Microsoft Ships 'Technical Preview' of Windows Phone 7

Microsoft said Monday that the company has released a "technical preview" of its Windows Phone 7 software for developers and consumers.

The technical preview represents a major milestone for Microsoft, which is now placing the software into "thousands" of prototype phones from Asus, LG and Samsung, Microsoft's Terry Meyerson said in a blog post on Monday.

One of those phones made its way to PCMag.com, where editor-in-chief Lance Ulanoff received some hands-on time with the Windows Phone 7 technical preview.

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"The beta software clearly isn't done and not everything worked as expected or really as it probably should, but there's a lot to like and dig into here," Ulanoff wrote.

Microsoft launched the Windows Phone 7 "hub" concept in February, when PCMag.com received our first hands-on time, as PCMag.com did in June. This is Microsoft's first handheld mobile device to effectively act as a hub for all your digital activities.

"Before release of this milestone, the software has undergone extensive testing – in daily use by more than 1000 people at Microsoft who have been using WP7 as their only phone for the past several months, and the more than 10,000 devices in our test labs," Meyerson wrote. "We've been testing usability, battery life, network connectivity, and many other metrics for a long time. As a result of that work, I hope you will find the experience to be of surprisingly high quality."

Last week, Joe Belfiore, vice president and director of Windows Phone program management, talked to PCMag.com about how Microsoft will address some of the other aspects of the Windows Phone 7 launch, including the app store or Zune Marketplace.

Microsoft has said previously that the Windows Phone 7 software and phones would be ready by the 2010 holiday season. Meyerson's post did not touch on the issue.