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.
