It's not all software at MIX10, as Samsung has slipped a slate Windows Phone into the mix. It's the second actual device we've seen Windows Phone 7 Series on (we're not counting the ASUS prototype device), following the LG slider.

We don't really know what's inside this Sammy phone -- it's said to have a great camera and screen. But the exact specs of either (is it a Super AMOLED screen, perhaps?) aren't known. Check out the video after the break. [via Neowin]

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One of the things that's new (and long overdue) in the new Windows Phone is better control over how apps look and feel. By now we have a pretty good look at the whole "panoramic" theme going on, as content flows easily from east to west and back again.

How's that all being done? Microsoft spells it out in its Windows Phone Design and UI Interaction Guide. Think of it as a "how-to" for application developers. [pdf link]

I've gone on record several times as saying that the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, which debuted last fall alongside Windows Mobile 6.5, felt rushed at best, and half-baked at worst, at least as far as the user experience goes.

You can cast any such feelings aside, it appears, with Windows Phone 7 Series. The Windows Phone Marketplace ties right in with the Metro interface and finally -- at least in appearance -- seems to be worthy of the operating system on which it resides.

LAS VEGAS -- Immersive apps and gaming is a main focus for Microsoft with Windows Phone 7 Series. Today at MIX10, Microsoft announced details of the services developers have at their disposal:

• Accelerometer, an intuitive control that responds to motion
• A Microsoft Location Service to provide developers with a single point of reference to acquire location information
• Microsoft Notification Service for pushing information to the phone, regardless of whether or not an application is running
• Hardware-accelerated video with digital rights management (DRM)
• Internet Information Services Smooth Streaming for the industry’s highest quality content viewing experience
• Multitouch
• Camera and microphone support

Two things that stand out there: Multitouch -- obviously a hot topic these days -- and push notifications, which will work regardless of whether the application is running.

LAS VEGAS -- We were promised more answers at MIX10, and now we're getting them. Microsoft this morning announced its developer tools for Windows Phone 7 Series.

Front and center is Silverlight. The Silverlight 4 Release Candidate is now available, "which will enable developers to create and deploy even more robust applications and rich interactive experiences." It finally brings what was born as a Flash alternative to the mobile space -- and not just as another way to view content in a browser. Silverlight's a major player here, folks, along with the XNA framework that's already been discussed.

Developer tools are free, including Expression Blend, and a preview of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express is part of the download. What, you're not up on your Expression Blend? It's a "development workflow tool which includes features such as Path Layout to enable developers and designers to build and animate innovative UI design via ground-breaking visual layout mechanism, without the need to write code. The beta also supports Silverlight 4, .NET Framework 4 and Visual Studio 2010." Think of it as more of a visual tool, rather than coding line by line.

Windows Phone Marketplace replaces the Windows Marketplace for Mobile (finally, Microsoft manages to find a shorter name for something), which brings "a new merchandising tool that will enable developers and designers to bring applications and games to market and increase the discoverability of applications with customers while supporting one-time credit card purchases, mobile operator billing and advertising-funded applications."

There's tons more to come this week, and we'll dive deeper into things as the week progresses.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, we're back in Las Vegas for MIX10, where Microsoft will serve up more details about Windows Phone 7 Series.

We're expecting a whole lot of inside baseball -- this is a developers conference, after all. But we're also expecting to see some answers for questions that were left lingering after Mobile World Congress.

We'll have live coverage from this morning's keynote (9 a.m. PDT), and more today and throughout the week. Stay with us.

Our brother editor Rene Ritchie of TiPB fame is still out at GDC 2010 in San Francisco, and he's caught up with Microsoft's Loke Uei to talk a little more about developing for Windows Phone 7 Series, and what's coming up. Check it out after the break!

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HTC announced the HTC HD Mini just a few weeks ago at the 2010 Mobile World Congress and it is now surfacing on Amazon.com's UK site. The listing is for pre-orders of the Windows Phone at a price of 369 pounds (about $556US). The listing indicates the HD Mini is due to be released on April 14, 2010.

As an added bonus, if you happen to live in the United Kingdom, Amazon is also throwing in free shipping.  Still no indication on whether or not the HD Mini will head across the pond to U.S. Markets.

Via: Engadget.com

Without totally taking the lid off of our treasure trove of questions regarding Windows Phone 7 Series, Microsoft did answer some questions last night with a Q&A on Twitter and on the blog of Charlie Kindel, the Partner Group Program Manager for the Windows Phone Application Platform & Developer Experience.

First off, Charlie talked about app development (and we'll remind you that apps are going to have an overall different feeling in the way they run on 7). The major development languages will be .NET, Silverlight, XNA (which is already in use on the Zune HD), and Web 2.0 standards. And it's now officially official: No backward compatibility. Wrote Charlie:

For us, the cost of going from good to great is a clean break from the past. To enable the fantastic user experiences you’ve seen in the Windows Phone 7 Series demos so far we’ve had to break from the past. To deliver what developers expect in the developer platform we’ve had to change how phone apps were written. One result of this is previous Windows mobile applications will not run on Windows Phone 7 Series.

And that's the main theme. Windows Phone 7 Series is not Windows Mobile. Microsoft's going to be repeating that for a while, we fear, and so shall we. And a break of this magnitude is hardly unprecedented, as witnessed by our pals at PreCentral.net. It can be argued that Palm's move to webOS has hurt more than it's helped, but we're willing to bet that Palm's long exclusivity period with Sprint (thus keeping devices out of more hands) did more than the change in operating system.

Anyhoo, another repeated phrase was "there will be more at MIX" in a couple weeks in Las Vegas. And to Vegas we shall go. Stay tuned, folks. [Charlie Kindel's blog | Twitter]

We still don't have a clear picture if the new Windows Phone 7 Series operating system (also known as "Metro") will actually be made available on any current hardware (the HTC HD2 is a possibility, but its standing changes day by day). But you might be able to at least make your phone look like it's got what it takes, thanks to some clever skinning. Everything's still in the early stages and is a little janky, but you get the idea. [XDA]