Develop Bugs

Unveiled ROM Windows Phone 7

Little by little we are finding out aspects of the expected next Microsoft operating system for mobile devices, Windows Phone 7. The Redmond handle information with a dropper, thereby preventing that is supposed to be the next revolution in mobile software ceases to be on everyone's lips. A good example of it are some videos that we have seen his behavior in office such as office automation and productivity .
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Windows Phone 7 Resources and Links

Windows Phone 7 Resources and Links
Important Links
- Windows Phone Developer Home
- Windows Phone Development (MSDN)
- Official UI Design and Interaction Guide (PDF) (Spring Draft)
Microsoft Tools
- Windows Phone Developer Tools Beta
- Expression Blend 4 RC
- Expression Blend Add-in for Windows Phone 7
Components, Downloads and Tools
- Windows Phone 7 Panorama & Pivot controls (Stephane C, Microsoft)
- SWF Apps to XNA Converter
- Windows Phone 7 database
Guides, Tutorials and Blogs
- Building a Windows Phone 7 Twitter Application using Silverlight (Scott Gu)
- Panoramic Navigation on Windows Phone 7 with No Code! (Jocelyn Mae Villaraza)
- Building a Simple Windows Phone App (Kirupa)
- Windows Phone 7 Series : Tutorials for building & deploying applications (The Windows Club)
- You Already Are A Windows Phone 7 Programmer (Jesse Liberty)
- Hanselminutes Podcast 207 - Charles Petzold on Windows Phone 7 Series (Scott Hanselman)
- Charlie Kindel on Windows Phone Development
- Backstage at MCB (Loke Uei's Blog)
- Understanding Marketplace & Making Money with Windows Phone 7 Applications (Loke Uei, Microsoft)
- WP7 Games (1800 Pocket PC)
- WP7 Apps (1800 Pocket PC)
- Developing for Windows Phone 7 Series (PDF) (Dave Glover)
- Windows Phone Blog
- Windows Phone Developer Blog
- Windows Phone 7 Coding
- Channel 9 on Windows Phone
- Geosense brings GPS-free location awareness to Windows 7 (Lee Mathews, Download Squad)
- Developing a Windows Phone 7 Application that consumes OData (Microsoft)
- Windows Phone 7 Application and Game Development (Rob Miles, Microsoft)
- Building a Newsreader Application using Silverlight for Windows Phone 7
- Introduction to Windows Phone 7 Development (Mobile Tuts)
- Don’t forget to Encrypt your Windows Phone 7 Data (Rob Tiffany)
- MultiTouch Behavior for Windows Phone 7 (Laurent Bugnion)
- Windows Phone 7 - Mix App
- State, Element, and Storyboard Pickers
- Debugging Data Bindings in a WPF or Silverlight Application
- WP7 TOMBSTONING - State - Launching, Closing, Deactivated and Closing Events
- Windows Phone 7 embraces the Microsoft Cloud
- WPF 2010 Videos
- Understanding the Windows Phone Application Execution Model, Tombstoning Launcher and Choosers
- How to Load and Save Photos
- The Dirty Developer - Windows Phone 7 Development Blog
+ Hubs versus Apps - WP7 UX
WP7 Tweeters
- wp7dev/champs
--- @ckindel – WP7 Dev Platform
--- @ai – Mobile Social Media
--- @brandonwatson – Marketplace & Platform
--- @cschormann – Silverlight & Blend (UPDATED: Fixed incorrect spelling/link)
--- @mklucher – Gaming & XNA
--- @ozymandias – Gaming
--- @shawnhargreaves – Game Design
- Windcape (That's me)
+ @faysantiago (Fay Santiago)
+ @dirtydeveloper (thedirtydeveloper.com)
Books / E-Books
- Programming with Windows Phone 7 Series (Charles Petzold)
Post your own links, and I'll update the post.

We have a section for wp7 games and wp7 apps
Windows Phone 7 Games

I didn't quite find the reddit suitable for a static list, it's more like a equivalent of a Google search on the topic. The other links were great, added them to the list.

thanks for adding it mate.

Updated:
+ Windows Phone 7 Application and Game Development
+ Building a Newsreader Application using Silverlight for Windows Phone 7
+ Introduction to Windows Phone 7 Development
+ SWF Apps to XNA Converter
+ Windows Phone 7 database (Great until SQL CE will be available)
+ Don’t forget to Encrypt your Windows Phone 7 Data
+ MultiTouch Behavior for Windows Phone 7 (Laurent Bugnion)

+ Windows Phone 7 - Mix App
+ State, Element, and Storyboard Pickers
+ Debugging Data Bindings in a WPF or Silverlight Application

Updated the links to the Beta Tools, and updated the list of tweeters with the wp7dev/champs list and my own twitter.

