Live from Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 launch!

By on Oct 11, 2010 at 9:42 AM
Breaking October 11, 2010

9:27 AM: We’re here, and the party is just about to start. The house is packed and the music is bumping. Let’s do this thing!

Hit the jump for out live blog of the event.

9:28 AM: Just a few more minutes…

9:40 AM: Here we go. Steve Ballmer is on stage.


9:41 AM: “We wanted the Windows Phone 7 operating system to be wonderful on a range of different devices.”

9:42 AM: “For both consumers and developers.”

9:42 AM: “We wanted the phone to be wonderfully yours. I can represent ‘me’ in this device”

9:43 AM: Emphasis on the ability to personalize the device.

9:43 AM: “…Always delightful… Wonderflly mine.” is slogan we’re seeing on the screen.

9:44 AM: “We’ll have 9 phones available in U.S. when the phone ships in November.”

9:44 AM: “Dell, HTC, HP, Samsung, and Dell.”

9:44 AM: “Full touch-screen devices, full QWERTY devices, ruggedized devices, large devices, small devices.”

9:45 AM: “We think it is important to have consistant delight but give people a set of choices.”

9:46 AM: 60 operators will offer Windows Phone 7 around the world.

9:47 AM: Ralph de la Vega (CEO of AT&T) in now on stage.

9:48 AM: “The user experience we have seen on Windows Phone 7 is unlike anything evern seen.”

9:48 AM: “The user interface is fun, fast, and personal.”

9:49 AM: “Beginning on November 8, Windows will be the cornerstone of our smartphone platform. We’ll launch three phones.”

9:49 AM: LG Quantam 1.3 GHz Snapdragon processor. Full QWERTY keyboard. DLNA support. $199 with contract.

9:50 AM: HTC Surround. Media and game enthusiasts. 3.8-inch touchscreen, 1 GHz Snapdragon, 2 Dolby surround sound speakers. Full touch-screen, kickstand. $199.99 with contract.

9:51 AM: Samsung Focus. 4-inch Super AMOLED display, 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, 8 GB on-board storage. Thinnest WP7 phone in U.S. $199.99 with contract.

9:52 AM: Focus will launch on the 8th of November. Others shortly after.

9:52 AM: AT&T U-Verse TV will come to smartphone. Can watch shows like Mad Men on your mobile. Will offer service for non-AT&T U-Verse subscribers for a small monthly fee.

9:54 AM: Mr. de la Vega has left the stage. Joe Belifiore, from Microsoft, is on-stage to give us a demo.

9:55 AM: We’re getting a walkthrough of panels, soft-keys, and general phone interface.

9:57 AM: We’re seeing a logo for Twitter… looks like there will be an official Twitter application upon WP7 launch.

10:00 AM: Seeing demo of camera’s ability to wake and shoot images quickly via dedicated photo button. Camera button activates camera (even if phone is sleeping) and two-clicks shares images.

10:02 AM: Outlook integration with other office application and document types looks very slick.

10:05 AM: Text entry and correction on full-touchscreen devices also looks really easy and intuitive.

10:07 AM: Outlook for WP7 integrates maps for meeting navigation.

10:08 AM: Service also supports Hotmail, Yahoo!, Gmail, Exchange…

10:09 AM: Zooming in close enough on a map (using pinch-to-zoom) will cause the map to automatically switch to satellite view for easier navigation.

10:10 AM: Microsoft is — obviously — using Bing to power all their maps and search functions.

10:13 AM: “Instant Answers” feature will give you one-click answers to questions. Holding “Start” button will allow you to ask (using your voice) a question that will be uploaded to Bing. Example was “Alaska Flight 7″ and Bing service returned the flight time. No typing required. Think Google Voice Actions.

10:15 AM: Going over “hubs” now. Six Windows Phone hubs that revolve around common tasks.

10:17 AM: Hubs tasks are viewed by swiping left and right on the phone from within a tile.

10:17 AM: Recently called, social networking… we’ve seen it all before.

10:18 AM: Pictures hub will automatically select backgrounds, integrates social networking images, can add comments from pictures hub without launching a separate program.

10:20 AM: Talking about the Office hub now. Can view documents saved on phone, SharePoint access, can add multiple SharePoint services.

10:20 AM: OneNote is also included in Office Hub.

