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Credited and thanks so much to WINFONE7 in official windows phone 7 backstage forum by provide us these useful information. What I do is just copy and paste it here to share with XDA users and reduce the confusion.
So far we know Microsoft broke away from its native Windows Mobile stack and introduced a managed API platform for developers. Developers can use this platform to build third-party mobile apps that run on Microsoft Windows Phone OS 7.0 devices, which are expected at retail in October. The company's new line of attack rests on driving .NET developers and designers to use familiar tools and skill sets to build WP7 apps for a consumer marketplace. The WP7 application development platform is based on the Microsoft rich Internet application framework Silverlight, its gaming framework XNA and the .NET Compact Framework for micro devices. In February, Microsoft announced the XNA Framework -- which is used to build Xbox 360, Windows PC and Zune apps -- now supports Windows Phone and Silverlight. Microsoft is also leveraging its consumer-focused product channels and services by integrating Zune Media, Xbox Live and Windows Azure cloud services, a major focus throughout all of its products going forward. The Windows Phone System Design, which is code-named "Metro" for its allegiance to international signage in a clean layout with an original typeface, is closer to the Microsoft media player Zune HD than Windows. WP7 applications will be distributed through the Windows Phone Marketplace -- accessible via an integrated "hub" on all WP7 devices -- and through desktop PCs. In a model that's similar to the Apple App Store, developers can monetize their apps and earn up to 70 percent of revenues from applications that pass the Microsoft certification requirements. WP7 features an Office hub with Excel, Word, OneNote, SharePoint integration and networking in Silverlight, with Windows Communication Foundation (WCF), HttpWebRequest and WebClient. The user's personalized content on the phone drives the contextual experience, from live dynamic tiles on the Start screen to task--oriented hubs that offer a wider-than-the-screen panoramic view. Developers can build apps that take up a single screen, plug in to a Windows Phone app like the photo editor, or build hub-based panoramic experiences. You'll be able to create apps that look and feel like the Windows Phone apps that come in the box, but you'll also be able to go away from that. If you want to build a video game that's full screen and doesn't use any of the look-and-feel of Windows Phone, you can certainly do that as well. Microsoft is trying to ensure a consistent user experience for end users on both the hardware and software platforms. The WP7 devices, despite having different manufacturers, will all use an ARMv7 architecture with Cortex/Scorpion processor (or better) from Qualcomm Inc., a unified graphics subsystem (DirectX9), only two screen sizes and support capacitive touchscreens with four contact points. Other hardware specifications include 256MB RAM, 8GB Flash and a 5MP camera. First-generation WP7 devices will ship with a 800x480 WVGA touchscreen, with 480x320 HVGA expected sometime after the launch. When the second resolution is shipped, application and game developers will be expected to support both.WP7 supports standard phone-specific functionality and sensors that developers can tap into, such as location (Wi-Fi, cellular and GPS) and map control (Bing), compass, light proximity and accelerometer and push notifications. The location API works with Windows Azure cloud services. Despite the uniformity, WP7 devices will be available in different form factors; so far three prototypes have been shown. Chassis 1 is the ASUS phone used in engineering and demos by Microsoft with the onscreen keyboard. A second design is a sliding QWERTY keyboard by LG Electronics; the third is the Samsung slab-style phone.
I don't think these are final representations. Manufacturers are getting a great deal of flexibility in the look and feel of the phone. There will be a lot of innovation and industrial designs that are going to be available between now and the foreseeable future.
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Q: Will my current Windows Mobile phone get a Windows Phone 7 (WP7) update?
A: It's been announced that no current WinMo phone device (inc. the HD2) will be receiving an official WP7 update.
Q: How much will a WP7 phone cost; Who will manufacturer the phone?
A: WP7 isn't a phone, it's an all new Mobile Operating System from Microsoft. WP7 devices will be available from several device makers; HTC, Dell, LG, Samsung, Asus, etc. Prices will vary and is expected to be along the lines of current smartphone pricing.
Q: When will WP7 phone devices be available?