+ http://rd3d2.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!E8560F926A112380!21258.entry?sa=706283989
+ http://gigaom.com/2010/07/13/windows-phone-7-embraces-the-microsoft-cloud/
+ http://digitalwpc.com/Videos/VisionKeynoteVideos10/2/BradBrooksAndAndyLees
+ http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_...spx?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

+ http://kodierer.blogspot.com/2010/07/photos-photos-photos-how-to-save-load.html

+ The Dirty Developer - Windows Phone 7 Development Blog
+ Hubs versus Apps - WP7 UX
Tweeters:
+ @faysantiago
+ @dirtydeveloper

+ http://www.windowsphone7developer.com/

Thanks for this!

"I didn't quite find the reddit suitable for a static list, it's more like a equivalent of a Google search on the topic. The other links were great, added them to the list."
As for me reddit work good for me. Thanks for the other link posted here. It really helps.

This is a great help for users who want to get into programming for WP7.

Okay, I'm not able to post links, so just search for "jeff blankenburg" with google and you'll get a series of both WP7 and Silverlight tutorials (named 31 days of windows phone 7 and ... of Silverlight). I think they are really good and easy to understand for beginners.
Also very good is Mingfei's Code Block (on MSDN Code Blogs) on Expression Blend and Data Storage and Passing between pages.
Hope you enjoy...

Nice links, maybe I will start programming for WP7 one day - however, I think it's better to wait until the platform grew up and has some more users.

is very good!!!

Windows Phone 7 Resources and LinksArrow
I have found this topic very informative.
can i add it to my site??
my site is rotarymenwatch.wordpress dot com

Windows Phone 7 Development For Absulute Begginers
It's a video series, teaches the basics of C# and the basics of WP7 Development.

Thanks for the links.I pretend to start developing for WM7
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

Mango or coconut, i want these...

Cool...
10things im waiting for
1.a good 10+ megapixel phone
2.a good 3+ megapixel front camera for 3g calls
3.facetime like service
4.unlocked marketplace for India
5.bluetooth/wifi/3g gaming
6.xbox controller
7.Nokia E90 like hardware and many other form-factors
8.high fps slow motion camera
9.wireless charging
10.Augmented Reality Games with wireless AR goggles
11.User Modes: "Admin" "guest" "user"[dont reply about security breaches. still its cool to have when Apple can snoop me on my gps]
Admin: Selecting few contacts and granting them admin previledges should allow them to control your mobile remotely and read/write gallery, contacts, sms, reset[everything]
Guest: if you select few contacts as "guest" they can be controlled by you...
you can set rules "do not disturb" from "9AM till 6PM" and "sat,sun" etc
Users: if your friend wants to borrow your phone for a week. dont panic. just create a user and insert his sim. he can use all the phone features except admin settings. all your data will be hidden
after return you can delete his user account or just switch over to yours.

The xbox thing is coming. You can control some kinect games with WP7. The rest sound good. Not sure about 11. Sounds a bit too complex for a mobile OS

12. Wi-Fi hotspot (built in, not carrrer addon)
13. direct file access (use part of storage to be able to use a WP7 device as a USB drive and access it on phone)
14. Remote Desktop app (RDC)

tomakali said:
Cool...
11.User Modes: "Admin" "guest" "user"[dont reply about security breaches. still its cool to have when Apple can snoop me on my gps]
Admin: Selecting few contacts and granting them admin previledges should allow them to control your mobile remotely and read/write gallery, contacts, sms, reset[everything]
Guest: if you select few contacts as "guest" they can be controlled by you...
you can set rules "do not disturb" from "9AM till 6PM" and "sat,sun" etc
Users: if your friend wants to borrow your phone for a week. dont panic. just create a user and insert his sim. he can use all the phone features except admin settings. all your data will be hidden
after return you can delete his user account or just switch over to yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't want my data in someone elses hands. better to fully backup the phone, wipe, let the friend use it, and restore later imho.
moving the phones restore image off to a computer is a good idea too.

15. More "open" OS for 3rd Party Apps (like install a ".cab" in WM6.5)
16. Custom Ringtone, no need to "developer unlocked and then install XAP..."
17. An Official Windows Phone Device Center, like Windows Mobile Device Center for WM6.5. Sync to Office, Outlook...
18. A "Task Manager" so we can shut some **** stuffs off to save battery. (which i found really usefull in WM6.5) . Also have a option to shut down the application completely while using it
19. Bing support in Asia ( better be, but i am not going to stay at my hometown for a longtime, i will stay here, where Bing does support, LOL)
20. Better build-in Facebook (Not Facebook Apps), notifications, images, video, view post... all from People Hub ( i found the Facebook Apps is kind of annoying if you don't have 3G and have to use EGPRS...)
21. Hopefully, Microsoft will let HTC build their custom Windows Phone 7 version, or modifield deep down inside the "Cores" of Windows Phone 7, so we can get something like a HTC Sense for WP7, or HTC Sense Metro-UI Style.
22. Support better Multi-Tasking
23. Upgrade Security Level for WP7 if possible ( i thought about this when i read the thread of somebody here lost his HD7 and found out that he could not find his phone or lock it Through Live because everything based on the Simcard Inside)
24. Better MMS Build-in system (sometime, i find it really hard to download the picture that my friend send to me through MMS)
25. Video Call ( i have seen the new HTC's Device that run WP7, has the 16MP Camera. It has the front camera, so hopefully we gonna get it)
26. Improve/Optimize Performance... I don't know why, maybe because of WP7, maybe because of the maker, but my WP7's Fruit Ninja is not as smooth as iPhone's or Android's Fruit Ninja.

