Dell preps Windows Phone 7 portrait slider Dell is building all sorts of new-age handhelds - including a portrait slider phone running Windows Phone 7 and branded with Microsoft's Windows logo - according to a new report. Engadget reports that the Dell slider phone - called Lightning - will offer multi-touch, a QWERTY keypad, 5Mp auto-focus camera, 1GB Flash memory, …
"As part of this, there is a single Windows Phone 7 hardware specification that includes guidelines around screen options, storage, camera functionality, and processing."
In other words, "We don't care what color you paint it, as long as it's beige." So there will be different walls around the garden, but it'll still be a walled garden.
The limitation MS is imposing is one of minimum functionality. There is no wall preventing manufacturers beating the minimum, is there?
I've not heard of hardware referred to as a "walled garden" before. It normally means hardware owners are restricted in the services to which they connect, or the software they can install. Telling a user they can't have flash or use skype-like services on wi-fi is very different to telling them they can't install a camera in their phone!
No, I don't think it's vaporware, but sometimes Dell just muffs the delivery, and the results are pretty messy.
I still remember the horror that was the Dell DJ (my ex-wife had one). Actually using that thing was a bit of a screamer, and getting songs onto it made iTunes look perfectly intuitive by comparison. It got donated to a younger in-law's kid as a present, I think.
The tablet may provide something better, but I'm not really a tablet kind of guy anyway - will leave that to the fanboys (of either camp) to argue over. *shrug*.
(and to be fair, they did sell big-screen LCD televisions quite well back in the day...)
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