LG’s representing the QWERTY slider sector for AT&T during this Windows Phone 7 launch with its new Quantum handset (formerly known as the C900), which goes by the Optimus 7Q moniker outside the US. It’s a little frumpy at first glance, but it’s just as impressive under the hood as the rest of this lineup, so we’ll give it some more time before we form our full impressions. Super early first impression? We love this keyboard. For now check out the gallery below. Update: There’s video after the break! Here are some thoughts: We’re very torn on the LG Quantum. From the outside you’ve got a design that can only be named as “frumpy,” with wasteful curves and rubberized edges, along with the smallest screen of the AT&T bunch. Still, slide this puppy open (if you can manage, it has a really stiff mechanism), and you’re treated with one of the best QWERTY keyboards in the business. Not only is each key nicely articulated and easily but responsively clicked, but you can really feel each key with your thumbs. It’s the touch typist’s dream, at least for the landscape orientation. Gallery: LG Quantum first hands-on! Continue reading LG Quantum first hands-on! (update: video) LG Quantum first hands-on! (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The first word that came to our mind when handling the HTC 7 Mozart was “classy.” The aluminum unibody construction conveys a rare sense of rigidity and durability to this phone, while its overall curvature, 3.7-inch LCD screen, and ergonomics invoke memories of the company’s Desire and Nexus One Android products. Which is no bad thing, particularly if you thought the Desire was a fine phone that could do with a more upmarket enclosure. We feel like this melting of the Legend ‘s aluminum shell and the Desire’s proportions is a match made in heaven, and Windows Phone 7′s responsive ways have done little to dissuade us. The whole 7 Mozart package feels like a perfectly pitched (we had to!) ploy for the mainstream market, with its good looks, slick profile, and sharp-looking OS. The somewhat generic hardware on offer is a spectral presence hanging over all of HTC’s phones at this launch, but we’re too in love with the 7 Mozart’s build quality to care right now. Enjoy the pictures below, video coming soon! Update: The video’s done! Check it out after the break. Gallery: HTC 7 Mozart first hands-on! Continue reading HTC 7 Mozart first hands-on (update: video!) HTC 7 Mozart first hands-on (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Alright, so by now we all know that HTC’s HD7 is mostly a HD2 in imperial new clothes, but let’s give the new phone a chance, shall we? We’ve just gotten to grips with the latest member of HTC’s 4.3-inch brigade and predictably enough it feels just as snappy as the rest of the Windows Phone 7 devices introduced today. Navigation is blazingly quick, interrupted only by Microsoft’s excessive fascination with animated screen transitions. Clearly, designing the new WP7 OS around hard-set minimum specs has paid off for Microsoft, whose end product exhibits a great deal of polish. T-Mobile, the HD7′s exclusive carrier in the US, is keen to point out that it’s the largest Windows Phone 7 launch device, so if size is atop your list of priorities, this will be the phone you’ll want to start your journey with. We’ve got some in-depth impressions of the hardware after the break and a video is coming right up as well. Enjoy! Update: As promised, a lengthy video exhibition of the HD7 awaits your eyeballs just past the break. Gallery: HTC HD7 first hands-on! Continue reading HTC HD7 preview (update: video!) HTC HD7 preview (update: video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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We just got a quick look at the HTC 7 Surround for AT&T, running that brand-spanking-new Windows Phone 7 OS you’ve been hearing so much about. The phone has a kickstand to help it show off its standout feature: a slide-out “Dolby Surround Sound” speaker. Stand by for more impressions and video, but for now check out the gallery below. Update: Video is live! Here are some thoughts: We were impeded by the security device holding the phone down, but from what we could tell the Surround is a quality device — we’d expect no less from HTC. It is built of plastic, but it pulls off that certain premium look and feel. Like we noted in the family post, however, the slide-out speaker seems like an expensive addition when you consider the thickness it’s adding. Once we get a chance to play back some media and be “blown away” by the Dolby Surround we’ll be able to tell if you if it’s truly worth the tradeoff. Somehow we’re in doubt. Overall the phone comes off as a slightly inspired design in a sea of fairly uninspired designs (at least in the US). HTC HD7 this is not. Gallery: HTC 7 Surround first hands-on! Continue reading HTC 7 Surround first hands-on! (update: video) HTC 7 Surround first hands-on! (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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So, maybe Microsoft meant ” people don’t do that in 2010 . ” At the mega-corp’s UK-based Windows Phone 7 launch event , we were just informed that its hot-off-the-presses mobile OS will be blessed with a software update that’ll add copy and paste functionality in “early 2011.” That’s according to one Andy Less, and while details beyond that are scant, it’s possible that said update will also bring other magical makeovers into the fold. We’re still a little baffled that the company would leave such a seemingly vital part of the software out at launch, but