Strike_Eagle said:
15. More "open" OS for 3rd Party Apps (like install a ".cab" in WM6.5)
16. Custom Ringtone, no need to "developer unlocked and then install XAP..."
17. An Official Windows Phone Device Center, like Windows Mobile Device Center for WM6.5. Sync to Office, Outlook...
18. A "Task Manager" so we can shut some **** stuffs off to save battery. (which i found really usefull in WM6.5) . Also have a option to shut down the application completely while using it
19. Bing support in Asia ( better be, but i am not going to stay at my hometown for a longtime, i will stay here, where Bing does support, LOL)
20. Better build-in Facebook (Not Facebook Apps), notifications, images, video, view post... all from People Hub ( i found the Facebook Apps is kind of annoying if you don't have 3G and have to use EGPRS...)
21. Hopefully, Microsoft will let HTC build their custom Windows Phone 7 version, or modifield deep down inside the "Cores" of Windows Phone 7, so we can get something like a HTC Sense for WP7, or HTC Sense Metro-UI Style.
22. Support better Multi-Tasking
23. Upgrade Security Level for WP7 if possible ( i thought about this when i read the thread of somebody here lost his HD7 and found out that he could not find his phone or lock it Through Live because everything based on the Simcard Inside)
24. Better MMS Build-in system (sometime, i find it really hard to download the picture that my friend send to me through MMS)
25. Video Call ( i have seen the new HTC's Device that run WP7, has the 16MP Camera. It has the front camera, so hopefully we gonna get it)
26. Improve/Optimize Performance... I don't know why, maybe because of WP7, maybe because of the maker, but my WP7's Fruit Ninja is not as smooth as iPhone's or Android's Fruit Ninja.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
almost all and more will be in with MANGO, you should watch JoeB's video interview for mix11.... there are so many cool featuers coming to WP7....

truffle1234 said:
almost all and more will be in with MANGO, you should watch JoeB's video interview for mix11.... there are so many cool featuers coming to WP7....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And so what? From current WP7 politics it looks like WP7 is NOT a important product for microsoft, so why should the bother about few customers. They are always selling only promises, and people are buying them, not a real functionality in software.

elektryk said:
And so what? From current WP7 politics it looks like WP7 is NOT a important product for microsoft, so why should the bother about few customers. They are always selling only promises, and people are buying them, not a real functionality in software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Troll much?
Microsoft understand about the "Smartphone" Cake. People now are relying more and more on their smartphone. They don't have time to wait for the full battery of the laptop or they don't have the strength of the Olympic Athletic to carry it everyday and run around. ( except for Sony Vaio Bussiness Series, but compare to a smartphone, they are still damn more expensive)?
They know how to listen to their customer, biggest example i can tell is Windows 7 (PC OS). Now they are doing good with Windows Phone 7. Even Windows Phone 7 is a new OS, i still feel good with it. Because it deploy and provide everything i need in my daylife. There are few to some lacks of feature or bug, but you need to learn how to accept and live with it, since Windows Phone is new and mistake is not avoid-able.
Windows Phone are having a great chance in Smartphone Market, since iOS is boring and no change between version and version. Android is getting heavier and heavier... ( don't be mad, but i had changed my HD7 for my friend's Desire HD. Android is fun to play around with, but the only thing i found it usefull, not by Android itself, but because of the HTC Sense. After 2 days of using, i could not wait for my HD7 back).
NO matter what you say, i do believe in Microsoft in this Project, and i do belive that Windows Phone will not let iOS and Android walk that easy. The problem that Microsoft need to solve is their estimate time of product realeasing... they delayed No-Do and that made me felt like crap.

elektryk said:
And so what? From current WP7 politics it looks like WP7 is NOT a important product for microsoft, so why should the bother about few customers. They are always selling only promises, and people are buying them, not a real functionality in software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rubbish.... either u dont read news or just plain ignorrent... if WP7 is not an important product for MS why the hell they pay few billion to NOKIA to use WP7 on their hardware...
just wait and see what WP7 will do to the mobile industry....
to you functionality is scrwing up the mobile phone jsut like WM 6.5 and android did..... if you can tell me that WP7 do not work out of the box then i will believe you... dont tell me it cant work as wifi acces point, not a USB disk drive, or no bluetooth file transfer (those are all bull****....), i bought the phone sync my outlook contacts to windows live account and wala....
till today it did not hanged, freezed, and with the nodo update it even got better... mango will make it even better....
i am not here to say iOS or android is crap, but if u test iOS, Android and WP7 side by side.... as there are few videos of apple for apple test iOS v WP7.... iOS was 10 sec slower then WP7..... so just imeging what it will do to ANDROID...

