Zune software 4.7 – Installation and Apps for Windows Phone 7!

Since last Mobius conference in Seattle last November, I have been fortunate to use a Zune HD 32GB. It is an awesome mediaplayer, on which you can install some cool applications like Twitter or Windows Live Messenger.

One of the most brilliant things of using the Zune HD is the excellent and highly functional desktop-client,which received the latest update to Zune software 4.2 some time ago.

Because it was the Windows Phone 7 launch day, I decided to check if there were any updates for the Zune software in the early morning. Yes there was an update available, like you can see in the screenshot below, and hopefully I could see some of the features for Windows Phone 7.

Zune software 4.7 – Update to roll out Windows Phone 7 features !

I was really excited and upgrading the Zune software is extremely easy. You simply hit the update now button and the upgrade process is almost automatically done, with just two clicks.

The Zune software first downloads the upgrade locally to your Windows PC.

When completely downloaded you are asked to accept the End User License Agreement, which is shown in the screenshot above. Click on the accept button.

After you accepted the EULA and when the Zune software is ready for install click the install button.

You wil now see the installation progress like in the screenshot above !

Zune software 4.7 is installed and ready to connect my Zune HD 32GB and hopefully in the near future a Windows Phone 7 device !

The screenshot above shows the about screen of the Zune software in which you can see that it is the famous Zune software 4.7 version, that includes the Windows Phone 7 hooks !

Apps for Windows Phone 7

Since I’m familiar with the Zune Marketplace and the Apps for Zune HD I don’t expect a massive deviation from those concepts for Windows Phone 7. When I navigated to the tab marketplace and choose for the category apps you can see a heading on the left called devices. Here you can choose between Zune HD and Windows Phone ! In the screenshot above you can see that Windows Phone is selected, so only applications compatible with this device will be shown to the end-user.

Te screenshots from the early morning before the launch shows simple black tiles, but I will come back to that later. Below the heading devices, you can see the heading genres on the left. Genres are categories that make it easy to navigate through the applications for Windows Phone 7. I’m sure that this is not a static set of genres, but I think it will evolve over time with probably  new genres. However the list below isn’t bad to start at all:

• Games;
• Entertainment;
• Photo;
• Lifestyle;
• News and weather;
• Health and fitness;
• Finance;
• Travel;
• Navigation;
• Social;
• Productivity;
• Tools;
• Business;
• Books and reference;

When you start to dig around in the settings of Zune software 4.7 you find other proof of Windows Phone 7 capabilities. One of those settings is “do more on the web” and it is a feature that works only with Windows Phone 7. It is explicitly mentioned in the screenshot above (within the device settings menu).

In the account settings you will see that Windows Phone app Marketplace is present in addition to the Zune Pass computers and devices. In the previous version 4.2 of the Zune software this wasn’t present of course.

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

At first I’m very happy to see Microsoft release Windows Phone 7, since this has been a huge day for the Mobile division. With this official release/announcement an era of Windows Mobile Device Center and Active Sync has “ended” as well (only will still be available in the Windows Mobile 6.x family). See here the beautiful Zune software that will be the desktop client to sync multimedia with your Windows Phone 7 device !

But there is more. You can buy music, video and most important download and install applications from it, like the recent announced 50 blockbuster titles of Xbox LIVE games for Windows Phone 7 ! Furthermore I have read news about 2000 available applications in the Windows Phone marketplace by October 21st ! Unfortunately these are not all present yet as you can see in the screenshot above.

Furthermore the Zune team has added some very cool minor tweaks like the “Drag and drop things here to sync with your device” ! Unfortunately I don’t have a Windows Phone 7 device yet to connect with the Zune software, however Engadget has a video of the Samsung SGH I917 connected to Zune 4.7 !

I would like to place a small comment about a feature that we hopefully see in future versions of the Zune software. Remember Kin Studio ?

The KIN Studio automatically backs up texts, call history, photos, videos and contacts, and populates a personalized digital journal so it’s easy to go back in time to relive a crazy weekend or recent birthday. [...]

This is some great Kin Studio functionality that impressed me most at the Kin launch. However I think it  could be very valuable for consumers, certainly if you see similar functionality coming to Android via HTCSense.com and the new HTC Sense on the HTC Desire HD and HTC Desire Z.

The countdown to October 21st has started and I’m looking forward to get my Windows Phone 7 device. Not sure yet which one …