we guess certain corners always have to be cut in order to get something out before a sure-to-be-profitable holiday quarter. And hey, it’s not like we haven’t seen another major mobile OS player pull this same stunt before . Copy and paste coming to Windows Phone 7 in ‘early 2011′ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Well, it looks like AT&T has a few surprises of its own today — it’s just announced that U-verse Mobile will be heading to Windows Phone 7 this fall and — get this — you don’t even have to be a U-verse customer to use it. Non-customers will have to shell out $9.99 a month to get their mobile TV fix, however, while current U-verse users will be able to take advantage of the service for free — it’s also available nationwide, a first for a U-verse service. In other U-verse news, AT&T has also now confirmed earlier reports that you will be able to use your Xbox 360 as a U-verse receiver, although you will obviously have to be a U-verse customer for that. Look for it to be available as a $55 installation option for current customers starting October 15th, while new U-verse customers will have to order a $99 Xbox kit that includes installation (but not the actual Xbox 360). Head on past the break for the full press release and a quick video. Continue reading AT&T brings U-verse to Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360 AT&T brings U-verse to Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 10:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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The party starts soon! We’re at the venue and about to get going, so tune back in at the times below! 03:30AM – Hawaii 06:30AM – Pacific 07:30AM – Mountain 08:30AM – Central 09:30AM – Eastern 02:30PM – London 03:30PM – Paris 05:30PM – Moscow 10:30PM – Tokyo Continue reading Live from Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 launch event Live from Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 launch event originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Microsoft announces ten Windows Phone 7 handsets for 30 countries: October 21 in Europe and Asia, early November in US
October 11, 2010 No Comment
It may have “Windows” in the branding, but Windows Phone 7 is not the desktop PC experience shoehorned into a cellphone. Microsoft tried that with Windows Mobile… and we all know how that turned out. Today, eight months after the Windows Phone 7 OS unveiling in Barcelona , we’re finally seeing the official launch of the retail hardware: nine new WP7 handsets available October 21 in select European and Asian markets and early November in the US. The phones will find their way to over 60 cellphone operators in more than 30 countries this year. Microsoft tapped Dell, HTC, LG, and Samsung to deliver the Snapdragon-based handsets with a carrier list that includes AT&T, T-Mobile USA, Vodafone, TELUS, Am
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Steve Ballmer’s already working the salesman magic , but Microsoft won’t try to sell you Windows Phone 7 solely on stage — find a pair of familiar-looking debut TV spots for the new platform right after the break. Continue reading First (legitimate) Windows Phone 7 television ads unveiled (video) First (legitimate) Windows Phone 7 television ads unveiled (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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You see that? That, comrades, is what happens when Lightning strikes! Or, you know, when Venue Pro strikes. So, it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, but no matter what you call Dell’s Windows Phone 7 portrait slider, it’s downright awesome. We got a chance to play around with an early build of the phone a few weeks ago — as you’ll hear us say in the video below, it was still codenamed the Lightning — and we haven’t been able to get it out of our minds since. The handset has a very similar look and feel to its Android brother, the Thunder — its rounded chrome sides are reminiscent of an iPhone 3G/S, the black contoured back has a nice grippy feel, and the curved, WVGA AMOLED, Gorilla Glass screen is just stunning. The 4.1-inch capacitive, multitouch display is joined by additional back, home and search touch-sensitive buttons, all of which seemed responsive in our short time with the device. The back is also home to a 5 megapixel cam with flash while there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top of the device and a micro-USB port on the bottom edge. But obviously, it’s that glorious slide-out QWERTY keyboard that makes the Venue Pro, well, so pro . The rubber-feeling keys remind us a lot of those on the Droid 2 — though, they feel a bit firmer — and the slider mechanism felt sturdy when we slid it open and closed a number of times. On the spec front, we were told it was packing a Snapdragon processor, and while the phone seemed to briskly run an early build of WP7, we didn’t get to test much out as Dell was lacking both a SIM and a nearby WiFi network. We’ll be hoping to grab some more time with the T-Mobile version today, but from what we’ve seen so far we’re fairly confident that Dell’s struck pretty darn close to gold here. Oh, and don’t forget to hit the break for a short video walkthrough of the hardware and keyboard. Gallery: Dell Lightning / Venue Pro hands-on Continue reading Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning) first hands-on! Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning) first hands-on! originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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