Microsoft (and Samsung, HTC, LG, Dell) unveils Windows Mobile 7 phones

Microsoft today finally took the wraps off its latest mobile phone operating system – Windows Phone 7. The OS, which will feature on phones that will be on sale from Oct 11, is being billed as the company’s alternative to the all conquering Apple iPhone and Google Android systems.

It has plenty of support too with HTC offering four phones, LG unveiling a pair and Samsung and Dell also offering devices. There is also talk of an iPad style tablet running the format.

The HTC models are the HTC 7 Mozart, the HTC 7 Trophy, the HTC 7 Pro and the HTC HD7. The top-end HD7sports a 4.3in touchscreen, 16GB of storage, a five megapixel camera and HD video recording.

Samsung has anothert high-end phone in the guise of the Omnia 7, which features a touchscreen, a 4in AMOLED display and five mega pixel camera.

LG has the Optimus 7 and the Optimus 7Q, which according to the maker boasts several innovative facilties including the DLNA-based Play To file sharing system, augmented reality (AR) and Voice-to-Text.

The new OS is something of a departure for Microsoft as it is built around ‘hubs.’ These are used to organise photos, music, videos etc as well as (intriguingly) Xbox games. Microsoft has also debuted and live tiles which keep the user up to date with emails as well updates from Twitter/Facebook etc.

Reaction to the new phones seems pretty positive so far. We’ll have images and videos later.

Orange was quick off the mark saying that it will offer the HTC 7 Mozart, as well as offer the Samsung Omnia 7 across all its retail channels from 21st October.