A: According to the announcement from Microsoft, phones will be available for the Holiday season, speculation is some of the first devices will be announced late September. Official release is rumored to be in October for Europe and November for the United States.
Q: Which US wireless service providers, will offer WP7 phones?
A: All the major wireless service providers in the US will offer WP7 phone devices. AT&T was announced as a Premier partner; might be the first to offer a WP7 phone or/and sell exclusive devices or features.
Q: Will there be Copy & Paste?
A: As it stands, No, this feature will not be available at release, according to Microsoft, WP7 will have smart links / smart sensing, this takes away the need for the copy/paste method in many situations. Smart links; which recognize a block of text, such as a hyperlink, phone number, or address, allow a specific action to be taken.
For a phone number, such "smart links" would allow the number to be dialed. An address might get pulled up in the mapping program, while clicking on a hyperlink would open that page in the browser. Implementing Copy/Paste would delay WP7's release, so MS is giving us the smart sensing feature at release, but several sources have reported Copy/Paste will come in form of an early update, but there is no official confirmation from Microsoft as of yet.
Q. Does Windows Phone support multitasking?
A.Yes, WP7 supports full out multitasking but 3rd party applications will not be allowed to run in the background unless it is through a MS service; instead the app will be paused when changing to another app., (Dehydrated state). This will allow the app to be brought back to the exact same state it was in before it was paused; reducing the strain on the phone's resources. (Hydrated state) (iPhone OS4 multitasking is similar)
Scenario: If an application is running when you the user switches to another application (by using the Start menu, or tapping on a notification, or via some other means) then the assumption as a platform is that the user now wants to focus on the new application, and doesn’t want the previous one interrupting their experience by grabbing memory, CPU, network bandwidth, or other resources. When an application is suspended, during this time, the application can save global state to disk, sign-off from web sites, or perform other clean-up operations. In general this should be relatively simple, because the page-based model of Windows Phone applications facilitates a relatively stateless programming model – much of your application’s state can be encoded in page URIs (as query-string data) or as small blobs of state, stored and retrieved on each page navigation, just like the web. After your application has finished pausing, it will be suspended and no further user code will execute. Note that you can still have push notifications coming in from the cloud, so the user can be kept up-to-date via toasts or you can have your tile updated with the latest information from the web. When your application is suspended, it is not killed immediately. If the user returns to the application “soon” then it can be resumed very quickly and the state saved during pause may not even be necessary. But if the user launches other applications that end up needing a lot of memory, your process will be killed and the memory will be relinquished to the foreground application. This is a key difference between Windows Phone 7 and previous versions of Windows Mobile – the foreground application gets access to virtually all the resources on the phone (memory, CPU, etc.) without having to worry about being starved by background apps that are doing random things at unpredictable times in the background.
If your process was not killed, resume is trivial – you don’t need to restore any state from disk, but you may need to re-start device features like accelerometer or location, and you may need to re-connect to any web services. Assuming your process was killed, the app uses the previously-saved data from pause to re-create your global state, and the per-page state / query-string data to recreate the page state for each page on the back stack. The end result of all this is that users can switch back and forth between applications and have the illusion of full multi-tasking without the downside of erratic resource usage.
Q. Will I be able to customize my OS?
A.Not to the extent you could in WinMo, but in some respects - yes. The O.S. will not allow extreme tweaking. However, it is known that there are at least two themes (black on white and white on black...more are speculated to come at launch) and the tile colors can be changed currently to your choice of six colours. On a deeper level, such as modifying the underlying OS and accessing the file system - it may not be possible to do this "out of the box".
Q: Is WP7 geared just toward the consumer market only?
A: No, WP7 offers many business features at release and will continue to add more.
Business features of the WP7 OS:
Is built from the ground up using industry best practices in secure software development (Secure Development Lifecycle).
Deeply Integrates email, calendar and contacts with Exchange Server enabling rich, seamless email and calendar management to enhance productivity.
Integrates with SharePoint through the SharePoint Workspace client, enabling enhanced collaboration through offline document access and syncing.
