InsideMicrosoft Focuses on Windows Mobile 7
January 7, 2008 by Jason Bean
Filed under Computers
The InsideMicrosoft blog has some serious coverage of what may be what we’ll be using in our Windows powered mobile devices in the near future. Touch screen (a la iPhone or Microsoft Surface depending on your point of view) will be key, but how about motion gestures like you’d expect while playing the Nintendo Wii?
Windows Mobile 7 will use motion gestures, something the iPhone does not. It will not use an intricate and complicated series of gyroscopes and accelerometers. Instead, it will use the camera on the phone to detect motions and create appropriate actions. You will be able to shake, twist and otherwise manipulate the phone and get things done. The phone will be able to perform actions when placed face down on a surface, and it will know when it is in your pocket or bag.
Sounds pretty cool, but I can just envision a bunch of business people in a lobby shaking and swinging their phones to get stuff done. Interesting, but I’ll need to see it in real-world application to make a final decision.
That’s VERY interesting. Kinda neat too. It means that normal PDAs can be upgraded. I’ve probably spent 6-16 hours this week getting my Win Mobile 6 phone customized to my satisfaction. Having the 4gb card in helps but now I’ve found out how to support up to 32gb microsd cards and I’m bummed about my brand new 4gb card. :)
The thing is totally transformed now. I could even convert it over to an iPhone format if I wanted. But this use of the camera is cool. You could even use the phone as a bluetooth mouse for your laptop with that technology. fix the screen right and you could have 10 or more mouse buttons and tilt wheel.
Of course you’d be scraping the back of your phone all over your desk…