The guys (Michael Kordahi and Andrew Coates)  on the FranklySpeaking Podcast recently recently announced that Windows Phone 7 series will come with three different form factors.

Chassis 1

• Only available at launch
• 1ghz Processor
• Big Touch Screen
• Dedicated graphics
• No Keyboard

This model sound very much like the HTC HD2 and the fact it comes with a dedicated graphics processor and large touch screen means that this will probably be the best one for Xbox Live platform.

Chassis 2

• Touch Screen
• Keyboard
• Palm Trio (see image below)

The palm trio is actually a pretty old device now however it does look a lot like the HTC Snap (see below) so images that front facing device with a touch screen.

As an owner (winner) or a HTC Snap the one thing i find myself wanting to do so often on the device is to just touch the screen on what i want to click. Having a touch screen on this style of device would be very nice.

Chassis 3

• Candy Bar style

This is a simple smaller style device like the Nokia 1680 (see below).

Sound like Microsoft are now having to tread a very thin line between mandating the minimum specs and design style of the device but still allow the OEM’s to innovate of the style of the device. In my opinion I don’t think that the variance of the phone hardware is that much of an issues just so long as the UI is consistent (e.g. Windows on computers).

Source http://www.noisetosignal.com.au/franklyspeaking/?p=121

Engadget recently blogged about a statement from Microsoft’s Alex Reeve’s about the possibility of current devices that meet the Windows Phone 7 hardware specifications. Alex said:

It’s early days yet, and that’s really for our hardware partners to think about.

This really leaves the door open to the HTC to offer a Windows Phone 7 upgrade to the HTC HD2 which may confirm the authenticity of the below photo of the device.

However it still remains unclear if the HTC HD2 will be upgradeable to Windows Phone 7 as Andrew Coates on the FranklySpeaking podcast recently said:

It doesn’t sound like the HD2 quite gets there

However the specification does require at least 3 buttons (back, search and home) and the HTC HD2 has 5 buttons, but there is not mention if this specifically excludes additional buttons. If that is the case you could easily remap the Home key as the search key (see below).

Source Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 upgrades will be possible, up to OEMs to make them happen — Engadget

I previously posted that Microsoft rumoured ‘Pure’ phone now has FCC approval. It is widely expected that this will not be running Windows Phone 7 but instead be a upgrade to the Danger series phone using Silverlight for the UI.

Update: An article on the Phonedog.com site has done a post about a rumour that AT&T will be announcing the Microsoft “Pink” (a.k.a. Pure) at the CITA 2010 event on March 23.

Source Sharp PB20ZU gets FCC approval — is this ‘Pure’ from Microsoft’s Project Pink? – Engadget

Source #2 http://www.phonedog.com/cell-phone-research/blog/unconfirmed-at-t-to-announce-several-devices-at-ctia.aspx

Charlie Kindel just did a blog post around the Windows Phone 7 Series Development which gives some in site into how it was developed. Interesting he confirms that that the Windows Mobile development team was reset back in late 2008.

“mobile organization was “reset” back in late 2008”

Which was only a few months after the release of the iPhone 3G and not long before the Windows Mobile 6.5 announcement. 

He also goes on to talk about the guiding “principals” of the Windows Phone project and how they formed a framework for everything they did in the project.

• Every decision we make must be made mindful of the effect on end-users.
• We will do a few things and do them very, very well; we are better off not having a capability than doing it poorly. There are always future versions.
• No API will be created or documented without a clear use case; “build it and they will come” APIs almost always do nothing but create bad legacy.
• We will build on the shoulders of giants; where possible integrate instead of create.
• We will strive to not show our organizational boundaries to developers.

What is also interesting read in the article is how they focus of the design of the product is all about the end user.

“THE END USER IS KING.”

Hopefully this will mean a much better user experience with the device as compared to Windows Phone 6.5 which was it Achilles heel.

In any case it seems that Windows Phone 7 is design goal is laser clear which should hopefully translate to a great phone.

Source http://blogs.msdn.com/ckindel/archive/2010/02/22/focus-focus-focus.aspx

Here is a cool video that was recorded to MIX that showcased the Bing Maps integration. This is a really good show case as to how Microsoft have designed the UI so that you don’t need to open and close different applications like the iPhone.

Source Another look at Bing Maps integration on Windows Phone 7

Want to experience Windows Phone 7 right now on your iPhone? Well download the video below and load it up on your phone and then simply play it to see how it looks. This will give you pretty much the closet experience to having Windows Phone 7 loaded you will ever have on your iPhone.

Windows Phone 7 on the iPhone

Download the file below and copy it to your movies on you phone, then play using the media player and impress all your friends.

Video Ad has just been posted of what looks to be a Windows Phone 7 Ad. Looks very slick and well put together however I doubt we will see this ad in the public as its not going to be out for at least another 9 months.

XDA Developers has just released a document that confirms that Windows Phone 7 OS does  multitask however still no word if there is third party app support.

“Windows Phone OS 7.0 support multiple processes running simultaneously on the system.”

Source Windows Phone 7 development docs leaked

Luke Wroblewski has does a really nice blog and video to explain the concepts behind the Windows Phone 7 UI. He pretty much sums up the UI is a combination of “Teasing” and “Transitions” so the user can easily discover new information and does not get lost when transitioning between screen.

See his blog post here http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1003

Guys over at http://www.wmexperts.com/ have just published a walk through video of Windows Phone 7.

They also asked some pretty hard question like if they were going to release Zune for the Mac or if it would pull in updates from Twitter. However they pointed out that Windows Live currently pull in twitter updates so technically you can get twitter updates on the phone for people status. However the response to the Mac question was a decidedly coy saying just “hmmm”. Also when asked if the Zune subscription was coming to any other markets they said “we are not talking about that”.

Clearly from the video the OS is still a little buggy however it was a really great deep dive of the Zune and People Hubs.

Source http://www.wmexperts.com/wme-mwc-video-hands-no-2-windows-phone-7-series