Helps protect corporate informationby securing the device through PINs and passwords. Information is further protected by not allowing access to data via PC tethering or support for removable SD cards. In addition, Windows Phone 7 supports IT managed EAS policies such as Require Password, Password Strength, Remote Wipe and Reset to Factory Settings with multiple failed unlock attempts.
Helps ensure data reliability and integrity through application sandboxing and managed code.Windows Phone 7 ensures communications channels between applications cannot be opened and critical system resources cannot be accessed. Most malware threats are introduced through the browser. IE Mobile helps ensure that malicious code cannot be launched from web sites, thus reducing this threat.
Provides certification and verification of applications and content through Windows Phone Marketplace, further enhancing security.
Enables secure data transmission through 128 or 256 Bit SSL Encryption.
Supports secure accessto on-premise applications and network resources using Forefront Universal Access Gateway (UAG).
Is future ready with cloud / services integration. Through the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), Microsoft offers hosted Exchange and SharePoint services. Windows Phone 7 will support mobile access to BPOS from Outlook Mobile and the Office Hub.
Check out Windows Phone for business:
www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/business/default.mspx">http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/en-us/business/default.mspx
Q: What are the hardware specifications for the WP7 devices.
A: Microsoft put an end to freestyle design. Minimum hardware requirements are as follows:
Screen
Capacitive touch with 4 or more contact points
WVGA (800×480) or HVGA (480×320) resolution
No screen size requirements announced; rumors for Chassis 1 is 3.6" or larger.
Sensors
A-GPS, Accelerometer, Compass, ambient Light, Proximity sensor
Camera
5 mega pixels or more, flash required, camera shutter button required
Multimedia
No detailed specs, Codec Acceleration
Memory
256 MB RAM or more, 8 GB Flash or more
GPU
DirectX 9 and video acceleration
CPU
ARMv7 Cortex/Scorpion (1GHz) or better
5 Required Hardware Buttons
On/Off & Camera. These three, Start, Search (BING), and Back must be fixed to the front of the device.
Q: Will WP7 phones have a slide-out keyboard; what form factor will the phones be?
A: Several sources confirm that there will be three Chassis/form factors at this stage.
Chassis 1 (first devices to hit the market): Will be a slab, large touch screen with high performance specs, no hardware keyboard. Ex: HTC's rumored HD3 pictured, with a 4.5" screen.
Chassis 2: described as a portrait device with a sliding keyboard, DELL Lightning pictured, assumed to be this form factor.
Chassis 3: All we know is that it may have a smaller screen and rumors are that it may be a BB Curve or Palm Centro styled form factor.
Rumored WP7 devices
(W-stands for world phone; CDMA & GSM)
Based on research I've come across. Not confirmed.
HTC
Gold_W - Sprint
Shubert - GSM
Mondrian - GSM
Spark_W - Verizon
Scorpio, aka Olympian - Verizon
Mozart - GSM
T8788 (slide out speaker) - GSM - AT&T
HD7 (rumored to be HD3)
LG
GW910, aka Panther - GSM/CDMA
E900 - GSM
C900 - GSM
Optimus - GSM
Samsung
I917, aka Cetus
Taylor
SGH i707
i8700
DELL
Lightning - GSM
ASUS
Name unknown
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Make your PC look like WP7!
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/13901/make-your-pc-look-like-windows-phone-7/
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Device Connectivity (From the Windows Phone 7 Developer Forums)
Is ActiveSync still used to connect the device to the PC?
No, synchronization is automatic similar to the way the Zune HD connects to the PC.
How should I transfer information over the Internet?
Web technologies such as HTTPGET and WebServices are supported as methods of communicating on the Internet. You can also use Push Notifications for communication when your application is not running.
Can I use Sockets for peer to peer communication?
Windows Phone 7 Series currently does not expose the Socket classes. While the version of Silverlight on the phone follows closely the feature list for Silverlight 3 on the desktop, it is a subset of those features and will not contain all classes. (It also holds a superset of classes not available in Silverlight 3.)
