What is really Windows Mobile 7

windowsmobile7

Wishmaster89 submitted his thoughts on what he thinks WM7 is/or is going to be over at WMPoweruser. Here I will try to comment and give you some info and thoughts regarding this matter.

1) for now it is based on .NET CF 3.7 but in the end should run .NET CF 4

Giving WM7′s current time frame I doubt that it will support .NET CF 4 at release

2) It will support Windows Presentation Foundation

3) the whole OS should be rendered by a compositing window manager fully supporting openGL ES, probably 2.0

I can tell you that Microsoft is betting heavyly on Silverlight for mobile. SL 3 support is going to be the key here (there’s no need to support WPF given that SL 3 does nearly everything WPF does).
What is known is that WM7′s UI is Vector based to be totally resolution independent. This will enable developers to develop once for all phones (using MS’s latest release of Expression tools). As seen here Microsoft designers have been working on Silverlight for WM7. This will also enable Microsoft to push even harder the Widgets development (introduced in 6.5) now that Silverlight support out-of-the-browser applications.

4) openGL ES will be the main API used by OS

It’s true that Microsoft dropped Direct3D support from Windows Mobile 7 (and that’s a good thing giving how bad it was). But never underestimated MS’s ability to turn something that’s supposed to be simple (only supporting one GFX API) into a mess (trying to re-introduce Direct3D later on). As I posted here MS is looking for a lead developer to build a “general-purpose graphics platform for mobile phones”

5) it will have integrated Zune Player similar to the one from Zune HD

It will..

6) it will have full support for multi touch

That’s more than 100% sure :) . Even 6.5 may have multi-touch support with HTC’s upcoming capacitive WinMo phones.

7) MyPhone will be improved and will tie all live services into one allowing remote management of device and many more

Cloud services are supposed to be one of Windows Mobile’s key feature in the future. Myphone will first have a boost in storage space (from the current 200Mb to 5GB) and the 2.0 version is supposed to run on Live Mesh. Now givin’ that Live Mesh is still a bit far from ready for prime time (and Robie Bach saying @ the Analyst Financial Day that features are not going to come to WM all at once but evolve in time), I’m not sure if WM7 will ship with the live mesh enabled Myphone and other cloud services (like the augmented reality enabled Live Search)

1) Windows CE 7 as the core

Givin’ the current time frame, I wouldn’t be surprised if it supports CE 7. But It will probably be Windows CE 6.

2) Consistent UI for the whole OS and the 3rd party applications

Silverlight should help here, but like on WM 6.X nothing is going to stop devs or OEMs to develope UI’s etc using OGL (like TouchFlo 3D)

3) Full SDK that would allow developers to easily write apps for every type of device

Microsoft’s Expression tools is going to rock for devs :)

6) Full Flash GPU acceleration for smooth web browsing

You know that SnapDragon is here to save us ;-) and we shall see how is goes on the ZuneHD

Here are the Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1 specifications:

WM7 Chassis 1 Specification

Core requirements:
Processor: ARM v6+, L2 Cache, VFP, Open GL ES 2.0 graphics HW (QCOM 8k, Nvidia “Tegra” AP15/16* and TI 3430 all meet spec)
Memory: 256MB+ DRAM, 1G+ Flash (at least 512MB fast flash – 5MB/s unbuffered read @4K block size)
Display: WVGA (800×480) or FWVGA (854×480) 3.5” or greater diagonal
Touch: Multi-touch required
Battery: Sufficient to meet Days of Use LTK requirements.
Controls: Start, Back, Send and End are required (soft controls allowed as long as they are always present).

Peripherals:
Camera: 3MP+, flash optional, 2nd camera optional (VGA resolution sufficient)
GPS: aGPS required
Sensors required: Light Sensor, Compass (3 axis, 5 degrees, 100 Hz sample rate), Accelerometer (3 axis, 2mg resolution, 100 Hz sample rate)
USB: High speed required, 20 MB/s transfer rate.
BlueTooth: BT2.1 required, must run MSFT BT stack, CSR BlueCore6 or later recommended.
Wi-Fi: 802.11B/G required, must run MSFT Native Wi-Fi stack, Atheros 6002 or Broadcomm 4325 recommended.
Connectors: Micro USB and 3.5mm Audio required.

