Windows Phone 7 – First Look

On November 2, 2010 I was able to attend the Windows Phone 7 Executive Briefing Event held at the Microsoft facility in downtown Los Angeles. I arrived at 8:30 and opened the netbook, ready to write down all I could about Windows Phone 7. Read on to find out more about the Windows Phone 7.

I took a vacation day from work and rode the Metro downtown to the Wells Fargo Center. 33rd floor. Very nice. Seriously.

Arriving at the Microsoft Los Angeles location, I was greeted by crisp signage and smiling faces. I was early so the phones were not out and I would have to wait to get my chance to review the new Windows Phone 7. I sat in a conference room with 50 other people waiting for the festivities to begin.

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The Briefing

The Microsoft Mobility Specialist, Toni Abrusia Bollinger, was the first to speak and tell us about Windows Phone 7. She told us to forget everything we knew about Windows Mobile. Toni started talking about hubs. Hubs?

Windows Phone 7 has hubs. According to Toni, these six hubs (and the associated facts) are environments labeled as:

• People – Contacts are integrated with applications such as Outlook and Facebook
• Games – Xbox type games
• Pictures – Camera usage is the second highest rated activity on mobile phones
• Music – Includes Zune Music, TV and Movies
• Office – Office Hub beats any other experience and integrates SharePoint.
• Marketplace – 1,000 Apps ready now, 10,000 supposed to be ready by June 2011

Note: Great conference room. Crappy cell service. Even the T-Mobile reps were only getting 2G service.