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Hands on with Windows Phone 7

With the launch of Windows Phone 7 behind us, we take a closer look at some of the new handsets on offer from HTC, Samsung and LG.

Joseph Hanlon
Joe capitalises on a life-long love of blinking lights and upbeat MIDI soundtracks covering the latest developments in smartphones and tablet computers. When not ruining his eyesight staring at small screens, Joe ruins his eyesight playing video games and watching movies.
Joseph Hanlon
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HTC Trophy

With Microsoft launching Windows Phone 7 (WP7) around the world yesterday, there were plenty of opportunities by the CNET team to photograph the new range of Windows-powered smartphones. Giving you a close-up on what to expect from the new platform, we bring you photos both from our team in Australia and in the US.

Up first you'll see the HTC Trophy, the only WP7 phone exclusive to Vodafone and 3 Mobile in Australia, followed by the Samsung Omnia 7 and the LG Optimus 7 and 7Q. Seeing as the interface on these phones is almost identical, we've focused instead on the hardware of these phones, rather than the software.

With a diagonal screen size of 3.8 inches, the Trophy is slightly larger than Telstra's Mozart. This background is also as close as you'll get to the HTC Sense user interface you may have been familiar with on old Windows Mobile releases.

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HTC Trophy

HTC is really bringing photography to the fore with its Windows Phone range; the Trophy sports a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus and an LED flash.

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HTC Trophy

The standard Windows Phone home screen with a glimpse at two of HTC's extras, the HTC Hub and Sound Enhancer.

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HTC Trophy

This is the Microsoft-mandated three-button touch panel on the Trophy.

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HTC Trophy

Considering this is where you put your ear during a call, this is a pretty logical place to put an external speaker as well.

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HTC Trophy

Another HTC-specific piece of software, this is Photo Enhancer, a range of filters for your camera roll.

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HTC Trophy

Need to remember milk, bread and Grandma's birthday? HTC Notes will keep you in order with an old-school cork-board metaphor.

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HTC Trophy

Proving beauty is more than skin deep, the undercarriage and battery of the Trophy is almost as cool-looking as the front.

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9 of 21 Bonnie Cha/CNET

Samsung Omnia 7

Of the phones we saw at Microsoft's launch event, the Omnia 7 was the biggest. Its 4-inch Super AMOLED was also the most impressive.

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10 of 21 Bonnie Cha/CNET

Samsung Omnia 7

Its soft-touch chassis is reminiscent of the recently released Samsung Wave, as is the curved battery cover.

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11 of 21 Bonnie Cha/CNET

Samsung Omnia 7

As with all of the phones in this range, the Omnia 7 sports a 3.5mm headphone socket plus a micro-USB port for charging and data transfers.

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12 of 21 Bonnie Cha/CNET

LG Optimus 7Q

If you scratched off the AT&T branding on this phone you'd have an accurate idea of what the Optimus 7Q will look like when it launches with Telstra in November.

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13 of 21 Bonnie Cha/CNET

LG Optimus 7Q

Tah dah! The feature that sets the Optimus 7Q apart from the rest, its slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

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14 of 21 Bonnie Cha/CNET

LG Optimus 7Q

The QWERTY keyboard lacks definition between the keys, but each button seems enormous after using the BlackBerry Curve 3G a few weeks back.

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15 of 21 Bonnie Cha/CNET

LG Optimus 7Q

The compulsory trio of navigation keys; two capacitive touch buttons and one mechanical key.

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16 of 21 Bonnie Cha/CNET

LG Optimus 7Q

Thanks mostly to the keyboard, the Optimus 7Q is a fair bit chunkier than the HTC's and Samsung's phones we've seen so far. It's also a bit heavier too.

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17 of 21 Bonnie Cha/CNET

LG Optimus 7Q

Not to be left behind in the photography stakes, the Optimus 7Q features a 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash.

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LG Optimus 7Q

And a 3.5mm headphone socket, of course.

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19 of 21 Bonnie Cha/CNET

LG Optimus 7

Though it's hard to see in this picture, this is the Optimus 7, the touchscreen-only version of the 7Q that we saw in the last few images.

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20 of 21 Bonnie Cha/CNET

LG Optimus 7

A glimpse at the user interface's first applications listing, a screen common among all of the phones in this gallery.

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21 of 21 Bonnie Cha/CNET

LG Optimus 7

As you can see, a much slimmer effort from LG, thanks to the absence of the QWERTY keyboard.

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