Windows Phone 7 is the first release of the
Windows Phone
Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design la ...
mobile client operating system, released worldwide on October 21, 2010, and in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
on November 8, 2010. It runs on the
Windows CE
Windows Embedded Compact, formerly Windows Embedded CE, Windows Powered and Windows CE, is an operating system subfamily developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows Embedded family of products.
Unlike Windows Embedded Standard, which is base ...
6.0 kernel.
It received multiple large updates, the last being Windows Phone 7.8, which was released in January 2013 and added a few features backported from Windows Phone 8, such as a more customizable start screen. Microsoft ended support for Windows Phone 7 on October 14, 2014.
It was succeeded by
Windows Phone 8
Windows Phone 8 is the second generation of the Windows Phone mobile operating system from Microsoft. It was released on October 29, 2012, and, like its predecessor, it features a flat user interface based on the Metro design language. It was s ...
, which was released on October 29, 2012.
History
Microsoft officially unveiled the new operating system, Windows Phone 7 Series, at the
Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 15, 2010,
and revealed additional details at
MIX 2010 on March 15, 2010. The final
SDK was made available on September 16, 2010.
HP later decided not to build devices for Windows Phone, citing that it wanted to focus on devices for its newly purchased
webOS
webOS, also known as LG webOS and previously known as Open webOS, HP webOS and Palm webOS, is a Linux kernel-based multitasking operating system for smart devices such as smart TVs that has also been used as a mobile operating system. Initially ...
. As its original name was criticized for being too complex and "wordy", the name of the operating system was officially shortened to just Windows Phone 7 on April 2, 2010.
On October 11, 2010, Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer
Steven Anthony Ballmer (; March 24, 1956) is an American business magnate and investor who served as the chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Associ ...
announced the 10 launch devices for Windows Phone 7, made by
HTC
HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...
,
Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
,
Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
, and
LG, with sales beginning on October 21, 2010 in Europe and Australia and November 8, 2010 in the United States. The devices were made available on 60 carriers in 30 countries, with additional devices to be launched in 2011. Upon the release of Windows Phone 7's "Mango" revision, additional manufacturers became partners, including
Acer,
Fujitsu
is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...
, and
ZTE
ZTE Corporation is a Chinese partially state-owned technology company that specializes in telecommunication. Founded in 1985, ZTE is listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges.
ZTE's core business is wireless, exchange, opt ...
.
Windows Phone initially supported twenty-five languages, with applications being available through
Windows Phone Store
Windows Phone Store (originally known as Windows Phone Marketplace) was an app store platform, developed by Microsoft corporation for Windows Phone letting users installing various apps on their device. It initially launched with Windows Phone ...
in 35 countries and regions. Support for additional languages and regions were subsequently brought through both the Mango and Tango updates to the OS respectively.
Features
Core
Windows Phone 7 is the only version of
Windows Phone
Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design la ...
that features the
Windows CE
Windows Embedded Compact, formerly Windows Embedded CE, Windows Powered and Windows CE, is an operating system subfamily developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows Embedded family of products.
Unlike Windows Embedded Standard, which is base ...
kernel
Kernel may refer to:
Computing
* Kernel (operating system), the central component of most operating systems
* Kernel (image processing), a matrix used for image convolution
* Compute kernel, in GPGPU programming
* Kernel method, in machine learn ...
, which was also used in
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants.
Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...
and
Pocket PC systems.
User interface
Windows Phone 7 features a
user interface
In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...
based on a design system codenamed and commonly referred to as
Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
. The home screen, called "Start screen", is made up of "Live Tiles". Tiles are links to applications, features, functions and individual items (such as contacts, web pages, applications or media items). Users can add, rearrange, or remove tiles. Tiles are dynamic and update in real time – for example, the tile for an email account would display the number of unread messages or a tile could display a live update of the weather.
Several key features of Windows Phone 7 are organized into "hubs", which combine local and online content via Windows Phone's integration with popular
social networks
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for a ...
such as
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
,
Windows Live
Windows Live is a discontinued brand name for a set of web services and software products developed by Microsoft as part of its software-as-a-service platform. Chief components under the brand name included web services (all of which were expose ...
, and
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
.