How can I connect with another client in real-time?
Peer-to-peer communication is not supported with this initial release of Windows Phone 7 Series. We are always evaluating the needs of our developers and users though and it may be determined that this feature be added in the future.
From the Windows Phone 7 Developer Forums
Thanks dscammell
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VOICE/SPEECH RECOGNITION:
Great article on what Microsoft has in store for WP7's www.computerworld.com/s/article/9180144/Microsoft_hopes_WP_7_speech_features_surpass_Android_iPhone">http://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...s_WP_7_speech_features_surpass_Android_iPhone
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Info about Microsoft's Azure Cloud
Currently Azure cloud includes:
LiveMesh
Skydrive
Microsoft’s HealthVault service
energy-monitoring Hohm service
Services currently not running on Azure: but will eventually.
Hotmail
Xbox Live
Microsoft’s hosted Exchange Online
SharePoint Online
CRM Online
Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS)
Danger services for mobile devices
Microsoft hasn’t provided a timetable as to when it will transfer all services to Azure but one thing is certain WP7 will be highly integrated with cloud services. The thought of having all this and other services MS is currently working on, gives WP7 fans a reason to get excited.
Windows Phone 7 Series Developer General FAQ
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Fo...s/thread/2892a6f0-ab26-48d6-b63c-e38f62eda3b3
Thanks again to WINFONE7
Cheers...hope this help....
WP7 desperately need a 3g to wifi tethering app like myfi. I used to have an iphone but switched WP7 and now I need a 'myfi' like app badly.
Can someone some building this app ASAP.
at present it's not possible to even build one as there aren't any APIs for it. I'm sure this has been asked quite a few times on this forum already... please search... rather than just continually asking what people deem as a common requirement. also search the pinned threads as they're a good place to start for missing functionality...
There are APIs. Samsung phones can tether so yh APIs are there. WP7 is just CE with some changes/additions. Microsoft just isn't allowing access to the APIs...
Sent from my HD7 using Board Express
I would think that OEMs have a different set of APIs which provide them with native capabilities. I doubt the OEMs are writting their apps in just C# otherwise MS would have released those APIs as well.
also to note, those phones that can tether is done through the diagnostics, which would imply that they should be already in all windows phones and just dormant. i highly doubt it's specific to samsung phones. it may be that we only know how to do it with samsung phones now.
The Gate Keeper said:
I would think that OEMs have a different set of APIs which provide them with native capabilities. I doubt the OEMs are writting their apps in just C# otherwise MS would have released those APIs as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's my point. The APIs exist, as does the base Windows CE system.
We just don't have the development tools nor do we have access to that level of the system to be able to write those applications ourselves.
We're limited to sandboxed Silverlight-based applications, but Microsoft and OEMs can use Native Code and APIs we don't have access to.
They exist, we just don't have access to them. Apple does the same thing with iOS.
Thanks for agreeing with me, though
also to note, those phones that can tether is done through the diagnostics, which would imply that they should be already in all windows phones and just dormant. i highly doubt it's specific to samsung phones. it may be that we only know how to do it with samsung phones now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which also means WP7 supports tethering. The functionality just isn't exposed to users in the general user interface, that is why you have to dig for it. The same thing is true for Sideloading XAPs, among other things.
It's there. The OS is totally capable of it. WP7 did, in fact, inherit a ton of functionality from Windows Mobile. The difference is that the new UI doesn't expose it to the user, and applications (and the system) are managed in a totally different way.
There's a huge difference between "does not exist" and "exists, but functionality is not exposed in the UI."
Windows on a PC can access drives, etc. by device name, but that is not exposed in the UI - for example. The same is true for many features in WP7 that are there by virtue of it being based on CE and tied (although Microsoft would want you to think differently) to Windows Mobile. They just chose not to expose this functionality.
Not saying it's totalyl based on WM, since that's obviously untrue. If that was the case stuff like full Exchange support, Video support for MMS, etc. would be working.
