Three weeks ago (Aug 12 2010) I was involved in a coffee and code focusing on Windows Phone 7.  It was a great day and even had an attendee develop an application that he won a prize for.

Well this week there will deployment clinics (or XAPathons) happening in the Toronto area and one in Ottawa where developers can test on real Windows Phone 7 hardware.  I’ve been lucky enough to have a device for about 4 weeks now and testing on a real device you do find issues you wouldn’t find on the emulator.

Joey DeVilla and Anthony Bartolo have the low down on their sites and why you should attend. 

Why Should Devs Test on Real WP7 Hardware

If you are building for Windows Phone 7 you can definitely get very far developing using the emulator and get fully functional applications.  But you still want to test on a real device before you deploy.  Here are some of my reasons why you need to go

Emulator Performance

Performance on emulator is not throttled meaning things will be faster on your desktop computer and compared to running on real device.  I had an issue where a ListBox was scrolling lightning fast on the emulator but on device it was very choppy.  Contained about 250 list box items.

Bing Maps and Windows Phone 7

If you are using Bing Maps you need to test on a real device.  Biggest challenge I found was when clicking on a pushpin or image using the emulator, you are using a mouse pointer and that does not really emulate ‘finger touch’.  You want to make sure you have all that ironed out before you launch

Hardware Integration

If you plan on using some of the hardware such as camera, accelerometer or GPS, you want to test on this.  Camera should work the same but accelerometer and GPS you can write “simulators” but you want to make sure your code works with real hardware.

XNA Games

I’ve seen XNA games that do almost 100% code sharing across the three platforms but considering the emulator performance is faster than a real device you may run into some performance issues.  Nothing that can’t be resolved but something you don’t want to find out after you have launched to users via Marketplace!

Multimedia

If you plan on playing video or audio or integrating with the “Media Hub” you want to test on a real device.  I have come across some instances where media would play on the device but not the emulator which I’m hoping is a beta issue.  In any case see the Supported media Codecs for Windows Phone 7

Launchers & Choosers

Not everything is exposed on the emulator so currently the only way to test is on real device.  Again, hoping this is fixed when the Windows Phone Developer tools RTM but if you plan on using Launchers and Choosers you want to Test this

User Experience

This is not really code centric but trying your application’s experience with a mouse is a lot different when trying it with your finger.  Can you use your software with one hand?  Do you want it to be one handed? Do you minimize typing of data? Do you support both landscape and portrait? Is your application useable in landscape? You want to make sure your users enjoy using your software so they continue to use it and recommend to their friends and you continue to make money!

That’s all I can think of for now but if you can make sure you take advantage of the free events.  It will definitely be worth your while!  I’ll also be traveling across Canada for TechDays 2010 and will be participating in a few events where I’m sure there will be devices to test on. So take advantage of it!!

Where to Go!?

So here are the details on where things are happening this Week

• Wednesday, September 1st:
  • Ottawa: Microsoft Ottawa office (100 Queen Street, Suite 500, Ottawa)
  • Mississauga: Starbucks near Square One (189 Rathburn Road West, Mississauga),
    11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Thursday, September 2nd:
  • Downtown Toronto: Starbucks at King and Yonge (4 King Street West, Toronto)
    11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Friday, September 3rd:
  • Downtown Toronto: Starbucks at King and Yonge (4 King Street West, Toronto)
    11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

There are also some events being planned for next week:

• Thursday, September 9th:
  • Montreal: User Group meeting at the Microsoft Montreal office (2000 Ave McGill College, Suite 450, Montreal)
• Friday, September 10th:
  • Montreal: Deployment clinic at the Microsoft Montreal office (2000 Ave McGill College, Suite 450, Montreal)

So make sure you are there because it is definitely useful!

In addition to TechDays 2010 I’ll also be doing a session geared towards students interested in building apps for Windows Phone 7 with Microsoft Canada’s DPE team.  In 45mins, we’ll go through building an app end to end and how to leverage the developer tools such as Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone 7 and Expression Blend.

Did you know as a student you can join the DreamSpark program to get access to all the developer tools for free!  Best of all, if you are developing for Windows Phone 7 you will get a free Marketplace account to be able to publish and sell your mobile apps!  Definitely something to check out and something I wish was available when I was in school!

Anyway here are the details for Go DevMENTAL

Go DevMENTAL is Microsoft's free academic tour designed to teach you coding for the coolest apps and platforms, connect you with the industry, and help you pursue your career aspirations. It's also a great chance to have a fun evening out with friends!

What Session am I doing?

