bobbing avatars and micro-animations give this mobile OS life. 
6. Seems like something is always going on with the Smart Tiles interface that's constantly updating from the internet. We wonder what the hit on battery life is.
7. Mobile OneNote is included in the Mobile Office suite.
8. The full Zune experience and interface has been integrated as the media app of Windows Mobile.
9. The interface is by far one of the most intuitive and responsive we've seen and feels natural to use with one hand. In fact, your thumb can do all the navigation around 60% of the time.
10. The prototype hardware from LG and Samsung seemed large but was reasonably thin and both smartphones felt solid overall, possibly more metal in there than plastic.
11. There's no multitasking in Windows Phone. You can only have one app running and no background tasks (except maybe the basics like the Zune functionality and phone)
12. There's no cut-copy-and-paste in Windows Phone, at least not in the version that's expected to ship in October.
13. Microsoft has specific parameters for the hardware- GPS, Accelerometers, 5MP camera with flash, 1GHz processor, 256MB RAM  are all minimum requirements.