Η Microsoft δεν είχε κερδίσει τη θέση της στα ράφια των κινητών με το Windows Mobile λειτουργικό της, πέρνει όμως επάξια την εκδίκηση της με το Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango).
Η τελευταία έκδοση που βγήκε επισήμως με κάποια συσκευή ήταν το Windows Mobile 6.5.5, έπειτα η Microsoft επέλεξε (εύστοχα κατά τη δική μας άποψη) τον τερματισμό του project. Να μείνει όμως η Microsoft εκτός της αγοράς; Χλωμό...
Έπειτα από ένα έτος εντατικής εργασίας εκ μέρους της, είδαμε το νέο λειτουργικό της Microsoft στο πολύ κομψό μοντέλο της Nokia, Lumia 800.
Εντυπώσεις;
Πως να ξεκινήσουμε να περιγράφουμε ένα τελείως διαφορετικό λειτουργικό; Είναι ο ίδιος βαθμός δυσκολίας προς εμάς, όπως την επερχόμενη εβδομάδα που θα ξεκινήσουμε να μιλάμε για τα νέα Windows.
Η Microsoft δημιούργησε από την αρχή το νέο της λειτουργικό, έχοντας στο πίσω μέρος του μυαλού της τη φιλικότητα προς το χρήστη και την ευκολία χρήσης της συσκευής.
Minimum αριθμός κουμπιών, πίσω και κουμπί Windows, με χρήση ίδια όπως του κλασικού πληκτρολογίου. Καθαρό σχέδιο το λειτουργικό μέσα και μεγάλες, απλές επιλογές (όσοι έχουν δουλέψει τα νέα, επερχόμενα Windows μπορούν να φανταστούν τις ομοιότητες).
Pin εφαρμογών, χρηστών και σε γενικότερα μια νοοτροπία όπου σέρνουμε πάνω - κάτω την οθόνη επιλογών και η επιλογή βρίσκεται στα δεξιά.
Multitasking, Internet Explorer 9, Bing Search, Maps, Office 365, Social Network integration και πολλές ακόμα προεγκατεστημένες εφαρμογές μας λύνουν πραγματικά τα χέρια.
Η όλη επιτυχία βέβαια, θα εξαρτηθεί απόλυτα από το Windows Phone Marketplace, όπου αυτή τη στιγμή απαριθμεί αρκετές δεκάδες χιλιάδες εφαρμογές.
Αν και πολλοί ίσως πάλι γκρινιάξουν για το λειτουργικό της Microsoft, εμείς το βάζουμε επάξια δίπλα στο Android και το iOS και βγάζουμε στην Microsoft το καπέλο!
Ακολουθεί μια λίστα με τα features του νέου λειτουργικού
Messaging and social integration
Dynamic Live tile information
Twitter and LinkedIn integration in the People hub.
Groups: organize contacts by groups which can also be pinned on the start screen.
Contact cards now include all the contacts conversation history (SMS, emails, MMS, Messenger, etc.)
Facebook Places check-in support.
Windows Live Messenger and Facebook Chat integration.
Threads: all messaging communication organized in a single thread (Messenger, SMS, MMS).
Threaded email conversations support.
Outlook tasks support.
Facebook events integrated into the calendar.
Linked email accounts: multiple email accounts can be combined and linked into one inbox.
Built-in voice-to-text/text-to-voice functionality, which will allow for hands-free texting or chatting.
Server search for Exchange.
Information Rights Management support for emails and Office documents.
Visual Voicemail
Search/Bing
Bing Vision: barcode, covers, posters, products scanning, and OCR text translation.
Bing Audio / Music: Shazam-like audio recognition.
Bing Local Scout: "around me" business and POI locator.
Bing Quick Cards: product/media information, reviews.
Bing Search: indoor maps (US only), image search results, third-party app integration.
Bing Maps: turn-by-turn navigation, voice guidance.
Office
Skydrive and Office 365 documents sync (PDF also supported).
Excel Mobile now supports adding additional macro functions.
Microsoft Lync support via downloadable app.
Added "To-Do" option when editing OneNote pages.
