This is pretty much the best ad I've ever seen Microsoft run:

It seems to be targeted at consumers who haven't bought smartphones yet. Those who might want the communications power of a mobile data connection, but aren't seduced by a vast selection of apps or droids doing... whatever droids do.

It's a smart play my Microsoft. They don't have the huge app infrastructure in place yet, so they need to sell their phones on the core OS and its particular strengths.

Plus, at some point, we've all wanted to pimpslap some douche who won't put away his fucking phone.

i get annoyed by these guys too, but how is this phone any different?

Edit : and this advert is awesome aswell

is this going to count as an Xbox portable?

nice one. Apps are coming soon for windows phones I guess. And some very good games as well. But who needs X-thousand apps? I have an android phone right now and Apple faboys telling me iOS is better, because it has 200k apps and android only 100k. I use 3 apps actually. One game, one football-scores-ticker and a Halo Reach soundboard :D

Pshh, Iphone is really overrated, and overpriced, everyone will tell you this once they try android, oh and you reminded me of this pic

I'm getting the Dell Venue Pro...it rides on T-Mobile, which isn't too bad. 

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/11/dell-venue-pro-gives-wp7-a-4-1-inch-qwerty-slider-with-lightning/

I just hope this thing launches VERY near Nov 8th.

I'll stick with my nokia :)

I think I'm gonna hold off on Kinect and get this phone. 

Thank God my 2yr service is up!

And

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104270-Microsoft-Xbox-Phone-Launch-Bigger-Than-Xbox-360s

According to Microsoft, the gaming launch lineup for Windows Phone 7 will be bigger and badder than what was seen with the Xbox 360.

 BTW, good commercials.  This will be my first smart phone so it better be easy to use!

Yea same here. I wonder what new phone i should get in 2 years time?

The number of apps in a store is just a pissing contest at this point. Nobody really cares how many wallpaper apps and individual e-books an app store has.

The real contest is in app store revenue. In other words, it's not the number of apps but the number of apps people are willing to pay for. Right now, the revenue estimates I see put Android Market at less than 5% the size of Apple's App Store, and unless that changes dramatically, it means Android will be a second-class citizen for developers.

Otherwise it will turn out kind of like Mac OS vs. Windows. Sure, you can find good software to do the most common tasks on Mac OS, but on Windows you find more alternatives for the common tasks, you're much more likely to software for an uncommon task, and the software you find on both platforms will tend to work better on Windows because it's the lead SKU rather than an afterthought port. The Windows software market dwarfs the Mac OS software market, and the value of Mac OS suffers for it.

Mrstickball has a good summary of the challenges facing Android Market on his blog. It's obviously not much of an issue for you with only 3 apps, though. Like the targets of this ad, you're mostly interested in the phone hardware and basic functions of the OS.

I too hope to get this phone...however it will be a lot harder for me. The Dell Venue Pro is only for Us market so I'll have to get it unlocked and shipped to canada... But Im not worried. I got a Zune HD and I have it set up on the marketplace despite it not being available in canada so I'll figre it out :)

My nokia e71 has served me well but Nov 8 its time to move on...