Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

"According to Business Insider, Microsoft says that Android's hidden manufacturing costs are much higher than their own $15-per-unit Windows Phone 7 license. They have some very good points, but others are not so good. Here are their arguments..."

Go check out the article and tell me what you think - is Microsoft right? Are the costs of a "free" operating system higher than most people think? I think there's definitely something to be said for an off-the-shelf experience that doesn't require customization to work properly, but thus far, the deficiencies in Android's offering hasn't exactly been slowing down the adoption rate...

Microsoft has officially released Windows Phone 7 to manufacturing. This means that carriers have in their hands a final version that they can use to load onto devices. Unfortunately, we still have no information on exact release dates for Windows Phone 7. Current rumors suggest the release date will be some time in October, but nothing definitive has been discovered.

In addition to information that the OS had been released to manufacturing, Microsoft also revealed that there are multiple small improvements that made it into the released build. One of the more interesting features resolves a problem where Facebook contacts were automatically imported into the phone when a Facebook account is added. Now, Facebook contacts are matched to existing phone contacts and those that aren't found are not added. More Facebook functionality has also been added into final build, such as the ability to comment on contact's walls, and the ability to ‘like' someone's posts. I'm sure that there will be many other small features that are discovered when the phone is finally released.

We have a name for one of LG's prospective WP7 models - the E900 sports the usual WP7 chassis specs and a 3.7" capacitive screen. It may be just me, but I'm beginning to miss the days when spec hunting used to be fun. With the Microsoft spec lockdown for WP7, there's a numbing sameness to nearly every new handset, irrespective of vendor. While that may be to Microsoft's and WP7's advantage, there're very few ways that manufacturers can differentiate their offerings - witness the fact that they almost all look the same.

AT&T and HTC have gotten around to releasing a ROM Update for the Tilt 2. It's apparently the same one that leaked earlier in July, and includes Sense 2.5 and a few hotfixes (download link here). Bear in mind that if you use this, it will wipe your phone clean, so be sure to back up your data first.

"Microsoft is rapidly developing Windows Phone 7, a smart phone platform to compete with iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. It's due this fall, though we don't yet know the dates, prices and carriers. We do know one thing, the launch will be massive. Like billion-dollar massive."

Wilson Rothman, writing on the msnbc.com tech blog Technolog, has postulated that Microsoft might be spending upwards of $1 billion to develop and market the first release of Windows Phone 7. His postulation comes from the consideration of the commentary of various industry people who have speculated on the actual costs. Well known Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley from ZDNet is one such resource.

This figure might at first appear staggering, but it important to consider what it supposedly covers, and unfortunately none of the sources is being too detailed about what that is. So, they might be close to the mark, or off by 50% or more. No one but true Microsoft insiders will know for sure, of course, but if past reports and speculations are of any merit, these significant technology releases cost big, big, bucks. Rumors of the size of contracts issued to marketing companies always seem to get bandied about. In 2008, for example, Microsoft was rumored to have spent $300 million on a consumer product ad campaign. What we do know for sure is that Microsoft has a lot riding on the upcoming release. This could very well make or break them for years, if not forever, in the mobile phone marketplace. Considering that the $1 billion figure covers both development and marketing, I think it could well be close. What do you think?

"We've mentioned in the past about 'Orion', the geolocation service/API for Windows Phone 7 which allows developers access to many forms of locating the phone's location extremely quickly."

WMExperts has posted a short article commenting on their expectation that developers will soon be taking advantage of the Windows Phone 7 platform's geolocation service/API to develop interesting game play. The geolocation API allows developers to ascertain the location of the phone, opening up intriguing opportunities for games. One could envisage game play where your phone's physical location could play a role in what you can "see" or have access to. The options are endless. There is a potential downside to geolocation information however - privacy. Your phone's location is often close to your location, so one could infer where you are quite easily. Properly implemented though, this capability can be managed by the end-user giving appropriate permission. It will be interesting to see what sort of game play the developers come up with.

Every Windows Mobile device that Verizon is currently offering, including the HTC Touch Pro 2 and the Samsung Omnia 2, will be off the shelf by the first quarter of next year according to a leaked end-of-life document. You can take this one of two ways - either Verizon is completely fed up with Microsoft after the Kin debacle, or they're placing a big bet on Windows Phone 7. I wouldn't lay odds either way. Hit the link for the details.

Curious about what some of the gameplay and graphics will be like on upcoming Windows Phone 7 games? Wonder no more - I've collected a few videos showing what a few of the upcoming games will be like. I've got to say, Harvest looks particularly awesome! Read more...

"So initially we're turn by turn-based," the rep said, referring to the phone-to-phone multiplayer capabilities on day one. "We are working on real-time phone-to-console, likely initially through Wi-Fi -- again, operator networks are sensitive to that. That's not on day one; day one will be turn-by-turn as well as companion-type gaming where you play a level on the phone and it may unlock a level or a weapon or some special achievement on the console game. But, uh yeah -- absolutely working on phone-to-console real-time. That is something we're working on and expect to have in the near future."

The potential of Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 gaming hub has had a lot of people intrigued. Its linkage to the Xbox world has already been demonstrated, but until recently we have not had a clear understanding of just how far the integration will go, nor exactly what capabilities will be provided. Some questions are starting to be answered, and new ones stimulated. From the quote above we learn that turn by turn-based game play will be supported initially, but sometime in the not too distant future phone-to-console game play should appear (initially through Wi-Fi). If this is true, then we have some mighty interesting scenarios that could play out, and we could lose a lot of time testing them (well, someone's going to have to do it, and it might as well be you!). Game players out there: is phone-to-console game play a big deal, or is this over-hyped?

We are approaching cable nirvana. Micro USB is becoming fairly standard for charging and synching lots of devices, meaning that we can now leave our giant bundle of cables at home when we travel. This also means that charging cables are pretty much just a commodity item and we just go for what's cheap. So I was pretty excited when I found the Flexicord Mini since it looked to bring something else to the table and really didn’t ask much in return.

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