As announced on the Windows Phone Developer Blog, October 2010 update to the Windows Phone Dev Tools is available now. Since this is an update it requires the Windows Phone Developer Tools to be installed already on your system, also the language of the update and developer tools should match.

This update includes:

1. The capability Detection tools which scans the applications and reports on detected phone capabilities which will be applied during ingestion to the marketplace.

What is Windows Capability Detection Tool?

The application submission process uses Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) code analysis to detect the phone capabilities required by the application., it also replaces the auto-generated capabilities list with the specific capabilities required for your application.

Instead of using the application submission process to detect the phone capabilities required for your application, you can use the Windows Phone Capability Detection Tool to detect and replace the auto-generated capabilities list in your project manifest file with the specific capabilities required by your application.

It is a simple command line utility which takes project output folder as the input which contains all your assemblies, or uncompressed XAP file and outputs the list of security capabilities used by your application. The rules for issuing or deleting the capabilities are captured in a file named Rules.xml which is available with the tool.

2. Windows Phone Connect Tools

It allows to establish serial or USB connectivity to the device without running the Zune software. The process of using the connect tools is simple, navigate to the folder where it is installed

<System Drive>:\<Program Files>\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v7.0\Tools\WPConnect.

Connect the windows phone to the system and let is be detected by the Zune software, now close the Zune software after the connection is established. At the command prompt type WPConnect.exe, you can now debug your application without the Zune software running.

3. Updated Bing Maps Control that improves map performance during user gestures.

Thanks to the Developer Team for this wonderful update.

In my previous Blog post we looked at the philosophy behind the new Windows Phone 7 UI, we also saw what are the minimum hardware specifications for the manufacturer. In this post I am going to cover the Windows Phone 7 App Model.

What is a Windows Phone 7 App?

Silverlight is the Core application Dev Framework for Windows Phone 7. Application according to Silverlight is a signed XAP which is injected by the Marketplace. Any App developed has to be submitted to the marketplace, which gives it a license (More details provided below). Application license is a Crypto-verifiable object issued to grant rights to an application. Please note, if a unlicensed app is loaded in the phone, the host process will not launch the App.

App Hub is the Marketplace website where Developers can submit applications for Windows phone and Xbox 360. For a $99 USD annual subscription, the apps & games can be submitted to the App Hub for sale or free download in the Windows Phone Marketplace or Xbox LIVE Marketplace. DreamSparkstudents need not pay any registration fee.

Certification Requirements

Document explaining the Windows Phone 7 Application Certification requirements can be downloaded from here. This document outlines the content policies required to be followed by Developers for Windows Phone 7 App. Please go through this document carefully if you are developing Applications for Windows Phone 7.

Submission Process

App has to be submitted through the Seller account you have created in the marketplace. There are three account types: Company, Individual and Student. You will have to select the account type when you create the account and pay the registration fee.

Once the App is submitted to the marketplace, it goes through the following steps:

• It is validated for proper functionality.
• On successful validation of the XAP, it has to pass the certification which involves the automated and manual verification.
• Once it passes certifications, it is signed and then it is eligible for publication which can be done immediately or on the date decided by the publisher.

Please note that any future updates to the already submitted and passed application has to pass through the same process to maintain the consistency.

App Manifest

When the user selects an app from the marketplace, Phone handles the installation of the XAP package. There is a App manifest in the package which defines what the App will require to run correctly, for example services like access to network, WIFI or GPS. The Apps can only use the capabilities declared in the Manifest.

Application Data is accessible only to that particular application. Other Apps cannot access the data of another application. They run in a host process which is sandboxed from other applications. If capabilities are not declared for the App, then it runs in the least privileged mode, hence developer should ensure that that the App manifest clearly declares what App will require to run correctly.

App development also includes the embeddable browsing control which enables you to develop in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, that allows you to embed HTML control inside the Windows Phone 7 App, so you can write in JavaScript and deploy it.

Apps Available

You can checkout the Apps currently available for Windows Phone through the Zune software. Apps are added regularly. Below is a screenshot of the Free Facebook App available at the Marketplace

Certain missing features like background processing and features like copy, paste are expected to be the part of the future updates in the Windows Phone 7 OS.

In my next Blog post I will cover how the App runs in the OS and what are the different layers of the UI.

Zune Software version 4.7 released on 10/11/2010 now has the Windows Phone 7 Support, Hence it now has the app store for Windows Phone 7 where you can connect your Windows Phone 7 Device and download the apps. Store has both Free and paid apps.

Screenshot below gives you the glimpse of the app store. Clicking on any app link will give you further details about the app. You can also view the screenshots of the App before downloading it into your device. Please note, as mentioned on the page These apps are compatible only with Windows Phone 7.

I am Waiting to get hands on my new Windows Phone 7 Device to try out the app store :) Looks awesome.