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Dell Vue Pro: Windows Phone 7 for the professional
HTC HD7 review: What do you want to know?
Check out our HTC HD7 Facebook page!
HTC HD7 unboxed: photos!
Stephen Fry gets behind Windows Phone 7
HTC HD7 review: first impressions
HTC 7 Mozart review: first impressions
Windows Phone 7: no PAYG on Vodafone
Windows Phone 7: first update announced already!
Windows Phone 7: EA games are getting involved!

Dell Vue Pro: Windows Phone 7 for the professional

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 11:22 AM PDT

Dell were also showing off a Windows Phone 7 smartphone today, the rather enormous Dell Vue Pro. This beast has a slide out keyboard, that pops out from the bottom of the phone in portrait, and it’s also got an on board touchscreen. The first thing we noticed about the Dell Vue Pro? It is unbelievably enormous, in a lanky kind of way, especially when the QWERTY keyboard is out and it’s at maximum length.

The Dell Vue Pro Windows Phone 7 feels pretty indestructible though, and will stand up to a lot of wear and tear, with Gorilla Glass on the 4.1″ AMOLED screen, meaning it’s scratch and crack resistant: this is the stuff they use on helicopters.

In the UK, we can expect to see it appearing around the end of November, and it will be available unlocked, although a spokesperson for Dell said that no deals with carriers had been made yet (ignore the T-Mobile sign on the front, that’s because this is a US prototype).

Should the Dell Vue Pro be for more than just business types, or is it too clunky to be anything else?

HTC HD7 review: What do you want to know?

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 09:41 AM PDT

We’ll be bringing you a full HTC HD7 review shortly, complete with a detailed and honest dissection of Windows Phone 7, and as ever, we’d like you to help shape it, starting now. Got any questions? Drop them here and we’ll answer them for you!

Our HTC HD7 review: first impressions and unboxing photos should keep you sated for a little while, but we’ll be bringing you an in depth review shortly too, so now’s the time to tell us what you want to know about it.

Want to know how the battery life of the HTC HD7 compares to the company’s Android phones? Whether the 4.3-inch LCD screen can compare to Samsung’s Super AMOLED panels? Whatever it is that’s bugging you about the HTC HD7, just drop it in the comments below and stay tuned for our full HTC HD review later this week.

Check out our HTC HD7 Facebook page!

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 09:17 AM PDT

Like the look of the HTC HD7? Head on over to the HTC HD7 Facebook page and chat about it with like minded smartphone addicts. You can check out photos, get all the latest news and views, plus coverage from across the web – and of course you can have your own say on the HTC HD7 too.

If you’re hankering for an HTC HD7, give the page a Like and dive on in, and we’ll be back with even more coverage on the HTC HD7 before you know it. And while you’re at it, become a fan of Electricpig on Facebook too!

HTC HD7 unboxed: photos!

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 09:03 AM PDT

We’ve already got hands on with the HTC HD7 at Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 launch event, but that’s not enough for us. No. We went out and procured a HTC HD7 of our very own to play with outside the confines of a sweaty press event. Wanna see it coming out of its carton? Read on for the photos.

We’ve nabbed one of the very first HTC HD7 handsets in the country for a full review coming soon, but before we do, we thought you might like to snack on some hands on photos some more. It’s a noticeably glossier version of the HTC HD2 on the hardware side of things, with an impressively slim but sturdy kickstand on the back, and touch sensitive buttons in place of the physical keys below the HD2’s similarly sized display. That said, we don’t blame HD2 owners for feeling miffed at the lack of a Windows Phone 7 update – it really is only a modest upgrade, OS aside. But hey, don’t fix what ain’t broke right?

Have a look at the HTC HD7 here, and check out all the details with our HTC HD7 review: first impressions post.

Out 21 October | £TBC | HTC

Stephen Fry gets behind Windows Phone 7

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 09:00 AM PDT

Stephen Fry rocked up in support of Windows Phone 7 at the Microsoft launch today. The first thing he said? That he isn’t being payed. Fry said, when talking about what he thought about Windows Phone 7: "What joy there is heaven when a sinner repenteth – Microsoft forgot that even the greyest number cruncher is a human being first, and that their experience is based on feeling and on emotion.”

Fry was getting behind Windows Phone 7 on the basis that Microsoft has done a U-turn, and changed the way it looks at things, by looking first at the user rather than the device with Windows Phone 7. He said he’s been playing with one for a week and rather likes it.