Photo management
People / Groups gallery with Skydrive and Facebook sync.
People tagging in the photos with Skydrive and Facebook sync.
Photo auto-fix - automatically improves sharpness, brightness, etc.
Pictures tile is now animated.
Video sharing via MMS, Facebook, Skydrive, and email.
Twitter integration—Tweet your pics!
Integration with the People Hub.
Quick access to the Camera Roll.
When you choose a photo from within an app, you can now pick from online albums on Facebook or SkyDrive, not just pictures saved on your phone.
Pin any album to Start, including Facebook albums.
Multimedia
Zune SmartDJ mix support.
Artist picture now displays on lock screen when music is played.
UI change of the media controls on the lock screen.
Ability to control video aspect ratio during playback.
Single music track repeat without having to pin it on the start screen.
Podcast downloads / subscriptions over the air (US only).
Open / play media content by voice.
Ability to create and save playlists.
Marketplace
Revamped Marketplace UI and search.
Camera
UI changes (new icons + added arrow icon on the lower left of the viewfinder to indicate camera roll).
Settings are now saved when the Camera application is closed.
Disable/enable shutter sound.
Support for front facing camera.
Touch focus and capture—Tap any spot on the screen to focus there and take the shot. (This varies according to hardware—some phones will have tap-to-capture but will still automatically center focus.)
Review pictures above the lock—Snap a photo when your phone is locked, then take a peek at it above the lock. You’ll only be able to get to photos you just took—better for security.
Changes for portrait orientation—Now, when you take a picture in portrait orientation, you’ll see it in portrait orientation when you review it.
Games
Redesigned Games hub with integrated 3D avatar and avatar customization.
Friends and achievements now integrated in the hub.
Fast Async for multiplayer games.
Internet Explorer 9 Mobile
Hardware-accelerated rendering.
Support for HTML5 audio and video playback.
Background HTML5 audio playback.
Geolocation support.
New JavaScript engine.
New UI with URL bar at the bottom of the screen.
URL bar is now available in landscape mode.
Removal of Find on Page feature
Moved the "tabs" button to a menu item under the application bar.
Security
Voice commands are now disabled when the device is locked.
Complex (alpha-numeric) PIN support.
Other changes
Internet sharing
Battery saver: phone automatically disables power consuming services and applications running in the background if the battery is low. Also predicts time remaining on battery.
Ringtone manager with custom and downloadable ringtones.
The "People" tile has been reworked and is animated differently than before.
Search icon and quick jump list added to the application list.
Support for 16 new languages: Czech, Danish, Hungarian, Dutch (Netherlands), Norwegian, Polish, Portugese (Brazil, Portugal), Finnish, Swedish, Greek, Russian, Korean, Chinese (Traditional, Simplified), Japanese.
East Asian handwriting recognition.
Support for new languages and emoticons in on-screen keyboard.
Hidden WiFi network support.
Qualcomm MSM7X30 and MSM8X55 support.
Programs menu will have alphabetical options similar to the people functionality
Power off now requires a swipe down gesture after holding down the power button for a few seconds.
Removal of "soft-on" alarm feature
Modification of alarm sleep interval
Development API changes and additions
Third-party application multi-tasking and fast application switching.
Support for background tasks and services/agents.
Expanded live tiles that can be updated without network connection and can have two sides which flip periodically.
App Connect: third-party applications can integrate with Bing search, have multiple live tiles, and can have push notifications that link deep ("Deep Toast") into various parts of the application directly.
Optional 32 bit color support for Silverlight applications with hardware dithering.
Silverlight 4 support.
Silverlight + XNA support in the same application screen.
Raw camera feed access for third-party applications.
New sensor API combines compass, gyroscope, and accelerometer.
Improved Listbox control with better scrolling performance.
Improved WebBrowser control with IE9 rendering engine and system-wide cookies access.
Clipboard API.
Hardware-accelerated video decoding in the MediaPlayer control.
TCP/IP and UDP sockets support.
Embedded database with LINQ (based on SQL Server Compact 4.0 engine, but without direct SQL execution).
Background file transfer agent.
Generational garbage collector.
NEON/SIMD support for XNA applications....
