14 DAY TRIAL // The first Windows Phone 7 ROM has been reportedly leaked into the wild. Following the emergence of similar solutions dumped from the Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP that were released not too long ago, the newly spotted ROM seems to be intended for use on a device, which supposedly comes to the market under the name of HTC Mondrian.
Of course, those interested in the area were already able to tap into some of the capabilities of the upcoming mobile operating system from Microsoft, as the aforementioned tools came with an emulator, but the new file opens new opportunities for enthusiasts. This is said to be a fully fledged ROM, intended for use on an actual device, and those who already examined it suggest it might be the real deal.
Here's what a recent post on xda-developers states: “member 911sniper posted a Windows Phone 7 ROM from a HTC device named the HTC Mondrian. The posting of the ROM is so fresh out the oven that at this point there’s not a lot of concrete information about either the device or the ROM itself. But it is certainly good news, knowing that developers and cooks are sharpening their knives to cut it to pieces and find out as much as possible about it.”
The original info on the ROM (via this thread on the xda-developers forums) included Model: HTC Mondrian (Cingular USA); AKU: WindowsMobile_7_AKU_6176; Language: 0409_WWE; and file name NBH_WM7_AKU_6176_WWE_for_HTC_MONDRIAN. The leaked ROM confirms that HTC would be among the first companies to release a Windows Phone 7, yet it seems that it cannot be flashed on existing devices.
According to XDA developer and moderator Da_G, the ROM seems to be valid: “After further examining the file, there is indeed an IMGFS inside, the D000FF format appears to be a new 'store' type of .bin, will need to figure out the format for it to pull out imgfs (because just cutting in a hex editor gives you some invalid data). Also, IMGFS is compressed with XPH (rather than XPR or LZX as we're used to).” People are reportedly working on decrypting the format of this ROM, and more info on the matter should emerge in the near future.