Options:
FM tuner: If tuner HW is present it will be detected and supported by the Media application.
Haptics
SD Card (Micro SD recommended)
DPAD, qwerty or 12/20 key keyboards all optional

That is all..for now

Anybody wants to comment? feel free to do it.

M. Daou | August 1st, 2009 | Tags: , , , , , | Category: Editorials, News
  • Paul Harrison

    Apparently it’s due Spring 2010… If you research Microsoft’s past record on this I think it would not be realistic to expect it in devices until at least Summer 2010. By that time iPhone 4.0 will be announced and available, and Android phones will be on to their 2nd or 3rd generation.

    As usual, it will be far too little, far too late, and have badly implemented features derived from the competition.

    In short, it will be another nail in the coffin for Windows Mobile.

  • Paul Harrison

    Apparently it’s due Spring 2010… If you research Microsoft’s past record on this I think it would not be realistic to expect it in devices until at least Summer 2010. By that time iPhone 4.0 will be announced and available, and Android phones will be on to their 2nd or 3rd generation.

    As usual, it will be far too little, far too late, and have badly implemented features derived from the competition.

    In short, it will be another nail in the coffin for Windows Mobile.

  • Jay

    @Paul – another skewed iPhone user I see. Windows Mobile works way better in many areas of mobile computing especially the work environment with Microsoft Exchange etc. For you kiddies sitting at home messing around with your fart applications iPhone may be your device of choice.

    Latest Winmo phones outclass the Iphone and other devices many times over. Look at the HTC HD2! Huge specs comapared to the iPhone, better everything incl. Multitouch screen. Only plus for iPhone currently is its PR campaign and Apple Marketplace. Aside from this its got nothing going for it. Small memory, tiny display with poor resolution, crappy camera – FACT!

  • Jay

    @Paul – another skewed iPhone user I see. Windows Mobile works way better in many areas of mobile computing especially the work environment with Microsoft Exchange etc. For you kiddies sitting at home messing around with your fart applications iPhone may be your device of choice.

    Latest Winmo phones outclass the Iphone and other devices many times over. Look at the HTC HD2! Huge specs comapared to the iPhone, better everything incl. Multitouch screen. Only plus for iPhone currently is its PR campaign and Apple Marketplace. Aside from this its got nothing going for it. Small memory, tiny display with poor resolution, crappy camera – FACT!

  • Anonymous

    You’re right – Windows mobile phones take some getting used to, but once that is done, it is truly awesome!! there is a lot of momentum that is being gained in the area nowadays and it is just a matter of time before they take over the Symbian OS and Blackberrys.

    Cheers!

  • Anonymous

    You’re right – Windows mobile phones take some getting used to, but once that is done, it is truly awesome!! there is a lot of momentum that is being gained in the area nowadays and it is just a matter of time before they take over the Symbian OS and Blackberrys.

    Cheers!

  • WebInsider

    The question is:
    Will Windows Mobile 6.5 applications run on a Windows Mobile 7.0 device? In other words, how backward compatible is Window Mobile 7.0 to apps and data under Windows Mobile 6.5?

    On Cell phone, Apps can lock-in users to certain device and iPhone users will be hard pressed to drop all the apps they paid for if future iPhone Op-Systems are not backward compatible… which I’m sure they will be because this is Apple’s lock-in of iPhone users.

    So also, users will not jump on the Windows Mobile 6.5 bandwagon and wait for Windows Mobile 7.0 (and the new SmartPhones which support it) because they won’t invest in 6.5 software that will be considered “throw-away’s” when 7.0 arrives.

  • WebInsider

    The question is:
    Will Windows Mobile 6.5 applications run on a Windows Mobile 7.0 device? In other words, how backward compatible is Window Mobile 7.0 to apps and data under Windows Mobile 6.5?

    On Cell phone, Apps can lock-in users to certain device and iPhone users will be hard pressed to drop all the apps they paid for if future iPhone Op-Systems are not backward compatible… which I’m sure they will be because this is Apple’s lock-in of iPhone users.

    So also, users will not jump on the Windows Mobile 6.5 bandwagon and wait for Windows Mobile 7.0 (and the new SmartPhones which support it) because they won’t invest in 6.5 software that will be considered “throw-away’s” when 7.0 arrives.

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