Windows Phone 7 Preview Event: Oded Ran Talks Release Dates, Specs and More…

With news heating up that announcement for the Windows Phone 7 release date and further details could be on the 11th of October, it’s hard not to excited about the current Apple and Android contender.

Well, last week we were invited to an exclusive event held at the plush Microsoft Offices in London to get a glimpse of the Windows Phone 7 in all it’s glory.

Unfortunately we weren’t given the phone to play with, however we did get to meet the Microsoft’s Head of Marketing for Windows Phone 7, Oded Ran who gave us an in depth preview on the developer device, the LG WG910 which ran on the Windows Phone 7 OS.

I have read a lot about the Windows Phone 7, so when I attended the event I wasn’t surprised by what Oded was telling me but seeing the phone in the flesh is really something else. There were two key things which sprung to mind whilst Oded was talking and that was that Windows wanted to offer a ‘unique’ and ‘simple’ user experience for the Windows Phone 7.

At face value, the interface of Windows Phone 7 is certainly unique. I am sure you have heard and seen pictures of the Windows Phone 7 interface which comprises of tiles rather than the standard icons to help the user navigate to the designated area. This certainly offer differentiation from other phones such as the iPhone or the Android powered ones to look at.

So how about a simple user experience? Whilst speaking to Oded we got the impression that that phone was there for people who love technology and what it can do for them but want a simpler user experience. Instead of the complicated interfaces and OS found in other devices, it would seem that Windows 7 wants to eliminate this and replace it with more simpler ways for users to connect with the phone.

Oded showed us how through the phone social integration you get that seemless and simple user experience. Rather than having to tap on your Facebook app from your iPhone or Android phone to check your contacts, their latest pics, the Windows Phone 7 was able to integrate Facebook at surprisingly fast speeds. One of the bloggers volunteered to allow Oded to login to his Facebook account, and as quick as you could say 1..2..3 all his contacts, his friends photos had been stored within the phone. I did ask Oded why only Facebook and not Twitter and Oded explained that Facebook was one of the largely used social networking sites which could benefit from the integration but they were working on a Twitter app.

The new Zune software looked pretty cool, and it was confirmed by Oded that the new Zune PC software would arrive at the same time as Windows Phone 7. Setting up the wireless sync via the Zune software for the Windows Phone 7, look fairly easy and one of the key positives was that it was possible to stream 30 seconds song previews via Zune, or the entire song if you had a Zune pass.

Windows did offer us a very enlightening and interesting demonstration of the phone’s operating system and what it could do, but still remained pretty sketchy about the the Messenger app, which they said they were working on and the Marketplace, which we wanted a sneak preview but we were told that they couldn’t as they wanted it to be a surprise. However, they did confirm that in total the developer tools have been downloaded over 380000 times and although they wanted to ensure a mutually beneficial relationship with the apps developers, they did said that there would be a 7 day approval process to certify the apps for developers.

As well as the developers, Windows are quite stringent on the minimum hardware specs which they expect from manufacturers which will include at least 256MB of RAM with at least 8GB of Flash memory, 5 megapixel camera, capacitive, 4-point multitouch screen with WVGA (800×480) resolution, 1 GHz ARM v7 “Cortex/Scorpion” or better processor etc…

One of the let downs of Windows Phone is its lack of flash support and copy and paste feature. The question was asked in regards to the flash support, which Oded replied would be available in future updates not at the launch as well as the copy and paste feature which is being worked on. I did ask why such a useful feature such as copy and paste was not present in the current OS capabilities and Oded replied that user would not require this feature as the Windows software has been designed in such as way that there would be no need for this. I am not quite sure about this but I will reserve my judgements when the phone arrives for me to review…hopefully!

The other big questions was what was the release date for the Windows Phone 7, which was I asked at the start of the demonstration. As Oded ran through the demonstration I was waiting for my answer which was answered rather cheekily by Oded as ‘There will be a release date’ which I laughed then jokingly replied back, by saying ‘I asked what would be the release date not if there was a release date’. Hoping I would get a possible launch date, Oded replied by saying ‘Before the holiday season’. This could be just before Christmas or this month. I am hoping I will get more from the Windows Phone 7 press conference which will be held next week.

We weren’t unfortunately given a phone to try out for ourselves or take any picture of the prototype but we did get a chance to play on Microsoft surface.  Check out the picture below, it’s pretty niffty indeed…