Windows Phone SDK 7.1 provides you with all of the tools that you need to develop applications and games for both Windows Phone 7.0 and Windows Phone 7.5 devices.

It is the final release and you must uninstall any pre-release (Beta1/Beta2/RC) in prior to install this new release. The SDK 7.1 provides a ‘Go Live’ license that enables you to develop and publish applications to the Windows Phone Marketplace.

What’s new in Windows Phone SDK 7.1

1. The profiler has been improved, and now provides memory profiling as well.
2. The emulator has a couple improvements to make development and testing better:
3. The RTM build (build 7720) is used by the emulator, providing you with confidence that the code you write will work on Windows Phone 7.5 retail devices.
4. A screenshot capability is now also built-in, allowing you to quickly capture images of your app in action.
5. NuGet is now supported in the free Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone SKU, allowing you to easily keep your add-ons up to date.
6. The latest build of the Microsoft Advertising SDK for Windows Phone controls are now included in the WPSDK, making it even easier to monetize your apps; particularly with more countries supported in 2011.
7. The completed Marketplace Test Kit enables you to test your app for certification on your machine, running the same technical cert tests that the Marketplace team runs, which should dramatically improve your chances of passing the first time.
8. For the first time, the WPSDK is available in Japanese, making the goodness of WPDev available to a new group of developers.

Windows Phone SDK 7.1 includes the following

• Windows Phone SDK 7.1
• Windows Phone Emulator
• Windows Phone SDK 7.1 Assemblies
• Silverlight 4 SDK and DRT
• Windows Phone SDK 7.1 Extensions for XNA Game Studio 4.0
• Microsoft Expression Blend SDK for Windows Phone 7
• Microsoft Expression Blend SDK for Windows Phone OS 7.1
• WCF Data Services Client for Window Phone
• Microsoft Advertising SDK for Windows Phone

System requirements

• Supported Operating Systems: Windows 7, Windows Vista
• Windows Vista (x86 and x64) with Service Pack 2 – all editions except Starter Edition
• Windows 7 (x86 and x64) – all editions except Starter Edition
• Installation requires 4 GB of free disk space on the system drive.
• 3 GB RAM
• Windows Phone Emulator requires a DirectX 10 or above capable graphics card with a WDDM 1.1 driver

Windows Phone SDK 7.1 is available as web installer that requires internet connection to download bootstrapper. Besides, an offline ISO also is being severed that can be burned to a CD and installed Offline. You can pick the most appropriate for you.

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• Windows Phone SDK 7.1 Offline ISO Image [Size: 731 MB]
• Windows Phone SDK 7.1 Web Installer

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Note: Windows Phone SDK 7.1 is compatible with the final version of Visual Studio 2010 SP1.