I hope Stevie Wonder (Steve Ballmer) of MSFT was right when he proclaimed that 7 was a luck number for MSFT. It better be, 'cause I am already loving the Windows 7 experience and some more WinMo oops now WinPho (I coined that term remember that :)) won't hurt either. Microsoft has covered all the nook and crannies of the interface in a video on MSDN.
What MSFT has managed to achieve here was totally unexpected from the Redmond. A complete revamp of the platform. They've thrown all crap out of the window(s) and have started afresh. And boy is it fresh! A comparison of Windows Phone 7 with its counterparts in 6.5 and 6.5.3 reveals that there is no comparison. What we may have on our hands coming Holiday season is an entire new mobile experience.
The comparison table is below (Courtesy Engadget)
| | | |
| Windows Mobile 6.5 | Windows Mobile 6.5.3 | Windows Phone 7 |
Windows CE kernel | 5.2 | 5.2 | 6 |
Minimum resolution | None | None | WVGA |
Skinnable | Yes | Yes | No |
Finger friendly | No | Barely | Yes |
Multitouch | No | Basic | Yes |
Capacitive touchscreen | No | Yes | Yes |
Stylus | Required | Optional | None |
Touchscreen keyboard | Unfriendly | Finger-friendly | Finger-friendly |
Required buttons | Start | Start | Start, Back, Search |
Operating metaphor | Apps | Apps | Task hubs |
Pane switching | Tabs | Swipe | Pivot |
Browser | IE Mobile 6 | IE Mobile 6 | New, still IE-based |
Zune integration | No | No | Yes |
Xbox integration | No | No | Yes |
Courting enterprise | Yes | Yes | Not yet |
Social networking | Apps / Skins | Apps / Skins | Built-in |
These specs though looking promising in the demo stuff, it’s still the first date goodness and a marriage may pose unknown issues. However for an infatuation it sure is worth every penny drooling over this promised goodness.