Strike_Eagle said:
NO matter what you say, i do believe in Microsoft in this Project, and i do belive that Windows Phone will not let iOS and Android walk that easy. The problem that Microsoft need to solve is their estimate time of product realeasing... they delayed No-Do and that made me felt like crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you on all you said, I tried the Samsung galaxy s and it’s not as smooth as my HD7...
and for the first time MS have come out and said sorry for the delay in the NODO update release, JonB have apologized so many time to the users...
MIX11 interview video... can’t wait for the mango...
I am just waiting for NOKIA to start shipping the WP7 devices so I can have real good phone, and I believe HTC will have to do better than HD7 when nokia start to ship WP7..

tomakali said:
Cool...
10things im waiting for
1.a good 10+ megapixel phone
2.a good 3+ megapixel front camera for 3g calls
3.facetime like service
4.unlocked marketplace for India
5.bluetooth/wifi/3g gaming
6.xbox controller
7.Nokia E90 like hardware and many other form-factors
8.high fps slow motion camera
9.wireless charging
10.Augmented Reality Games with wireless AR goggles
11.User Modes: "Admin" "guest" "user"[dont reply about security breaches. still its cool to have when Apple can snoop me on my gps]
Admin: Selecting few contacts and granting them admin previledges should allow them to control your mobile remotely and read/write gallery, contacts, sms, reset[everything]
Guest: if you select few contacts as "guest" they can be controlled by you...
you can set rules "do not disturb" from "9AM till 6PM" and "sat,sun" etc
Users: if your friend wants to borrow your phone for a week. dont panic. just create a user and insert his sim. he can use all the phone features except admin settings. all your data will be hidden
after return you can delete his user account or just switch over to yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
9.wireless charging
Yes and then you want world peace
Have you ever use a WP7 device ??? Real use not just 1 day playing ...
As a phone not as a psp console???
M8 Those devices do things rigth for the 80% of the users out there ..
Its only 8 months old OS...Did you forget iOS or Android how where in the first 8 months ????
It will be better (away better) with mango and way better than any os was in the 1 year.
So be cool and wait ...for the world peace

colossus_r said:
Its only 8 months old OS...Did you forget iOS or Android how where in the first 8 months ????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean MS has started WP7 8 months ago, or it is 8 months on market? I can understand that this system is 8 months on market, so there is no good "navigation" software with offline maps, but microsoft has much more time to prepare its product. WM6.5 has been developed from original windows CE which was started aprox. 1997, so it tooks more then 10 years of "evolution" to get this OS functional and nice looking. Now WP7 is similar to Windows CE 2.0, it has "small version" of Word, Excel some applications made by hobbiest, and GUI which is so "creative" like Windows CE was in 1997. Only difference is faster and bigger hardware.
truffle1234 said:
to you functionality is scrwing up the mobile phone jsut like WM 6.5 and android did..... if you can tell me that WP7 do not work out of the box then i will believe you... dont tell me it cant work as wifi acces point, not a USB disk drive, or no bluetooth file transfer (those are all bull****....)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And if you compare WP7 phone to non-smartphone from 2005 it is fantastic. But today is 2011 and if you want to sell product you must compare it to competitors. WP7 was designed to be new trend in technology and showing future of this market and beeing revolutionary. Currently some non-smartphone phone has better functionality.
Strike_Eagle said:
Microsoft understand about the "Smartphone" Cake. People now are relying more and more on their smartphone. [...]
They know how to listen to their customer, biggest example i can tell is Windows 7 (PC OS). Now they are doing good with Windows Phone 7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this example should be understood different way. Microsoft has developed Windows 95 from a scratch, people were disapointed because there were problems with compatibility, but got used to this OS. Then were windows XP which brought more new technology, there were many problems but people accepted this OS. Then was few years without new OS and had appeared Windows Vista. It was criticized for many problems, and avoided in many areas. Now we have nice, quite stable Windows 7 which based on Vista. IMHO WP7 is still in "Vista" stage, maybe Mango will fix this, but I believe 2-3 updates which will bring so many changes as Mango will make this system like windows 7.
Strike_Eagle said:
NO matter what you say, i do believe in Microsoft in this Project, and i do belive that Windows Phone will not let iOS and Android walk that easy. The problem that Microsoft need to solve is their estimate time of product realeasing... they delayed No-Do and that made me felt like crap.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure if microsoft were founded 3 years ago, this mistakes can be forgiven. Nodo is a small part of functionality that was promissed.
truffle1234 said:
rubbish.... either u dont read news or just plain ignorrent... if WP7 is not an important product for MS why the hell they pay few billion to NOKIA to use WP7 on their hardware...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nokia is a different story, this company had lost so many chances. They had good quality phones, own OS (Symbian), they wanted to develop QT and now they are on the verge of bankruptcy. Why MS gave them money? I do not know, probably MS want to earn more money.

