Hubs on windows 7 phone

Windows Phone 7, however, breaks the mold on the sea of app icons, and provides an innovative means of interacting with the information and functionality of the smartphone through tiles and hubs. The distinction is more than just aesthetic.

It is refreshing to have a different visual approach for a smartphone interface, but the tiles and hubs of the Windows Phone 7 interface provide a different smartphone experience. Microsoft attempts to say as much in its commercials for Windows Phone 7. Dubbed "Microsoft Notification Service," the service enables third-party apps to send updates to a phone's home screen and display status messages even when the actual application is not running in the background.

Some core integrated features such as the phone and music player will be able to run in the background, but third-party apps cannot, according to Kindel. Despite those similarities to the iPhone, the general hub-based UI is a major difference from any smartphones on the market. Developers can inject their apps into Microsoft's standard hubs, and they'll also have the option to create their own hubs, according to Kindel. For hardware, each Windows Phone 7 Series phone will include seven standard physical buttons for controlling power, volume, screen, camera, back, start and search.

Bing Maps dynamically update with street-view photos, 3D graphics and directions. It also shows you real-time traffic updates and reviews of local businesses via Yelp. According to Microsoft, hardware partners will not be able to replace the Windows 7 UI.

It is a bit surprising that Microsoft has locked in the Windows 7 interface because one draw of the platform was the number of different flavors you could get it in. Microsoft is also taking further control over the hardware side. Microsoft had no comment.

He writes: "I'm familiar with them Many iPhone apps aren't really file-centric to begin with. I think even if Services were introduced, they would really only alleviate some of the "app-centric" problems with internal Apple applications. Even if Services were implemented on the iPhone, "the UX [user interface] to support them could be cumbersome and convincing developers to 'play ball' with services would be difficult as well. There's a lot of focus on what WP7 is missing.

And none of these omissions has hurt the iPhone. As more mobile developers work with WP7, they seem to be discovering the unique elements of Microsoft's new mobile platform, and what they can do with those elements, and the impact that experience will have on the endusers, the final arbiters of whether WP7 will succeed or fail.