[Windows Phone 7 General] Avictus:
I've been messing around then the WP7 SDK for several weeks now. I would like to post some responses to the app requests just so people can get a good idea of what app developers are/are not capable of doing. I don't have full knowledge of the entire SDK, so what I say isn't final. This is just based off of what I have found so far. Also, keep in mind, this doesn't mean Microsoft or a company with access to the native SDK couldn't release apps with these features, as they have much less restrictions than the normal developers.

Limitation: Apps do not have access to turn on/off phone features such as 3G or Wifi.

Affects: Live tiles for disabling/enabling these features.

Limitation: Apps cannot change the ringtone or the phone's volume settings.

Affects: Setting custom ringtones. Setting up ring/volume profiles (work/home/theater/etc.)

Notes: I have read that custom ringtones are coming in an official OS update.

Limitation: No access to SMS messages (incoming, outgoing, or on the phone.)

Affects: SMS backup or restore. Labeling/tagging incoming SMS messages.

Limitation: No access to phone calls (incoming, outgoing, call history.)

Affects: Recording phone calls.

Limitation: No sockets.

Affects: Apps such as SSH or IRC. These are technically still possible, but would be very difficult to implement with the current networking features available to app developers.

Notes: This has been mentioned to be coming in a future OS update.

Limitation: No unrestricted filesystem access.

Affects: Filesystem browsing.

Notes: Apps are only allowed to modify/view their own dedicated isolated storage space. Apps cannot see storage outside of this area. So, an app could allow saving and viewing files inside its own isolated storage area, but could not show files outside of this area (such as the isolated storage of other apps.)

Limitation: Copyright issues with emulators.

Affects: Emulators making it through the certification process.

Notes: Some older systems, such as C64 or Intellivision may be able to make it through the certification process, but I would find it unlikely (not impossible) that an NES, SNES, or PSX emulator would make it through the certification process. There are no technical limitations preventing emulators, just the app actually making it through certification and onto the Marketplace.

Limitation: No direct modification of status bar.

Affects: Placing a percentage on the battery meter.

Some additional notes:

As has been stated previously, Adobe did announce that they were working on Flash for WP7, but I don't believe a release date has been announced yet. My guess would be first half of 2011. That is 100% guess.

In my opinion, a major update to the WP7 browser won't come for a long time. Possibly late next year. By "major" I mean something like adding HTML5 video/audio support or adding a new rendering engine.

And my own app requests:

I second the Mint app request. I currently have a Nexus One and the Mint app is my second most-used app (after Google Talk.) I would love to see a Mint app on WP7. I would also like to see an IM client that supports Google Talk (and makes use of push notifications.) Honestly, I really want a WP7 phone, but I won't get one until there is a decent Google Talk client available. My Nexus One is basically a portable Google Talk client to me. WP7 already has PDF support, so that takes care of my ebooks.