Microsoft’s next version of Windows Phone is going to be called Tango. Calling it a whole new version isn’t really fair though, because it’s really just a service pack. Remember when Windows Phone first launched in the fall of 2009? Less than half a year later Microsoft issued an update to the OS called “NoDo” that added copy and paste, CDMA support, better Facebook integration, and a whole other list of small things. Well now Mango is out, Windows Phone 7.5, which is a more substantial update to the OS that adds Twitter integration, multitasking, support for newer/faster Qualcomm hardware, and so on and so forth. Continuing this cycle of big release, update, big release, update, “Tango” is set to be the 2012 equivalent of “NoDo”. It’s been rumored that it’s going to add support for lower end devices, but also LTE support so that Nokia can reintroduce themselves to the American market with a serious flagship device.
Thanks to the server logs of an application dubbed “I’m a WP7!”, it’s been discovered that Nokia is going to introduce a Windows Phone Tango device codenamed “Champagne”. That’s all we can really say at this point. Earlier today the folks from The Verge said that they’re hearing rumors of a modified Nokia Lumia 800 that’ll support AT&T’s LTE network, so that’s possibly what “Champagne” will be, but again, that’s just speculation on our part.
The Windows Phone release we’re most interested about is of course what comes after Tango. Rumors say Windows Phone 8 will be called Apollo, it’ll support dual core processors, 720p resolution screens, and according to Niklas Savander, Executive Vice President of Markets for Nokia, we’ll “really see the fruits of what we can do with Microsoft when the Apollo version of Windows Phone comes out.” Expect to hear more about Apollo during late 2012.