Windows Phone 7 launching October 21st

Microsoft officially launched Windows Phone 7 last night, and also introduced the world to ten of its launch handsets, made by HTC, Dell, LG, and Samsung. More than 30 countries will get their hands on these devices by the end of the year, and just as rumours indicated - will start with select countries in Europe and Asia (Singapore, Australia, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, and Germany) by October 21st, while the United States will get it by November 8th. So far, only two of the announced phones are carrier-independent, and perhaps we might see those hit Indian shores first...Check out the understated WP7 ads below and on the next page, with the tagline "save us from our phones".

Microsoft’s minimum hardware specifications for Windows Phone 7 devices by today’s smartphone standards weren’t too demanding, and it looks like none of the four manufacturers have tried to differentiate their devices by juicing up the configurations, or upping the ante on the smartphone game. There are some notable exceptions however, with the 4.3-inch screen-bearing HTC HD7, the 4.1-inch screen-bearing vertical-sliding Dell Venue Pro (aka Lightning), and the massive speaker-sporting HTC 7 Surround.

Let us take a look at the ten phones below, comparing their features, manufacturer by manufacturer:

HTC

Model	7 Mozart	7 Surround	7 Pro	7 Trophy (Spark)	HD7 (Schubert)
CPU	1GHz Qualcomm MSM8250	1GHz Qualcomm MSM8250	1GHz Qualcomm MSM8250	1GHz Qualcomm MSM8250	1GHz Qualcomm MSM8250
Screen	3.7" 480 x 800	3.8" 480 x 800	3.6" 480 x 800	3.8" 480 x 800	4.3" 480 x 800 LCD
Storage	8GB	16GB	16GB	8GB	8GB/16GB
Camera	8MP, AF, Xenon flash, 720p	5MP, AF, LED flash, 720p	5MP, AF, LED flash, 720p	5MP, AF, LED flash, 720p	5MP, AF, dual-LED flash, 720p
Dimensions	119x60.2x11.9mm	119.5x61.5x12.97mm	117x59x15.5mm

LG

Model	Optimus 7	Quantum / Optimus 7Q
CPU	1GHz	1GHz Qualcomm QSD8650
Screen	3.8" 480 x 800 LCD	3.5" 480 x 800
Storage	16GB	16GB
Camera	5MP, LED flash	5MP, 720p HD recording
Carrier(s)	Telus (Canada), América Móvil (Mexico), Movistar (Spain), Vodafone (Germany, Italy, Spain and UK), SingTel (Singapore)	AT&T (US), Telstra (Australia)

Dell

Model	Venue Pro (Lightning)
CPU	1GHz Qualcomm QSD8250
Screen	4.1" 480 x 800 AMOLED
Storage	-
Camera	5MP, flash
Carrier(s)	T-Mobile (US)

Samsung

Model	Focus (Cetus)	Omnia 7 (i8700)
CPU	-	1GHz Qualcomm QSD8250
Screen	4" 480 x 800 Super AMOLED	4" 480 x 800 Super AMOLED
Storage	8GB (microSD expansion up to 16GB)	8GB
Camera	5MP, LED flash	5MP, LED flash, 720p at 25fps
Carrier(s)	AT&T (US)	Orange (France and UK), SFR (France), Movistar (Spain), Deutsch Telekom