For example, the Pictures hub shows photos captured with the device's camera and the user's Facebook photo albums, and the People hub shows contacts aggregated from multiple sources including Windows Live, Facebook, and
Gmail
Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP and ...
. From the Hub, users can directly comment and 'like' on social network updates. The other built-in hubs are Xbox Music and Video, Xbox Live Games,
Windows Phone Store
Windows Phone Store (originally known as Windows Phone Marketplace) was an app store platform, developed by Microsoft corporation for Windows Phone letting users installing various apps on their device. It initially launched with Windows Phone ...
, and
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...
.
Due to Facebook Connect service changes, Facebook support is disabled in all bundled apps effective June 8, 2015.
Windows Phone uses
multi-touch
In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface (a touchpad or touchscreen) to recognize the presence of more than one somatosensory system, point of contact with the surface at the same time. The origins of multitouch began at CER ...
technology.
The default Windows Phone user interface has a dark theme that prolongs battery life on
OLED screens as fully black pixels do not emit light. The user may choose a light theme instead, and can also choose from several accent colors. User interface elements such as tiles are shown in the user's chosen accent color.
Third-party applications can be automatically themed with these colors.
Text input
Users input text by using an on-screen
virtual keyboard
A virtual keyboard is a software component that allows the Input device, input of characters without the need for physical keys. The interaction with the virtual Computer keyboard, keyboard happens mostly via a touchscreen interface, but can also ...
, which has a dedicated key for inserting
emoticons
An emoticon (, , rarely , ), short for "emotion icon", also known simply as an emote, is a pictorial representation of a facial expression using characters—usually punctuation marks, numbers, and letters—to express a person's feelings, m ...
,
and features spell checking
and word prediction. App developers (both inhouse and ISV) may specify different versions of the virtual keyboard in order to limit users to certain character sets, such as numeric characters alone. Users may change a word after it has been typed by tapping the word, which will invoke a list of similar words. Pressing and holding certain keys will reveal similar characters. The keys are somewhat larger and spaced farther apart when in landscape mode. Phones may also be made with a hardware keyboard for text input.
Messaging
Windows Phone 7's messaging system is organized into "threads". This allows a conversation with a person to be held through multiple platforms (such as
Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger (also known colloquially simply as "Messenger"), later rebranded as Windows Live Messenger, was a cross-platform instant messaging client, instant-messaging client developed by Microsoft. It connected to the Microsoft Messenger ser ...
,
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
messaging, or
SMS
Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...
) within a single thread, dynamically switching between services depending on availability.
Web browser
![Internet Explorer Mobile 9](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Internet_Explorer_Mobile_9.png)
Windows Phone 7.5 features a version of
Internet Explorer Mobile
Internet Explorer Mobile (formerly named Pocket Internet Explorer; later called IE Mobile) is a mobile version of Internet Explorer developed by Microsoft, based on versions of the MSHTML (Trident) layout engine. IE Mobile comes loaded by defaul ...
with a rendering engine that is based on
Internet Explorer 9.
The built-in web browser allows the user to maintain a list of favorite web pages and tiles linking to web pages on the Start screen. The browser supports up to 6 tabs, which can all load in parallel. Other features include multi-touch gestures, a streamlined UI, smooth zoom in/out animations, the ability to save pictures that are on web pages, share web pages via email, and support for inline search which allows the user to search for a word or phrase in a web page by typing it. Microsoft has announced plans to regularly update the Windows Phone web browser and its layout engine independently from the Windows Phone Update system.
Contacts
Contacts are organized via the "People hub", and can be manually entered into contacts or imported from
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
,
Windows Live Contacts
Outlook.com is a webmail service that is part of the Microsoft 365 product family. It offers mail, calendaring, contacts, and tasks services.
Founded in 1996 by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith as Hotmail, it was acquired by Microsoft in 19 ...
,
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
LinkedIn
LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...
and
Gmail
Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP and ...
. Contacts may be manually imported from
Outlook
Outlook or The Outlook may refer to:
Computing
* Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and personal information management software product from Microsoft
* Outlook.com, a web mail service from Microsoft
* Outlook on the web, a suite of web applications ...
using
Windows Live Contacts
Outlook.com is a webmail service that is part of the Microsoft 365 product family. It offers mail, calendaring, contacts, and tasks services.
