Andrew Douglas B2B journalist, turned PR man, specializing in new media.

Windows Phone 7 Series – first impressions

First off, I had to basically cut and paste the name of Microsoft's new phone into the headline above to get it right. As the WSJ says, it sounds like the product of a typical Microsoft name-by-committee brainstorming.

Secondly, I need to be honest. I don't trust Microsoft. Being the overwhelming market share leader in PC software has allowed them to release inferior products. I can just see this phone saving its most horrific crashes for my most important phone calls.

That said, this new smarthphone OS looks interesting. I like how they've grouped applications into something like folders. The "desktop" space on my wife's iPhone or my son's iTouch is very busy. It's hard to find what you're looking for in the mess of applications. This OS looks more organized.

Other cool ideas:

• Every phone must have an FM radio and four points of touch on the screen
• There will be a special Bing (search) button which will allow one-touch access to one of the more common tasks, not to mention the fact that it will instantly boost the number of Bing users
• Real-time updates from Facebook, email, voicemail and, one would think, Twitter
• Most recent contacts stay at the top of the list
• Nice redesign of the typical user interface. I like the big, blocky type. It also looks like they've grouped like-applications.
• The People Hub where all my friends' feeds, from Facebook, Twitter, etc., will be grouped in one place

The wild card is the hardware. Microsoft says they're going to be careful which suppliers install Windows Phone 7 on which hardware. We'll have to wait and see.