User Manual
28
Chapter 1 Pre-Flight Checklist:What to Do Before YouGet Your Windows Phone
screen, each doing something different, and the device could accurately
process that information and act accordingly. The Windows Phone screen
supports gestures as well. Of course, I will explain the use of this screen fully
throughout the book.
Onscreen resolution: 3 Windows Phone supports two screen resolutions, 800
x 480 (WVGA) and 480 x 320 (HWVGA). The former is more common and more
appropriate for what will likely prove to be the most popular Windows Phone
conguration. But hardware makers are free to use the lower-resolution
screen type, and will likely do so in smaller devices, including those with
slide-out hardware keyboards.
Accelerometer: 3 First popularized by the iPhone, an accelerometer is an inter-
nal component that can measure acceleration along multiple axes. What this
means to you is that a Windows Phone can detect, and respond to, the device
being tilted in different directions. The accelerometer is used in ways both
utilitarian—if you rotate the device, the display will rotate to accommodate
the new orientation—and far less practical—in a racing game, for example,
tilting the screen left to right as you play could steer the car.
Assisted GPS (A-GPS): 3 Windows Phones ship with this latest GPS (global posi-
tioning system) hardware, providing quicker startup and better accuracy, the
latter of which is key to a U.S.-based requirement that will allow 911 dispatch-
ers to nd smart phone users in an emergency.
Compass: 3 Windows Phones ship with an internal compass, which works in
concert with the GPS and other location sensors (including Wi-Fi and cellular
connection) to accurately nd your location and supply information about the
direction you are facing.
NOTE As originally delivered in late 2010, the compass hardware in Windows
Phone works only with the built-in Bing Maps functionality. Microsoft will provide
programming libraries to access the compass to developers later, however. So by
the time you read this, it is possible that third-party access to the compass will
have already arrived.
Light sensor: 3 Thanks to the built-in light sensor, the Windows Phone camera
can accurately gauge illumination requirements for the ash and produce
accurate and clear low-light photos.
886595c01.indd 28 9/29/10 7:36:37 AM