Early adopters, get ready – Walmart has begun to sell the HTC HD2 on T-Mobile a couple days early. The phone is scheduled to officially launch in the United States on Wednesday for $199 with a two year contract. People not dismayed about Microsoft confirming that there will not be an Windows Phone 7 Series upgrade have already posted unboxing videos on YouTube detailing the phone in all its goodness.
Sad news for anyone who has a HTC HD2 smartphone or plans on picking one up soon: Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore has come right out and confirmed that the Windows Mobile phone will not be getting Windows Phone 7 Series because it is not complaint with hardware specifications required to run the OS. This puts the phone, which has not even yet been released in the US, in shaky grounds. Even more odd enough is that every Microsoft employee at MIX has one with them.
MIX 2010 started, and one thing quickly grabbed everyone’s eye: Windows Phone 7 Series Marketplace, and it’s sexy. Besides from its charming good looks, it has support for ad supported content, operator billing, and credit card charges. There’s also a try before you buy option similar to what Android has to offer, but developers get to pick the terms and the fine detailed things, like time of trial. The UI looks identical to rest of the well-polished OS and has a panoramic view where the user can see categories and titles, as well as get more information on their app that they’re seeking, including pricing, screenshots, reviews, and ratings.
Who are among the first to launch their apps for Windows Phone 7 Series? Well, these guys:
AWS Convergence Technologies, WeatherBug, Citrix Systems Inc., Clarity Consulting Inc., Cypress Consulting, EA Mobile, Fandango Inc., Foursquare Labs Inc., frog design inc., Glu Mobile Inc., Graphic.ly, Hudson Entertainment Inc., IdentityMine Inc., IMDb.com Inc., Larva Labs, Match.com LLC, Matchbox Mobile Ltd., Microsoft Game Studios, Namco Networks America Inc., Oberon Media Inc., Pageonce Inc., Pandora Media Inc., Photobucket Inc., PopCap Games Inc., Seesmic, Shazam Entertainment Ltd., Sling Media, SPB Software Inc., stimulant, TeleCommunications Systems Inc., Touchality LLC and Vertigo Software Inc
A nice, smooth set of first developers, but unless the platform gets lots of good apps quickly, it won’t be going anywhere. One of the biggest selling points on the iPhone is apps, over 140,000 of them. When a consumer is deciding whether to buy a WP7S phone or iPhone, one thing that they’ll think over is apps. Since apps extend what the phone can do, the consumer might be attracted more to the iPhone if the app catalog is as skimpy as the Zune HD’s catalog.
Oh, and it’s the only way to install apps on your Windows Phone.
We’ll know more soon, and keep checking back for the latest.
Those with Windows Mobile 6.x wishing they jumped on the mobile bandwagon later when Windows Phone 7 Series comes out, all is not lost. Someone going by the name of LeSScro made a theme for existing phones, and for a theme, it looks impressive to say the least. This user interface skin includes Xbox Live (supposedly), and can make old phones look young again. Video to ease your jealousy over an unreleased mobile OS after the page break.
At The Engadget Show, Aaron Woodman, director of consumer experiences for Microsoft’s mobile division, shocked the world by pulling out a LG prototype phone running Windows Phone 7 Series. You can view all the pictures of the phone here.
There’s not much for specs, but it is a trifle bit thicker than an iPhone or Nexus One, has six hardware buttons, a slide out QWERTY keyboard, and a 5MP camera. He wouldn’t confirm it had any Mac support, but he didn’t toss it to the curb. At least now we have an idea for the future of Windows Mobile hardware.
Update: There’s also a short snippet of it being on the Engadget Show. See below.
