Forgot all the spy shots, rumours and other such nonsense, the guys over at Slashgear have got their hands on a demo device, running an early version of the OS. The great news is that slashgear says that manufacturers will be able to add on a hardware QWERTY, if I am travelling and doing a lot of email, I personally think you cannot do without a proper keyboard. Sure touch screen keyboards are ok for short messages and SMS, but not for long emails.
the demo devices are unbranded, generic models specially built by ASUS. Still, they’re a decent example of what we can expect: a large, multitouch-friendly capacitive touchscreen with a glass front, three front-panel buttons (back, Start and search), GPS and a rear-mounted camera. They also have a front-facing camera, though there won’t apparently be support for it natively in Windows Phone 7, and OEMs are limited to what hardware controls they can add; it’s pretty much down to volume buttons, camera shortcut and power.
focus at the show has been showing off the Windows Phone 7 UI, apparently the work of 12 months and a new team including alumni from Nike’s design department. Since users will be stuck with it, thankfully it’s a pretty slick system; design team member Albert Shum described it as focusing on “content not chrome”, and certainly there’s less unnecessary detailing than you’d find on other platforms (or indeed earlier Windows Mobile versions). It’s based on the same premise as the Zune HD UI, with strong typography and slick animations – in fact Microsoft employed motion specialists to work on transitions – adding up to something the company hopes is clean, light, open and fast. They’re describing it as “Authentically Digital”; that is, recognizing that a Windows Phone 7 device is an electronic one, and searching for aesthetics in purity of purpose.
