SISAREA

Microsoft’s MIX 10 Windows Phone app demos were highlighted by a robotic t-shirt cannon entirely controlled by a WP7S app, and the code monkeys behind the project are now back with a full breakdown of how things were achieved — the bot was built on a standard battle-bot chassis, which was then modded with the cannons and an HP Envy laptop for control purposes. Just to drill in the point about how familiar development for the new mobile OS will be, the MS guys point out that outsider assistance on the project was recruited under the pretext that what was being built were “out of the browser” Silverlight apps for the desktop. Very crafty. We’ve got video of the cannon in action waiting after the break, along with an image of the Phone controls.

Continue reading Windows Phone 7 Series T-shirt cannon gets detailed, redefines ‘mobile warfare’

Windows Phone 7 Series T-shirt cannon gets detailed, redefines ‘mobile warfare’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gadgets/Windows_Phone_7_Series_the_complete_guide’; After Windows Phone 7 Series’ grand unveiling at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress last month, Microsoft has circled back over the last several days during GDC and its own MIX10 conference to fill in many of the holes in this story — in particular, details around the app development ecosystem and how third parties can take full advantage of it have been focal points. Of course, it makes sense: a modern smartphone is only as good as its software catalog, and Redmond’s clearly keen to show that it knows how very true that is. XNA — the technology that underpins Zune games and a host of Xbox content — figures prominently into the equation, but Silverlight is a huge, unavoidable component as well, making development for WP7S devices a starkly different experience for studios and independent code monkeys than in versions prior. We’re going to be periodically updating this post as we get new info on the platform, but for now, follow the break for everything you need to know — so far — about Microsoft’s latest and greatest mobile platform.

Continue reading Windows Phone 7 Series: the complete guide

Windows Phone 7 Series: the complete guide originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve held no punches in sharing our thoughts on Palm’s recent ad campaigns, but the one spot that was actually not heinous has seemingly served as the basis for one of Microsoft’s first-ever WP7S commercials. Debuting here at the tail-end of MIX, the ad spotlights Anna — a fictitious gal we’ve certainly heard of before — using her new smartphone to share photos with her dear lover Miles. It also features Luca, a kid with an undying love for playing Xbox LIVE titles, who seems to be caught somewhere in between the world of nature and nurture. At any rate, it’s worth your while to give the new Microsoft commercial and the Palm ad which it has oh-so-much in common with right after the break.

Oh, and Palm — we guess “Windows Phone 7 Series was your idea,” right?

Update: Yes, that definitely looks like an HTC HD2 at the 0:43 mark, but you can rest assured WP7S won’t ever come to that gem in native fashion.

[Thanks, Sean]

Continue reading Microsoft takes a note from Palm in new Windows Phone 7 Series ad

Microsoft takes a note from Palm in new Windows Phone 7 Series ad originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 11:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/microsoft/Microsoft_on_copy_paste_in_WM7_People_dont_do_that’; Microsoft certainly set off a firestorm of controversy yesterday with the revelation that Windows Phone 7 Series won’t have copy and paste, since it doesn’t necessarily line up with what the company has said in private before — and the issue seems to have gotten even more clouded as people have started hacking around the emulator. So let’s set the record straight on what we were told, since it wasn’t ambiguous in any way: Microsoft says leaving clipboard operations out was a conscious design decision based on user research showing that people don’t actually use copy and paste very often, and that instead 7 Series features a systemwide data detection service which recognizes things like phone numbers and addresses so you can take action on them. Third-party apps can hook into this service, so that an email address can be routed to the email client of your choice, but there’s no copy and paste functionality. We specifically asked about Office and OneNote, and we were told that Microsoft’s research shows that people mostly want to view and comment on documents, not move things around. We also specifically asked if copy and paste was coming later and were told no, although we’d guess that it’s at least being worked on for a future version. Don’t take it from us, though — listen to Microsoft’s Todd Brix for yourself:

Microsoft on copy and paste in Windows Phone 7 Series: ‘people don’t do that’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/microsoft/Windows_Phone_7_Series_won_t_have_multitasking_confirmed’; We’ve definitely learned a ton about Windows Phone 7 Series here at MIX, but getting the full picture on multitasking has been difficult, since the OS isn’t ready, no one has final hardware, and the emulator seems to behave differently than actual devices and Microsoft’s descriptions. So let’s set the record straight on multitasking: it’s not going to happen, at least not in the traditional way. Not only have we directly confirmed this with Microsoft executives several times, but the developer sessions here are totally clear on the matter — you don’t tell 1000+ devs that they should expect their apps to be killed whenever the user switches away from them if you don’t mean it. Now, that’s not to say that the OS can’t do multitasking: first-party apps like the Zune player and IE can run in the background, and third-party apps are actually left running in a suspended state (Microsoft calls it “dehydrated”) as long as the system doesn’t need any additional resources. If the user cycles back to an app, it’s resumed (“rehydrated”) and life continues merrily along, but if the user opens other apps and the system needs additional resources, the app is killed without any indication or remorse.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s basically a single-tasking riff on Android and Windows Mobile 6, both of which also purport to intelligently manage multiple running applications like this, and both of which usually find themselves greatly improved with manual task managers. We’ll have to see if Windows Phone 7 Series can do a better job once it ships — we have a feeling it will — and later down the line we’ll see if Microsoft decides to extend multitasking to third-party apps. But for now, just know that you’re not going to be running Pandora in the background while you do other tasks on a 7 Series device — it is a question we have specifically asked, and the answer, unfortunately, is no.

