Windows Phone 8 details leak: NFC support, microSD support, dual core!

Whoa, Nellie! The guys at Pocketnow have just scored a ton of information regarding the future of Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system. Apparently they obtained a video where Joe Belfiore, Vice President of Windows Phone at Microsoft, goes through several of the new features that will be in Windows Phone Apollo, which at this point is all but confirmed as being called Windows Phone 8. This video was meant for Nokia’s partners, but it obviously escaped into the wrong hands. Here’s the condensed version of what’s in there: Apollo will support “multicore processors”, which we’ll take to mean dual core initially and quad core eventually. It’ll also supports four different screen resolutions, though Joe doesn’t go into specifics. We know 800 x 480 is one, 1280 x 720 is likely to be another; anyone want to hazard a guess as to the other two? We’re thinking 480 x 320 and 960 x 540. Support for microSD cards is also added, along with NFC support. The latter will work either via NFC built inside a smartphone or via NFC enabled SIM cards.

Regarding the heart of Windows Phone 8, there will be “heavy overlap” with “the kernel, networking stacks, security, and multimedia” aspects of the desktop version of Windows 8. Developers will be able to “reuse — by far — most of their code” from a Windows application when writing a Windows Phone 8 application. This confirms a report we filed last week.

Zune Desktop will get the axe, it’s going to get replaced by something more lightweight. Apps will also get a new ability to talk to each other, though details weren’t specified. As for Internet Explorer 10, it’s going to get a proxy feature similar to what Opera’s been doing for ages with Opera Mini and what Amazon is doing with Silk. This will help reduce data consumption. Speaking about data consumption, a new application will be bundled with Windows Phone 8 that will track data usage.

So is any of this real? Something tells us that yes, indeed it is, and that this leak is happening now because Microsoft will announce all of this stuff at Mobile World Congress later this month. It’s the only possible explanation. Why else would Joe make this video if he didn’t plan on talking about the operating system soon after he finished filming?

Update: Paul Thurrott from the SuperSite for Windows confirmed the news.

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

http://www.facebook.com/rodneyej Rodney E. Jones

Unfortunately Android is low quality, and soon people who seek a
problematic free OS will realize this. Windows Phone and iOS, possibly
BB, will be the only respected smartphone platforms in the future…
Android may hold the highest market share but that is common with low
quality products, because they are very easily accessible. If Facebook
pulls out of Android, they wont be the only ones, because others will
soon pull out when they decide they don’t want to be associated with a
platform that has male-ware, stability, consistency, and quality issues.
Sorry to be so offensive, but this is my prediction, not my wish. I do
not hope that Android fails at all, but I do hope people start to open
up to other higher quality options like Windows Phone. I also hope that
first time SP buyers choose wisely as well. A smartphone isn’t smarter
because it is more complicated for the everyday user, has to be
customized, or rooted to work properly, needs power and resource robing
specification to perform at a acceptable pace. A true smartphone comes
smart right out of the box! Think about that Facebook and developers…
http://www.facebook.com/rodneyej Rodney E. Jones

Unfortunately Android is low quality, and soon people who seek a
problematic free OS will realize this. Windows Phone and iOS, possibly
BB, will be the only respected smartphone platforms in the future…
Android may hold the highest market share but that is common with low
quality products, because they are very easily accessible. If Facebook
pulls out of Android, they wont be the only ones, because others will
soon pull out when they decide they don’t want to be associated with a
platform that has male-ware, stability, consistency, and quality issues.
Sorry to be so offensive, but this is my prediction, not my wish. I do
not hope that Android fails at all, but I do hope people start to open
up to other higher quality options like Windows Phone. I also hope that
first time SP buyers choose wisely as well. A smartphone isn’t smarter
because it is more complicated for the everyday user, has to be
customized, or rooted to work properly, needs power and resource robing
specification to perform at a acceptable pace. A true smartphone comes
smart right out of the box! Think about that Facebook and developers…
Anonymous

So, finally, after Mango, Tango and hopefully Apollo next year, WP will become a competitive platform:

- enough speed (no more stupid bogged down MS hw specs)
- big enough modern screen if the user wants (or smaller)
- enough storage space (let’s face it, 16GB is nothing these days, but 64GB SDXC are coming down fast)
- native C++ coding (maybe we’ll finally get Chrome and Firefox as browsers, instead of IE)
- NFC (not that I would *ever* trust MS with my real-time, non-recourse payment system details)

Looks like in 2013 WP will finally, hopefully deliver.

Here’s hoping so.

Now if they’d only fix the scroll-thumb-sore issues and non-scaling tiles of the metro UI, it would be a perfect set of fixes.
Anonymous

So, finally, after Mango, Tango and hopefully Apollo next year, WP will become a competitive platform:

- enough speed (no more stupid bogged down MS hw specs)
- big enough modern screen if the user wants (or smaller)
- enough storage space (let’s face it, 16GB is nothing these days, but 64GB SDXC are coming down fast)
- native C++ coding (maybe we’ll finally get Chrome and Firefox as browsers, instead of IE)
- NFC (not that I would *ever* trust MS with my real-time, non-recourse payment system details)

Looks like in 2013 WP will finally, hopefully deliver.

Here’s hoping so.

Now if they’d only fix the scroll-thumb-sore issues and non-scaling tiles of the metro UI, it would be a perfect set of fixes.
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Yes they will fix all the bugs by 2013 lol.
http://www.intomobile.com/ Stefan Constantinescu

Pretty much!
http://www.colecoadam.wordpress.com VintageComputerGuy

What “bugs”?
http://www.colecoadam.wordpress.com VintageComputerGuy

Mango (7.5) has put it on par with iOS & Android and in some cases, ahead. Apollo is just a beast of an update.
Anonymous

fix the bugs for Android? Android is broken by design. Android will get hammered this year when people see the alternative and am sure Windows phone will keep improving what’s already a very nice and totally stable platform that does the job with no hassle.
Anonymous

Bugs?
http://twitter.com/rallypeter1 rallypeter

Quad core FTW
http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Plate/100000025407912 John Plate

wasnt that supposed to happen with 7?
http://profile.yahoo.com/MWABFD6CWMI5EO3XWJV66VGBZU Adela

my neighbor’s step-mother’s base pay is $80/HR 0n the c0mputer .She has been out of work for 5 months but last month her paycheck was $7597 just working on the laptop for a few hours. Here’s the site to read more,
http://profile.yahoo.com/MWABFD6CWMI5EO3XWJV66VGBZU Adela

http://zapit.nu/1od