Windows Mobile 7 Details Emerge- Multi-touch Required
Microsoft has been keeping details about the forthcoming Windows Mobile 7 pretty close to the vest, but Mary Jo Foley has uncovered some specifics that are interesting. Mary Jo continually gets inside information about the goings-on at Microsoft. I’m convinced she lives in the trees on the Microsoft campus with the elves.
According to MJ, Windows Mobile 7 will be based on a “chassis” concept where different types of devices have a predefined set of capabilities and components called chassis. She has detailed Chassis 1, the basic configuration for WM7 devices:
WM7 Chassis 1 Specification
Core requirements:
Processor: ARM v6+, L2 Cache, VFP, Open GL ES 2.0 graphics HW (QCOM 8k, Nvidia AP15/16 (Tegra) and TI 3430 all meet spec)
Memory: 256MB+ DRAM, 1G+ Flash (at least 512MB fast flash – 5MB/s unbuffered read @4K block size)
Display: WVGA (800×480) or FWVGA (854×480) 3.5” or greater diagonal
Touch: Multi-touch required
Battery: Sufficient to meet Days of Use LTK requirements.
Controls: Start, Back, Send and End are required (soft controls allowed as long as they are always present).
Peripherals:
Camera: 3MP+, flash optional, 2nd camera optional (VGA resolution sufficient)
GPS: aGPS required
Sensors required: Light Sensor, Compass (3 axis, 5 degrees, 100 Hz sample rate), Accelerometer (3 axis, 2mg resolution, 100 Hz sample rate)
USB: High speed required, 20 MB/s transfer rate.
BlueTooth: BT2.1 required, must run MSFT BT stack, CSR BlueCore6 or later recommended.
Wi-Fi: 802.11B/G required, must run MSFT Native Wi-Fi stack, Atheros 6002 or Broadcomm 4325 recommended.
Connectors: Micro USB and 3.5mm Audio required.Options:
FM tuner: If tuner HW is present it will be detected and supported by the Media application.
Haptics
SD Card (Micro SD recommended)
DPAD, qwerty or 12/20 key keyboards all optional
The most interesting aspect of these core requirements to me is multi-touch. It is no surprise that Microsoft would want partners to use multi-touch since that’s a hot item currently, but I find it interesting that it is a requirement of WM7, according to MJ. Nothing else in these specs jumps out at me, and considering that WM7 is not expected out until late next year, they may be a bit outdated at that time.
On or two questionable requirements but this is great in general. I don’t think the requirements will be outdated next year: the standards are much higher than the current best smartphones. I think it will be a few years before they are outdated.
It will be great to see then end of those HTC phones with their proprietary micro-usb audio jacks. Guaranteeing ood performance from all phones and GPS will give a good standard to create a brand.
Questionable is the insistence on WVGA: why not VGA? VGA is high-res for a smartphone and the 4:3 format should be an option.
The requirements are pretty specific so “chassis 1″-type phones should be rather similar.
this whole mobile OS flavor thing still eludes me. if you like your V5 so much with Windows7 why on earth will we need anything else besides that in a year or two when all smartphones will be able to use that kind of computing power (w\o battery issues)?!
James, I’m surprised that the inclusion of Tegra (or equivalent) as a requirement didn’t jump out at you. Also, others are guessing that the reference to QCOM 8K refers to Snapdragon.
As CSMR said above, there’s nothing available at the moment that even comes close to these specs so they’re unlikely to be outdated any time soon.
If you’re unfamiliar with Tegra then check out these videos from about a year ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7R90A7ZqLU
As far as I can see these specs are a standard minimum spec for the next gen win mo phones wm7. As you can see the chips that will be required to run the new OS are built for the future. These chips are like nothing we’ve seen in phones today and will be the latest cutting edge shit for the next few years to come. We are talking win mo phones that will be able to put put 12megga pix photos, 720p and 1080p video play back and recording, the xbox type 3d graphic for some kick ass games, fast and smooth internet browsing and we’re just getting started. So when phone that can run this spec as a min req come out hay your gonna get blown away. Yep check out clips on Nvidia Tegra and snapdragon and QCOM chips.
Whatever windows mobile 7 turns out to be, one thing is for sure… it will be something amazing because I think the timing is perfect for the integration of technologies such as zune and some advancements to the UI. Should be fun!