Windows Phone 8 becomes official

Microsoft has formally unveiled their latest Windows Phone 8 platform which will be available for both the handset and the tablet.

Expected to be released sometime after September this year, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 will have a lot more new features that were sorely lacking in WP7.

Here’s a quick summary of the stuff to expect from WP8.

â— Will share native dev platform with Windows 8, support for DirectX so games for Windows 8 can be easily ported for WP8.

â— Support for higher screen resolutions — 720p (1280×720), WXGA (1280×768) and WVGA (800×480).

â— Support for dual-core processors and up to 64-cores in the future. The new handsets will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus (dual-core Krait).

â— HTC, Nokia, Samsung, Huawei will be the first ones to make the handsets running WP8.

â— WP8 will be using Nokia Maps technology, supports multi-tasking/background operation and will be accessible by 3rd party apps with offline mode.

â— Built-in Internet Explorer 10.

â— Support for microSD card (photos, music, videos, installing apps).

â— More comprehensive NFC Wallet and NFC Sharing.

â— Speech Platform will also be available to 3rd party apps.

Windows Phone 7.5 devices will not be supported but an incremental upgrade to 7.8 will be made available soon.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

18 Comments

Kaloy says:

12 years ago

Huwaw! Last quarter of 2012 will be exciting for mobile world. May BlackBerry 10, Windows 8, iP5/6 tsaka ano ba sa android?

rooting for BB10 lol!
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steelicon says:

12 years ago

WinDoze PunIt! Punit talaga!
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alehoy says:

12 years ago

I feel for the folks who bought W7 phones who suddenly got left out. I mean, a smartphone must get at least one major OS upgrade during its lifetime to get the most of your investment. My Galaxy Tab (classic) got an upgrade to Gingerbread from Froyo. My Sony Xperia got ICS from Gingerbread. My iPad 1 got iOS 5.1.1 before being abandoned by Apple. Tsk tsk Microsoft you’ve been a bad boy…
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John says:

12 years ago

Lol go fuck yourself. I’m never gonna buy a fucking Windows Phone again.
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wreek888 says:

12 years ago

Wow! Naging obsolete agad ang mga nokia lumia phone, Im sure biglang bagsak ang price niyan. Glad i didnt buy lumia 900.
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Marky says:

12 years ago

I feel sorry for the WP 7.x users. Though it won’t make sense if they update WP8 because it not compatible to the hardware, but the WP8 updates are really huge improvements, I am excited to see WP high-end phones! Good job Microsoft!
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Dodi says:

12 years ago

OMG, I should have read this before I bought the Lumia 900 just last night!!!
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Justin says:

12 years ago

Haha! Looooooooooooser!!! :P

darryl says:

12 years ago

ganda ng specs
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john says:

12 years ago

Underwhelming set of updates. No mention of notification improvements.
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SpiderWak says:

12 years ago

This is the info that I’ve been waiting for. Rumors of not being able to update to WP8 is what kept me from buying a Lumia unit.
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JM says:

12 years ago

I like WP7, very smooth interface in single core processor. Good software utilization but only lacking in apps and card slot that keeps me from buying one. WP8 with the improvement stated above, will be a best seller IMO.
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Ryan Ang says:

12 years ago

first things first, I think tablets would get windows 8 RT/pro rather than windows phone 8.

Yes, MSFT is now on track with Surface, Windows 8 and now WP8. The question is, will the public latch on to this ecosystem considering majority has invested on the big 2.

7.5-7.8 is pretty much expected. Most features of WP8 isn’t compatible anyway to the current hardware. I’m just sorry for the Lumia owners not getting WP8 later in the year. Not sure though if WP8 apps will play nice with WP7.8
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donutz says:

12 years ago

Poor WP7.5 Owner no update for WP8

in the future maybe there will be no more available apps for 7.5 mango
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donutz says:

12 years ago

Developer will now concentrate on WP8
making apps maybe some apps will not
be compatible with the WP8 to Wp7.8 phones.
Fleeb says:

12 years ago

An update to 7.8 from 7.5 was announced. The only time there will be no more available apps for 7.x is when they shut down the marketplace.