Vice president of Microsoft and currently leading the Windows Phone team, Joe Belfiore is the man responsible for the user interfaces of Windows 95, XP and recently known for his work on the Zune platform. Today he revealed a change in the Windows Mobile platform with Windows Phone 7. Applications will be more tightly knit together than ever before, instead of living in their own little islands on the phone. In other words; less like a PC and more like a phone that actually can intermix information between different channels and applications. For instance, pictures and contacts integration with Facebook is only a touch away.
The feature low-down:
- 4-point touch screen functionality in the hardware is required for standard operation
- Simplified: A revamped start button leads to the Tile menu, which has a search function and a back-button
- Limiting UI-customization to the built-in options available in the OS itself
- No Adobe Flash support built-in, but Steve Ballmer was clear that they don’t mind Adobe at all – a kick towards Apple’s recent anti-Flash outbursts
- Release before Christmas is guaranteed
So, let’s bench up for Christmas and hope they can impress us this time around, after the very disappointing Mobile 6.5.
