Windows Phone 7.5 in stores now

Not actual size.

To demonstrate Microsoft’s Windows Phone primary concept of “People belong at the center of the phone experience,” the company says it “put real people inside a giant six-story phone” in New York City’s Herald Square to bring to life the phone’s key features and experiences.

“Windows Phone will help change the way people look at smartphones,” the company says. “Other phones have you wade through a sea of apps, while we bubble up all the things that are important — centered around the people that matter to you most.”

Windows Phone 7.5, formerly code-named “Mango,” is now available at all major U.S. mobile operators.

Interestingly, in September without fanfare Microsoft removed the camera hardware requirement from the platform. This allows manufacturers to address the security concerns at some corporate and government installations that ban camera phones — and for making cheaper models. However, all the new models this week have front- and rear-facing cameras.

Among the new phones:

The Samsung Focus S, available from AT&T for $200, features an 8-megapixel camera, 4.3-inch display, 1.4GHz processor, 4G-capable speeds, and a 8.55 millimeter profile.

Samsung's Windows phone has an 8MP camera.

The Samsung Focus Flash is just $50, with a 3.7-inch screen and 5-megapixel camera.

The HTC Radar 4G from T-Mobile is “crafted from a single piece of polished aluminum,” Microsoft says. It’s $100.

More information is here.