Microsoft Windows Phone 7 Series : Review Of Previews

There hasn't been any proper review of Microsoft's relabelled Windows Mobile 7 platform, more like previews and commentaries about the heavily rehauled Windows Phone 7 platform.

It does represent Microsoft's most potent and certainly its last chance at the smartphone market, one which is dominated by the likes of Apple and Android while still remaining under the threat of newcomers like Bada or Meego.

Claudine Beaumont, the technology editor at the Telegraph, says that Windows Phone 7 is a "horribly clunky name" for such a "slick, well designed and refreshingly different version" of Windows Mobile.

She also points to the fact that Microsoft has decided to cut its ties to previous Windows Mobile platforms which might be bad news for developers and existing WinMo users but also represents a fresh start for Microsoft altogether, with a clean canvas.

ZDNet's First Take has Oded Ran from the Windows Phone Team explaining why Microsoft chose the word "series" when it presented the mobile platform to the expert audience at MWC. 

First Take also explains why, because of the strict minimum specifications to run Windows Phone 7 (like the need for four points of contacts on the screen), it is very unlikely that existing Windows Mobile smartphones will be able to upgrade to Windows Phone 7 (ed : which is great for phone manufacturers).