If you were wondering what the hardware was going to look like for Windows Phone 7, here is a quick look at the three phones which have been introduced so far (thanks to engadget for the picture).   From left to right, we have the Samsung Slate, unnamed Asus phone, and LG slider phone.   While I am glad to see Windows Phone become ever closer to reality, I have to say I am a little underwhelmed by the offerings  so far.  Then again, there is still no word from HTC, dell, or any of the other hardware partners which Microsoft announced last month.  I am sure there will be plenty more to come before Windows Phone 7 becomes a true reality later this year.

Not a lot is known about the specifics of these phones, though we can see the standardized hardware requirements which Microsoft’s hardware partners will have to follow if they want to use Windows Phone 7:

• a capacitive touchscreen with at least four points of contacts
• a minimum resolution of 480 by 320 (though many devices will have higher resolution)
• accelerometer
• compass
• assisted-GPS
• light and proximity sensors
• ARMv7 Cortex/Scorpion or better processor
• DirectX 9 graphics processing unit.
• 256 MB of RAM and 8 GB  of flash memory (though, hopefully we will see considerably more than that)
• at least a 5-megapixel camera with a hard button to snap photos.

This all sounds pretty impressive to me, and a great start, and I think it is great to see Microsoft taking control of the hardware.  Hopefully, they will be able to stave off the problems they faced with Windows Mobile and the runaway hardware designs.  I would still like to know more about the battery life of these devices, and I truly hope that the memory will far exceed these minimum requirements, but this is more than enough to make my mouth water.   Plenty more to come later this year, I am sure.

[via engadget and intomobile]