I can definitely say that I am a firm user of Microsoft products and I love their products. Previously when Microsoft did TV adverts, I can say for myself it made me cringe and think “this company is trying a little too hard” – not only that, the message was usually quite unclear and I suddenly started to think that Windows 7 was actually developed by someone having a shower.

We saw many upon many different cuts of this advert from people in the gym through to – you guessed it, people in the shower.

Going back to the point of this article, since Microsoft developed Windows Mobile 7 – they suddenly have been doing some pretty interesting adverts and I think it really engages people watching TV.

The reason why these Windows Mobile 7 adverts work is because you watch, you laugh and then you have a further laugh at the expense of the people on the advert focusing more on their mobile than what is around them.

Probably the best bit of the advert is when the gentleman actually drops his phone into a urinal and you think “damn – he must love his Windows Mobile phone that much”. Suddenly the strap line comes when the person stood to his right goes “Really?” and then its dawned upon you that none of these people actually have Windows Mobile 7.

The final voiceover: ‘We need a phone to save us from our phones. Designed to get you in and out and back to life’ makes it clear. Microsoft’s big vision for how to use a phone is not to use one.

Don’t you hate technology, they’re saying. Doesn’t it just get in the way of everything else? Aren’t you sick of spending all that time on your phone?

I think the advert works and there’s no doubt about it – the message is clear but it really wants you to find out more about the phone. Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 7 platform – if you didn’t know already is supposed to be a ‘gateway’ into connecting you into everything you could possibly imagine.

Could we expect more adverts with Mozart music and people running into others? Has the marketing really paid itself off for Microsoft? What do you think of the adverts? Pop a comment below – we would love to hear from you.

Does this mean that the iPhone 4′s FaceTime feature becomes more useful?

‘FaceTime has proven popular already since its implementation on iOS, and whilst video chat is nothing new in the slightest, it may be one of the best examples around at the moment – with the only nag of having to be connected to Wi-Fi to enable the feature.

However, for the desktop we have been almost forced to use Skype if we are after a decent experience, but Mac users are used to things more stylish in interface and simple in usability - enter FaceTime.’

With Apple suddenly revamping most of their products e.g. iPhone 4 has FaceTime, new release of the iPod Touch has FaceTime – were we already going to expect this?

But summing it up, FaceTime is pretty much FaceTime. It’s just video calling for iPhones but as much as Apple may want to big it up for being as good as it is, 3 Mobile did release video calling in and around 2002 and it was avaliable without – yeap without an Wi-Fi connection.

Will this make you want to use the iPhone 4′s video calling more often? Does it mean that carrier networks are going to become more robust and support FaceTime over the air? Will Microsoft develop something to compete against FaceTime for their new Windows Mobile 7?

-For more information go to the original article source here at Zath

As you will no doubt already know, Microsoft has now officially unleashed the first wave of Windows Phone 7 handsets on the UK networks and the world at large, but after the disaster that is otherwise known as Windows Mobile, is it too little too late?

Microsoft is certainly facing fierce competition in the smartphone market, with iOS and Android both being major players. Don’t forget the importance of other, often forgotten, names either. Depending on your definition of the word ‘smartphone’, Nokia still ships more units than anyone else in Europe, so it goes without saying that it won’t be a smooth ride for Microsoft in the coming months.

For all the other companies in the smartphone industry, however, there is no room for complacency. You only have to look at the already rapid development of Apple’s iOS and Google Android to see that the true mobile OS war is only just getting started.

Apple has devoted much of its attention to iOS, possibly at the expense of development in other areas, such as Mac OS X, depending on who you ask, and I don’t think that we will see slowed development for at least another couple of years until the smartphone industry as a whole begins to stabilise.

The situation is similar at Google as well, with new versions of Android arriving quicker than you can say the word ‘Cupcake’, but this in turn has caused Google problems in itself, with the problem of hardware and software fragmentation between devices across the board.

“Why is he talking about Apple and Google so much in an article about Windows Phone 7?” you may ask. The answer is simple: both Apple and Google have made mistakes in their development of iOS and Android, and Microsoft will hopefully be able to learn from these mistakes. Features don’t just magically appear out of thin air though; stable, feature packed releases take time, and this is perhaps highlighted by the omission of copy and paste from the initial consumer build of Windows Phone 7. This is coming to all phones in early 2011, but Microsoft clearly felt that it was important to get the core experience as good as it can be for an initial release.

