Well, Microsoft did originally say: “the phone is not a PC”. And thus they made the new Windows Phone 7 series mobile platform. In a light bit of irony, it appears that the new mobile platform will be sporting one key trait we often see in computer software: minimum hardware requirements.
Looks like mobile phone manufacturers hoping to use the new OS on a device will have to fit a certain bill in order to run the new platform properly.
From what Steve Ballmer and the folks at Microsoft has shown us all at the Mobile World Congress, the new Windows Phone 7 OS will be very graphic intensive, requiring plenty of processing power for the animations and high rates of screen refresh. Some people have even commented that the user interface is pretty much over the top, surpassing the iPhone in the sheer number of dynamic elements and it even makes the Android look pretty static.
Speaking of hardware, the big factor here is the processor. With Microsoft already having a solid tie up with Qualcomm for this platform, we would not be surprised to see the Snapdragon as a minimum requirement for handling this new OS. On the other hand, the touch screen would have to be a big capacitive display. Most preferably AMOLED, though we doubt that would be the actual requirement –as long as the screen is large enough, it would be enough to handle the graphic heavy OS.
The phone chassis for the new platform has also been identified. According to a recent podcast, there will be three different chassis types. The first is a standard touch screen look –think iPhone. The second is a touch screen that has a slide out QWERTY keyboard, while the third last chassis type is a candy bar type.
Read more about the WP7 hardware requirements on Know Your Mobile.
Tags: Windows-Phone-7