It is a well known fact that the phone maker HTC heavily uses the Sense user interface. This is how most people are able to associate most of the Taiwan based company’s mobile phones despite the fact that the operating systems are often different.
With the Windows Phone 7 however, it seems that HTC knows that they will not be using the custom user interface. Of course, this is what Microsoft truly wants. Among the initial list of hardware requirements for the new operating system, they also indicated certain other restrictions as well. Among these was that phone makers cannot use a custom UI skin. Microsoft wants users to be able to enjoy a uniform experience when using any Windows Phone handset.
The user interface for the WP7 is already quite impressive. Even HTC admits that there is really no need to use the custom user interface. Instead, HTC will be adding in some pre-installed custom tiles to the already existing page layouts in the OS.
Tiles are the new widgets for the Windows Phone 7 OS. It allows users to insert any form of content and data that they can constantly monitor and instantly access if needed.
According to Microsoft, the new WP7 OS and the first handsets to showcase the platform will be coming out in September. While it was originally announced that the first devices would be launching by the end of the year, they have managed to meet development and production deadlines a lot earlier. If this keeps up, Microsoft might even try for a late August release date –though that is already an unlikely scenario.
HTC’s Mondrian smart phone has been recently revealed to be getting a name change to the HTC Gold. While it is confirmed that the phone will indeed be a WP7 device, the spec details have yet to be revealed.
Tags: HTC, HTC-Sense, Microsoft-Windows-Phone-7, Windows-Phone-7