Windows Phone and Windows 7 Intergration

Microsoft thus so far have been focused on integrating personal computing (windows live, Facebook, Office, Zune) into there mobile devices whilst placing little focus on integrating WP7 or WM into there operating system. I assume Windows 8 will cater more to WP integration then windows 7 does but in a world fierce competition Microsoft should be looking to differentiate from the competition, adding value to the windows phone experience.
When i talk about integration with the windows operating system i am thinking along the lines of a windows VNC type application allowing control of numerous windows 7 functions from a WP7 device natively. Another idea is receiving text messages, calls and notifications on a Windows 7 device when connected to the same LAN with the appropriate software and being able to respond to these messages. Another obvious example is being able to control zune from your WP7 device allowing you to control volume and change songs. Control windows media center recording show is another example.
anyway i apologise for my rant its late and i was just thinking to my self, if you guys have any thoughts i would love to hear them.

Yes
Microsoft have already advertised for a developer(s) to do this for WP8 and (we assume) Windows 8. There was an article about it on pocketnow.com which you can probably find.
Cheers
andrew-in-woking

To the OP, yes I think it's where it's all going as well. I would love to see this "ecosystem" in 5 years, see what it looks like.
I really hope in the very near future that DLNA is improved by leaps and bounds. That's the start right there. I've got the Play-To on my phone, but officially it's "tied to Windows 7", so it can't link up to my blu-ray player, or my... xbox 360. Which doesn't make sense. It's the same company, you think that'd be a main selling feature.

I would absolutely love to see text message alerts through my operating system. I have always wished that either Zune or iTunes did this, but unfortunately they don't. +1 for this.

Windows 7 is already in it's final phase and if they're going to do integration, they're going to want to do Deep integration which would take a lot of time and edits to underlying code. There's just no point, Windows 8 will be out soon and it makes much more sense to just launch it with that.
Otherwise we'll get Windows 7 integration now and Windows 8 Integration months into its lifespan.

How "limited" is Windows RT compared to regular Windows 8?

I've been thinking of getting a tablet and I've been eyeing the Windows 8 tablets. Honestly, I like Android, but all of their tablets disappoint (I don't want a Nexus tablet or an iPad for that matter).
I keep hearing that RT marketplace is very small, that there are only "a few apps", etc. Is this true? I am not a heavy app user, plus I'll always have my phone (LG G2 btw, and it's amazing).
I use W8 on my desktop and I like it - but that's obviously the "full" version. I would also like to ask for a tablet recommendation (Nokia 2520 looks FANTASTIC by the way). I don't want to give more than $500 for a tablet, so then generally RT tablets come to mind. My only other requirement is at least a full HD screen. What would you suggest?

Deusdies said:
I've been thinking of getting a tablet and I've been eyeing the Windows 8 tablets. Honestly, I like Android, but all of their tablets disappoint (I don't want a Nexus tablet or an iPad for that matter).
I keep hearing that RT marketplace is very small, that there are only "a few apps", etc. Is this true? I am not a heavy app user, plus I'll always have my phone (LG G2 btw, and it's amazing).
I use W8 on my desktop and I like it - but that's obviously the "full" version. I would also like to ask for a tablet recommendation (Nokia 2520 looks FANTASTIC by the way). I don't want to give more than $500 for a tablet, so then generally RT tablets come to mind. My only other requirement is at least a full HD screen. What would you suggest?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if its for your criteria of a full Desktop you are right - you can't do this with Windows RT, thus with no RT tablet. But as im using my Surface as a thin client, remoting my home pc or my server for all the stuff i can't do on my tablet it's quite wonderful. And the Windows Store has been incresing ever since, last week i reset me tablet and did some serious store browsing to get up to date with available apps and i probably couldn't find anthing that's not there - development environment and compilers excluded of course. But as far as i can see - not knowing your area of expertise - there is everything you would need to get a basic start, though some apps will cost a dollar/euro or two. Whatsmore, there is the 8.0 jailbreak, if you are willing not to go to 8.1 yet (don't know if the surface 2 gets delivered with 8.1 and you would need to downgrade) - in this case there are already a lot of ported desktop apps available.
Jailbreak and ported apps can be found here:
Jailbreak
Ported Desktop Apps
As for the Nokia 2520, it definitely looks good! Haven't actually seen this one come up, looks promising.
To sum it up: if what you like is the new Modern UI interface you can definitely go with an RT tablet for there are plenty of apps available. For the desktop that's a whole other story, as I've described (jailbreak/ported apps) - if you are willing to compromise, you will get another added benefit from this cool piece of hard- and software.
The decision which RT tablet to use should be yours i guess, there are quite a few out there, but in a matter of usability I deem them all to work the same.
Greetings,
Fasin

