Future WP7 Plans from Ballmer's Mobile World Keynotes....incl Updates

[Strider_Aus]

Summary of major announcements from Ballmer's keynotes speech (ex the Windows Phone Blog):

Here is a summary of the announcements made:

* First Major Update
A free customer update will be made available for all Windows Phones in the first two weeks of March, which includes new capabilities such as copy & paste and faster application performance.

* Availability on CDMA Networks
With added support for CDMA networks, Windows Phone will be available to even more customers on mobile operators such as Verizon and Sprint in the first half of 2011.

* Twitter Integration in the People Hub
The popular social networking service Twitter will be integrated into the People Hub in the second half of 2011.

* Office Document Storage in the Cloud
Document sharing and storage in the cloud via Windows Live SkyDrive will be added to Windows Phone in the second half of 2011.

* Next Generation Browsing with Internet Explorer 9
A dramatically enhanced Internet Explorer 9 web browser will be added to Windows Phone in the second half of 2011. It will feature the same standards support (HTML5, etc.) and hardware accelerated graphics as the PC version.

* Additional Multi-tasking Capabilities
We will add the ability to switch quickly between applications, run applications in the background (such as listening to music), along with a number of other capabilities in the second half of 2011. Developers will learn much more about this during April’s MIX conference.

The use of the word "free" for the nodo update is interesting....wondering if this will be in contrast to the Mano update (ie they will charge for this update in 2nd half 2011)???

Twitter integration into People Hub is cool....additional document storage in the cloud is good and IE9 will be a big improvement. Now to MIX for more info.

Links:

Keynote Video (not yet out): http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/p.../windowsphone/

Source: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_p.../windowsphone/

[CrowdAds]

[aimran]

They are also working on Kinect integration.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/m...inect-xbox-li/

[Strider_Aus]

Hey interesting comment from Brian Seitz (the Windows Phone Radio Podcast main man) over at the blog re: the WP7 Camera default settings issues:

thanks for the feedback vanmardigan. regarding the camera settings: it was a decision by the team thinking that if you pulled the phone out to take a quick pic, it would be better to know it was always in a default setting rather than having to remember what the settings were the last time you took a picture, so shooting for predictability. That said, feedback from folks like you has the team seriously looking at that option to see if there is a more optimal option. thanks again..

Dare we live in hope that MS will change this in the Mango update ? PPPPPllleaaasssseeeee!

[Strider_Aus]

Originally Posted by aimran

They are also working on Kinect integration.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/m...inect-xbox-li/

VIDEO:

You Tube

You Tube

Nice!

[Strider_Aus]

And more on task switching. In the MWC demo, this image was shown (Joe Belfiore) of WP7 Task Switcher (Task Manager for WP7!!!). Very clever, a press and hold of the back button calls up the task switcher – and apparently a 3rd party app was runing in the background (Slacker) not just integrated MS function/apps:



Source WMPOWERUSER

nice.

[Strider_Aus]

Paul Thurrott Post on the announcements.

Interestingly, he is CERTAIN that MS will be killing of the Zune brand by next year.

LINK

[Strider_Aus]

Ballmer's keynotes speech is not yet up on the MS newsroom site, however you can sign up at MWC website to watch it I believe:

http://www.mobileworldlive.com/

[Strider_Aus]

Re: the question of the 2nd half Mango WP7 update being free for all current users:

Nope, Joe Belfiore in his keynotes demo stated:

All of these features that I've described will be coming in a free update in 2011 to all Windows Phone 7 users.

Great – Got a little worried there lol.

[Strider_Aus]

Interview with Brandon Watson MS (Brandon Watson is Director for Windows Phone 7. He specifically focuses on developers and the developer platform.)

You Tube

You Tube

[TechyguyDR]

I like what I'm seeing in WP7 progression.

[Strider_Aus]

Compacted Keynotes video from youtube:

You Tube

You Tube

[medion]

Some concerns;

-the use of the word "free" when describing the update. This word typically isn't used to describe software updates unless there's a paid update also offered. Pure speculation on my part, but I could see them charging for updates on legacy hardware (IE, when Chassis 2 comes out, Chassis 1 phones will require a fee for the update). I would hate to see that, and aside from my PURELY PESSIMISTIC SPECULATION, there is no evidence that MS will do this.

