Windows Phone 8 "Bringing Phone Into the Windows Family"

Formally launching Windows Phone 8 today, Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Windows Phone project head Joe Belfiore and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off some new features. They spent much of the time talking about how the OS is integrated with Windows itself and how it is designed for personalization. Indeed, both said that instead of trying to create one phone for everyone, the company wanted to create a phone that would be different for each user. (Due to Hurricane Sandy, I watched the announcement via webcast, instead of attending in person.)

In addition to showing off previously seen features such as Live Tiles and "lenses" for the camera, Belfiore showed off some new features, including Live Apps, apps that can run on the lock screen, a children's mode, new music options, a method for checking data usage, and a way of segmenting the people you follow into separate "rooms."

Above: Windows Phone chief Joe Belfiore

Belfiore discussed how Windows Phone has a "different point of view" than the "icons for apps" focus of iPhone or Android (which he called a copy of the iPhone experience); instead, he said Windows Phone is focused on people first, not on apps. He said there are now 120,000 apps available for Windows Phone, which will now be available in 50 languages and 191 countries.

He highlighted the Live Tiles concept that lets you pin your favorite people and apps, allowing them to constantly update. He noted that with Windows Phone 8, the tiles can be resized and moved around. We've seen this and several other features before, including improved camera applications, a new Wallet feature, and a shared core with the Windows 8 operating system.

He followed with the concept of Live Apps that can integrate into the wallet, other hubs, and now into the lock screen of the phone itself. Belfiore highlighted this with a new version of Facebook, which he said will automatically show photos from your Facebook feed and Facebook notifications on your lock screen. You can choose which application appears on the lock screen. This looks cool, if not crucial.

In addition to Facebook, Belfiore talked about new applications from Twitter and Skype. Skype, he said, will be "always on"?able to receive messages at any time without running in the background and using battery life. With new things like Words with Friends and Draw Something, Microsoft now has 46 of the top 50 applications. The Unity games development environment is coming, with games like Temple Run. Urban Spoon is coming with speech enabled directly. He talked about Angry Birds Star Wars and Fairway Solitaire, which runs on Xbox, Windows 8, and Windows Phone 8. Pandora is coming in early 2013, he said, with one year of free music with no ads. The Software Development Kit for creating Windows Phone 8 applications will be free and publically available at the Build conference tomorrow (which I also will be unable to attend, due to the storm, but hope to follow online).

Another new feature is called Data Sense, which he said "helps you use less data so you get the most of out of your data plan."

This compresses every webpage you view and finds nearby Wi-Fi hot spots so you can offload data. It shows you data usage so you can see where you are getting near your plan limit, and which applications are using data. Microsoft's testing showed that users will be able to get 45 percent more Web browsing on a data plan. This will initially be offered on Verizon, but will be coming to other carriers soon. Depending on how well this works, this could be a rather important feature.

Kid's Corner creates a "separate place on your phone," where your kids can run their applications, games, and music, without impacting the rest of the phone or letting them download or post things you don't want them to.

Belfiore brought his own kids on stage to show this off. He was then joined by actress Jessica Alba, who explained an incident in which her daughter accidentally sent a tweet to her four million followers. (She was promoting her new firm, The Honest Company, which is working on a new app.)

I do like a new feature called "Rooms" within the People hub of the phone, which sounds a lot like "circles" in Google+ where you can gather just a few people you want to communicate with. It comes initially with a Family room, with members of your family, and lets you send private messages or share locations just with people in that room. Belfiore noted that you can use this to make a grocery list, for instance. You can create other rooms, and this will work even with people who have other phones through an app. Perhaps most importantly, Belfiore mentioned that this was designed to be "the perfect companion" for your Windows PC. You should think about your phone, your tablet, and your PC together as a "virtual office," he said, noting how using SkyDrive when you are editing a document on one machine, you can resume work on it on another, whether it is a phone, tablet, or PC. (I have been using SkyDrive that way on multiple machines for a bit lately, and it is convenient).

He pointed out how this works with OneNote, allowing you to take a quick voice note on your phone, which is transcribed into text and immediately available on your phone, tablet, or PC. And if you take a photo, it automatically shows up on all these devices. He contrasted it with other cloud services, saying it works not only with photos and videos, but also with documents. It comes with 7GB free and gives you complete control over your content (unlike iCloud, which only saves your photos for 30 days). The service is also available for Xbox.

Belfiore only briefly mentioned the camera features, but spent a bit more time talking about the new Xbox music service, which connects your music across devices. He mentioned new Sync companion software for Windows 7, 8, and the Mac, which allows you to move your music and playlists from your iTunes library to your phone. Ballmer spent much of his time on stage talking about the "killer hardware" and carriers. He started by showing the Nokia Lumia 920, where he highlighted the camera with optical image stabilization and continued with the Samsung Ativ S, where he talked about the large screen and its light weight. He also brought up the HTC Windows Phone 8X, which has built-in Beats audio, amps, and an wide angle lens on the front of the camera. The first Windows Phone 8 models will go on sale in Europe this weekend.

In the United States, Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T will be offering phones. Verizon will offer the HTC 8X and the Nokia Lumia 822 by Thanksgiving, and the Samsung Ativ Odyssey in December; T-Mobile will offer the Lumia 810 and 8X by November 14; and AT&T will offer the Lumia 920, 820, and 8X in November. Ballmer said the 65 Microsoft stores will sell every Windows Phone available in the U.S., with the online store offering every phone in every color. Windows Phone will be supported by hundreds of mobile operators and retailers around the world.

Ballmer's big focus, though, was on the personalization possibilities with Windows Phone 8 and how it works with Windows PCs. There has been an incredible response to Windows 8 and Microsoft Surface during this launch weekend, and preliminary demand is above what it was for Windows 7, since there is a special demand for touch designs. Between Windows 8, Surface, and Windows Phone 8, he said, "you won't be able to turn on a TV or open a magazine without seeing a Microsoft ad."

Ballmer talked about how one of Microsoft's big goals is "bringing phone into the Windows family," and it struck me how just a few years ago, such a statement might be seen as anti-competitive. Now, Microsoft is actually an underdog in the mobile world, so this is part of a comeback plan. There are a lot of cool features here?I've long liked Live Tiles, and I think the "Kid's Corner" and Windows integration parts could be incredibly useful?but Microsoft needs to prove it can get great new applications and build a critical mass here. This is clearly a pivotal time for the company.

Source: http://forwardthinking.pcmag.com/none/304439-windows-phone-8-bringing-phone-into-the-windows-family

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