Microsoft confirms Windows Phone 7 manufacturers: ASUS, Dell, HTC, LG, and Samsung all on board

Microsoft is no stranger to having partners galore in the phone business, but its lineup of manufacturers for the upcoming, surprisingly promising Windows Phone 7 launch is no less impressive. After plenty of rumoring, Microsoft has confirmed that Dell and HTC will be making Windows Phone 7 phones, in addition to ASUS, LG, and Samsung who had already been confirmed. All of these companies should have their stamp on hardware by the end of the year, with the launch of the OS still vaguely slated for the "holidays." We have no doubt that all five manufacturers can build some compelling, sexy hardware, but we're particularly enthused to see Dell really getting into the game after the impressive Streak and that drool-worthy leak a little while back. It's a good time to be alive if you're a person who buys or uses phones.

[Samurai Jack Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:47PM]

@maxxorz Great info, thanks! Definitely a "+" for being informative. Oh, and the reasonable tone/discussion is greatly appreciated. That doesn't always happen in these parts.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how this all plays out.

[UptownDonkey Posted Jul 22nd 2010 3:06PM]

@Samurai Jack
Don't under estimate the value of a good OEM partnership. Microsoft offers lots of engineering, marketing and promotional support. It's not like Android is totally free for the carriers to use. They need to hire developers, integrators, do their own marketing, handle OS updates on their own, write device drivers in some cases, do their own marketing, etc.

[Perspective Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:09PM]

I can already picture the Q4 write-downs. Oh wait, it's Microsoft. Make that the Q2 2011 write-downs.

[PvR Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:16PM]

I was hoping Apple would be one of them :-/

[jagowar Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:18PM]

I really hope we get some actual phone announcements soon.... partners are cool and all but I want to see the actual devices these companies are going to produce. Really hoping sprint gets one of the better devices.

[huh Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:20PM]

Wouldn't it be nice if they sold a "Smartphone" we ca install our own OS on, whether it's Windows 7, Android Meego, or whatever. Sell the hardware for $100 - $600, the OS between $free (community supported) and $100 (Windows Whatever) and we've got the perfect market.

[maxxorz Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:38PM]

@huh
You would then have to write your own drivers for your specific phone.

[huh Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:50PM]

@maxxorz Do you write your own drivers for your PC?

[AbsoluteDesignz Posted Jul 22nd 2010 8:36PM]

@huh I thought of something similar for a while now...we should be able to custom order our devices...RAM, Mem, CPU, etc...maybe even offer different shells.

Can cost 100 for a plastic, kinda strong shell, then 100 for the OS (or free) or 600 for a top of the line shell and 100-300 for the OS of your choice.

It'd be great to be able to buy parts for your phone like you do computers...

my computer started as a 512mb windows VIsta basic b!tch and now its a 8GB monster...it'd be great to be able to turn a budget phone into a monster or straight build a monster.

[huh Posted Jul 22nd 2010 8:46PM]

@AbsoluteDesignz I'm not sure it would be worth it to go to the level of components. After all most devices are going to system on a chip, anything past that is too substantial to be cost-effective. Socket mounting would be a bit absurd on these devices, though I'd hope to see a pluggable bus for mid level components (USB host). But the OS is something that could easily be an aftermarket item. Many people choosing free/open operating systems would be the ones willing to pay more for hardware.

[eminisp Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:21PM]

HTC and Dell are at the top of my wishlist. Let the good news about WP7 keep rolling in engadget.

[VVlker Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:22PM]

That is a very nice looking Dell Phone.

[Volker Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:24PM]

WTH?

[Killing Time Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:24PM]

i bet we hear about one of them dropping out.

[jmcquesten Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:25PM]

V E R I Z O N ! ! !

[xtian63 Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:36PM]

CRAP i just dropped my 1 week old HD2

EEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNNNNGAAAAAAAAAADGEEEEEEEEET!!!!!
(Kirk like "Khan scream")

[Quikboy Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:41PM]

Where's HP, Sony Ericsson, and Motorola?

Yeah, I know HP has WebOS, but that doesn't mean they can't offer both for different types of people. They still sell the iPaqs running Windows Mobile.

Sony Ericsson has released a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone recently (Aspen), and the Xperia X1 was widely lauded too.

Motorola didn't even jump onto the Windows Mobile 6.5 bandwagon, and ditched it for Android. But they have made wonderful Windows Mobile phones before like the Moto Q (very popular).

I don't see why any of these makers should skip out on WP7. It just seems so dumb to not expand.

[Bacchus1976 Posted Jul 22nd 2010 2:59PM]

Dell Lightning....T-Mobile.....Please!

[silverdoe Posted Jul 22nd 2010 3:07PM]

Lightning, here I come!

[Heelo Posted Jul 22nd 2010 3:08PM]

Gotta say, I was just looking through Ars' review of the Driod X, and was really struck by how lame the UI looked compared to the WinPhone7 UI.

Wish MS would just come out and say they'll deliver an update supporting HTML5 and cut-and-paste within 6 months of delivery.

Unlike Android (other than the Nexus One), WinPhone7 owners won't have to wait months for their hardware vendor to the skin the UI before it is available for OTA update.