But the fact that this stuff is there and they're dragging their feet to allow users to use it is what's keeping lots of users off of WP7 at the moment. It's taking them too long to make changes that seem too simple... Maybe for the sake of security, I don't know. They haven't really been transparent with early adopters, IMO.
EDIT: Also, you can call Native Code from managed languages (C#, VB.NET, Java, etc.), so I'm pretty sure they are writing their apps in C# and only calling native code/libraries when they need to. Writing it in straight C/C++ is [potentially] more dangerous than using a Managed Language with Interop. I can't see Microsoft going for that.
Hello XDA,
I have developed an app called Ring My Droid (Scan the QR-Code attached with this post).
Currently this app is only available for the Android platform through the Google Play Store.
I am learning to develop apps for the Windows Phone platform too. But, then I came across this section of the XDA Forum and I am interested to know if anyone out here is aware of a tool or a website or blog providing tutorials or a methodology for porting my existing application to the Windows Phone platform?
This may be a noob question, but I am very new to programming for Windows Phone so bear with me..
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.
prognosis: serious
I don't know of any frameworks off the top of my head, but I can infer some of the answers based on experience in other platforms. And those answers are not very promising, unfortunately.
1) If you want your app to be cross-platform, you need to design it as such from inception. Otherwise you're in for a lot of work no matter how you slice it.
2) Because WP and Android use different languages for native apps, you have a big problem in just getting your source code targeted to both platforms. If your codebase is already in Java, you'll need a Java -> C#/VB/C++ translator to make it work. I'm not sure that a product like that exists. If you had started with, say, C#, you could utilize something like Xamarin to target Android and WP at the same time, but like I said I'm not aware of anything similar for Java->C#.
3) If your app is written in HTML 5, then you could adapt it to work on WP8 with very little extra effort. But in that case I bet you would have already known that you're cross-platform-compatible and wouldn't ask this question to begin with.
4) If you're resigned to rewriting your app while maintaining its core design the same, then the basic methodology is as follows:
a) refactor your app into well-defined, loosely coupled components.
b) factor away all Android specific APIs into adapter classes and have all "core" functionality written in terms of those adapters
c) port your core classes to a different platform (WP) in a WP-supported language, such as C#. This would be a straight, mechanical but nevertheless manual rewrite.
d) reimplement your missing adapters on WP to take advantage of WP APIs, while leaving internal-facing interfaces the same, so your core classes just work.
e) all of this makes sense only if there is enough complex core functionality to warrant the rearchitecture + translation. If your app is little more than glue shuffling data between external data sources, then all of this is not worth it, and a compete rewrite is the only way to go (sorry I don't have a QR reader readily available right now so I can't check your app directly).
Summary
The Android Developer / Programmer works as a member of the Internet Development team to develop and implement Android applications for our line of products.
Responsibilities
Work with colleagues and Project Managers to build and refine functionality for Android applications.
Develop innovative, Android-based tools for our line of air purifier products.
Work closely with Project Managers and other members of the Development Team to both develop detailed specification documents with clear project deliverables and timelines, and to ensure timely completion of deliverables.
Produce project estimates during R&D process, including expertise required, total number of people required, total number of development hours required, etc.
Work with raw images and layouts from a graphic designer and incorporate them into an app that will run on multiple Android operating system versions and multiple screen sizes
Determine appropriate architecture, and other technical solutions, and make relevant recommendations to R&D.
Communicate to the Project Manager with efficiency and accuracy any progress and/or delays. Engage in outside-the-box thinking to provide high value-of-service to clients.
Alert colleagues to emerging technologies or applications and the opportunities to integrate them into operations and activities.
Attend meetings during the R&D process and during development.
