A Trio of Windows Phone 7 Previews

Looks like some folks have been given the green light to talk publicly about their experience as early users of preview Windows Phone 7 devices.

MobileCrunch, Engadget, and Gizmodo have all posted previews of Windows Phone 7 this morning, and the takeaway from them is overwhelmingly positive, despite a couple of sour ending notes (more on that in a sec).

From what I can gather, it appears that all three previewers were working with the same device, the Samsung prototype. I haven’t had any hands-on time with the Samsung, but the experience they describe is consistent with my experience with the LG device I’ve been using. Some of my favorite quotes:

• MobileCrunch - "Who the hell did Microsoft hire to make this keyboard? Because whatever they’re being paid, they deserve a raise."
• MobileCrunch - "The People Hub is Windows Phone 7’s take on an contact book — and it’s pretty dang slick."
• MobileCrunch - "The camera user experience joins the keyboard on the list of pleasant surprises…It’s perhaps the most intuitive photo taking interface I’ve ever seen."
• Engadget - "We were extremely surprised and impressed by the software's touch responsiveness and speed. In fact, this is probably the most accurate and nuanced touch response this side of iOS4."
• Engadget - "Let's just put this up front: the keyboard in Windows Phone 7 is really, really good."
• Engadget - "The email app on the phone is pretty terrific on the whole, providing a clean, clear layout and upfront options for your most-used functions."
• Gizmodo - "Music and video on the phone is exactly what'd you hope: It's Zune HD, the app…"
• Gizmodo - "The Outlook app might be the best mail app on any phone. Giant black text on a white background, it's actually kind of gorgeous, and makes most mail apps feel dated."
• Gizmodo - "Windows Phone 7 is good. Really good."

Read the previews via the links below for the full story, but there’s lots more like the above. One gripe I have is that both Engadget and MobileCrunch seem to have felt a pressing need to toss in a negative note at the end of what seemed to me to be overall very positive previews of what is, after all, a work in progress, with months before it hits shelves. Not sure whether this was out of some feeling that being too positive would harm their street cred or what, but given the tone of everything that preceded it, in both cases the debbie downer closing paragraph seemed to come from left field.

Do you agree? Are you excited about Windows Phone 7? Let me know in the comments!

MobileCrunch Windows Phone 7 Preview

Engadget Windows Phone 7 Preview

Gizmodo Windows Phone 7 Preview

UPDATE: Just found a VERY thorough preview from ZDNet, so I wanted to include the link to that as well…still working my way through, but good info so far:

ZDNet Windows Phone 7 Preview

Want to get in on the ground floor building apps for Windows Phone 7?

http://developer.windowsphone.com/