For those that don’t know, you can download the W7 Phone developer tools now. It is available here. I have installed it and wanted to share my experience so far.

You can read the pre-release documentation here.

First, here is what it comes with the install:

The Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP includes the following:

Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone CTP
Windows Phone Emulator CTP
Silverlight for Windows Phone CTP
XNA 4.0 Game Studio CTP

First impressions:

• No ISO image install (Bad for me because I use multiple machine and have to install from a bootstrapper.
• Its around 228mb download.
• I already have the VS2010 RC, but it still makes me install the VS2010 Express Edition.
• Windows Phone Emulator will only work with VS2010. No support for 05/08.
• Need at least a DX10 graphics compatible card.

Final Word: (you are probably going to need this info)

To start a new project, go to Installed Templates and select Silverlight for Windows Phone and Windows Phone Application.

Use Silverlight for WPF style applications or XNA for W7 Games.