Windows Phone 7 Hardware, Gaming, More

A lot of information continues to come out about Windows Phone 7 Series, much of it from last week’s Global Developer Conference. More of the hardware specs have come to light, and Microsoft gave developers a good taste of the gaming potential. This week I’ll offer up some of this info, including links to videos from GDC discussing the Xbox Live features and gaming potential.

Hardware Specs for Windows Phone 7

Last week we noted that all Windows Phone 7 devices will have three buttons: back, Windows, and search. Additional details about the screen include the news that when the device launches, the only screen size will be 480 x 800. Eventually devices with a resolution of 480 x 320 will also be released. Also, there will likely be a trend toward the use of AMOLED screens, which have better image quality while also consuming less power.

Xbox Live on Windows Phone 7

PocketNow was at last week’s developers conference and captured video of the presentation on how Xbox Live will integrate with Windows Phone 7. They’ve selected segments of the presentation so that you can get a quick intro to how it will work without having to listen to the whole thing.

Part 1 gives a brief overview, Part 2 covers Xbox aspects such as achievements, profiles-linking, and avatars, Part 3 talks about push notifications, and Part 4 covers multiplayer game design.

Xbox Gaming on Windows Phone 7

I think Microsoft has a compelling vision for the integration of your computer, Xbox, and Windows Phone 7 regarding gaming. They refer to it as the three screens. And according to their presentation last week, the goal is not to give you the same experience in each screen but rather different experiences on different screens. PocketNow has a video segment from the presentation that talks about the three screens of game play and that includes a demo of a simple game.

The gaming potential for Windows Phone 7 is way ahead of Windows Mobile. Microsoft announced last week that developers would be able to use XNA Game Studio for developing highly immersive, Xbox-like games for Windows Phone 7. You can read more on this blog and see screenshots and a video on Engadget. The video shows the same simple game demo mentioned above and how it illustrates the three-screen experience.

PocketNow also has two videos covering information about 3D games and 3D visual effects. You can read more about gaming on Windows Phone 7 in an interview on Joystiq.

Windows Phone 7 Tiles, Social Media Integration, Auto-Update

PocketNow has a short post with interesting info on the tile interface of Windows Phone 7 and a detailed post on social media integration and auto-update. Again, there’s evidence here of Microsoft’s vision for this platform, especially the way they’ve conceptualized the interface around hubs.