Windows Phone 7 review – Step by step overview of the mobile OS core features !

INTRODUCTION

Microsoft officially announced Windows Phone 7 a little while ago in New York, and since October 21st devices hit the store shelves in Europe. Despite the number 7 in the naming it is a complete new operating system, build from scratch. In other words it is the most radical reboot compared to previous version of the same operating system, I have seen in mobile industry (only Palm did a similar reboot).

This article will review the Windows Phone 7 core features and functions (without the small customizations that carriers or OEM partners are allowed to add). The step-by-step overview will give a good idea of the capabilities of Windows Phone 7 you can minimally expect on every Windows Phone 7 device.

FIRST START AND SETUP WIZARD

When you first start a Windows Phone 7 device, there is a setup wizard that guides you through the process of setting up your phone. The set-up process mainly consists of entering the credentials of your accounts and e-mail settings.

LOCK SCREEN

When you power on Windows Phone 7 you will see the lock screen. On this screen you will see the current time, and if you have set alarms there is a little clock icon behind the time that indicates there are alarms.

The day and date are shown below the time in the same large font type as the time. Furthermore you will see the next upcoming appointment, that becomes really helpful and shows you were to go next. On the bottom of the lock screen you will see a row with indicators how many e-mails, text messages you haven’t read yet or how many phone calls you have missed.

Finally it is nice to mention that you can change the background of the lock screen, in order to personalize your Windows Phone 7 device.

START SCREEN OR START EXPERIENCE

Joe Belfiore, Corporate Vice President Windows Phone Program Management, demonstrated the start screen for the first time during Mobile World Congress earlier this year. The start screen consists of “blocks that include information” which are called live tiles.

“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.”

This is a unique concept that really makes Windows Phone 7 powerful. You get real time information from your contacts and notifications of e-mail, sms messages, marketplace updates of your installed applications.

In the left screenshot above you can see an arrow pointing to the right, which gives you the ability to switch to the program list. I assume that you don’t pin every single application, hub, website or contact to your start screen, so you need jump into the program list to open for example Foursquare for Windows Phone 7. Remark the arrow pointing to the left in the right screenshot with the program list, which gives you the idea of switching between multiple screens (or the panoramic view).

More important is the fact that you can personalize the start screen to your own preferences and needs. If you tab-and-hold on a live tile -in this example the twitter live tile-, it comes to the front (other live tiles are sent backwards), and you can move it to a different position. If you tap on it again it will be dropped on that specific location you have moved it to. You can also delete live tiles with the icon in the upper right corner of the tile (after the tap-and-hold).

It is so versatile that you can pin people, websites, applications, hubs to your start screen so you can make it an individual delightful experience that perfectly fits your own needs (instead of a one size fits all).

When you scroll up and down through the start screen you will see some nice animations when you reach the top or bottom. Just like the management of the live tiles this is a great example of how much efforts are spent on the details in look and feel of the Windows Phone 7 operating system.

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