Founded in 1996 by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith as Hotmail, it was acquired by Microsoft in 19 ...
or
Gmail
Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP and ...
. A "What's New" section show news feed and a "Pictures" section show pictures from those social networks made by the contacts. A "Me" section show the phone user's own social networks status and wall, allow the user to update his status, and check into Bing and Facebook Places. Contacts can be added to the home screen by pinning them to the start. The contact's "Live Tile" displays his social network status and profile picture on the homescreen and the contact's hub displays his Facebook wall as well as all of the rest of his contact information and information from his other social networks.
If a contact has information stored on multiple networks, users can link the two separate contact accounts, allowing the information to be viewed and accessed from a single card. As of Windows Phone 7.5, contacts can also be sorted into "Groups". Here, information from each of the contacts is combined into a single page which can be accessed directly from the Hub or pinned to the Start screen.
Email
Windows Phone supports
Outlook.com,
Exchange
Exchange may refer to:
Physics
*Gas exchange is the movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Places United States
* Exchange, Indiana, an unincorporated community
* ...
,
Yahoo! Mail
Yahoo! Mail is an email service launched on October 8, 1997, by the American company Yahoo (2017–present), Yahoo, Inc. The service is free for personal use, with an optional monthly fee for additional features. Business email was previously av ...
, and
Gmail
Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP and ...
natively and supports many other services via the
POP and
IMAP
In computing, the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is an Internet standard protocol used by email clients to retrieve email messages from a mail server over a TCP/IP connection. IMAP is defined by .
IMAP was designed with the goal of per ...
protocols. For the native account types, contacts and calendars may be synced as well. Users can also search through their email by searching in the subject, body, senders, and receivers. Emails are shown in threading view and multiple email inboxes can be combined or kept separate.
Multimedia
The “Music + Videos hub also known as zune” allows the user to access music, videos, and podcasts stored on the device, and links directly to the "Xbox Music Store" to buy music, or rent with the
Xbox Music Pass subscription service. When browsing the music by a particular artist, users are able to view artist biographies and photos, provided by the Xbox Music.
This hub integrates with many other apps that provide video and music services, including, but not limited to,
iHeartRadio
iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming Computing platform, platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbr ...
, YouTube, and
Vevo
Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...
. This hub also includes Smart DJ which compiles a playlist of songs stored on the phone similar to the song or artist selected. Purchased movies and other videos can be played through Xbox Video.
The "Pictures hub" displays the user's Facebook and
SkyDrive (Now OneDrive) photo albums, as well as photos taken with the phone's built-in camera. Users can also upload photos to social networks, comment on others photos, and tag photos on social networks.
Multi-touch gestures permit zooming in and out of photos.
Media support
Windows Phone 7 supports WAV, MP3, WMA, AMR,
AAC/MP4/M4A/M4B, and
3GP/3G2 standards. The video file formats supported include WMV, AVI, MP4/M4V,
3GP/3G2, and
MOV (QuickTime) standards. These supported audio and video formats would be dependent on the codecs contained inside them. It has also been previously reported that the
DivX and
Xvid
Xvid (formerly "XviD") is a video codec library following the MPEG-4 video coding standard, specifically MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile (ASP). It uses ASP features such as b-frames, global and quarter pixel motion compensation, lumi mas ...
codecs within AVI are also playable on the system. Unlike the previous Windows Mobile operating system, there are currently no third-party applications for handling other video formats. The image file formats that are supported include
JPG/JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIF and Bitmap (BMP).
After the "Mango" update, Windows Phone 7 added the ability for users to have custom ringtones. Ringtone audio files must be under 1MB and less than 40 seconds long. Custom ringtones still cannot be used for text messages, IMs or emails.
Games
The "Games hub" provides access to
games on a phone along with
Xbox Live
The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...
functionality, including the ability for a user to interact with their
avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...
, view and edit their profile, see their achievements and view leaderboards, and send messages to friends on Xbox Live. The Games hub also features an area for managing invitations and turn notifications in turn-based multiplayer games.
Search
Microsoft's hardware requirements stipulate that every device running Windows Phone 7 must have a dedicated Search button on the front of the device that performs different actions.
