Windows Phone 8 Preview

So what’s up with Windows Phone 8, folks? This is just a preview, but that does not mean big things are in store. We have word that Windows Phone 8 will be shipping with a shared Windows Core, and when loosely translated to English, Microsoft is talking about a set of components such as the kernel and graphics support, where it will change the way the entire platform works. Hopefully for the better, of course. In some way, it will be the same familiarity with Windows that more than 1.3 billion people use worldwide each day, and a wider range of devices for consumers.

Needless to say, this would also mean a greater amount of app compatibility, where it will be easy to make a transition from Windows 8 to Windows Phone, as well as the other way around. Multi-core support is thrown into the bag of announced goodies, where it will be accompanied by multiple screen resolution support, including WVGA, WXGA and 720p, not to mention 1280 x 768 in a 16:9 aspect ratio. Read more about Windows Phone 8 in the extended post.

A microSD memory card slot is also added, so it would make it easier to store and transfer information from one device to another. Internet Explorer 10, or IE 10 for short, has also been built right into Windows Phone 8. This new version will offer an anti-phishing filter, a superior than before JavaScript performance, additional HTML5 feature support that has Touch Support, too.

You can be sure that better games are also coming your way, as both platforms share native code support, making life easier for game developers (as well as normal developers alike) to churn out bigger and more stunning apps at a faster rate.

In order to keep up with the Joneses, NFC support is also added to the list, slowly but surely shortening the bucket list for Windows Phone. Not only that, Windows Phone 8 comes with a Wallet feature where Microsoft has every intention of replacing the entire wallet instead of just handling payments. Guess Google Wallet and Apple’s Passbook is up against a potentially stiff competition here.

Windows Phone 8 is said to come with Nokia’s mapping technology, so that means you get to enjoy offline map support, thanks to map data provided by the good people over at Navteq. No longer do you need to get lost even when overseas, as an offline map means no exorbitant data roaming charges!

Microsoft has also beefed up enterprise security on Windows Phone 8 by offering encryption and secure boot, with bitlocker technology being at the heart of things.

There is also a new Start screen in town, where it comprises of large, medium and small tiles – which of course, you are able to set the size of these tiles according to your whim and fancy – subject to the screen size of the device, of course.

Image courtesy of Engadget.