During the Windows Phone Summit today, Microsoft announced the successor to its popular Windows Phone 7 platform. Windows Phone 8 was announced as the company’s next generation mobile operating system and Microsoft detailed 8 different platform changes.
During the keynote, Microsoft said it would not disclose all the end user features, but instead, disclose the new platform features. Windows Phone 8 will support multi-core chips, in fact, WP8 could run on a 64-core machine. Windows Phone 8 no longer focuses on a single screen resolution like Windows Phone 7 does. Instead, WP8 will now support WVGA, WXGA, and 720p (800×480, 1280×768, and 1280×720 16:9). No changes will be needed to existing Windows Phone 7.5 apps, as they will run on any of the resolutions without changes being needed. Microsoft also mentioned that there are over 100,000 apps currently in the Marketplace.
Windows Phone 8 will also support removable microSD cards and also make it easier for iOS and Android developers to port over their apps and games to Windows Phone. We will also see NFC support as well as “the complete wallet experience” with the Wallet hub. Windows Phone 8 will also include Nokia’s mapping technology built-in, including turn-by-turn navigation. Encryption and secure-boot are two business features that will also come with Windows Phone 8, along with BitLocker, LOB App deployment, Device Management and familiar Office apps.
And best of all, Windows Phone 8 comes with a newer Start Screen that allows users to adjust the tile size and customize the colors. Windows Phone 8 is expected this Fall. Bad news, however, for those who were itching to try Windows Phone 8 on their Nokia Lumia 900 or other Windows Phone devices as Microsoft will be offering a separate update (Windows Phone 7.8), since Windows Phone 8 is not tailored to work with legacy devices.