Pressing the search button while an application is open allows users to search within applications that take advantage of this feature; for example, pressing Search in the People hub lets users search their contact list for specific people.
This has been changed in Windows Phone 7.5 however – as the search button is reserved for Bing – so applications that previously used this feature (such as the Marketplace) now include soft search buttons.
In other cases, pressing the Search button will allow the user to perform a search of web sites, news, and map locations using the
Bing
Bing most often refers to:
* Bing Crosby (1903–1977), American singer
* Microsoft Bing, a web search engine
Bing may also refer to:
Food and drink
* Bing (bread), a Chinese flatbread
* Bing (soft drink), a UK brand
* Bing cherry, a varie ...
application.
Windows Phone also has a
voice recognition function, powered by
TellMe, which allows the user to perform a Bing search, call contacts or launch applications simply by speaking. This can be activated by pressing and holding the phone's Start button.
Bing is the default
search engine
A search engine is a software system designed to carry out web searches. They search the World Wide Web in a systematic way for particular information specified in a textual web search query. The search results are generally presented in a ...
on Windows Phone handsets due to its deep integration of functions into the OS (which also include the utilization of its
map service for location-based searches and queries). However, Microsoft has stated that other search engine applications can be used.
Aside from location-based searches, Bing Maps on Windows Phone 7 also provide
turn-by-turn navigation
Turn-by-turn Navigation is a feature of some satellite navigation devices where directions for a selected route are continually presented to the user in the form of spoken or visual instructions. The system keeps the user up-to-date about the best ...
service to Windows Phone users, and Local Scout shows interest points such as attractions and restaurants in the nearby area. Bing Audio also allows the user to match a song with its name, while Bing Vision allows the user to read barcodes, QR codes, and tags.
Office suite
The "Office hub" organizes all Microsoft Office apps and documents. Microsoft Office Mobile provides interoperability between Windows Phone and the desktop version of
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...
. Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile,
OneNote Mobile, and SharePoint Workspace Mobile allow most Microsoft Office file formats to be viewed and edited directly on a Windows Phone device.
Microsoft Office can also open files from SkyDrive and Office 365, as well as files stored locally on the phone. Office files on Windows Phone 7 are sorted by tiles: Word documents (blue tile), Excel spreadsheets (green tile), PowerPoint presentations (red tile), and OneNote documents (purple tile).
Multitasking
Windows Phone 7 features a card-based task switcher which can be accessed by pressing and holding the back button. The screenshots of last five open apps are shown as cards. Apps can be kept running even when out of view through "Live Agents".
Sync
Zune software
Zune is a discontinued media management software for Microsoft Windows that functions as a full media player application with a library, an interface to the Zune Marketplace, and as a media streaming server. The software is used to sync with all ...
is used to manage and sync content on Windows Phone 7 devices with PCs. Windows Phone 7 can wirelessly sync with the software. In addition to accessing Windows Phone devices, Zune software can also access the
Zune Marketplace
Zune is a discontinued media management software for Microsoft Windows that functions as a full media player application with a library, an interface to the Zune Marketplace, and as a media streaming server. The software is used to sync with all ...
to purchase music, videos, and apps for Windows Phone and
Zune
Zune is a discontinued line of digital media products and services marketed by Microsoft from November 2006 until its discontinuation in June 2012. Zune consisted of a line of portable media players, digital media player software for Windows Per ...
products. While music and videos are both stored locally on the PC and on the phone, apps are only stored on the phone even if purchased from the Zune software. Zune software is also used to deliver
software update
A patch is a set of changes to a computer program or its supporting data designed to update, fix, or improve it. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, with such patches usually being called bugfixes or bug fixes. Patches ...
s to all Windows Phone 7 devices.
The Zune software is unavailable for
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
, but Microsoft has released Windows Phone Connector, which allows Windows Phone devices to sync with
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
and
iPhoto
iPhoto is a discontinued digital photograph manipulation software application developed by Apple Inc. It was included with every Macintosh personal computer from 2002 to 2015, when it was replaced with Apple's Photos application. Originally so ...
. This has since been succeeded by the
Windows Phone App, which is designed for Windows Phone 8 but can sync with Windows Phone 7 devices as well.
