Windows Phone 7 SDK was made available at MIX10. The best thing was that this SDK was Free for everyone. But developing applications for a Device which is not available yet would’t be possible. So for developers to build their applications without an actual device Microsoft included a Windows Phone 7 Emulator.

Now this Emulator was locked down. It did not have any applications except Internet Explorer! So people interested in trying out all the features of Windows Phone 7 were left disappointed.

That is until now, someone has successfully managed to Unlock the Full Emulator for Windows Phone 7.

Here’s how to make the Emulator work :

Download the Dev tools (Visual Studio 10 Express) from Microsoft

Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (Optional Download Only if the above gives any error)

1. Download the unlocked bin from Here

2. Rename the file to WM70C1.bin

3. Go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\WindowsPhone\v7.0\Emulation\Images

4. Rename the existing WM70C1.bin to WM70C1_old.bin

5. CopyPaste the Downloaded bin file

Run the Emulator by starting a new project and simply Running it!

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A newer version of Windows Live for Windows Phone was just released. There are no detailed change-logs as of now but the version has been bumped to 11.1 from the previous 10.7.0060.

Download Windows Live v11.1

Microsoft launched Windows Marketplace for Windows Phones not too long back. The overall feedback for Marketplace hasn’t been too great. The one main caveat behind Marketplace is that it’s region specific. That means people from regions such as Asia or Europe miss out on Applications which might be sold in the United States.

The other main point being that for every Paid application out there, there’s always a comparable Freeware alternative available.

Now a very well known site providing Free Windows Mobile Applications has built a custom Application Store for Windows Mobile featuring only Freeware Applications!

OpnMarket for Windows Mobile provides a very clean and easy interface to get those freeware applications quickly and easily. The experience which it provides is much better than even Marketplace.

Along with the clean and easy to use interface, Kinetic scrolling and neatly categorically organized Applications with more and more added daily.

OpnMarket is highly recommended and is totally a Must-Have!

Download OpnMarket