Under the hood is the Courier based upon the same mobile OS as Windows Phone 7 Series and the Zune HD, namely Windows CE 6. The graphics would be provided by the succeeder of the nVidia Tegra chip that is used in the current generation Zune HDs.
The Courier has in my opinion a very attractive interface which is based around drawing, sketching and writing. Of course is handwriting recognition one of the capabilities of this modern agenda. In the age of social networking is sharing a must, so the courier would make it possible to share notes easily with friends or colleagues. Furthermore this device would have a camera built-in and a 3.5 mm mini-jack to plug in your headphone for media playback.
Beside being a notebook and a 21 century journal, the Courier would also be Microsoft’s e-reader device. It would be packed with an ecosystem around reading and buying books.
The price is still unsure, as well as the launch date. All Engadget was told about the release date was “Q3 / Q4″. Make sure you watch the videos of the interface below.

• Engadget: LG’s first Windows Phone 7 handset shipping as early as September
• Engadget: Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 upgrades will be possible, up to OEMs to make them happen
• Gizmodo: The Three Kinds of Windows Phone 7 Phones

At HelloFromEurope.com we want to give you the best stories about Zune, Windows Phone 7 and Microsoft in general. Whether it’s ours or not. We want to share with you the good articles we read about these topics and that’s why you’ll see more external posts in the future. If we believe that a certain article or opinion could be interesting for you, we’ll share it with you.

Windows Phone 7 is a new beginning for Microsoft, and at the same time, an ending. The epoch of the “slap our software on any old hardware” open platform is dead.

There’s a spectrum of hardware and software integration. At one end, you have the likes of Apple, RIM and Nintendo who create software and design the hardware that it runs on. It’s controlled and tightly integrated top-to-bottom. At the other end, you have the classic Microsoft model—they just create the software, and a hardware company like Dell or HTC or Joe’s Mom buys a license to install it on their machine, which they sell to you. (FWIW, Microsoft would argue they’re in the middle, with open source, that is, “unstructured openness,” down on the other, wild ‘n’ crazy end.) In the center, you have a mix—there’s still a split between software and hardware, but one side dictates more stringently what’s required of the other side, or they work more closely together, so it’s sorta integrated, but sorta not.

Read further on Gizmodo

Gizmodo:

Windows Phone 7 Series: Everything Is Different Now

Engadget:

Windows Phone 7 Series: everything you ever wanted to know

Bonus: Gizmodo: Windows Phone 7 Interface: Microsoft Has Out-Appled Apple

Mary-Jo Foley — a Microsoft expert at ZDnet — interviewed Casey McGee, Microsoft Senior Marketing Manager, about the new Windows Phone 7 Series and asked him if Microsoft would make the Zune music/video service available outside the U.S. His answer was clear:

It will be available in all countries where Windows 7 Phones will ship.

Microsoft is not yet disclosing that list adds Foley.
My guess? It will include all these countries.

The first thing you’ll see when you open up the Marketplace is featured content. It’s — in this case — an application, but it could probably be music, podcast or a game as well.

If you dig deeper, to the application section, again some featured app would show up along with a list of other featured applications, new ones, a list of the most popular ones and subcategories.

When you watch videos about the Windows Phone 7 Series experience you’ll immediately see that the UI (User Interface) has a lot in common with the Zune HD, but is also very different.
The Windows Phone UI goes much deeper than the Zune HD’s. I was already amazed by the UI of the Zune HD, but this design takes mobile Operation Systems to a whole new level. You wanted a Zune Phone, well here, you got it. Not as a hardware device, but as a piece of software. This video makes me want to bury my old Nokia 3220 – which still works great after 5 years – and buy a Windows Phone right away.

The Windows Phone 7 Series will feature Zune and Xbox Live integration. So you’ll be able to get the best mobile video and music experience along with games on-the-go from Xbox LIVE, this means your phone will automatically be a “Xbox portable”.

According to Microsoft’s press release partners are already building phones for the new mobile OS and consumers would be able to buy a Windows Phone from Holidays 2010. Mobile operators AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG, Orange, SFR, Sprint, Telecom Italia, Telefónica, Telstra, T-Mobile USA, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone, and manufacturers Dell, Garmin-Asus, HTC Corp., HP, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba and Qualcomm Inc are working on future Windows Phone 7 phones.

Microsoft tried to make a phone-experience that worked the way people want, they did that even from the hardware. Every Windows Phone will feature three buttons on the front: a back button, a home/windows button and a search button. Something else that’ll be on every Windows Phone is a capacitive touch screen (finger friendly) that enables multi-touch.

The great UI experience is brought to us by what Microsoft calls Windows Phone hubs.
This is what Microsoft says about them in their press release:

Hubs bring together related content from the Web, applications and services into a single view to simplify common tasks. Windows Phone 7 Series includes six hubs built on specific themes reflecting activities that matter most to people:

•People. This hub delivers an engaging social experience by bringing together relevant content based on the person, including his or her live feeds from social networks and photos. It also provides a central place from which to post updates to Facebook and Windows Live in one step.

•Pictures. This hub makes it easy to share pictures and video to a social network in one step. Windows Phone 7 Series also brings together a user’s photos by integrating with the Web and PC, making the phone the ideal place to view a person’s entire picture and video collection.

•Games. This hub delivers the first and only official Xbox LIVE experience on a phone, including Xbox LIVE games, Spotlight feed and the ability to see a gamer’s avatar, Achievements and gamer profile. With more than 23 million active members around the world, Xbox LIVE unlocks a world of friends, games and entertainment on Xbox 360, and now also on Windows Phone 7 Series.

•Music + Video. This hub creates an incredible media experience that brings the best of Zune, including content from a user’s PC, online music services and even a built-in FM radio into one simple place that is all about music and video. Users can turn their media experience into a social one with Zune Social on a PC and share their media recommendations with like-minded music lovers. The playback experience is rich and easy to navigate, and immerses the listener in the content.

•Marketplace. This hub allows the user to easily discover and load the phone with certified applications and games.

•Office. This hub brings the familiar experience of the world’s leading productivity software to the Windows Phone. With access to Office, OneNote and SharePoint Workspace all in one place, users can easily read, edit and share documents. With the additional power of Outlook Mobile, users stay productive and up to date while on the go.