[bbqbspareribs Posted Jul 22nd 2010 3:19PM]

no Moto?

[rgz175 Posted Jul 22nd 2010 3:24PM]

It would be funny if Sony Ericsson made a phone with XBOX Live service.

What the hell, they should just do one with analog buttons, Playstation Store and an XMB UI skin and call it Windows "PSPhone 7".

[stockpile Posted Jul 22nd 2010 3:25PM]

Interested in what Asus and Dell have in store. LG and HTC need not apply.

[Jomah7777 Posted Jul 22nd 2010 3:29PM]

Nice! but i hate slider phones.

[FlyingCodeMonkey Posted Jul 22nd 2010 3:40PM]

I wonder at what point it will start being okay to say something good about an MS product without the "surprisingly" qualifier.

For phones, I guess it's okay given their recent track record, but it's gotten old. MS makes some really good stuff these days (Kin notwithstanding). Accept it, already.

Will iPhone 5 articles be accompanied by the same "if you can believe it" qualifiers when discussing whether its antenna design has been improved?

[vbViper Posted Jul 22nd 2010 4:02PM]

I want one that is similar to a Droid X, larger screen, etc. I hope one of these is like that. Then it'll be mine!

[zerotheloner Posted Jul 22nd 2010 4:39PM]

HTC? ASUS? I like the sound of that...

[Makali Posted Jul 22nd 2010 4:48PM]

More POs from m$

[Wesscoast Posted Jul 22nd 2010 5:21PM]

About 6 months from now, the world will finally have MS's iPhone 1.0 competitor. Sigh.

"Be what's next??! Seriously?"

[Diabolus in Musica Posted Jul 22nd 2010 5:21PM]

HTC that is, for me.

[KeiZka Posted Jul 22nd 2010 5:40PM]

...What are the execs at Samsung thinking? Right now they have Symbian, Bada, Android AND Windows Phone as OS'?

OS fragmentation much on their part?

[techking Posted Jul 22nd 2010 5:55PM]

This is very good news for us Microsoft fanboys

[LSE Posted Jul 22nd 2010 6:02PM]

The more competition the better. As MS keeps improving WP7, it is going to be really interesting to watch if they can topple the establishment and establish themselves as a solid contender like they did in the consoles war. Today, once mighty and industry sweetheart Sony wins a solid last with MS starting to challenge nintendo for 1st. This is clearly all thanks to having deep pockets and why MS will without doubt use all it's financial strenght to push WP7 for as long as it takes.

[mkteagle Posted Jul 22nd 2010 6:16PM]

I'd be more impressed if apple was making a phone that would run windows mobile 7. I like app shortcuts and menus. This whole "box" thing makes me think they thought of a box instead of outside of the box.

[johnnydfred Posted Jul 22nd 2010 6:20PM]

Life in superlatives. MS fanboys, take it down a notch, You guys haven't even handled one of these things, let alone played with the "os" (quotes for all vaporware).

What a polarized world we live in.

[Budukhan Posted Jul 22nd 2010 7:36PM]

I hope Sprint isn't stuck with Samsung as the only phone provider. Would love to get my hands on the Lightning or the HTC offering.

[arbitterr Posted Jul 22nd 2010 7:48PM]

I truly do not believe that windows phone 7 will be any good. The last decent thing Microsoft has made was windows xp, and even that gets all saturated after a year of use.

I doubt Microsoft will be able to make decent mobile software. Up until now I would never buy a phone with Windows mobile on it. Because Microsoft knows they've screwed up, they're changing the name. I really think they'll just screw this up too

[55thjam Posted Jul 22nd 2010 8:07PM]

I still want kin in my left pocket. And HTC HD3(with windows phone 7) on my right pocket.

[iamajim Posted Jul 23rd 2010 12:20AM]

are you guys all nuts? after arguing with windows all day and at home at night why why why the hell would you want it on your phone too? (although those dell's do look mighty fine ).

[shaliron Posted Jul 23rd 2010 2:10AM]

I'm thinking more like: HTC > Dell > Samsung > LG > Asus, only because Dell is a somewhat unknown in terms of mobiles.

Should be interesting though.

[lav1daloca Posted Jul 23rd 2010 3:02AM]

here come the Kin's 2.0 :)

[Cold Dead Fingers Posted Jul 23rd 2010 8:39AM]

Here's the list of mobile OS' I'm excited for (Most excited, first): iOS, WebOS, WinPhone 7, Android and I don't care for Symbian. I love the simplicity of iOS and WebOS is like the beautiful bridge between simplicity and power, but I love iPhone's hardware and management over WebOS, so, iOS is first. WinPhone 7 is looking pretty good. The Zune media interface looks way better than WebOS' attempt, but I'd still pick iOS' iPod application. Nothing beats looking at a super high resolution image of the album cover art. It's so beautiful it makes you appreciate the music, even more! The Dell phone look pretty cool, too. I wonder if they'll be for at&t.

[The Fuzz 53 Posted Jul 23rd 2010 11:08AM]

No cut and paste is a dealbreaker.

[Very Powerfull Codfish Posted Jul 23rd 2010 11:09AM]

Is it wrong of me to want to carry both a WP7 and a Zune HD around?