Multitasking, IE9 coming to Windows Phone 7

[Deeko]

We've just barely begun to get ready with Steve Ballmer's keynote at MWC 2011, yet the company's Twitter and press feeds just scooped its main man. It's confirmed that Windows Phone 7 is getting multitasking for third-party apps and a suite of other updates, including Twitter integration and IE9 Mobile. We're still waiting on details on the multitasking, but the company has confirmed a "new wave of multitasking applications" in this next release, though hopefully that means open to all.

Twitter will be integrated into the People Hub, so you can get your real-time "what's for dinner" updates right there. And, of course, Microsoft confirmed IE9 is coming. It'll deliver a "dramatically enhanced web browser experience" thanks to graphics and hardware acceleration that'll make the most of what your handset has to offer. Sounds tasty to us. We're told to expect the update in "early March," which isn't that far away at all.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/microsoft-shows-off-windows-phone-7s-future-with-multitasking/

Pretty good deal - although I think Engadget has it wrong, the update coming in early March I believe is the first update that has copy + paste, faster app loading, and CDMA support.

 

[her209]

I was looking at the WP7 phones last night and I am really liking them. In the videos I watched, switching between simultaneously running apps left much to be desired though so I'm hoping this fixes that. What I saw was pressing back to get to a previously running app with no ability to go forward other than relaunching the app.

 

[erwos]

I was bitterly disappointed by the lack of any new phone hardware announcements. It looks very much like the core WP7 OS will be in excellent shape by the end of the year, but they need to push ahead with higher display resolutions, faster SoCs, video-calling, and better camera/camcorder functionality.

There's no excuse for Microsoft to not have a dual-core WP7 phone with some (or all) of those features in Q2. They need to make sure their hardware partners are pushing the envelope, and supporting them while they do so. I can only hope that Nokia will provide a driving impetus for this going forward.

I think I read somewhere that Samsung might be introducing something later, though, so maybe I'll be proven wrong?

 

[Demo24]

WP7 seems like it will be far more appealing to me towards the latter half of this year. I wonder when the first CDMA device will come out. Curious they would announce support for that but not show off a phone using it.

 

[dougp]

I was bitterly disappointed by the lack of any new phone hardware announcements. It looks very much like the core WP7 OS will be in excellent shape by the end of the year, but they need to push ahead with higher display resolutions, faster SoCs, video-calling, and better camera/camcorder functionality.

There's no excuse for Microsoft to not have a dual-core WP7 phone with some (or all) of those features in Q2. They need to make sure their hardware partners are pushing the envelope, and supporting them while they do so. I can only hope that Nokia will provide a driving impetus for this going forward.

I think I read somewhere that Samsung might be introducing something later, though, so maybe I'll be proven wrong?

All of this would cause fragmentation, which is what MS wants to avoid because it was a mistake they made in the past.

I'm disappointed with the lack of Flash, but they never made the promise it would come - and who knows, that could change.

 

[Deeko]

Want to know how the eventual, inevitable implementation of app multitasking on Windows Phone 7 will look? Wonder no longer: it's cards, which seems to be the way a lot of guys are going after webOS showed how to do it right a couple years back, and it looks hot. If you press the Start button you'll see the app tiles, then press the back button and you'll be right back in your app right where you left off. However, that's just the beginning: hold the back button you'll get a card-like view of all running apps. Pick your app and you're back where you left off in that one. You can multitask even in games, have Slacker playing in the background, and if you press a volume button while on the home screen you'll get a quickie interface for changing track, pausing, and playing.

Microsoft indicated it didn't previously allow for third-party multitasking due to battery life concerns, but those concerns have been mitigated -- somehow. We're not sure of the API-level details that's letting all this magic happen, but we'll look for those later. All we know right know is that it looks great and we can't wait to try it out for ourselves.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/14/windows-phone-7s-multitasking-uses-cards/

I've said for a long time that WebOS was my favorite mobile OS, I just didn't like the hardware...perhaps Palm's greatest legacy is that everyone (well, at least QNX and WP7) is copying their best features.

Looks pretty cool.

 

[Gooberlx2]

I wonder when the first CDMA device will come out.

Yeah, I held out as long as I could before getting a new phone. Had there been at least a concrete announcement and timeline for the 7Pro that's supposed to come out on Sprint, I might've been able to wait longer.

As it is, my wife and I both got the LG Optimus S (for free, which the 7Pro certainly will not be), and in time to beat the +$10 data fee enacted on all new Sprint plans and upgrades/renews. Looks like we'll probably be sticking with these for the next two years.

 

[erwos]

All of this would cause fragmentation, which is what MS wants to avoid because it was a mistake they made in the past.

Fragmentation didn't kill Windows Mobile; lack of development did. Besides, none of what I listed would need to cause actual application incompatibility - Android's problem is that they have a bunch of different OS versions running around, and less about the hardware. Microsoft was careful to avoid this pitfall, or so it seems.

I'm disappointed with the lack of Flash, but they never made the promise it would come - and who knows, that could change.

Reports of Flash running quite nicely on dual-core Android phones make me a bit sad about this, too.

 

[dougp]

Fragmentation didn't kill Windows Mobile; lack of development did. Besides, none of what I listed would need to cause actual application incompatibility - Android's problem is that they have a bunch of different OS versions running around, and less about the hardware. Microsoft was careful to avoid this pitfall, or so it seems.

Reports of Flash running quite nicely on dual-core Android phones make me a bit sad about this, too.

Device fragmentation leads to annoyed users. iOS seems fine with it for now, but there are iPad and iP4 apps only. Imagine if the 3GS and 4 were released at the same time and you have users buying games for the 4 without knowing it won't run on the 3GS - that's fragmentation, and it sours users on their experience.

 

[her209]

Oh snap! A webOS like card based app switcher... WP7 stock just went up in my book.

 

[simonizor]

I was bitterly disappointed by the lack of any new phone hardware announcements. It looks very much like the core WP7 OS will be in excellent shape by the end of the year, but they need to push ahead with higher display resolutions, faster SoCs, video-calling, and better camera/camcorder functionality.

There's no excuse for Microsoft to not have a dual-core WP7 phone with some (or all) of those features in Q2. They need to make sure their hardware partners are pushing the envelope, and supporting them while they do so. I can only hope that Nokia will provide a driving impetus for this going forward.

I think I read somewhere that Samsung might be introducing something later, though, so maybe I'll be proven wrong?

This is typical MS. Push a product that's half as good as the rest, put a shiny interface on it, and hope for the best.