Qualifications
3-5 years minimum Android development experience
Strong object-oriented design and programming skills in Java (J2EE/J2ME)
Demonstrated ability to take an app design from inception to implementation, including publication in the Google App Store
Experience developing Android apps for the Enterprise (in-house) environment
3 years minimum experience working with relational database systems such as SQLite, MySQL, or similar database management system
Development experience utilizing Android SDK
Experience with web service integration (SOAP, REST, JSON, XML)
Experience using social media APIs (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
Excellent debugging and optimization skills
Experience with version control (e.g. GIT)
BS in computer science or a related field preferred, or significant equivalent experience
Excellent English communication skills, both written and verbal
Small Details
Work in a small, flexible international team
Extensive on the job training
Company with strong value system
A 50 year history of excellence
A competitive salary and benefits package that includes:
Medical, dental & Vision
401K Plan with company match
On-site gym
A Slide!
Weekly catered lunches
And much, much more!
With the rise of mobile devices, companies have even greater incentive to streamline and scale their agile processes through the use of enterprise test management software.
Agile methodologies have put countless software makers in position to move quickly on demanding projects, through a combination of rigorous testing regimens and close collaboration between developers and operations teams. With the rise of mobile devices, companies have even greater incentive to streamline and scale their agile processes through the use of QA management tools, which support manual and automated testing and coordination of development across multiple project groups.
Mobile app development and the need for automated testing
Last quarter, more Internet traffic originated from mobile phones than desktop PCs. Plus, most of that activity – 80 percent – came from native apps rather than Web browsers, underscoring key changes in what end-users expect from software, namely speed, reliability and usability. According to Appurify CEO Jay Srinivasan, a 2013 uSamp study found that more than 70 percent of respondents will delete a mobile app after it crashes, even if it’s the first such incident.
Certainly, the challenges of creating high-quality, stable mobile apps can become a money sink for some shops. There are many platforms to address, each with its own nuances, and development costs can easily run past six figures. How can developers and QA analysts keep up with the growing demands and pressures of the current mobile app environment?
For starters, it’s worth reexamining what kinds of tools are currently being used and if and how they ensure that quality standards are being met. Some teams may limit themselves to crash analytics and manual tests, but such an approach is increasingly unsuited for development schedules that require software to be pushed out rapidly to substantial - and growing - user bases. The maturity of the mobile hardware ecosystem also means that numerous devices have to be accounted for in each testing cycle.
“Another issue we see is that developers have an over reliance on manual testing methods,” observed Srinivasan for BetaNews. “With device fragmentation resulting in more than 30 device and OS combinations for iOS, and an order of magnitude more for Android, manual testing is not a scalable approach for mobile developers. To ensure performance and functionality of your app prelaunch, across all selected device and OS combinations, developers should add test automation to their mobile testing tool kit.”
Mobile devices are also subject to myriad volatile conditions such as mobile data connection strength and limited memory allotments. Performing diligent testing requires the definition, reuse and analysis of complex test scenarios. Fortunately, organizations can use test management systems to overhaul and scale their testing process for current market realities.
Does agile development enable the right level of testing?
Automated testing is a key enabler of agile and test-driven development, methodologies that have allowed enterprises to “produce higher-quality software within swifter release cycles that is more in tune with user needs,” in the words of Skytap executive Sumit Mehrotra. With more devices to manage and applications becoming fundamental to consumer and business workflows (it’s perhaps telling that Bank of America now does more development than Microsoft), it seems that organizations could never perform too much manual and automated testing, considering the stakes.
“The standard explanation for why we create automated tests is that by having them, we can know that our system continues to work properly even while adding new functionality or refactoring existing code,” wrote Mark Balbes for Application Development Trends on agile testing practices. “Test-driven and behavior-driven development takes this a step further by using automated tests to drive software design.”
However, there has been some recent debate about the place of test-driven development and automation and whether they have caused teams to actually implement excessive levels of testing. Balbes himself takes up this point in his article, pointing out that such practice could increase the difficulty of refactoring down the line.
The key may be developing a knack for knowing when to perform unit and integration tests on given types of objects, which may take time - and is ultimately more of an art than a science. But for organizations committed to agile development, tools such as agile test management platforms provide the foundation for setting up testing processes that are tailored to their respective needs. Both manual and automated tests are supported, and progress can be easily tracked so that measures can be refined over time.