Windows Phone 8 Announced

[deadwrong03]

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Top 5 Features of Windows Phone 8


Shipping this fall, Windows Phone 8 brings forth a lot of new features that makes it competitive with the next-generation updates for iOS and Google. It’ll be available on new hardware only, but existing Windows Phone 7.5 users will get a smaller update (in Windows Phone 7. to bring forth some of the features (but not all) announced for Windows Phone 8. Here’s a breakdown of our favorites.











5. Conversations With Apps.



This seems nothing like a competition with Siri or S Voice. Microsoft is planning to offer a new speech platform that even enables developers to create specific commands for your interaction with their apps. What’s even more interesting is that these commands can all run through the main search UI from the phone. We’re not sure how Microsoft plans to pull that off when you’re multi-tasking between apps, but there’s no denying that this is far better than what competitors currently offer.

4. Nokia Maps.

No more Bing maps. Nokia’s well-regarded map system, powered by NAVTEQ, will provide maps for Windows Phone 8 devices. They will also be offline, which will certainly mean less waiting for data downloads, but it also will also allow you to use the map software when you have no internet connection.

3. Internet Explorer 10.



There’s no doubt that Microsoft has built one of the snappiest browsers for mobile both in Windows Phone 7 and 7.5. With Windows Phone 8, we get IE 10, which is based off of IE 10 for Windows 8. According to Microsoft, you’ll get 4x faster JavaScript and 2x faster HTML5 support. We’re always excited about faster browser performance and we can’t wait to put these claims to the test.

2. Multi-core, HD-display support, and microSD support.

As it goes for smartphone platforms, Windows Phone is last to the party to work with multi-core CPUs, and perhaps the platform didn’t need it previously thanks to admirable performance with single-core CPUs. With Windows Phone 8 and its shared code with Windows 8, the operating system, and apps, are optimized for multiple cores.

Then, we’ll finally get higher resolution displays on Windows Phone devices. The two new resolutions are 1280×720 and 1280×768. Microsoft claims apps designed for lower-res screens will look good on the HD displays, but “with a little work, they’ll look better”…which tells us that text, rendered in the OS, will look good, but graphical elements will need to be updated.

And for added storage, Windows Phone 8 will offer microSD support.

1. New Start Screen.



At last, you can resize live tiles! That’s helpful if you don’t need your calendar to take up 2×1 tiles, or if you want a link to your best friend to take up a bigger space than 1×1, which is the default. In Windows Phone 8, you can choose a double size, medium size, or tiny size. While some might argue that the end result is a more cluttered look, it’ll be up the user how much he or she wants to customize the tiles. What’s more, developers can take tap into the three different Live Tile sizes so that different types of content can be shown across all three sizes.

-pocketnow.com

[kyderr]

I have gone on record with Verizon, I want in with Windows Phone 8 when it's released. I think it will be a big deal and a good blend between the strict restrictions of 7, and the power of flexibility with 6.5

[webpiter]

Actually the company revealed eight key platform features:

Support for “the latest and greatest hardware,” including multi-core chipsets, and removable MicroSD.
Internet Explorer 10, complete with malware blocking, faster JavaScript performance, and double the HTML5 feature support of Windows Phone 7.5.
Native game development based on DirectX for “killer games” and big, beautiful, powerful apps with platform and drivers in common between the Windows 8 desktop and Windows Phone 8.
Better support for native NFC — not just on the phone, but also between phones and laptops, tablets, and other PCs.
“The most complete wallet experience on any smartphone this fall,” including credit and debit cards, loyalty and membership cards, deals and coupons, and NFC tap-to-pay features.
Nokia mapping technology, with NAVTEQ data, offline support, map control for developers, and turn-by-turn directions.
“Windows Phone 8 for Business” ready to go for BYOD use in the enterprise: encryption and secure booting, LOB app deployment, device management, and familiar Microsoft business apps like Office.
An all-new start screen, featuring the Metro-style, customizable tiles with real-time updates from calendars, inboxes, social media, gaming networks, sports data, and images from around the web and within the device. With the new live tiles, you can set the apps, tile size, number of tiles, and more.