10:21 AM: Can use free OneNote web-companion to edit and view notes from phone on the desktop.

10:22 AM: Moved onto Music and Videos Hub.

10:22 AM: Acces to Zune library. Music, videos access.

10:22 AM: Shows “history” of recently listened to artists and playlists.

10:22 AM: New Podcasts are shown with album art.

10:23 AM: Third-party applications can integrate into Music and Video hub. iHeartRadio, Pandora, Slacker, etc. You can see what online stations you’ve been listening to.

10:29 AM: We’re onto the “Games” hub.

10:29 AM: Xbox Live integration, friend invites, social gaming…

10:30 AM: Seing demo of avatar customizations.

10:31 AM: Games we’re seeing: Elo & Milo (made using XNA) and exclusive to AT&T.

10:33 AM: “We will have EA available as a launch partner and they will have a suite of games avialable upon launch.”

10:34 AM: Seeing Sims demo.

10:34 AM: “Out phones support an update mechanism that allows all the phones to get the updates at the same time.”

10:35 AM: Copy and Paste coming in early 2011. Thanks to “feedback from customers.”

10:35 AM: Stevie B is back on stage.

10:35 AM: Seeing a video showing OEM makers waxing-poetic about how awesome WP7 is.

10:38 AM: Video cameos by HTC, Samsung, and LG.

10:39 AM: That’s all she wrote! We’re going to get some hands-on time.

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120 Comments

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  • Residence

    How can anyone buy any of these phones?

    The word “magical” wasn’t even mentioned once.

  • justme

    this will appeal to the market it is aimed at.. young business proffesionals that want to carry something that can intigrate work along with play.. dont forget that the business world runs on windows not MAC and last time i checked their were no Android based computers.

    • Alan B

      There are also no “BlackBerry Based Computers.” That hasn’t stopped BB from being the largest smartphone provider in the US (and even more so among corporate users).

      You are just assuming that life is somehow easier if your phone OS is made by the same company as your computer OS. (The desktop OS has little to do with the phone OS as you seem to assert. iOS is very different from OS X and WP7 is even more different from Win 7).

      • justme

        but the reason behind BB being the most sucessful was its enterprise servers along with the security it offers for the users. Im talking about being able to seamlessly work with windows from a phone to lets say edit an excel document and not ahve to worry about who you send it back to not being able to open it due to it being edited on another platform

    • IM_A_BOBOHEAD_N_SO_R_U

      @justme: You seemed to have missed the mark. The article says they want WP7 to be immensely customizable, as described by MS’s phrases they used during the event

      >”Always delightful… Wonderfully mine” and
      > “ability to personalize the device”.

      Pay attention to the “wonderfully MINE” phrase (as in, “mine” = “individualized as only I want it”). That gives a big hint of the target market.

      If you know anything about corporate (business) users, you know they don’t want “user-customizable” phones. It’s a pain and a security risk if everyone can modify their phone in unique ways. Corporations (the larger ones especially) want very few if not one single configuration deployed across their entire organization – and the ability to lock-down the configuration and prevent the end-user from changing it – this makes it much easier to upgrade/distribute security patches, feature changes, etc.

      So if you understand what MS is saying, they are NOT targeting this for corporate types – but rather for individuals who want “their own experience”, who want a phone they can fully-customize themselves.

      The irony here is, the Windows phone 6.xx os had the same goals (uber customization) – and it’s a dog. It’s so customizable – it seems to automatically “customize” itself. It can’t stop it even when I want it to stop. Hope the new one doesn’t have that “feature” too.

      If it does, I’ll be selling my MSFT ASAP.

  • DigDug

    Say what you want, but I still dont like the WP7 OS Use of MIXED caps, Partial Caps, AND NO caps Throughout THE OS. It Is RATHER annoying – At LEAST to ME.

    • Elmo

      Get a life. Who cares about grammer and spelling any more in the world of limited text messages and the like.

      • javierE186

        Dude he did say for him. It’s not like he is bashing it, he is just stating that he does like and the reason why he doesn’t

      • DigDug

        Um, Elmo, my dislike is the FORMAT, not the “grammer [sic] and spelling” (which as far as I can tell are correct in the OS).

