Today at the TechEd North America 2010 event Microsoft has confirmed Windows Phone 7 developers will be able to register a number of devices which unlocks the capability to side-load applications on to devices directly from development tools such Visual Studio or Expression Blend.

Initially, Microsoft will offer three device registrations per Marketplace account ($99 per year) tied a Windows Live ID. Developers who legitimately require more will be considered by Microsoft on a case-by-case basis.

The registration process which occurs on a PC with the phone connected involves a small application which asks for the Windows Live account the developer wishes to register the device on. The process simply flags that device in the cloud backend and does not change the phone ROM in any way.

Once completed, developers can view through the Marketplace website which contains a listing of all their registered devices as well as removing the device registration.

Windows Phone 7 might not launch with a catalog of applications the size of Apple’s, but Microsoft is definitely going to one-up Apple and Google in terms of the application marketplace experience with a refreshingly friendly implementation of a trial-mode for applications for both end-users and developers.

In contrast to what has naturally evolved into a set of free and pro versions of apps in the Apple app store, Microsoft’s solution simplifies the experience for users down to one application to download and run, and for developers, one application to submit to the marketplace and one codebase to support. A win-win situation for all.

To accomplish this, Microsoft has implemented a licensing system into the API that exposes to developers whether the user is trialing the application or has purchased it. Developers can determine the license with a single line of code not too far from “if (application.license = trial)” and adapt their application accordingly.

Microsoft is also giving developers free reign over what type of trial they want to do including but not limited to reduced functionality or timed trials. At the same time, developers can easily create up-sell opportunities inside their application and because it is just a change of license, users can receive instant gratification without downloading a new application.

Although the support for trials is not a requirement for WP7 applications, Microsoft is encouraging developers to take advantage of it to increase potential sales as it reduces risk for the end user. Considering all of the above, it would be silly not to take advantage of it.

Two thumbs up for the Windows Phone 7 guys. One of my few but major concerns with the WP7 user interface is now no longer an issue. The icons inside the common “application bar” which will house common actions will no longer be a game of trial-and-error.

Up and until now, the icons had no text labels so any ambiguity in the design would have meant the only way the user could know what it did is to click on it and pray it doesn’t do anything you can’t reverse. This is an issue that plagues some Android apps too

Now in the latest build of WP7, the icons reveal their label when you expand the application bar which brings up the additional context options.

As subtle as a change this might be, I think it truly reflects Microsoft’s attention to detail in the WP7 user experience which shows the moment you use it. After playing with the build for a couple minutes at TechEd 2010 today, trust me when I say it is one of the slickest things I’ve ever seen.

It’s a good time to be a mobile developer. At the Microsoft TechEd 2010 conference this week in New Orleans, Brandon Watson from the Windows Phone 7 team revealed that Windows Phone 7 devices will go out to developers “next month”, July, several months ahead of the general availability during the “holiday season”.

Although there isn’t an exact number of the early Christmas presents Microsoft will hand out, it’s claimed to be plentiful and genuine Windows Phone developers in any of the 29 countries where Windows Marketplace for Mobile is available will be considered. Interested developers should reach out to Microsofties through any of the Windows Phone 7 developer channels to register their interest. Microsoft will determine each request on a case-by-case basis.

The devices Microsoft are seeding to developers will range from a number of undisclosed OEMs but are all similarly specced. Although the devices (and presumably OS) won’t be of retail quality, the devices will be free so you can’t complain.

Brandon also teased that the team also put a lot of focus on the packaging of these development kits which are standardized across devices and they’re “very cool”. I’m sure when these land in the hands of developers next month there will be no shortage of pictures.

Now there’s an easier way to share and compare your PC performance rating with a slick new web service called WEI Share taking advantage of the native Windows System Assessment Tool (WinSAT) and the Windows Experience Index (WEI) on Windows Vista and Windows 7.

WEI Share is a Coding4Fun project developed by Larry Larsen from Microsoft’s evangelist group built on top of Windows Azure. It allows users to submit their WEI score and associated system information using a WPF desktop application to the database where others can search or browse through all the submissions from various hardware combination using a Silverlight application. In addition, users can also opt to post their scores to Facebook for extra geek cred.

Of course, the WEI is not a replacement for 3DMark and it wasn’t designed to be either, but it does provide a good rough guide on the general performance of a PC and WEI Share makes the process of comparing scores much easier. WEI Share isn’t the first site to do this, but it’s the most elegant so far.

The project will be open sourced on CodePlex in the near future.

During both the keynote and a Windows Phone 7 session here at TechEd North America 2010, Microsoft showed off a subtly newer build of Windows Phone 7 that features a few visual changes over the builds we’ve seen not too long ago from Microsoft MIX and certainly its debut at Mobile World Congress 2010.

The most obvious thing you’ll notice is a more compact lock screen that features much smaller text for the time and date, presumably to address the issue some people raised over the unnecessary clipping of the date. Outlook and the Marketplace tiles also sport a new icon that’s more consistent with the stencil icons on the rest of the start screen. Many icons inside various application menus has also been added.

Beyond just the pictures, the build appeared more complete and responsive in the demonstrations as one would expect as it inches closer to its public release, especially since Microsoft hopes to deliver actual devices to developers “very soon”.