Microsoft has officially removed the wraps from Windows Phone 8 aka Apollo, the next major upgrade to its failed mobile OS and shot its entire existing user base to hell in the process.
It will also include Internet Explorer 10 (IE10), Skype and Bing Maps replaced with much better Nokia Drive will be pre-loaded on all Windows Phone 8 devices, enabling offline navigation free, turn-by-turn, and voice-guided navigation.
Last but not least, Windows Phone 8 will get a new Start Screen which will has more Tiles and allows to set the size of each Tile (with a choice of small, medium and double wide sizes) and each tile can be assigned a unique colour, making Windows Phone pretty much looking like a Windows 8. The new Start screen makes it more flexible and usable then the current version where you only have big blocks for each and every app. It definitely triumphs over iOS but Android is still the king of ambient information with its robust widget framework. Android added resizable widgets in Android 3.0, and many of them have additional capabilities like direct playback control and flick scrolling. Android is far more customizable, but it still differentiates between icons and widgets.
Finally, we come to the ugly part of Windows Phone 8. There have been early rumors that next gen Windows Phone OS update will not be compatible with current generation of Windows Phone. Now, Microsoft has officially confirmed that rumors were indeed true. As a compensation, Microsoft has announced that Windows Phone 7.8 for current phones. Windows Phone 7.8 is just a skin, to mimic the look and feel Windows Phone 8 start screen pretty much that's it for Windows Phone 7.8, which means it will not support any new features of WP8. It's like Microsoft would have added the Windows Phone 7 skin to Windows Phone 6.5 devices. Technically possible but without any benefit for the end-user, except that he would have received a thumb-friendly user interface. However, Microsoft said yesterday that Windows Phone 8 isn't supporting hardware, etc. Sure it's won't, until you develop the drivers for it. I just got Android 4.0 ICS update on the year old Sony Xperia mini pro.
Get our regular updates in Google Currents for Android or iOS platforms click here or scan QR code below.
Lets start with Good things first, of Windows Phone 8. There we have plenty of new features Windows Phone 8 will support like Better Hardware dual-core and quad-core CPUs, higher screen resolutions (WVGA, WXGA, 720p), swappable memory cards, IPv6 and native NFC.
It will feature a "Wallet Hub" which will allows to use Windows Phone 8 devices for mobile payment and more, a "Company Hub" which allows companies create their own Windows Phone 8 Hub for custom employee apps. Additionally, Office for Windows Phone is also being beefed-up for enterprises, though no specific details were shared on this aspect.
Windows Phone 8 will share the same kernel as the desktop version of Windows 8. Developers previously restricted to working in Microsoft Silverlight can now write native code, as well as code in HTML5, XNA, .NET, and C#. The new OS will even use the NTFS file system and support enterprise-level security hooks similar to those for desktop and laptop PCs.
Now Lets start with bad things in Windows Phone 8. Much more fragmentation Windows Phone. Previously, there were mainly two types of Windows Phones, high end one and low end ones. The low end ones like Lumia 610 were unable to run most popular apps and games while the high end ones like Lumia 800 and 900 were able to run almost all apps in the Windows Marketplace. Then, some other OEMs like Samsung and HTC phones which which even with capable hardware were restricted from many apps which were exclusive to Nokia. Now, we have Windows Phone 8 increasing the fragmentation. Now this is bad news ealry users of windows Phone 7. While Windows Phone 7 apps will work on Windows Phone 8 devices, but Windows 8 developed apps won't run on Windows Phone 7. And I would assume that many developers will sooner or later switch to the new Windows 8 APIs exclusively. Which means no new apps for earlier users. Consider this on scenario on Android where most new apps are still compatible with previous versions of OS.
Now, Windows Phone 8 will support 720p screen, congrats Microsoft when the whole world is moving to 1080p and above screens now you have raised the limit to 720p.
One minor nuisance is the new flat logo of Windows 8 as Windows button looks pretty ugly.
Finally, we come to the ugly part of Windows Phone 8. There have been early rumors that next gen Windows Phone OS update will not be compatible with current generation of Windows Phone. Now, Microsoft has officially confirmed that rumors were indeed true. As a compensation, Microsoft has announced that Windows Phone 7.8 for current phones. Windows Phone 7.8 is just a skin, to mimic the look and feel Windows Phone 8 start screen pretty much that's it for Windows Phone 7.8, which means it will not support any new features of WP8. It's like Microsoft would have added the Windows Phone 7 skin to Windows Phone 6.5 devices. Technically possible but without any benefit for the end-user, except that he would have received a thumb-friendly user interface. However, Microsoft said yesterday that Windows Phone 8 isn't supporting hardware, etc. Sure it's won't, until you develop the drivers for it. I just got Android 4.0 ICS update on the year old Sony Xperia mini pro.
One other thing that worries me is that if current generation single core phones are not compatible with Windows Phone 8 and dual-cores are now the lowest limit, how will Microsoft handsets to cater low end market.
To conclude, I think this update certainly makes Windows Phone more competitive with Android and iOS devices, but it still isn't future proof and competition is really moving fast and soon WP8 will be a thing of past. There isn't any exciting features announced in new Windows Phone OS.
Comments