Cast your mind back to the original version of Android that shipped with the T-Mobile G1 not too long ago, and you will remember a mobile operating system lacking finesse, lacking a truly remarkable user interface, and lacking an app Market packed with incredible, iPhone standard applications.

As far as I’m concerned, to have the third in that list, you’re going to need to nail the first two. Developers don’t want to develop for a platform unlikely to take off with consumers, and what do consumers want? A great, usable GUI with that finishing touch.

Windows Phone 7 is launching with over 2000 applications, a number that Microsoft has been reluctant to divulge to us. Despite this reluctance, 2000 good apps is preferable to thousands of “fart” apps in my opinion, and we will no doubt see this number grow even further in the coming months and years.

I’m certainly not going to say that Windows Phone 7 will be an instant hit with consumers, because like any platform it needs time to grow and develop. With the help of quality handsets, such as the HTC HD7 and the Samsung Omnia 7 though, Microsoft are well on their way to competing with Apple and Google realistically. Watch this space everyone, and brace yourself for some insanely powerful devices over the next year.

Although not entirely unexpected, Microsoft has confirmed in a press release today that all five major UK carriers will have Windows Phone 7 devices in their product line ups when the handsets start to hit the market in the coming weeks. This includes third party sellers, also, as both the Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U will be stocking the phones too.

“Microsoft has announced that all five of the mobile network operators in the UK – Orange, O2, Vodafone,T-Mobile and Three – will be ranging phones running Windows® Phone when it launches later this year. In addition, Windows Phone 7 will be ranged by the leading UK retailers The Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4u.”

This means that if you’re in the UK and really looking forward to Microsoft’s new mobile operating system, then you won’t have to switch networks to get your fair share of the goodies.

Of course the press release doesn’t spill specific details about which devices will be on which network, but to know that you will have a choice across the board is pretty exciting news – customers can now go for a more compitent 3G network or a reliable 2G.

Are you waiting for Windows Phone 7 handsets to hit the shelves so that you can treat yourself to a new mobile phone which isn’t Google Android-based or an Apple iPhone?

Do you think that this move by Microsoft will help aid their catch-up in the mobile phone market? Or are they already too late? Will you ever want a Windows Phone 7 handset after Windows Mobile 6.5?

The Design

In terms of design, every conventional Windows Phone will have three buttons at the front of the phone situated at the bottom below the screen: this will include a Start, Search and Back button. Having the three buttons allows for user consistency between different smart phones e.g. the Nexus One.

The software

Microsofts introduction of ‘integrated experience hubs’ is one of many features they have incorporated with their new market smashing smart phone. Starting with People – this allows you to sort the people you know from various sources e.g. Outlook, Facebook and more.

The section is split into various panes separating recent contacts from personal information and social networking updates through Twitter, Facebook and other social network sites.

Pictures – this shows galleries and synced items along with a social network pane that allows you to view recent pictures from your friends on Facebook – you can see that Microsoft have gone on the integration synergy with Facebook and Twitter an awful lot with this phone. Pictures allows you to upload and manage Facebook albums directly from your phone – pretty cool huh?

A bit more predicatble more than anything but Yes – Microsoft have called their business tool hub ‘Office’. Once opened from the main screen, users are prompted with an option of creating new pages, view most recent open documents, spreadsheets and more.

Users can find a full list of documents in the middle panel followed by a final panel which manages SharePoint – that’s if you are a SharePoint user.

Games and Music + Video hubs – these Hubs pretty much sell themselves hopefully. Microsoft have incorporated Xbox Live so you can manage trophies, user profiles and friends from your Windows Phone 7. Not only allowing users to manage their Xbox Live account, users can sync their Windows Phone 7 games with Xbox Live.

Music + Video is Zune HD and from reviews the Music + Video hub works pretty damn well.

Summing up Windows Mobile 7

Windows Phone 7 in comparison to its predecessor Windows Phone 6.5, it is a completely different experience from the interface through to the integration with Hubs and Social Networks. I have a feeling we haven’t seen everything from Windows Phone 7 as hopefully a new firmware update in the new year will give the handset that cutting edge it needs to compete against other smart phones enabling – copy and paste.

With HTC, Samsung and LG already pumping phones out with Windows Phone 7, Microsoft will simply start to pick up on the smart phone market and who knows – Microsoft could increase their market size.

-For more information go to the original article source here at Zath