Five reasons to get excited about a Microsoft partnership-Nokia Conversations

The strategic alliance announced by Nokia and Microsoft today could create some rather special devices. Nokia’s phones have always been famed for their great hardware – best-in-class durability, the most powerful cameras on the market and sleek and stylish designs that sit beautifully in the hand. But what about a new OS to go alongside that? Here’s five things that you might look forward to on a Nokia Windows device.

Great Usability
We’ve enjoyed our widgets on Symbian devices, but Microsoft’s tiles are even simpler to set up and to use: and they put the information that’s most needed by users right where you need it. Microsoft Windows Phone 7 offers great ease of use in comparison to other mobile operating systems. Every alternative will have its fans, but this one definitely drives up the usability of devices.

Gaming at the next level
If you like to use your mobile device for gaming, then your world just might have got a lot rosier. Using a Nokia Windows phone we’re excited about the possibility of powerful console franchises appearing right on our mobile devices.

Office

Dealing with proper work documents on a mobile device has always been the source of a lot of pain for users. That gets a lot easier when you’ve got a mobile version of Microsoft Office, authored by Microsoft themselves. There’s no-one who wouldn’t want the easiest experience possible when it comes to reading, writing and communicating.

Media centre
Or rather, “Music + Videos Hub”. Windows Phone does a great job of bringing together your media in an attractive and user-friendly way.

Mobile Email
If you’re one of the many millions of people who depend on connecting to a Microsoft Exchange server, then you may well be looking forward to the likelihood of improved support that comes with having MS as your mobile device’s operating system provider.

And of course there’s moreThe Nokia Microsoft strategic alliance will intertwine the companies in more ways than one. This is more than about combining Windows Phone 7 with Nokia hardware. Microsoft’s Bing has already been using NAVTEQ mapping technology, Nokia devices have already been using Microsoft technology. There are many layers to this alliance, whether it be bringing Bing Search to Ovi Maps or navigation to Windows or simply combining the best brains in both companies to produce something entirely revolutionary.

For some (ourselves included), this might be a surprising step. But we’re excited about it and already imagining the possibilities of what might unfold. We hope you are, too. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.