Removed features
While
Windows Phone
Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design la ...
contains many new features, a number of capabilities and certain programs that were a part of previous versions up to
Windows Mobile 6.5
Windows Mobile 6.5 was a stopgap update to Windows Mobile 6.1 intended to bridge the gap between version 6.1, that arrived in 2008, and Windows Phone 7 that was released in 2010.
It was never part of Microsoft's original mobile phone roadmap, ...
were removed or changed.
The following is a list of features which were present in Windows Mobile 6.5 but were removed in Windows Phone 7.0.
Calling
* The list of past phone calls is now a single list, and cannot be separated into inbound, outbound or missed calls
Sync
* Windows Phone does not support
USB
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...
sync with
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager software system from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 software suites. Though primarily an email client, Outlook also includes such functions as Calen ...
's Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes as opposed to older versions of
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants.
Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...
with Desktop
ActiveSync
ActiveSync is a mobile data synchronization app developed by Microsoft, originally released in 1996. It synchronizes data with handheld devices and desktop computers. In the Windows Task Manager, the associated process is called wcescomm.exe.
O ...
. Syncing Contacts and Appointments is done via
cloud
In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may co ...
-based services (
Windows Live
Windows Live is a discontinued brand name for a set of web services and software products developed by Microsoft as part of its software-as-a-service platform. Chief components under the brand name included web services (all of which were expose ...
,
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
, or
Exchange Server
Microsoft Exchange Server is a mail server and calendaring server developed by Microsoft. It runs exclusively on Windows Server operating systems.
The first version was called Exchange Server 4.0, to position it as the successor to the related ...
), and no method to sync this information directly with a PC is provided. Third party software, such as Akruto Sync, provides some of this functionality. A petition to Microsoft was filed to reinstate USB sync for Outlook.
Other
*
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a multimedia Computing platform, software platform used for production of Flash animation, animations, rich web applications, application software, desktop applications, mobile apps, mo ...
Features subsequently implemented in Windows Phone 7.5
*
Internet socket
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
s
*
Cut, copy, and paste
In human–computer interaction and user interface design, cut, copy, and paste are related commands that offer an interprocess communication technique for transferring data through a computer's user interface. The ''cut'' command removes the ...
* Partial
multitasking for 3rd party apps
* Connecting to
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
(wireless) access points with hidden SSID, ''but without'' WPA
*
Tethering
Tethering, or phone-as-modem (PAM) is the sharing of a mobile device's Internet connection with other connected computers. Connection of a mobile device with other devices can be done over wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), over Bluetooth or by physical conne ...
to a computer
* Custom
ringtone
A ringtone, ring tone or ring is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. Originally referring to and made by the electromechanical striking of bells, the term now refers to any sound on any device alerting of a new incoming ...
s
* Universal
email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
inbox
*
USSD
Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), sometimes referred to as "quick codes" or "feature codes", is a communications protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the mobile network operator's computers. USSD can be used ...
messages
*
VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
calling through a separate app
Features subsequently implemented in Windows Phone 8.0
* Removable
SD card
Secure Digital, officially abbreviated as SD, is a proprietary non-volatile flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA) for use in portable devices.
The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDis ...
s
*
USB mass-storage
*
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...
file transfers
* Connecting to
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...
(wireless) access points with both a hidden SSID ''and''
WPA
WPA may refer to:
Computing
*Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard
*Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing
* Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada
* Windows Performance An ...
protection
*
Sideloading
Sideloading describes the process of transferring files between two local devices, in particular between a personal computer and a mobile device such as a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, tablet, portable media player or e-reader.
Sideloading ...
for corporate apps
*
VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
and IP
Videocalling integrated in the Phone app
* Support for Office documents with security permissions
* On-device
encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...
* Strong passwords
* Full Exchange support
* Native applications
* Full background multitasking
Features subsequently implemented in Windows Phone 8.1
*
IPsec
In computing, Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) is a secure network protocol suite that authenticates and encrypts packets of data to provide secure encrypted communication between two computers over an Internet Protocol network. It is used in ...
security (
VPN
A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. The be ...
)
* System-wide
file manager
A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...
