Aeshen consults with agencies and other development firms on Windows Phone 7 development.  Today I thought I would share with you some of the key things we talk about when mobile development firms looking to port their applications to Windows Phone 7.   The goal is to make sure our clients understand Windows Phone 7’s unique features and capabilities, to provide strategies for porting their apps and making them the best they can be on the Windows Phone platform, and, hopefully, to help them avoid any pitfalls.

Again, just to be clear, this is not a list of features that are better on Windows Phone 7; this is a list of features, capabilities and strategies that developers and development teams should be familiar with when they are looking to write an app for Windows Phone 7, or port an app to Windows Phone 7.

• Data Binding:  Data binding in Windows Phone apps uses the same method of data binding as in other XAML-based applications.  This is a very flexible and powerful model which allows you to connect your UI directly to data fields so code doesn’t have to interact with the UI.  If done right, you can easily format and display data in your application with a minimum of effort.
• Page Navigation: Windows Phone 7 uses a stack-based flow model, similar to HTML.  It relies on users navigating to a page rather than creating a page object.  The system keeps track of back movements for use with the back button.  It’s important to understand this flow for UX and functionality reasons.
• Live Tiles: These are the dynamic information boxes for the home screen.  Dynamic tiles are very cool, and very functional. They give you a way to keep your app in front of your users even if they aren’t launching it, by creating a portal to relevant information on the phone’s home page.
• XNA/Silverlight:  These are the application frameworks for apps and games on the phone and both are completely implemented with managed code.  XNA gives them the ability to create games the same way as if they were writing for Xbox or PC.
• Tombstoning:  In Windows Phone 7, applications will have three levels of launch: initial app launch (where the app will do everything it needs to do on first startup), navigated back to (where state is preserved from previous execution), and navigation away from (where state can be saved or the app can be closed).  It’s very important for developers to understand how these work so their apps can save state and come back quickly.
• Data Storage: Isolated storage isn’t new or a big deal by itself –
• all phones have a way of storing data – but Windows Phone 7 has an embedded version of SQL Server – SQL Server Compact  (available in Mango).  This is a very powerful feature and, for data centric apps, developers used to using T-SQL and SQL Server models will be very much at home.
• Phone Capabilities: Windows Phone 7 offers a wide array of sensors (audio, camera, etc.) and services (address book, e-Mail etc.) supported in code.  The key thing about Windows Phone 7 is that access to and use of these sensors and services is standardized on all hardware platforms which makes coding easier.
• WP7 UI Paradigm: Sometimes called the Metro UI, this is the thing that is most recognizable about Windows Phone 7 currently.   Instead of beveled edges, or shiny metallic looks, the UI sports clean, square shapes with simple color schemes.  Designers and developers as well, need to be aware that this is a change from other phone platforms and that there are many nuances to be considered such as spacing between controls, and how user selected theme colors can impact your app’s UI.
• Pivot/Panorama: This is the side-to-side swiping for page navigation within an app which is available and can be used when it makes sense.  It allows for more natural user interaction when the situation calls for it in the context of an app.  Developers and designers need to be familiar with the capability.
• Swipes:  These are the supported gestures; what’s supported for single touch, multi-touch, and how the phone “listens” for gestures. By understanding this, you can adapt your app to take advantage of them.
• Back button usage: How the back button is used in your apps and what aspects of it you can override.  Android has a similar feature and iPhone does not. Developers and designers need to understand what the capability is, and how to use it.  It can be overridden when it makes sense (one example is when a modal dialog is currently open).