Let’s Kick Some App: Your First Windows Phone App
In this session, we will show you how to take advantage of the Windows Phone 7 SDK to write some slick applications that you'll be able to upload on Windows Phone Marketplace for free.

There will also be a session on using XNA to create games on Windows Phone 7. 

Where is this taking place?  We’ll be hitting 8 cities across Canada starting in Sept.

• Vancouver - September 14
• Edmonton - October 05
• Toronto - October 27
• Halifax - November 02
• Ottawa - November 09
• Montreal - November 23
• Winnipeg - December 07
• Calgary - December 14

If you are a student make sure you go out and register now for Go DevMENTAL!  Even if you are not a student, register and come out to enjoy this free session and learn how to develop for Windows Phone 7.

Last year I did a couple of presentations on Windows Phone developer at FITC Mobile 2009.  This year I got invited back to present at FITC Mobile 2010 and talk about developing for Windows Phone 7 using Silverlight.

What is FITC Mobile 2010?  It’s a 2 day mobile developer’s conference packed with presentations, demos, and panels covering all aspects of mobile development.  The great part is, it’s not just about Windows Phone 7, but about virtually all mobile platforms and will cover things such as iPhone, Flash Lite, Android, Palm, Blackberry plus various other topics.  Check out the sessions available at FITC Mobile 2010. 

This year I won’t be doing a workshop as there are a lot of resources out there to help learn developing for Windows Phone 7.  But I will have a real phone with me!

So if you are near the Toronto area, be sure to check out FITC Mobile 2010!  At only $299 ($149 if you are a student) it’s a great place to learn not only about developing for Windows phone but also what options are available to you as a mobile developer.

If you want $50 off the cost, use the following discount code “thiswillbegood”. 

If you are going to be at FITC Mobile 2010 and interested in talking about WP7 or trying out the phone let me know via my blog or twitter @MarkArteaga! See you there!

This coming Wednesday August 25th I will be doing a presentation on developing for Windows Phone 7 using Silverlight at Canada’s Technology Triangle .NET User Group (or CTTNUG for short).  I'll be going over how to develop, for WP7 and some new features that are available.  I’ll even be bringing along my Windows Phone 7 hardware!

Developing for the “Third Screen” - Windows Phone 7

For the longest time Microsoft has been talking about their “Three Screens and the Cloud” strategy but did not really have a compelling mobile story. With the arrival of Windows Phone 7, the third screen has arrived and with that the new Windows Phone developer story has arrived. During this session you will get a high level overview of the platform plus go into some of the new APIs available for Windows Phone 7. We will cover the new application model, Windows Phone 7 specific services, sensors, multimedia plus more! Come and learn how to build for the third screen, build for Windows Phone 7.

Be sure to register to learn how to develop for Windows Phone 7 !  If you are going to be there let me know via my blog or twitter @MarkArteaga!

Techdays is back for 2010 and this year Windows Phone 7 is coming along for the ride!  Microsoft has invited me back for the third year to deliver all the Windows Phone 7 developer sessions for TechDays 2010 across Canada similar to TechDays 2008 and TechDays 2009.  What’s different this year? Windows Phone 7!!

I’ll be delivering two developer focused sessions on building for Windows Phone 7 using Silverlight on days 1 and 2.  You will learn the basics of developing for Windows Phone 7 and some of the unique concepts developing for Windows Phone 7.  I’ll also be hanging out and talking Windows Phone 7 with attendees.  I’ll also have a real device!

Here are the cities and dates we will be hitting:

Dates

• Vancouver: Sept 14 - 15
• Edmonton: Oct 5 – 6
• Toronto: Oct 27 – 28
• Halifax: Nov 2 – 3
• Ottawa: Nov 9 – 10
• Montreal: Nov 23 – 24
• Winnipeg: Dec 7 – 8
• Calgary: Dec 14 – 15

Cost

$349.99+tax for early bird pricing which is available 6 weeks prior to the date at the specific city.  If it’s after the six week cut off the regular price is $699+tax.

If you are not interested in Windows Phone 7 (and don’t see why not!) there are six tracks to choose from.

1. Developing for Three Screens & the Cloud
2. Optimizing the Development Process
3. Collaboration: The Next Generation
4. All About Deployment
5. Managing and Helping to Secure Your IT Infrastructure
6. Local Flavours

As an attendee you also get some great tools from sponsors such as Telerik and PluralSight plus you also get a TechNet Subscription!!

So be sure to register for TechDays 2010 and join us!  If you are going to be there and interested in talking about WP7 or trying out the phone let me know via my blog or twitter @MarkArteaga!