Microsoft gets official on Windows Phone 7 cut-and-paste and unlocked emulator goodies



There’s a lot of chatter going on right now about whether or not cut-and-paste and true multi-tasking will ever make it into Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s Windows Phone 7 Series platform. Well, today Microsoft themselves are getting a little more official – if just as vague – on the whole issue of which features may, or may not, make the cut for WP7. The folks at Redmond confirmed to Engadget today that the future of cut-and-paste functionality and multi-tasking is not completely out of the picture, but stopped short of mentioning when those features would get a chance to play with the new Windows Phone 7 playground.

This is what Microsoft has to say about cut-and-paste on Windows Phone 7:

Windows Phone 7 Series will not initially offer copy and paste; instead, we try to solve the most common uses for copy and paste via single-tap action. For example, people often want to take an address and view it on a map, highlight a term in the browser and do a search or copy a phone number to make a call. Instead of the user manually doing a copy and paste in these scenarios, we recognize those situations automatically and make them happen with just one touch. In our early testing people have been pleased with this approach, but we’re always listening to feedback and will continue to improve our feature set over time based on what we hear.

As far as multi-tasking is concerned, Microsoft had this to say:

We are extremely pleased with the level of excitement we’re seeing for Windows Phone Developer Tools. When we decided to provide a Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator as part of the tools, we anticipated that people would attempt to unlock and explore the code. We have been very clear that the emulator is based on early code and is not reflective of the final user experience. Windows Phone 7 Series is still under development. The UI has been disabled to avoid confusion and allow developers to focus on testing applications on the underlying platform. We continue to recommend that developers use the emulator as provided to avoid any issues and unpredictability that may be introduced by an unlocked version.

We had a chance to get some additional info from Microsoft as well. In regards to the decision to keep third-party apps from having multi-tasking functionality in Windows Phone 7 Series, we were told that it was “by no means a policy decision.” While native apps will be allowed to run simultaneously (like the iPhone), Microsoft’s self-imposed timeframe for the launch of WP7S was the impetus for prohibiting global multi-tasking. Instead, Windows Phone 7 will initially focus on the paradigm shifting user experience, which includes long battery life, and give apps the ability to use push notifications and saved states rather than allow them to run in the background. Microsoft reiterated that the WP7 platform will “fully support multi-tasking.”

Keep in mind that a lot of copy-paste functionality won’t be required, as Windows Phone 7 takes advantage of contextual single-tap actions. Tap on a phone number and it calls the number. Tap on an address and you can view it on Bing Maps. That methodology should keep most users satiated until Microsoft can figure out how to bring global text copy features to its mobile operating system.

We’ll have more Windows Phone coverage from CTIA 2010 Las Vegas. Make sure to stay tuned!

izvor

Windows Phone 7 vs iPhone OS 4.0 – where Windows Phone 7 is still ahead 

Some areas where Microsoft, even at this early stage is ahead. 

-- the social network integration, which sees Microsoft as more outward facing, embracing multiple social networks suck as Facebook and Flickr. Apple has persistently decided to go it alone, even when faced by the whole industry embracing Facebook for example.

-- gaming social network in the form of Xbox Live, which has a pretty fanatical following.

-- Windows Phone 7 will of course still support more form factors that the iPhone, which is likely locked pretty much into its current shape.

-- Windows Phone 7 also has some new UI paradigms which seem to be catching on pretty nicely.

-- web technologies like Silverlight and Flash

Drugim recima, Windows Phone 7 ima fancy UI, mogu se igrati Xbox igrice i namenjen je FB ovisnicima.  I to je ujedno i jeino u cemu je dobar.

The latest is the revelation that the only way to get documents onto a Windows Phone 7 device is either to e-mail it to yourself or use some cloud-based solution such as Sharepoint or Skydrive. No mention of USB transfer or bluetooth FTP or even Activesync. In short again just another poor copy of the iPhone. 


    

A evo i potvrde onoga o cemu sam govorio, tj. da je WP7 smisljen od strane iPhone ljubitelja:

Skype Not Coming to Windows Phone 7



According to Skype, the company will not be working on a Windows Phone 7 app for Microsoft's yet to be released platform. The company did not give any reason why it is not supporting the platform, but lack of native code support on Windows Phone 7 is being tossed around as the culprit. Skype says that it will be supporting rival platforms--iPhone, Android, and Symbian.

Izvor

Windows Phone 7 ROM Leaked at XDA



We're not sure how significant of a development this is, but it's a big first step in answering the question: "Will it be possible to run Windows Phone 7 on older Windows Mobile device?" Over at XDA, a user has posted the .NBH ROM file for a device called the HTC Mondrian. A Google search for this device will reveal nothing of interest, so we can't speculate on what the Modrian is, and when it will be released. The ROM uses build 6176 of Windows Phone 7, which is refereed to as Release Candidate 1 which we showed on video several weeks ago. From user Da_G, we learn this:

After further examining the file, there is indeed an IMGFS inside, the D000FF format appears to be a new "store" type of .bin, will need to figure out the format for it to pull out imgfs (because just cutting in a hex editor gives you some invalid data)

Also, IMGFS is compressed with XPH (rather than XPR or LZX as we're used to)

We'll be keep a very close watch on this development.

Izvor

Windows Phone 7 confidential documentation leaked

When you activate the device for the first time you will need an internet connection of some sort to download the license agreement and you need to sign in / sign up for a Microsoft live ID. There is no way around that. 

The OEMs can change some visual elements like start up wallpaper, ringtones, add Live tiles on Home screen , Lock screen wallpapers. It looks like Ringtones can be purchased from Windows Mobile 7 Marketplace 
Windows Phone 7 will have GeoTag and AutoFocus for Video
Windows Phone 7 might have Volume buttons on the Side ( according to an image from the Architecture Guide document )
Windows Phone 7 will use Direct 3D 11..OpenGL ES will NOT be supported
Windows Phone 7 : Direct 3D Drivers will have to be developed by OEM ( why ??? we don’t want HTC developing the graphics Drivers )
Windows Phone 7 supports Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR

To an End user the entire File system will look like a single storage unit ( internal memory and external memory will not be differentiated ) … Hey that means External storage is supported.  The document also specifies a scenario where the user removes the battery .. in your face iPhone.
CABs are a thing of the past..   WP7 will have apps with the extension XAP (steta sto nije APK  )