Anticipation has been building like a typhoon off shore since it was announced back in February and now Windows Phone 7 is fi nally here, ready to blowus away. HTC, Samsung and LG all have smartphones ready to go, and the OS actually looks good enough to put Microsoft shoulder to shoulder with Apple iOS and Google Android – or at least at their elbow. Let’s take a look at what the first WP7 phones have to offer… All the phones sport impressive specs, because they have to. Microsoft has specified that all WP7 handsets must have a 1GHz processor,256MB of RAM,4GB flash storage, a capacitive touchscreen, five sensors– accelerometer,A-GPS, compass, proximity and light sensors–and a five-meg camera. Arguably the pick of the bunch is the HTC HD7, with a massive 4.3-inch, 800×480 resolution screen that’s crying out for movies to watch and games to play on it. It even has a kickstand on the back for propping on the table for prolonged viewing. Also round the back you’ll find the requisite five-meg camera with added autofocus, dual LED flash, 720p video recording and various auto modes.
The HTC Mozart 7, as its name suggests, is more musical. It has SRSWOW virtual surround sound on top of a 3.7-inch screen and an eight-megapixel camera–obviously Mozart was also a keen photographer. Its testament to how far ahead WP7 is of the late, unlamented Windows Mobile that this is the first HTC phone to run a Windows OS without the disguise of a Sense interface. LG’s Optimus 7 has a neat/gimmicky augmented reality mode built into its video camera. Point it at your surroundings and it’ll overlay points of interest or provide a weather forecast. It also has a Play To feature, basically DLNAsharing, which lets you send video, music and photos to your compatible TV or stereo.
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