Microsoft "Pink" specs leak out: Tegra, Snapdragon, OMAP 3, oh my?
By Nilay Patel 
posted May 12th 2009 3:39PM
posted May 12th 2009 3:39PM
Ready for some more delicious Zune / Windows Mobile rumors after today's June Zune letdown? Well buckle up -- the always-sharp Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet says she's got specs for Windows Mobile 7 Chassis 1, the heart of that rumored "Pink" smartphone, and they're pretty wild. According to the list, Chassis 1 phones will all have 3.5-inch or larger multitouch displays with ARM v6+ processors and OpenGL ES 2.0-compatible graphics hardware, 256MB or more of RAM and 1GB or more of storage, as well as at least a 3 megapixel camera, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, a compass, and accelerometer. Oh, and glory be -- a 3.5mm headphone jack is required. Here's the kicker, though: NVIDIA's Tegra platform is specifically listed as meeting the core CPU requirements, as well as TI's OMAP 3 platform and "Qualcomm 8k," which sounds to us like Snapdragon's QSD8xxx-series chips. If you've been following along, you know that all three of these (Tegra in particular) have been bandied about as potential Microsoft phone platforms, so it makes perfect sense to us that Microsoft's giving its hardware partners a choice of currently-available high-powered platforms for Chassis 1 -- especially since we've been hearing lots of whispers of hardware based on these chips in the works.Here's the thing, though: we've also always been told that "Pink" is the codename for Zune software and services on Windows Mobile, so something tells us that Chassis 1 phones running Windows Mobile 7 will feature a strong dose of Zune flavoring -- a plan Steve Ballmer's repeatedly confirmed in the past year. So how do we think this all fits together? Well, we'll slightly revise our previous totally crazy, off-the-wall prediction: we think "Pink" is the codename for a new consumer-focused version of Windows Mobile that integrates Zune services, running not only on a touchscreen Zune HD, but on several third-party phones. Are we crazy? Yes, absolutely -- but you've got to admit the pieces are coming together.
It's about time MS created a standard hardware requirement for WM phones, too bad it's starting with WM7 and not 6.5.
Just one request please.
FLUIDITY IN THE EFFIN O.S.
The reason the iphone seems so responsive and faster are the transitions. The transitions/animations masterfully mask loading times.
if I touch something and move it, make it move coherently with my touch please.
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST. Make a dif version of the OS for asia. the rest of the world really doesn't give a crap about the stylus unless I'm drawing stupid smiley faces in notepad.
Resistive touch screens aren't going anywhere in Windows Mobile. They're cheaper to make and i believe more accurate than capacitive screens. Also, transitioning to capacitive in WinMo will create a lot of headaches with legacy apps. The transition to capacitive would be problematic enough; supporting resistive screens would be a nightmare.
Great comment. Just the other day I was thinking about this. Functions on my WM phone don't take very long to load, but they do so in a very... displeasing way. Like, when opening Pocket Outlook, the scroll bars appear over the Today screen, and then the emails load. It looks like it's loading in pieces and it's really ugly.
@PhilR8
Exactly.
I compared an iPhone 3G side by side to my HTC FUZE (running the lastest Rhodium software) and while the iPhone LOOKS faster, it is actually slower. If I tap on calculator at the same time on both phones, the iPhone has a transition of it opening while WM just sits there until it is fully loaded. I can use the calculator on my FUZE before I can on the iPhone (it doesn't "turn on" for a bit.)
Yay! Now I can squirt calls to my friends :D
Anyone else still think the Freescale 434mhz processor in the N97 is still adequate?
Apple - vs. - Microsoft:
n - n+1
Assuming this new O/S platform is done well, this could be a strong attack on the current iPhone/iPod Touch platform that could finally not only boost WinMo into a top tier, user-friendly experience, but at the same time boost a lagging media player device (Zune) into a much stronger position. MS has been listening to it's customers quite a bit this past year or so as is evident with Windows 7, and if they do the same with WinMo/Zune products, it could bode well for them. Time will tell of course. I say bring it on, more good products = more competition = good for the consumer.
Plus....if they enlist 2 monkeys to design the OS, they will have already beaten RIMS efforts on the Storm....
I design UIs for Windows Mobile apps marketed as "touch friendly", so the minimum screen size is a HUGE win for me
Verizon Wireless.
God I hope so...
cdma PLEASE!
ohh and tegra!!!!
OK, I get it. So Microsoft is going to release (well, supposedly) a "Zune HD", and maybe add Zune-like features to Windows Mobile 7, so we could have many "Zune" phones? Thats actually not a bad idea, since the iPhone will only capture so much of the market. This way MS win's (by numbers, of course) every time.
Since WM7 will be the only OEM oriented platform that will be not "royalty free" for OEMs it will need to be: impressive, effective, innovative and easy to use for OEM. Consolidate and clarify HW requirements is a good step in this direction.
Simone, http:\\meedabyte.wordpress.com