The app market you can check out on your full windows 8 machine no problem. I do personally think its a bit limited.
Windows RT is for all intents and purposes windows 8 running on ARM instead of x86 processors. This does bring a few limitations, and then microsoft impose 2 more.
ARM and x86 processors are rather obviously not compatible. x86 programs cannot run on ARM and vice versa normally (you could emulate an ARM CPU on x86 and vice versa but thats slow).
Most "metro" apps are compiled in both ARM and x86 versions. There are a few which are not for whatever reason. But most should be available in both stores. The vast majority of metro apps use C# or VB.net anyway which dont output native ARM or x86 machine code and instead use .NET bytecode (the .NET runtime is present on both windows 8 and windows RT). VLC is the only major exception I can think of right now, although that hasn't been publicly released yet and ARM is planned (right now its x86 only).
Just about all desktop software for windows is x86. It won't run on ARM. If its open source it may be portable however the only compiler capable of targetting Windows RT is MSVC whereas alot of software can only be built in alternative compilers. There is a list (already linked in the post above) of software which people have managed to recompile for Windows RT.
Then 2 microsoft imposed restrictions.
Drivers. Although windows tablets all have full USB host abilities, you do of course require drivers for all USB devices you want to use. Windows are not allowing 3rd party drivers on ARM, so if your USB device isn't listed on their compatibility chart it won't work. Mice, keyboards, USB storage, some printers and even the xbox 360 controller work.
Desktop requiring signed binaries. This is a major restriction which serves no purpose. All software run on windows RT must have a digital signature attached which will be checked before execution. If the signature is missing it won't run it. For store apps this isn't a problem as signing the app is part of the release process. However microsoft don't want us to use the desktop on windows RT devices, they havent released any way to add the signature to software running on the traditional desktop. MS Office, internet explorer and all the other software that runs in desktop mode and is preinstalled on RT has been signed because microsoft wrote it and have the tools to do so. We don't. There is a jailbreak which can remove this restriction and enable people to run desktop applications (either written in .NET or compiled for ARM) but it doesn't work on windows RT 8.1 which the lumia tablet and surface 2 have (they cannot be downgraded to 8.0). An 8.1 jailbreak is coming soon.
Whether the RT is suitable or not depends on your needs. If all your going to do is surf the web, well its full blown internet explorer 11 not some sucky mobile browser, it even has flash (but not java, which you should not confuse for javascript. However iOS and android dont have java either).
You get full RDP support in windows RT. So you can view the screen of and interact with your real windows 8 desktop remotely on the tablet. In the ported apps section for jailbroken devices there is also VNC which does the same thing but is cross platform unlike RDP which is supposed to just be windows (however there is an RDP server for linux too so if you have a linux machine, install the RDP server, remote access it on non jailbroken RT device no problem).
You get microsoft office. Its missing plugins and macros. But otherwise, its a full office suite. Its more than android or iOS have.
Being close enough to normal windows, you get a full file browser which supports network mapped drives and USB etc as you do on your desktop. Android can have file browsers, but they usually arent as good as a desktop file browser. iOS doesnt have a file browser at all.
With the file browser you have support for USB storage. Got some photos on a memory stick, plug it in, you can view them. iOS cannot do this. Some android phones can, some can't (your LG should be able to).
True there are not as many apps as iOS or android. But both iOS and android had low apps counts when they first released and according to what little public data there is, windows after 1 year is about on par with both android and iOS app counts after 1 year. It takes time (but will it take too long is a better question)

Thank you both very much. Very well thought out responses. I was debating between getting the Dell Venue 11 Pro (full Windows 8) or the Nokia 2520 being as that they're the same price, but I have honestly been convinced to get the RT version.
Fasin said:
Whatsmore, there is the 8.0 jailbreak, if you are willing not to go to 8.1 yet (don't know if the surface 2 gets delivered with 8.1 and you would need to downgrade) - in this case there are already a lot of ported desktop apps available.
Jailbreak and ported apps can be found here:
Jailbreak
Ported Desktop Apps
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Oh. My. Gott.
I had no idea that this even existed. I think this is pretty much what settles it - I'm definitely getting an RT. Notepad++? Python? 7-zip? Amazing! Vielen dank!
SixSixSevenSeven said:
Then 2 microsoft imposed restrictions.
Drivers. Although windows tablets all have full USB host abilities, you do of course require drivers for all USB devices you want to use. Windows are not allowing 3rd party drivers on ARM, so if your USB device isn't listed on their compatibility chart it won't work. Mice, keyboards, USB storage, some printers and even the xbox 360 controller work.
Desktop requiring signed binaries. This is a major restriction which serves no purpose. All software run on windows RT must have a digital signature attached which will be checked before execution. If the signature is missing it won't run it. For store apps this isn't a problem as signing the app is part of the release process. However microsoft don't want us to use the desktop on windows RT devices, they havent released any way to add the signature to software running on the traditional desktop. MS Office, internet explorer and all the other software that runs in desktop mode and is preinstalled on RT has been signed because microsoft wrote it and have the tools to do so. We don't. There is a jailbreak which can remove this restriction and enable people to run desktop applications (either written in .NET or compiled for ARM) but it doesn't work on windows RT 8.1 which the lumia tablet and surface 2 have (they cannot be downgraded to 8.0). An 8.1 jailbreak is coming soon.
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You're right, that truly is an odd restriction. Perhaps they just want people to use Windows Store more and more? But from this thread it seems that Jailbreak "fixes" a lot of issues - and I didn't even know this existed until now (admittedly I wasn't into the Windows 8 on mobile devices a whole lot until now).
Yep, I think my only pseudo-concern is now gone. Thank you again both, and Nokia 2520 - here I come!

