Everyone who had a chance to see Windows Phone 7 in action noted how fluid, fast and responsive the Operating System was when doing everything thrown at it, even if it was not final software or hardware. In case you want to make sure again, check out our Windows Phone 7 videos.

Well, Microsoft is taking care that the overall speed of the platform remains untouched by setting strict requirements which an application for Windows Phone 7 needs achieve in order to be certified. According to the Windows Phone 7 Application Certification Requirements, applications must render the first screen within 5 seconds after launch. I’m sure most of you Windows Mobile/Phone users have met at least once in your life an application that took ages to launch. Well, it’s not the case anymore, because “within 20 seconds after launch, the application must be responsive to user input”. Also, there will be no splash screen stalling because “Microsoft recommends that the application provides a splash screen image only when it takes longer than 1 second to load the first screen”.

In a well known scenario where you have many applications installed on your device and it normally would behave a bit sluggish, it is good to know that anything that doesn’t launch within five seconds or is not responsive after 20 will not even make it to be a certified application. Laying down software requirements besides the already known hardware requirements is Microsoft’s way of making sure the platform keeps its fluidity and speed in all scenarios. What are your thoughts as potential Windows Phone 7 users?

(Via: Microsoft)