MWC 2011 Live: Nokia Windows Phone 7 Hands-on Preview Not Yet Available; But We Looked at Existing WP7 Handsets

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One of the most interesting affairs in the mobile world was consumed the on the Friday before this year’s edition of the Mobile World Congress. Naturally I am talking about the unholy alliance between Nokia and Microsoft, which could be what the doctor ordered. But will Nokia manage to make popular an ecosystem that it’s taking its time to get some decent mind- and market share?

I wondered about the Microsoft booth at MWC 2011 hoping to find any trace of a future Nokia WP7 handset and, unfortunately there was none. The Microsoft staff wasn’t able to provide such information in the first place and all I managed to do was to get some decent hands-on time with the current Windows Phone 7 lineup.

I will say that while I’ll rather get an iOS device or an Android smartphone if someone offered me a choice right now, I wouldn’t say no to a WP7 handset either especially after the WP7 update that was talked about and briefly demoed on stage yesterday.

Looking at the Dell Venue Pro, at the HTC Mozart, Pro, Trophy, HD7 and Surround, at the LG Quantum and at the Samsung Omnia 7 and Focus, I realized how similar these handsets are in person (check the links for more details about each phone). Windows Phone 7 runs pretty smoothly and there’s definitely potential behind this new mobile OS. But the fact that Microsoft has its manufacturing partners launching batches of WP7 handsets which are all very similar when it comes to specs and features might not be in Microsoft’s advantage. Some sort of differentiation would certainly be welcomes, although, on a different hand such strict hardware requirements would ensure a simple WP7 update process, once Microsoft feels good and ready to launch it.

Naturally when handling these devices, even briefly, I couldn’t help think which device I’d actually get and I’m inclined to choose between the HTC HD7, the HD2 successor, or one of Samsung’s handsets. What matters though is not what I’d choose but what consumers choose. And they’re pretty much selection iOS and Android smarphones right now. I personally can’t wait to see what the first Nokia WP7 handset will look like and what it will be able to do. And from what they tell me I’ll see one only later, possibly before this year’s holiday season.

Have you purchased any Windows Phone 7 handset yet?

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