Windows Phone 8 Now Official

Today, Microsoft came to the Windows Phone Summit with the next-generation Windows Phone 8 operating system in its pocket.

Just as expected, the company packed the upcoming mobile platform with a nice range of enhancements, in an attempt to attract more users to its side and to gain a larger portion of the smartphone OS market. Windows Phone 8 will arrive on shelves with a shared core with Microsoft's Windows 8 platform, something that has been long rumored to be so. It will be released this holiday, with elements common with Windows 8, including kernel, networking, multimedia, driver support. Through making this move, Microsoft ensures that devices would arrive on shelves in a wider range of form factors and price points.

Moreover, Microsoft announced that Windows Phone 8 would arrive on better hardware than before, including devices with multiple processors (the OS can support up to 64 processors on the same device). Support for more powerful GPUs will also be included in the OS, so that users would benefit from a better multimedia and gaming experience. Moreover, Windows Phone 8 will add support for microSD cards, so that users can add increased storage space into the mix as they please, and it will also add support for more screen resolutions, including WVGA, WXVGA and true 720p. Windows Phone 8 will be launched with Internet Explorer 10, which should deliver the same experience that IE10 on Windows 8 has to offer, including the same level of security.

For developers, Microsoft announced the availability of native code for developers, so that better applications and gaming would be possible. Windows Phone 8 will also arrive with a changed Start screen, with increased customization capabilities, including the possibility to change the size of live tiles. The platform will also feature built-in Nokia mapping services, including turn-by-turn navigation, and will arrive with encryption and secure boot for Enterprise users. Microsoft demoed a Nokia development device, which features a dual-core application processor, a higher resolution screen, and other hardware designed for Windows Phone 8.

However, the handset might never arrive on shelves, Microsoft said. The company also mentioned that the platform is not compatible with current Windows Phone devices.

Posted in: Mobile Phone, Preview, Software