What do you think? Is Fry right, or was he just the celeb rolled out for the day? Has Microsoft turned over a new leaf?

HTC HD7 review: first impressions

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 08:25 AM PDT

The first thing that strikes you about the HTC HD7 Windows Phone 7 device, just like its Android counterpart the HTC Desire HD, is its screen. It is 4.3", which gives you a good bit of extra width on the standard smartphone size. What exaggerates the size of the HTC HD7 screen though is its design, and although it’s not quite as sleek as the HTC Desire HD, when it's in your hand it still feels like you're holding nothing but screen. Read on for more of our first look here with our HTC HD7 review: first impressions.

Specs-wise the HTC HD7 weighs 162g with battery, and its 4.3" touchscreen has a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. It has a 1GHz processor, 5MP camera (as required by Windows Phone 7), plus 720p HD video recording, and Dolby Mobile and SRS audio smarts.

One of the big boons of this device is the two storage options: the HTC HD7 comes in 8GB and 16GB models, although how this will be reflected in the pricing we don't yet know.

Although Windows Phone 7 devices do not come with HTC Sense, HTC has made up for this with its own hub of HTC apps. This includes some fancy graphics animations, and basic apps like stocks, and weather. The only problem is that when we first tried out the HTC HD7, we couldn't get the hub to load at all. Second time around, it loaded, but the device isn’t fully ready, so this should be rectified once the HTC HD7 gets into the hands of consumers.

The graphics in the HTC apps hub are extravagantly fancy: in the intro, calendars and weather symbols shoot out from fluffy clouds. It's all very nice, but it's a little pointless, particularly if it's slowing down the HTC phones.

How do you like the look of the HTC HD7? Is it tickling your fancy? Let us know in the comments below!

HTC 7 Mozart review: first impressions

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 08:20 AM PDT

The closest relative of the HTC Mozart Windows Phone 7 smartphone announced by HTC today is probably the HTC Desire. The HTC 7 Mozart has got 8GB of internal storage, but the shell of this device matches up to the specs it packs.

It’s quite a looker, with the purpley-black aluminium body that’s become a mark of the HTC devices. It feels more solid, and sleeker than the HTC 7 Trophy. The screen is 3.7″, but its extra capabilities are in its camera functions. The HTC 7 Mozart has an 8MP camera with autofocus and a Xenon flash.

It opens with a wash of fancy graphics: fluffy clouds out of which soar weather and calendar icons, but when the device got to the stage of populating the list of HTC apps on the HTC 7 Mozart it was a little slow. (The first time we tried out a device it didn’t load at all, but this may have been because the devices were not review-ready.)

This brings up the things that niggles the most with Windows Phone 7: the transitions are nifty, and look great, but they’re also very unnecessary, and the impression we got was that once you got used to this phone those extra graphics might start to get annoying, swooshing and sliding in and out, rather than just taking you straight into where you want to be.

The great boon for consumers is consistency: all Windows Phone 7 devices will be pretty decent, because of the requirements laid down by Microsoft. This uniformity also means that differentiation between devices is a lot smaller than between Android or RIM devices.

How Windows Phone 7 performs in the field is yet to be seen, but aside from a niggle with the fancy transitions, The HTC 7 Mozart is looking great from here.

What do you think? Drop us a line in the comments!

Windows Phone 7: no PAYG on Vodafone

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 08:16 AM PDT

Vodafone will not be offering any Windows Phone 7 devices on PAYG, despite having the lower-specced HTC 7 Trophy. A spoekesperson said: “We will not be launching any Windows Phone 7 devices on PAYG at launch, but it’s something we hope to bring in in the future.”

Want to see PAYG Windows Phone 7 devices? Drop us a line in the comments!

Windows Phone 7: first update announced already!

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 07:56 AM PDT

Windows Phone 7 is not even in the hands of customers for another ten days, and Microsoft has already announced the first update to the Windows Phone 7 operating system. The first update to Windows Phone 7 will be coming in early 2011, bringing the key feature that’s missing from Windows Phone 7, cut and paste.

How important is it that Microsoft brings this small but vital feature to Windows Phone 7?

Windows Phone 7: EA games are getting involved!

Posted: 11 Oct 2010 07:32 AM PDT

At today’s Windows Phone 7 launch, Microsoft has announced that EA will be on Windows Phone 7, including the Sims. EA will be integrated into the gaming hub, and available through Xbox Live.