The full view of the Music & Video screen. On the phone, only a slice of it would be visible at a time, and would scroll left and right.
The announcement that Microsoft was updating its phone operating system, Windows Mobile, isn’t news in and of itself; they’ve done iterations of the software for years, and despite the amount of updates, many parts of even the current version, 6.5, look very close to what they did a decade ago on the early Windows CE devices that I sold at my first job at a now-defunct electronics retailer.
It appears Microsoft has woken up to the reality of what’s going on around them, as this week they announced the (horribly-named) Windows Phone 7 Series.
Like the 7 desktop counterpart, Windows Phone 7 isn’t so much a feature release as it is a serious fit and finish overhaul of what already existed. Hints of this popped up in Windows Mobile 6.5, but the new UI has more in common with Windows Media Player and Zune than the old mobile OS. The new UI has a lot going for it; Engagdet has both pictures from the eventand a hands-on test that’s worth checking out. You can also view Microsoft’s new site on the project.
