At a press conference in New York yesterday, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the company's new Windows Phone 7 operating system. The launch is the company’s latest attempt to challenge mobile operating systems from Apple, Google, Nokia, and Research in Motion (RIM).
Microsoft says smartphones with the new OS will be available from more than 60 mobile operators in over 30 countries worldwide beginning later this month. The North American rollout will begin on November 8th.
The most notable feature of new Windows Phone is a new user interface which is made up of "Tiles" rather than application icons. Regardless of the name, Tiles are still links to applications; however, Microsoft is touting the fact that the tiles are dynamic and update in real time. For example, the tile for an email account would display the number of unread messages or a Tile could display a live update of the weather rather than having to open the app to check the weather.
In Canada, five Windows 7 phones will be available from Telus, Bell and Rogers. Telus will be offering smartphones on launch: the HTC 7 Surround and the LG Optimus 7. Bell will offer the LG Optimus Quantum while Rogers will offer the Samsung Focus.
HTC Surround
Features include:
LG Optimus 7
Features include:
LG Quantum/Optimus 7Q
Features include:
Samsung Focus
Features include:
Discuss Windows Phones 7 in Digital Home's Canadian Wireless forum .
Microsoft says smartphones with the new OS will be available from more than 60 mobile operators in over 30 countries worldwide beginning later this month. The North American rollout will begin on November 8th.
The most notable feature of new Windows Phone is a new user interface which is made up of "Tiles" rather than application icons. Regardless of the name, Tiles are still links to applications; however, Microsoft is touting the fact that the tiles are dynamic and update in real time. For example, the tile for an email account would display the number of unread messages or a Tile could display a live update of the weather rather than having to open the app to check the weather.
In Canada, five Windows 7 phones will be available from Telus, Bell and Rogers. Telus will be offering smartphones on launch: the HTC 7 Surround and the LG Optimus 7. Bell will offer the LG Optimus Quantum while Rogers will offer the Samsung Focus.
Features include:
- 3.6" touchscreen
- 4.71" x 2.42" x 0.51"
- 165g
- 16GB internal storage
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD 8250 1 GHz
- Battery life:
- WCDMA - Talk time: 250 min/Standby: 255 hrs
- GSM - Talk time: 240 min/Standby: 255 hrs
- 5MP camera + flash
- 720p HD video
- Slide out Yamaha speaker + SRS + Dolby surround sound
- Kickstand
LG Optimus 7
- 3.8" touchscreen
- 125 mm x 59.8 mm x 11.5 mm
- 157g
- 16GB internal storage
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD 8650 1 GHz
- Battery life - Talk time: 8 hrs/Standby: 179 hrs
- 5 mp camera / 720p HD video
- Media Sharing (DLNA)
- Augmented Reality
- Speech to Text
LG Quantum/Optimus 7Q
- 3.5", 800x480 touchscreen
- 119.5 mm x 59.5 mm x 15.22 mm
- 185g
- 16GB internal storage
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD 8650 1 GHz
- Battery life - Talk time: 7 hrs/Standby: 466 hrs
- 5MP camera / 720p HD video
- Horizontal qwerty
- DLNA
- Augmented Reality
- Speech to text
Samsung Focus
- 4.0", 480x800 Super AMOLED screen
- 4.82" x 2.53" x 0.43"
- 110g
- 512MB RAM/1GB Flash/8GB internal storage
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD 8250 1 GHz
- Battery life - Talk time: 3 hrs/Standby: 250 hrs
- 5MP camera/720p HD video
Discuss Windows Phones 7 in Digital Home's Canadian Wireless forum .
