The tools are free. You just have to pay to get your apps listed in the marketplace. $100 a year for up tp 100 apps.

http://phone.microsoftplatformready.com/?CR_CC=200001192&WT.srch=1&CR_SCC=200001192&WT.srch=1

What apps can't be removed? The ability to remove any carrier or manufacturer apps is one of the platform requirements. I was able to junk all of the AT&T and Samsung stuff I don't use on mine just like I would anything else.

This is awesome. The guy who's never used the OS and is telling people not to buy is informative, and the one who's had it from day one, loves it, and has a girlfriend who saw it and got one of her own is the troll. Slashdot: Where personal experience takes a backseat to uninformed rhetoric!

In a world where the current products are different than the previous ones and should be judged on their own merit. Or should nobody ever buy Sam Adams's Noble Pils this spring because the old Spring White was kind of shitty?

This is informative? Really? Yes, Windows Mobile was slow and buggy, but Microsoft realized that and trashed it completely for WP7. It's a brand new OS that's as fast and responsive as anything out there. Your experiences and DO NOT BUY recommendation for the old OS are irrelevant.

That's simply not true. Windows Phone 7 does the same kind of push notifications iOS and Facebook updates only come over automatically for the couple people you have pinned on your screen. I've had one since launch and used 500MB the first month and 450 the second. I have no doubt a few users are having problem (likely leaving the Feedback option checked and their email) but it's not a widespread problem by any means.

I've had my Focus from day one and never had anything like that. I think the people having the problems got review units without final firmware. They're sending debug data back to Microsoft every night.

It already happened, not two months ago.

FOX blocks Cablevision Internet subscribers from their shows on Hulu.

It looks absolutely nothing like iOS and Android. The home screen is different, the app list is different, the menu system is different, the graphic design is different, and the Metro themed apps are different. The hardware is very similar, but the OS is an entirely new thing.

An HD2 will absolutely sync with Live Mail. When you set up a hotmail.com address it automatically downloads and installs the mobile sync client that handles contacts and email from your live account.

Outlook Express has been replaced by Live Mail desktop client on Windows 7. It's not included in the OS, but it's a free download with all the other Live tools from Microsoft. It even appears as an option in Windows Update. That also handles a Hotmail account or any other POP/IMAP mailbox.

You can't sync email with your phone that you plugged in because you don't have Outlook. But if it's all in the cloud, you'd never need to do that anyway. What's the point of having a mail enabled always connected device and manually sync to a desktop?

You have to see it in motion. It's amazingly fluid and well designed in use. I personally love what they've done in getting rid of all the unnecessary graphic elements. There are no lines between the messages in your inbox, no always visible scroll bars, no locked title bars... really nothing at all between you and your data. Play with one in a store and you'll come away with a completely different impression.

Scientists warned that the giant ball of garbage could someday return to Earth, but their concerns were dismissed as "depressing."