WM 7 Will Have Zune, Touch Interface, and Has Features Not On iPhone

[ACE]

The guys over at InsideMicrosoft have gotten their hands on some confidential internal-use-only documents that detail tons of information about the up-coming Windows Mobile 7 complete with images!! Check out what we can expect:

• Windows Mobile 7 will ... emphasize the use of touch on the device, as well as motion gestures created by using the device. It is, absolutely, Microsoft’s effort to beat back the iPhone, and the iPhone is referenced several times in the document.
  
  
  
• Windows Mobile 7 will use touch gestures, similar to how the iPhone does. You will be able to flick through lists, pan, swipe sideway, draw on the screen. A lot of emphasis has been put on making navigation easier and doing away with scrollbars, including a new scroll handle that allows for multiple ways of finding items extremely fast.
  
  
  
• Windows Mobile 7 will use motion gestures, something the iPhone does not. It will not use an intricate and complicated series of gyroscopes and accelerometers. Instead, it will use the camera on the phone to detect motions and create appropriate actions. You will be able to shake, twist and otherwise manipulate the phone and get things done. The phone will be able to perform actions when placed face down on a surface, and it will know when it is in your pocket or bag. The web browser will incorporate gestures for back and forward actions. Here’s an image:
  
  
  
• Gestures shown include in music or a slideshow, shaking the phone left or right to go to the previous or next song or photo, and shaking the phone in order to shuffle it. Here’s an image, which may only be a mockup, or it is showing us what Windows Media Player will look like on Windows Mobile 7, as well as the picture viewer
  
  
  
• Windows Mobile 7 will have an exciting locking screen, that will allow you to play around with it, draw on it, shake it and completely otherwise mess with it. Here’s an example of a gesture, shaking the phone to wake it up:
  
  
  
• Windows Mobile 7 will have dramatically improved visuals, different from the iPhone and much more similar to the dark and futuristic visuals of Windows Vista. It will feature graphical transitions, subtle effects, and other things to make it more interesting to look at. This is not detailed in the document, but featured in the multitude of screenshots. An example of the screen showing a transition from the device being asleep to awake:
  
  
  
• Windows Mobile 7 is designed to use the finger, not the stylus, though many devices will be required to include a stylus. It is designed to be easy to use with the hand, including one-handed, and to be fun to use and easy to understand. It is designed to be used on devices with no buttons, few buttons, lots of buttons, full keyboards, and devices without touch screens.
  
  
  
• Windows Mobile 7 is clearly designed for better media playback, with screenshots indicating a much-improved Media Player and photo gallery application. There is talk in the document of a games mode. Mobile Internet Explorer runs full-screen web pages in a minimalistic interface, and has “tabbed” browsing, except you can switch tabs by shaking the phone. A filmstrip view is shown, with the music filmstrip clearly showing a Zune icon with the option to purchase the song:

Worst thing about this whole deal is Windows Mobile 7 will not ship until 2009, according to the document. Looks like we're gonna have to wait...

[CameleonMK]

That looks kind of cool.

[Nurta]

This will probably be as close to a zPhone as we will get. But what's best is not only does it beat the iPhone in terms of what the iPhone is most praised for, its multi-touch interface, it is truly open platform in that it is not only not locked down to a single platform, but it is not even locked down to a single piece of hardware.

Now I want to see someone hack the iPhone to dual boot into WM 7, and hack WM 7 to use Android.

[EndUnknown]

i like that design. touch screen AND buttons(i need buttons) I would buy that phone.

[ACE]

One of the things I see that is confusing me at the moment is the camera as a motion sensor. So what happens in little or no light? What happens when you're walking with the phone? Couldn't some gestures be misinterpreted? The InsideMicrosoft article dos say some features may not make it to the final product, but I'd love to find out how they'd resolve those issues....

Also - a camera motion sensor would use more batt life wouldn't it?

[Man.]

This is cool, i've still got my WM 2003 edition phone somewhere.

[Gregory]

Nice, hopefully HTC will have a free upgrade.

[ACE]

Looks like WM 7 is codenamed Photon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows...6.1_.282008.29)

[GarciaM25]

Originally Posted by ACE

One of the things I see that is confusing me at the moment is the camera as a motion sensor. So what happens in little or no light? What happens when you're walking with the phone? Couldn't some gestures be misinterpreted? The InsideMicrosoft article dos say some features may not make it to the final product, but I'd love to find out how they'd resolve those issues....

Also - a camera motion sensor would use more batt life wouldn't it?

that's exactly what i was going to get at from reading the article.... as an HTC TyTN II owner, simply putting the camera ON can drain the battery in the same respect as watching the gas gauge on a big block V8 giving it wide open throttle.... now keeping it ON all the time? something's gotta change before that happens, like a low-power consumption mode for the camera (i have TWO on my phone) or "simply" converting batteries over to nuclear power..... right.....

i love my WM6, but the Media Player on it is as lethargic as a sloth - i rarely turn it on because of the delay and drain on battery incurred.... and anyways, why clutter up my 4GB MicroSDHC card with music when i have an 80GB Zune for that?! but anything that can be deemed to overpower the iPhone sounds good to me - i already have the iPhone killer, so giving it software to destroy it means Steve Jobs better be scared.......

[JawaKing]

Although I wish it was coming out this year, by the time it comes out in 2009 my contract with my Razr will probably be up. So that would be sweet to get this. So far I like it better than the iFone.

[GarciaM25]

Originally Posted by JawaKing

So far I like it better than the iFone.

don't rule out WM6 just because there's already word of WM7 - my 100% unlocked and unbranded WM6 phone is one of the most powerful phones on the market.... comparing the power to do work and function to the iPhone is like comparing the offroading capability of a Hummer to a Prius; while you probably COULD take the Prius offroad (just as you can do some business on an iPhone), you wouldn't want to!!

that's why business owners have been returning their crApple phones by the droves.... they look really pretty, but don't do anything FUNCTIONAL! yay, the mobile internet! how about having TomTom6 built-in on your phone? what about having a REAL keyboard to type on--or better yet, handwriting recognition you can write a whole paragraph on the screen and it will translate it into text! how about a fully integrated business card scanner - simply take a picture of a business card and it OCR's it into a new contact without having to type in anything.... those are tools people who do business on the run need, not flashy scrolling and simple weather data....

[Gregory]

Or ,having the ability to download whatever programs you want, without risking an update bricking your phone.

[Gow616]

Originally Posted by Gregory

Or ,having the ability to download whatever programs you want, without risking an update bricking your phone.

No kidding. At least with Microsoft in the game they will remain phone service provider independent because locking your phone into one company is not a particularly bright idea.

[ACE]

yeah, for now, MS should stick to software/application development. Even google won't touch cell phone hardware. It's interesting to note Everyone and their mom have cell phones....but only 1 out of 4 home in America have MP3 players...

[PDubs]

Looks awesome, but as others have said, powerful phones need to have the freakin battery drain solved first. Sure I'd love to have a feature-packed phone. But if I gotta use it at 50% brightness, beaming turned off, minimal movie watching, no MP3 playing, then I might as well keep my WM6 device.

Hopefully by 2009, a better battery comes out. WM6 manages power much better than WM5, but there is plenty of room for improvement.

[mr.handsomeman]

I think this phone is amazing, seriously, why wouldn't it be right? I mean, all this motion sensor and touch this and shake that is all amazing. I'm sure they will find a way to get around the battery problem.