Microsoft unveils 10 new Windows 7 Phones, sets 1GHz as the baseline

Monday morning, Microsoft revealed the first handful of Windows Phone 7 devices. These nine new handsets will be available in North America on November 8th, and in Europe, and Asia on October 21. As a bit of a bonus, HTC announced an additional WP7 phone which will arrive a little bit after the first batch, some time early next year.

Microsoft has set a pretty high bar in terms of a baseline device specs. They are all on par with the top-of-the-line devices on Google's Android platform, offering 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, five megapixel cameras, and each with a price around $200 US.

HTC HD7- 4.3" screen, 720p video, will launch with T-Mobile USA, O2 (UK, Germany,) Movistar (Spain,) and SingTel (Singapore.)

HTC 7 Surround - 3.8" screen, slide-out stereo speakers, kickstand, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash Quad-band GSM, Tri-band HSPA; will launch with AT&T (US,) and Telus (Canada.)

HTC Mozart - 3.7" display, Unibody aluminum design; will launch with Orange (France, UK,) Deutsche Telekom AG (Germany,) and Telstra (Australia.)

HTC 7 Trophy - 3.8" screen, 5 Megapixel LED flash camera; will launch with SFR (France,) and Vodafone (Germany, Spain, UK, Australia.)

HTC 7 Pro - QWERTY slider; will launch on Sprint in the US in 2011.

Samsung Focus - 4" Super AMOLED; noted for being the thinnest Windows Phone 7 device at launch (9.9mm,) 5 megapixel camera, Quad-band GSM, Tri-band HSPA, will launch on AT&T in the US.

Samsung Omnia 7 - 4" Super AMOLED slider; will launch with Orange (France, UK,) SFR (France,) Movistar (Spain,) and Deutsche Telekom AG (Germany.)

LG Quantum - 3.5" QWERTY slider; 5 megapixel autofocus camera, Quad-band GSM, Tri-band HSPA; will launch with AT&T in the United States.

LG Optimus 7 - 3.8"; will launch with Telus (Canada,) America Movil (Mexico,) Movistar (Spain,) Vodafone (Germany, Italy, Spain, UK,) SingTel (Singapore,) and Telstra (Australia.)

Dell Venue Pro - 4.1" QWERTY portrait slider; will launch on T-Mobile USA.

This lineup of devices is important to consider in the scheme of Windows Phone 7. The phones, on the whole, are quite similar to one another, with no single device outshining the rest in overall quality, and with none too heavily focused on a single feature such as higher resolution camera. This simultaneously provides a large selection of Windows Phones on a good selection of carriers while having the operating system remain their focus.