Well, the jailbreak isnt out for 8.1 and is still more limited than the bay trail in the venue 11. But its one of those things that can only go uphill from here.
My personal choice would be the venue. But thats me, not you. I do a fair bit of programming and use alot of software that just plain isnt available on RT. And I think thats the point, different devices suit different people in different ways.

BestBuy will have Surface RT for $200 in Black Friday. I'd like to buy one since it is such cheap and I can play with some ARM Win32 programs.

SixSixSevenSeven said:
Well, the jailbreak isnt out for 8.1 and is still more limited than the bay trail in the venue 11. But its one of those things that can only go uphill from here.
My personal choice would be the venue. But thats me, not you. I do a fair bit of programming and use alot of software that just plain isnt available on RT. And I think thats the point, different devices suit different people in different ways.
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I do quite a bit of programming myself (both personally and for my work), but I can never picture myself programming on a tablet (or even a tablet/keyboard combo). That's just not what I'm getting the tablet for.
I've just read Engadget's review of Nokia 2520, which is overall positive. But I thought it would be much better than the Surface 2, and apparently (according to their review), it isn't. In fact, I thought it will have a better battery life, while in fact it has worse.
As a student I also get a 10% discount on Surface only, and I have a $25 Microsoft Store gift card that I got eons ago, so that brings the total cost for a Surface 2 down to ~$370, which is phenomenal.
It's still in between Nokia 2520 and Surface 2...

Deusdies said:
I do quite a bit of programming myself (both personally and for my work), but I can never picture myself programming on a tablet (or even a tablet/keyboard combo). That's just not what I'm getting the tablet for.
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To be honest even a laptop is less than ideal - if you're used to working on a multi-monitor desktop setup then a laptop will feel restrictive.

ThorburnJ said:
To be honest even a laptop is less than ideal - if you're used to working on a multi-monitor desktop setup then a laptop will feel restrictive.
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I do program on a laptop with a 14" 1366*768 display. I have used much higher resolution displays though and it is certainly alot better.

ThorburnJ said:
To be honest even a laptop is less than ideal - if you're used to working on a multi-monitor desktop setup then a laptop will feel restrictive.
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Yep... I do all of my programming on a desktop. At work 3 monitors, at home 1, but 27". So, yes, tablet is just for movies, some games, etc.

It is possible to emulate some x86 programs on RT's ARM processor, however often it will be slow. Most desired programs won't run through emulation (including utorrent, VLC, Steam, etc)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2095934

Doesn't Microsoft forbid metro apps from having native binaries?
If so, how would you ever write something like a wii emulator on today's hardware? It would be way too slow. Perhaps two decades from now?

Rakeesh_j said:
Doesn't Microsoft forbid metro apps from having native binaries?
If so, how would you ever write something like a wii emulator on today's hardware? It would be way too slow. Perhaps two decades from now?
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No...
Many "metro" apps are normal C/C++ compiled natively for the processor itself.

SixSixSevenSeven said:
No...
Many "metro" apps are normal C/C++ compiled natively for the processor itself.
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Oh. Then what was with MS's comments that they deliberately wanted to make metro apps limited? They can't just mean in terms of being sandboxed? You can still sandbox without sacrificing utility; Android does that quite well.

Rakeesh_j said:
Oh. Then what was with MS's comments that they deliberately wanted to make metro apps limited? They can't just mean in terms of being sandboxed? You can still sandbox without sacrificing utility; Android does that quite well.
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trying to start flamewars again...

SixSixSevenSeven said:
trying to start flamewars again...
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No, it's very much on topic. If the goal was to start a flame war, then the OP beat me to it a long time ago.

Kindly point out something an android app can do which a windows app cannot (there are some, I personally wanted to use a certain feature but until 8.1 could not, yeah 8.1 added loads more features)
Apps requiring root do not count as root is a device modification much the same way modified RT devices can do more.

SixSixSevenSeven said:
Kindly point out something an android app can do which a windows app cannot (there are some, I personally wanted to use a certain feature but until 8.1 could not, yeah 8.1 added loads more features)
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Honestly I don't know as I've never published any apps and I've only done very small scale development for my own uses. I'm just going by MS's commentary on where they think they went wrong with their 8 strategy, in which they indicate that they believe making apps limited in scope wasn't a mistake (effectively they believe that their marketing was the reason for RT's failure, and that it will be easier to market 2 OSes instead of 3.)
I do know however that you see some pretty complex applications on Android whereas I haven't seen anything on RT hasn't already been done better in a web browser. In fact, I've seen web browsers do things that RT will not, take for example that version of battlefield which runs in Firefox and Chrome (RT could technically do that, granted.) The most complicated emulator available for RT is for snes, which also can be done in FF and Chrome: http://www.b81.org/~tjw/smw/
SixSixSevenSeven said:
Apps requiring root do not count as root is a device modification much the same way modified RT devices can do more.
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I don't really see it that way. Just issue an 'oem unlock' command to the device and you're golden. RT devices however by design forbid doing anything like that.
That said, the ultimate limitation in RT comes from this: RT won't run any app unless MS explicitly greenlights it. A lot of the more interesting apps (to me anyways) are ones that companies like MS and in some circumstances even Google wish didn't exist at all, like ad blockers, being able to tether without carrier permission, etc. Even so, not all of these require root and there's nothing stopping you from using them on Android.

