Windows Phone 8: how Microsoft plans to beat the competition

Via: Techradar

Windows Phone 8 may not be lagging so far behind iOS and Android soon

During yesterday's Windows 8 Phone summit, Joe Belfiore, Corporate vice president Microsoft Corporation took the stage to get granular about exactly we can expect, as end users and developers, with Windows Phone 8.

Belifore wanted to highlight that Microsoft is "altering our approach to how we worked with hardware vendors."

·         Windows Phone 8 - release date and latest details

He added: "while the heart of the operating system was based on Windows CE, the future of Windows Phone is about a shared core that's common between Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8."

This feature has the most potential because it makes it much simpler for developers to port Windows 8 desktop apps to Windows Phone 8.

Since the two are essentially running the same OS that uses the same kernel for networking, file structure, multimedia, and graphics.

Windows Phone 8 up against the big boys

Belfiore then shared a slide that showed that "the Windows kernel, which is in use today, is used by over 1.3 billion people." And where Windows Phone really suffered compared to iOS and Android was when it came to the number of available apps.

Opening the Windows Phone Marketplace to this number of people huge means that Windows Phone may not continue to lag so far behind iOS and Android if the developers flock on board.

While previous versions of Windows Phone were designed for single-core processors, Microsoft hopes that a shared windows core will accelerate innovation. Because Windows Phone 8 scales well, Microsoft hopes that this will result in a wide array of phones.

Described by Belfiore as "efficient for the eco system" he then went on to talk about 8 new platform announcements:

Hardware

Windows Phone 8 will support "the latest and greatest hardware: specifically multi-core chipsets." To that end Microsoft has been focusing on multi-core devices for this fall. Additionally, Windows Phone 8 will support three screen resolutions: WVGA (800x480 15:9), WXGA (1280x768 15:9), 720p (1280x720 16:9) as well as removable MicroSD support (photos, music, videos, installing apps).

Internet Explorer 10

Internet Explorer 10 will be built into Windows Phone 8. Boasting 4x faster JavaScript performance compared to Windows Phone 7.5, IE 10 also boasts 2x HTML5 feature support compared to Windows Phone 7.5. Additionally, in their tests, Microsoft claims that Windows Phone 8 Internet Explorer 10 is faster than the browsers in the Samsung Galaxy SIII, HTC One S, and theiPhone 4S.

Native Code

Native Code. Since Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 share a common platform, Microsoft hopes that this will make it much easier for game developers to port their Windows 8 games easily to Windows Phone 8. Especially since "native game development is based on DirectX."

Better NFC Sharing

Better sharing with NFC. Connecting your Windows Phone 8 devices to other Windows 8 devices, like PCs and tablets, should now be much simpler.

The Wallet Hub

Windows Phone 8 aims to have the most complete wallet experience on any smart phone this fall. Belfiore demoed his prototype Nokia phone with credit and debit cards, loyalty and membership cards, and access to saved deals. And while every Windows Phone will include the Wallet Hub, AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon are working with Isis to bring more wallet experiences to the US.

Nokia Map Technology

Windows Phone 8 will include Nokia Map Technology. Taking full advantage of global Navteq map data, Nokia Map Technology also has offline map support and turn-by-turn directions - which can also run in the background.

Enterprise

Windows Phone 8 for business. Businesses have been reluctant to adopt Windows Phone in enterprise environments. That said, based on the shared Windows core, Windows Phone 8 benefits from improved encryption and secure boot, LOB (line of business) app development, device management, and Office apps.

New and Improved Start Screen

It changed the start screen with Windows Phone 8. Starting with Live Tiles, the start screen is significantly more customizeable, allowing users to make tiles different sizes. Belfiore showed off Windows Phone 8 using a prototype Nokia device where he easily made more important tiles larger and less relevant tiles smaller. To echo Terry Myerson, this goes a long way toward giving Windows Phone 8 users a truly personalized start screen.