        Just FYI…sometime submit a resume THAT Looks Something like THIS and with Impropper SPELING and and GRAMMER and Usage and See HOW WELL you Fare.

        In the world of limited text messages, a lot of us do care whether a person can carry themselves as insightful, intelligent beings.

      • Connor Aston

        No i THINK we cud All have moor FUN triing TO cee WHO can get the Wirst centence our B4 the End of the DAY.

  • Monique

    UI is different for sure but not sure how it will appeal to the masses. Microsoft will have to do some really good marketing to sway people from getting an iPhone or an Android phone.

  • OopsieAL

    Great breakdown BGR! Felt almost like I was there with ya! Now we know what to expect…in great detail! Nice reporting! Thanks!

    PS – how was that SIMs demo, eh? ;0)~

  • Man Genius

    if people embraced android with all of its flaws and eratic behavior whats to say WP7 wont be embraced? I think that people are tired of Steve Jobs and want an alternative. Just a thought

    • Monique

      I don’t know, maybe because Windows has some sort of bad rep in the phone market and the disaster that was Vista still lingers in some people’s minds…but I do hope Microsoft succeeds with WP7 but I doubt if I will be purchasing one

      • serpentor

        I think you’re putting too much weight on “bad reps and past failures.” I mean, look at AT&T. They probably have the worst rep regarding service and people still line up for days just to get a new iPhone.

        People have short attention spans and no context of history. Just give them a sexy piece of hardware and they’re happy to fork over some $$$.

    • Ono

      The ManGina has spoken.

  • jlee

    Seems like Microsoft has finally been able to create a phone OS with a standout branding. One that stands apart from looking like apple, android, or mini-windows. If the design is more intuitive than android and capable of integration with existing free Google Services then I think this thing could become a real contender.

    Otherwise, if its only selling point is integration with Office products this thing will not reach far outside the business world. IMO.

  • GN

    you have got to be kidding me….6th picture down….Stallone dong the speaking here? with a facejob gone wrong, 30lbs lighter?….god this cup of Joe is good…lemme do a double take on that one….

    • GN

      ooops…(doing)..lol

  • omtradelaw

    if the comment “9:49 AM: “Beginning on November 8, Windows will be the cornerstone of our smartphone platform. We’ll launch three phones.””
    doesnt spell end of iphone exclusivity, i dont know what will

    • GN

      got a point there..

      • Jarrett

        Also, He said three phones at launch. Then he went on to say two of the three will arrive “a couple weeks later”. So they are actually launching with one phone.

      • Epic Beard Man

        AT&T Apologist, folks.

      • serpentor

        So what? For retards like you one phone fits all, right?

        Three phones for you to choose from would be too much for you to handle.

      • Jarrett

        If they were Apple the one model approach would work. Their not Apple, as we are all going to find out again next Monday. Their is one company in tech that matters. We didn’t see that company today.

      • Epic Beard Man

        Jarrett is 53 yr old basement dwelling, unemployed former type-setter (circa pre-MS Windows Earth), who sits & reads about all things Apple, all day long in the light of his 13-inch tube monitor.

        His hobbies include MineSweeper, Solitaire, making his own wooden Mac.

      • umm…

        Jarrett,
        if you think apple is the only tech company that matters you don’t deserve to live in a technological age….

    • namelesstwo

      If it’s not the end, it’s pretty close to it. AT&T knows that losing the iPhone exclusivity will be a big blow for them, particularly with all the Verizon/CDMA/iPhone buzz that’s going on lately.

      On the MS side, I think they made a good move by just building an OS with no manufaturer UI choice, to make it look different from the rest of the pack. This way the playing field is leveled for everyone, they just have to make a better hardware than the other guy and not rely on their UI alone.

      If MS sees that the manufacturers can’t get their act together, then they’ll make their own phone, using their own OS, just like Apple did. Maybe that will end up being a better choice.

      • IM_A_BOBOHEAD_N_SO_R_U

        Eeeegads!!! Microsoft making their own hardware?

        You mean like the Zune and Xbox? Wow, if you like an MP3 device that you can’t use, and does funny things on its own?

        Or how about a game system that comes with its own red rings?

        Don’t rely on microsoft hardware – the story’s been told many a times, and MS sh!t don’t shine like no apple!!

  • TonyJ

    How is ATT going to handle the phone upgrades if a customer wants to switch from an iPhone4 to a WP7?

