As most of the tech world that cares saw, the announcement for the WIndows 7 phones was made Monday Oct. 11, 2010. Steve Ballmer of Microsoft in conjunction with Ralph DeLaVega of AT&T stood before media and consumers monday morning and showed off the new pieces of technology brought forward by LG, HTC, and Samsung. I figured since most of you have seen the video replay, and probably read the spec sheets on the devices. I figiured I would weigh in my 2 cents after watching the presentation once or twice, and mulling it over for a week or so.
Coming to ATT we’ll be seeing the:
LG Quantum featuring:
- 3.5″ capacitive touch screen.
- 16 gig built in flash memory
- 1ghz Snapdragon processor
- A full slide-out qwerty keyboard.
the HTC 7 Surround will be featuring:
- 3.5″ capacitive touch screen.
- 1ghz Snapdragon processor
- slide out bar of surround speakers.
(didn’t hear whether there was on board memory or what the camera involved would be. I assume 5 mpx on the camera.)
And finally the Samsung Focus
- 4″ Super Amoled screen
- 1 ghz Snapdragon Processor
- 8 giga built in memory
- 5 MP camera
- This is the thinnest of the lineup at 9.9 mm thick
The focus will be available on Nov. 8 for 199.99 with of course a 2 year service contract other devices will be available “just a few weeks later” at the same price with the same contract involved.
After seeing the three devices I find myself torn between the Focus and the HTC.. The 4″ capacitive touch screen with Amoled (as seen in the captivate) is a huge plus that Samsung has brought to the market place. However, I have a soft spot in my heart for HTC seeing as they have released the most and some of the best Android devices that I love so much.
Other carriers namely (Sprint/Tmobile, and other international companies will receive devices running the O.S. as well.) those are named.
HTC HD7 HTC 7 Mozart
HTC 7 Trophy
HTC 7 Pro
Dell Venue Pro
LG Optimus 7
Samsung Omnia 7
Now that we’ve listed devices lets talk the information on W7 mobile thus far. Organizing the device by hub seems like a natural way to move information across a phone. and giving individual people a live icon that connects to ALL of their information with simple customization adds a natural looking feel to the phone as well. Being able to have an icon with my fiances face on it showing me her facebook/twitter updates, and other important info seems like a great way to place information for those you connect with moth.
The office hub including mobile versions of word/excel/power point, to create and display on the go is something I see being helpful for large businesses, or business men in general and tech savvy college students looking for a boost in efficiency. This combined with the cloud networking features the phone brings to the table is bound to be handy.
Setting your camera to “auto upload” your photos to your Facebook, or media site of choice when snapped is also a cool addition. This addition I can see killing the battery life even faster. And causing large amounts of scandal across the world, “what do you mean you saw her on my Facebook honey?”
The games hub was by far my favorite addition, allowing you to connect your phone to your Xbox Live profile and have your avatar and gamer score a.k.a e-penis showing on the device. This functionality also gives gamers the change to increase their e-pen… I mean gamer score by playing games on the device. The online messaging system seems very fluid, and similar to that of XBox live, including game invites and match-making. The direct Zune integration into the devices add to the overall experience as well. Users will be able to purchase content on XBox Live, Zune Market Place, or Xboxlive.com and utilize the content across any devices they own compatible with Zune. This service seems much more ready than Apples GameCenter, which is probably a direct result of having the previous experience with XBox Live. Microsoft also has a strong set of launch titles ready including The Sims 3, IloMilo, Need for Speed, and promises of more to come. All reports back on the new devices are exceptionally positive.
Bonus: All AT&T phones will come with IloMilo included, and 1 month subscription to the new U-Verse streaming TV app as well.
More on the Win7 phones to come soon I’m sure, discuss below.