Microsoft announces Windows Phone 7

Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 7 at MWC in Barcelona today and, as known for some time, the new smartphone operating system will now be called Windows Phone.

The announcement has only just been made and we’ve yet to see much in the way of hands-on reports of Windows Phone 7. Microsoft has started to release some official marketing materials though — here’s a tour through some of the new features:

Windows Phone 7 is clearly a radical reinvention of Windows Mobile and it bears little resemblance to any previous version of the OS. More importantly, its clearly an operating system that has been designed from the get-go for small touch-screen use — which is something that can’t be said for the fiddly, stylus-ridden monstrosities of earlier Microsoft mobile operating systems.

Windows Phone 7’s user interface is based around a series of ‘hubs’ that pull content from a variety of sources (online and local) to present a unified view for specific types of information.

Social networking clearly plays a major part in Windows Phone 7 and the ‘People’ hub uses the concept of ‘live tiles’ to display real-time information about social networking feeds, phone calls, emails, photos and even Xbox Live profile information in one place.

Both the video and official screen shots also emphasise the idea that the Windows Phone 7 UI is simply a window onto a much wider set of information — note the visual clues of hub names and screens not fitting completely on-screen, indicating that there’s more scrolling to be done.

There are no Windows Phone 7 devices on show today, just generic handsets that show the operating system in action. HTC has already announced that it will be launching Windows 7 smartphones later this year though, and announcements from the other major players in this market are expected soon.

We’ll bring you more detailed reports as and when information emerges, but in the meantime, you can see photos of Windows Mobile 7 and of Steve Ballmer’s MWC presentation at the Windows Phone press site. Microsoft has also launched the official Windows Phone site and this has a few more UI demos.

Finally, here's the Windows Phone 7 press release:

Microsoft Unveils Windows Phone 7 Series
New phones designed for life in motion to debut at holiday 2010.

BARCELONA, Spain — Feb. 15, 2010 — Today at Mobile World Congress 2010, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the next generation of Windows® Phones, Windows Phone 7 Series. With this new platform, Microsoft offers a fresh approach to phone software, distinguished by smart design and truly integrated experiences that bring to the surface the content people care about from the Web and applications. For the first time ever, Microsoft will bring together Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music and video experience on a mobile phone, exclusively on Windows Phone 7 Series. Partners have already started building phones; customers will be able to purchase the first phones in stores by holiday 2010.

“Today, I’m proud to introduce Windows Phone 7 Series, the next generation of Windows Phones,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “In a crowded market filled with phones that look the same and do the same things, I challenged the team to deliver a different kind of mobile experience. Windows Phone 7 Series marks a turning point toward phones that truly reflect the speed of people’s lives and their need to connect to other people and all kinds of seamless experiences.”

Designed for Life in Motion

With Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft takes a fundamentally different approach to phone software. Smart design begins with a new, holistic design system that informs every aspect of the phone, from its visually appealing layout and motion to its function and hardware integration. On the Start screen, dynamically updated “live tiles” show users real-time content directly, breaking the mold of static icons that serve as an intermediate step on the way to an application. Create a tile of a friend, and the user gains a readable, up-to-date view of a friend’s latest pictures and posts, just by glancing at Start.

Every Windows Phone 7 Series phone will come with a dedicated hardware button for Bing, providing one-click access to search from anywhere on the phone, while a special implementation of Bing search provides intent-specific results, delivering the most relevant Web or local results, depending on the type of query.

Windows Phone 7 Series creates an unrivaled set of integrated experiences on a phone through Windows Phone hubs. Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view to simplify common tasks. Windows Phone 7 Series includes six hubs built on specific themes reflecting activities that matter most to people:

• People. This hub delivers an engaging social experience by bringing together relevant content based on the person, including his or her live feeds from social networks and photos. It also provides a central place from which to post updates to Facebook and Windows Live in one step.

• Pictures. This hub makes it easy to share pictures and video to a social network in one step. Windows Phone 7 Series also brings together a user’s photos by integrating with the Web and PC, making the phone the ideal place to view a person’s entire picture and video collection.

• Games. This hub delivers the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone, including Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profile. With more than 23 million active members around the world, Xbox LIVE unlocks a world of friends, games and entertainment on Xbox 360, and now also on Windows Phone 7 Series.

• Music + Video. This hub creates an incredible media experience that brings the best of Zune, including content from a user’s PC, online music services and even a built-in FM radio into one simple place that is all about music and video. Users can turn their media experience into a social one with Zune Social on a PC and share their media recommendations with like-minded music lovers. The playback experience is rich and easy to navigate, and immerses the listener in the content.

• Marketplace. This hub allows the user to easily discover and load the phone with certified applications and games.

• Office. This hub brings the familiar experience of the world’s leading productivity software to the Windows Phone. With access to Office, OneNote and SharePoint Workspace all in one place, users can easily read, edit and share documents. With the additional power of Outlook Mobile, users stay productive and up to date while on the go.

Availability

Partners from around the world have committed to include Windows Phone 7 Series in their portfolio plans. They include mobile operators AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, and manufacturers Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corp., HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm Inc. The first phones will be available by holiday 2010. Customers who would like to receive additional information about Windows Phone 7 Series and be notified when it is available can register at http://www.windowsphone7series.com.

To watch the full replay of Steve Ballmer’s press conference at Mobile World Congress, and to experience Windows Phone 7 Series through an online product demo, readers can visit http://www.microsoft.com/news/windowsphone.