    • justme

      outright or exception upgrade pricing. their will be no “early” upgrade for people who purchased an iphone4. you will take the 2 year price and add 200 to it

      • justme

        or any phone for that matter

    • GN

      easy…same way as always, when your upgrade is due..im thinking you will still be able to switch back and forth with the sim card like usual also…just make sure you keep your unlimited data package, if you have one..you cant got back to that if you downgrade to a limited data plan

      • justme

        problem is the i4 takes the micro sim and the windows from what i know take a regular so no switching back and forth

      • GN

        yea..right…I forgot also, my daughter has the 3gs, and already had to take it to the apple store for repair/anything wrong for that matter…I guess att doesnt deal with any of those problems/returns…that sucks really…remembering, there isnt anyway to pull the back of the phone cover, to reveal or toy with the device..shit…apple wants all the glory for sure…prolly why I never got one…I was wiser, and picked up the 9700…rofl

      • justme

        i inform every person that purchases an iphone from my store that if anything goes wrong that they must schedule an appointment with the genius bar in order for it to be looked at. and seeing as how their is one apple store in the state of indiana it acts against apple. If they made the use of the product a little more customer friendly it would be a better experience

  • Willis

    Thirty-sixth!!!!!!!

  • Tdot34

    Copy and Paste coming in early 2011……

    Why is seemingly the simplest of things, excluded from the OS. Apple made the same mistake and was ridiculed for years until it finally got Copy and Paster functions in what 2009….

    • GN

      what about the mms thing? was that apple or att? I remember that was just the most retarded thing that took how long to throw that switch?, or make changes to the way Iphone handled that..

    • serpentor

      MS is just following the iPhone playbook to success.

  • Parshooter

    Balmer’s an idiot. MS needs to bring in a competent CEO.

    • GN

      thing that kills me is, MS cannot afford to leave out ANYTHING for that matter, not in this stage of the junctier

    • JamesNZ

      Like who, for the people that attach Balmer they never suggest who would make them happy.

  • Mgl323

    Windows 7 phones> Android devices

  • serpentor

    I hope there’s a Google voice app at launch.

    • JamesNZ

      There is already one in the marketplace

  • DigDug

    I also don’t personally care for the use of ‘euro’ spelling in the OS, at least for US-headed handsets.

    (You can put George Bush in a Mercedes, but he’ll always be just a Texan.)

  • caffesilvia

    The UI looks really ugly. Gag-worthy. Why did MS do that, when they clearly know HOW to create an attractive UI (e.g., Windows Vista/7, Office 2010…)?

    • IM_A_BOBOHEAD_N_SO_R_U

      So you think MS knows how to make a good UI? Like Win7?

      I guess you’ve never seen OS X (from 2005)? Win7 has directly taken many of it’s “UI skills” from OS X. Any person able to make an unbiased comparison will see how these UI features were borrowed.

      If MS could make a useful UI, do you think we would have suffered through Windows 1.0, 2.1, ME, XP, Vista, their Phone UIs, and let’s not forget the Zune.

      WOW – you’re right. They do know HOW to make a attractive UI — but none that’s usable!

  • Giorgio

    Regardless of any thoughts on the phone, the commercial for WP 7/AT&T is absolutely hilarious. I love to make fun of AT&T’s corny commercials, but they really struck gold with this one. I saw it today (proprietorially) and the whole crowd laughed their asses off.

  • fidel castro

    Windows phone 7 looks nice,
    but for now im sticking with the best phone ever made: the t mobile sidekick lx!

    Cuba will never get android, bb, iOS, symbian, meego, bada, or wp7 for as long as I live!!

  • dirtypirate

    Can’t the just call it the “WiPho” and be done with it….

  • fidel castro

    In cuba, I punish my dissidents by forcing them to use kin phones. Now that winmo7 is out, I have a new tool for torture! Ha ha ha!

    I love my t mobile sidekick, god bless cuba

  • Jake Cook

    um im not sure but im pretty sure the lg quantum has a 1 ghz processor….. defintely not a 1.3 ghz one because its the worst phone of the group for AT&T and im guessing the focus has a hummingbird not a snapdragon

  • http://twitter.com/createablog Bradley James Dalton

    great for outlook users on the go

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