Rakeesh_j said:
Honestly I don't know as I've never published any apps and I've only done very small scale development for my own uses. I'm just going by MS's commentary on where they think they went wrong with their 8 strategy, in which they indicate that they believe making apps limited in scope wasn't a mistake (effectively they believe that their marketing was the reason for RT's failure, and that it will be easier to market 2 OSes instead of 3.)
I do know however that you see some pretty complex applications on Android whereas I haven't seen anything on RT hasn't already been done better in a web browser. In fact, I've seen web browsers do things that RT will not, take for example that version of battlefield which runs in Firefox and Chrome (RT could technically do that, granted.) The most complicated emulator available for RT is for snes, which also can be done in FF and Chrome: http://www.b81.org/~tjw/smw/
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Then if you don't know, then why are you claiming it to be so poor in comparison to android? What apps *are available* doesnt dictate what apps the system is capable of.
In 8.0 the biggest issues were lack of low level interfaces to peripherals and instead being limited to high level wrappers provided by WinRT. In 8.1 there are now WinRT wrapper classes to raw USB and bluetooth, both of which were absent in 8.0. Besides that, there isn't any OpenGL, but there is DirectX which android doesnt have and serves the same purpose.
WIndows 8 apps are perfectly capable of hosting a first person shooter such as battlefield, there is a massive difference between it being incapable and simply not been done (actually there are FPS games, but they are more inline with the crap you see on android).
Your battlefield example is entirely bull**** either way as you seemed to be arguing for android whereas android doesnt have battlefield either.
Even if microsoft ditched windows RT, the store is part of windows 8. It would still be present. Windows RT is just an ARM port of windows 8. WinRT is the so called "sandbox" store apps run in and is present on both operating systems.

SixSixSevenSeven said:
Then if you don't know, then why are you claiming it to be so poor in comparison to android? What apps *are available* doesnt dictate what apps the system is capable of.
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Two things:
Comments I've heard from developers
And most importantly, Microsoft's own comments
SixSixSevenSeven said:
In 8.0 the biggest issues were lack of low level interfaces to peripherals and instead being limited to high level wrappers provided by WinRT. In 8.1 there are now WinRT wrapper classes to raw USB and bluetooth, both of which were absent in 8.0. Besides that, there isn't any OpenGL, but there is DirectX which android doesnt have and serves the same purpose.
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That later bit is more of a reason to not want RT. Virtually every platform out there uses OpenGL. The number of devices that use directx exclusively make up such a small percentage of the marketplace that it almost may as well not even exist. Android wouldn't gain anything at all by having it (really, no developer out there has ever said "I'd port to Android if only it supported directx,") and it really hurts that RT/WP don't have it. For this reason, any developer who says that they'll only use DirectX is shooting themselves in the foot. Microsoft is doing exactly that - too many games developers said they probably wouldn't ever bother porting anything to RT/WP because they don't want to spend all of the money on porting because the revenue gained is almost guaranteed to not be worth it. Sure, some game engines now support it, but that doesn't solve the problem of backporting their own customizations and additions to the base engine.
SixSixSevenSeven said:
WIndows 8 apps are perfectly capable of hosting a first person shooter such as battlefield, there is a massive difference between it being incapable and simply not been done (actually there are FPS games, but they are more inline with the crap you see on android).
Your battlefield example is entirely bull**** either way as you seemed to be arguing for android whereas android doesnt have battlefield either.
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That's probably because you missed the point entirely. It has nothing to do with whether or not battlefield is an FPS. The point is that I've seen web browsers do more impressive things than RT apps. Battlefield is merely an example of why even Chrome is more valuable to me than RT.
SixSixSevenSeven said:
Even if microsoft ditched windows RT, the store is part of windows 8. It would still be present. Windows RT is just an ARM port of windows 8. WinRT is the so called "sandbox" store apps run in and is present on both operating systems.
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You aren't telling me anything new here. Microsoft has done something similar more than once and we've already seen the results: It'll just go derelict and then eventually deprecated but still kept around.
I actually wouldn't be surprised if MS created an app store for win32 apps similar to what apple is doing with OSX. Their current store model is just a flat out knockoff of the ios app model (contrast to the play store model where each publisher is at their own discretion, and some people still wonder why android/play is by far more popular than the rest) so they may as well go all the way with it.