In what must be the scoop of the year (well, so far, anyway!), InsideMicrosoft have got their hands on an internal Microsoft document showing in detail the company's plans for Windows Mobile 7. And blimey, is it a radical departure from Windows Mobile 6!

Designed from the outset to out-iPhone the iPhone, Windows Mobile 7 actually takes its cues from the awesome Microsoft Surface interface that the company showed off a few months ago. As such, mobile phones based on the operating system will be able to respond to users' gestures in a completely intuitive way. So intuitive, in fact, that it'll make the iPhone look clunky!

Read on for more details and pictures of the forthcoming Windows Mobile 7 OS.

InsideMicrosoft have gone mad with their preview of Windows Mobile 7. So mad, in fact, they've written a 3,000 word essay on it, which you really should read to get the full picture.

Here, though, is a brief overview:

• Touchscreen interface lets the user control the phone with their finger alone.
• Gesture control lets web pages, pictures, etc., be controlled by simply waving the phone left, right, up or down.
• Environmental sensors let the phone tell whether it's inside a bag or pocket, or outside, and adjust the phone accordingly (turning the screen off if inside a pocket, for example, or switching it back on when outside).
• Gesture control is done via the phone's camera, rather than by accelerometers (which the iPhone uses, and which adds to the cost of the phone), which neatly sidesteps Apple's patents that it took out to protect this feature of the iPhone.
• Features graphical transitions and subtle user interface effects, giving a much more professional, polished look.
• Much improved media player and photo gallery application.
• Mobile Internet Explorer will be able to render full scren Web pages, giving a more desktop like Web experience.
• The phone will be able to detect finger velocity and horizontal and vertical gestures, altering the shape and presentation of the screen accordingly (e.g. sending a map whizzing to to the East if you move your finger swiftly to the right).
• Users can flick their way through lists in a style very similar to the iPhone.

As I say, these are just some of the highlights from Windows Mobile 7, which looks set to be a radical departure from all previous versions of Microsoft's mobile OS.

Unfortunately, the release date for Windows Mobile 7 isn't until 2009, which means we won't see phones taking advantage of its super-advanced features until another 18 months at least. By then, of course, Apple will no doubt be providing us with a super-3D holographic iPhone, while Nokia releases a nuclear fusion-powered mobile phone!

This shows that Apple really were a full year or two ahead of the competition, and have succeeded in disrupting the mobile phone industry in a massive way. For that, we users can be truly thankful, as despite the appalling way Apple offered the phone (with its locked software and hardware and over-restrictive and pricey tariff...oh, and no 3G!), it's forced the mobile phone industry to respond at a break-neck pace, giving us mobile phones we could barely dream of just a few years ago.

Well, OK, some of us dreamed them, but at least now, they're becoming real!

[Source: InsideMicrosoft]