Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has unveiled Windows Phone 7 today, in all its glory.  A handful of devices for AT&T and T-Mobile offer a good start for consumer availability, and the specs aren’t half bad either.

The OS itself is designed for integrated purposes, with Outlook and Uverse integration, a task-oriented homescreen, and graphic support that will make supported phones great for entertainment media (watching TV shows and playing games).

It’s too soon to know if Microsoft’s latest entrant will put a hurting on Android or iOS, but here are the highlights from today’s press event.

Hubs:  Application toggling

One thing that’s been particularly tricky for smartphone makers to perfect is how to best manage running apps.  Microsoft is taking an approach slightly different from the iPhone and Android devices, focusing on minimal time spent bouncing from app to app.

Windows Phone 7 devices will start with six hubs that act as folders or groups for related functions.  Recent communications (contacts – from here you can email, text or Facebook them), photos (share them from here on Facebook or Microsoft Windows Live), music and videos (Zune Pass, Slacker Radio, etc.), and so on, and so forth.

Keeping it in the Family:  Xbox Live, Office, Bing and more

Windows Phone 7 will also connect to your Microsoft Xbox Live, so you can receive game-related updates, news and networking.  This is one area where Microsoft is already ahead of its competitors, as Apple and Google are severely lacking in their networked approach towards leveraging their very powerful gaming devices – their smartphones.

Syncing options to Microsoft Office will also reduce the need for third party app downloads, centering access around services you’re already familiar with.  Bing also looks to be well integrated into Windows Phone 7, with voice search, in-app search and interaction, layers and easy navigation options.

Branching out

While Microsoft has done well to combine several of its other Applications in the new mobile platform, the company will still need to take on other partners in order to offer a fully-featured mobile operating system.  So far, Microsoft has teamed up with AT&T and T-Mobile as carriers of its fresh devices, with Uverse integration for AT&T customers.  There are also some carrier-exclusive apps, such as the Ilo and Milo game.

These are good selling points, but nothing I’d consider as a deal-breaker in choosing a Windows Phone 7 over another.  I think gaming and business users are the smart ones to target with these devices, and if Microsoft does a good job with the new platform, we’ll see several enterprise-related initiatives (developers included) to appeal to business users even more.

The devices

For T-Mobile

HTC 7 Mozart – 3.7” screen, 8MP camera and Xenon flash, Dolby Mobile and SRS Wow HD for “virtual surround sound.”  Also featuring a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 512MB RAM and 576MB of ROM, with 8GB of internal storage.

HTC 7 HD7 – 4.3”, 16GB storage, and a 5MP camera.

Dell Venue Pro – 4.1” vertical slider.

For AT&T

HTC 7 Surround – 3.8”, 8GB storage and 1GHz processor.  512MB ROM and 576MB of RAM.  Also featuring a 5MP camera with LED flash, with 720p video recording.

Samsung Focus – 4” screen, and super thin.

LG Quntum – 5MP camera and QWERTY slide-out.

HTC 7 Pro – 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 512MB of RAM, 16GB internal storage and a 5MP camera with LED flash.  Avail. early next year.