P.S. Still don’t believe us? Hear it for yourself directly from Microsoft’s Todd Brix:

Windows Phone 7 Series multitasking: the real deal originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We just spent some quality time with the MIX10 build of Windows Phone 7 Series running on the same prototype hardware sourced from Garmin-Asus that we saw at MWC — and apart from a few Murphy’s Law-style demo hiccups, we loved what we saw. One thing that immediately caught our attention was the fact that lists of items “compress” slightly once you’ve reached their end — something we hadn’t noticed before. In general, it’s pretty impressive how much attention Microsoft is paying to the finer aesthetic points of the platform, from the slight “tilts” of items that you’ve pressed to the 3D effects you encounter as you flip through photos. Another thing we’ve confirmed here is that the test units do have accelerometers, refuting an earlier rumor that had been spreading out in Barcelona — we know this because the display auto-rotated while viewing a photo. Check out the full video — along with a shot of the phone resting alongside its Zune HD cousin — after the break.

Continue reading Windows Phone 7 Series preview, MIX10 edition

Windows Phone 7 Series preview, MIX10 edition originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/microsoft/Microsoft_can_kill_your_Windows_Phone_apps_remotely’; Speaking at a MIX10 session about Windows Phone 7 Series architecture this morning, Microsoft’s Istvan Cseri mentioned that the Windows Phone Marketplace — the one and only clearinghouse for apps in WP7S — will be able to remotely revoke licenses. Since devices will only run properly-licensed apps, this effectively means the company will be able to shut down apps remotely — a capability they’d probably invoke if a Marketplace app were to badly misbehave en masse, for example. To put it bluntly, Cseri says that apps simply aren’t in control of their own life cycle; the user controls installation and removal while the Marketplace ensures that the license is valid.

On a related note, we know that Microsoft has a series of not-yet-finalized “business, technical, and content” guidelines for accepting and rejecting apps submitted to the Marketplace, and we’ve got a particularly interesting case: apps are being “discouraged” from using the phone’s Back button. They’re being so strongly discouraged, in fact, that Todd Brix — senior director of mobile platform services product management at the company — told us that apps can and will be straight-up rejected for using Back for anything but dismissing dialog boxes. We won’t know the full rulebook until Microsoft releases it in May — but in the meantime, don’t bother making anything too controversial with those free tools, eh?

Windows Phone Marketplace can remotely revoke app licenses originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 12:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, we’ve been pushing Microsoft hard for Windows Phone 7 Series details like copy and paste (no) and multitasking (no), but we just realized that we’ve never actually seen a 7 Series device… make a phone call. A little running around later and we’ve got two demo handsets calling each other. We’re told that the little white arrow on the call panel will eventually bring up options like conference calling, speakerphone, and mute, but it’s not working yet — and one of the phones seems to think it’s running on Cingular, so either time travel is an unannounced feature of the OS or Microsoft still has some work to do. Video after the break.

P.S. They’re just demo SIMs, but we’re sure the poor PR folks babysitting the devices would appreciate it if you didn’t call the numbers, okay? Be nice.

Continue reading Yes, Windows Phone 7 Series can make a phone call

Yes, Windows Phone 7 Series can make a phone call originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s no TouchFLO or SPB Mobile Shell, but it turns out you will be able theme Windows Phone 7 Series… a little. Although we’ve only ever seen the classy “dark” theme with the black background, Microsoft just demoed a “light” theme with dark text on a white background. Earth-shattering, we know. Both themes also have selectable accent colors, but don’t expect to go crazy here: your choices are red, orange, green and blue. We’re hoping all of these options will be expanded over time, but for now it’s not looking like a customizer’s dream come true.

Windows Phone 7 Series will have themes… sort of originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We couldn’t shake the feeling that the mysterious Samsung-branded Windows Phone 7 Series device being passed around at MIX10 this week was just a warmed-over i8910 HD, and it turns out there’s a very good reason for that: Samsung says it is a warmed-over i8910 HD. Even crazier, TechRadar writes that its contact at Samsung basically pegged the stunt entirely on Microsoft, simply saying “they used the i8910 HD to demo Windows 7″ and that “this demo was a one-off.” The whole thing reeks of the original Zune, which began life as a Frankenstein’d Toshiba Gigabeat — but we don’t think this new trick is going to make it all the way to retail since the i8910 HD clocks in with 640 x 360 resolution (WP7S requires 800 x 480) and a processor that falls well short of the standard-issue 1GHz Snapdragon. At any rate, we’re trying to get the straight dope on this from Microsoft now that Samsung’s washed its hands of it and we’ll update you when we’ve got more.

Windows Phone 7 Series device from Samsung is just a hacked i8910 HD originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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