-Still no custom ring tone support? To be fair, I still haven't even used a WP7 device. I was told, and have not confirmed, that you cannot cut and use your own ring tones. You have to use what's on the phone, or possibly buy a ring tone from the market place. Any input here on hopefully how wrong I am would be appreciated.

And, on the plus side;

-I said when the WP7 was in development that MS was trying to make the browser separate from the OS, as even they knew it was launching with an outdated browser (IE7-based with the javascript engine from IE8). Zune HD and Windows Mobile were locked in to mobile IE6. It's good to see them bringing out not only a browser that can compete with current offerings with HTML5 support, but also potentially exceed them in performance. IE9 is no joke, and it should cause both Apple and Google to re-evaluate their mobile browsers.

[kasrhp]

Originally Posted by medion

Some concerns;

-the use of the word "free" when describing the update. This word typically isn't used to describe software updates unless there's a paid update also offered. Pure speculation on my part, but I could see them charging for updates on legacy hardware (IE, when Chassis 2 comes out, Chassis 1 phones will require a fee for the update). I would hate to see that, and aside from my PURELY PESSIMISTIC SPECULATION, there is no evidence that MS will do this.

-Still no custom ring tone support? To be fair, I still haven't even used a WP7 device. I was told, and have not confirmed, that you cannot cut and use your own ring tones. You have to use what's on the phone, or possibly buy a ring tone from the market place. Any input here on hopefully how wrong I am would be appreciated.

And, on the plus side;

-I said when the WP7 was in development that MS was trying to make the browser separate from the OS, as even they knew it was launching with an outdated browser (IE7-based with the javascript engine from IE8). Zune HD and Windows Mobile were locked in to mobile IE6. It's good to see them bringing out not only a browser that can compete with current offerings with HTML5 support, but also potentially exceed them in performance. IE9 is no joke, and it should cause both Apple and Google to re-evaluate their mobile browsers.

-I forget where I read it, but a Microsoft exec came out pretty quickly after the keynote to say they would not be charging for the Fall update either. That free was bad wording. I couldn't imagine they would charge for it considering they would the the ONLY mobile OS to do that.

-Not sure about the ringtones. I honestly havent even looked into it. I must just be over doing that because I just went with whatever was on the phone for my last couple of phones. But that aside, it should be available. (just not sure if there is an app for it or something)

-Yes, IE9 looks amazing. As it stands now, the current IE mobile brower isn't up to competition. It is good, and pretty smooth. Just outclassed.

[medion]

-I forget where I read it, but a Microsoft exec came out pretty quickly after the keynote to say they would not be charging for the Fall update either. That free was bad wording. I couldn't imagine they would charge for it considering they would the the ONLY mobile OS to do that.

Oh, I'm aware that current updates are free. My fear is that when Chassis 2 phones come out (likely this fall at the earliest), that updates for Chassis 1 phones won't be free. And while updates are usually free for the customer for smart phones, it's not true for every mobile OS. Just look at the iPod Touch. They used to charge $10 per update, though I don't know if that was true for iOS 4. Again, disclaimer, this is purely pessimistic speculation with no evidence at this time. I don't want anyone making the claim that I am predicting that MS will charge for updates.

-Yes, IE9 looks amazing. As it stands now, the current IE mobile browser isn't up to competition. It is good, and pretty smooth. Just outclassed.

It's certainly sufficient (the existing browser). I was impressed with how well it performs relative to Apple and Google. But, IE9 is just in a whole new world when compared to the other browsers. But, we're talking fall 2011 by the time it comes out. By then we'll have iOS5, and Android phones should be launching with Android 2.4 or higher.

Also, the update coincides with when phones using Chassis 2 should launch. My annual upgrade option opens up in September or October, and my New Every 2 is available in April 2012 (in either case, my last one due to Verizon's recent changes). At this point in time, it looks like my next upgrade will still be Android unless MS opens up the OS a bit. I do NOT want to be tied to specific software (iTunes, Zune) anymore. I also like being able to use a file manager to manage files on the device as well as to access my home network and access/manage files there. Without this option, neither the iPhone or WP7 appeal to me.