* The 'Weekly' view in the Calendar app
* Universal search
*
UMTS/LTE Videocalling
Hardware
To provide a more consistent experience between devices, Windows Phone 7 devices are required to meet a certain set of hardware requirements, which Andy Lees, Microsoft's senior vice president of mobile communications business, described as being "tough, but fair." All Windows Phone 7 devices, at minimum, must include the following:
Previously, Windows Phone 7 devices were required to have 512 MB of RAM. As of the "Tango" update, the requirements were revised to allow for chipsets with slower processors, and for devices to have a minimum of 256 MB of RAM. Certain features of the operating system, and the ability to install certain resource-intensive apps are disabled on Windows Phone devices with under 512 MB of RAM.
Version history
Reception
What
Engadget
''Engadget'' ( ) is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. ''Engadget'' manages ten blogs four of which are written in English and six have international versions with independent editori ...
and
Gizmodo
''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...
felt were notable omissions in a modern smartphone OS have largely been addressed in the Mango update.
ZDNet
ZDNET is a business technology news website owned and operated by Red Ventures.
The brand was founded on April 1, 1991, as a general interest technology portal from Ziff Davis and evolved into an enterprise IT-focused online publication.
Hist ...
praised the OS's virtual keyboard and noted the excellent touch precision as well as powerful auto-correct and revision software.
The touch responsiveness of the OS has also been universally praised by all three sites with reviewers noting the smoothness of scrolling and gestures like pinch to zoom in web browsing.
PCWorld
''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication.
It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...
ran an article called "Windows Phone 7: Microsoft's Disaster" citing what they call a "lack of security, shockingly bad Office apps, an interface not backed up under the hood and abandonment of the full Microsoft customer base."
The reception to the "Metro" UI (also called Modern-Style UI) and overall interface of the OS has also been highly praised for its style, with ZDNet noting its originality and fresh clean look.
Engadget and ZDNet applauded the integration of Facebook into the People Hub as well as other built-in capabilities, such as Windows Live, etc.
Awards
Windows Phone 7 was presented with a total of three awards at the 2011
International Design Excellence Awards
The International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) is an award program previously co-sponsored by ''BusinessWeek'' magazine, and in 2010 ''Fast Company'' magazine and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). According to the IDSA, IDEA "i ...
, voted by an independent jury at an event co-sponsored by Microsoft, among others; Gold in Interactive Product Experience, Silver in Research and Bronze in the Design Strategy.
"The Windows Phone 7 was built around the idea that the end user is king. The design team began by defining and understanding the people who would use this phone. It was convinced that there could be a better user experience for a phone, one that revolves more around who the users are rather than what they do. The Windows Phone 7 lets users quickly get in, get out and back to their lives."
At the awards ceremony, Windows Phone 7 was given "the noteworthy People's Choice Award, an award handed to the favorite IDEA 2011 gold award winner."
See also
*
Windows Phone 8.0
*
Windows Phone 8.1
Windows Phone 8.1 is the discontinued third generation of Microsoft's Windows Phone mobile operating system, succeeding Windows Phone 8. Rolled out at Microsoft's Build Conference in San Francisco, California, on April 2, 2014, it was released ...
*
Windows 10 Mobile
Windows 10 Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. First released in 2015, it is a successor to Windows Phone 8.1, but was marketed by Microsoft as being an edition of its PC operating system Windows 10.
Wind ...
*
List of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices
This list of mobile app distribution platforms includes digital distribution platforms, or marketplace 'app stores', that are intended to provide mobile applications, aka 'apps' to mobile devices. For information on each mobile platform and it ...
*
List of features removed in Windows Vista
*
List of features removed in Windows 7
While Windows 7 contains many new features, a number of capabilities and certain programs that were a part of previous Windows versions up to Windows Vista were removed or changed.
The following is a list of features that were present in Window ...
*
List of features removed in Windows 8
Windows 8 is a version of Windows NT and the successor of Windows 7. Several features that originated in earlier versions of Windows and that were included in versions up to Windows 7 are no longer present in Windows 8. Following is a list of thes ...
*
Notes
References
External links
Official website(Archive)
Windows Phone 7 for government
{{Authority control
Windows Phone
Smartphones