Windows Phone 8 Announcement

[AstroManLuca]

The Snapdragon 8250 used in the original WP7 devices was also used in the Nexus One which was the fastest phone on the market when it was released. the problem is sticking with a fixed set of hardware is a losing battle when Android manufacturers are all adopting new tech very rapidly.

Exactly, but that's the thing, they're not going to be stuck on a fixed set of hardware this time around. So it's only going to be an issue for a little while. Or maybe Windows phones will always be a couple months behind the rest if MS is lax in approving new hardware, but at least they will improve over time.

 

[darkewaffle]

As a selling point, I agree hardware is important to keep up to snuff simply because there are a lot of people that don't know better and think their phones need to run lots of megabytes to feel fast.

But for anyone who actually picks up the phone and uses it, you'll really never be able to tell any difference.

 

[dagamer34]

The Windows CE kernel was preventing them from supporting any CPU with more than 1 core, but that problem has been solved now.

Native code is important because it will easy to port a Windows 8 DirectX Metro game to Windows Phone 8 with minimal effort.

 

[happysmiles]

considering how good WP7 is optimized for current phones it will probably be on the same scale for WP8 on launch phones, the difference being that it won't get stale so quickly (and give reviews a bite more spice)

I watched the keynote and their vision is becoming a reality, I can see businesses finally going for a W8/WP8 package, they HAD to change from CE to W8 Kernel to achieve this, someone always gets burned with a hard cut off

Games will finally be something on WP8 and not a port from iOS/ICS.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

B) Regarding trust, during the announcement yesterday they added carrier-free OTA updates in the future with a minimum 18 month support cycle, which is something no one - not them, Google, or Apple has provided, so far as I'm aware.

Ummm, what? iPhone 3GS which was released in 2009 is still going to be updated to iOS 6.

 

[Deeko]

Ummm, what? iPhone 3GS which was released in 2009 is still going to be updated to iOS 6.

I didn't say no one has been updated beyond 18 months. I said there is no commitment from the other companies saying "yes, there will definitely be updates for [x] amount of time". To Apple's credit, they've still done very well to keep products updated anyway, my point was that there is no direct, written commitment with other platforms.

 

[Mopetar]

Ummm, what? iPhone 3GS which was released in 2009 is still going to be updated to iOS 6.

But it's not getting many of the new features in iOS 6, especially several that Apple highlighted at their presentation.

I'd probably want to find a complete list of what users will/won't get before determining if the update is even worthwhile, but for now I'd tentatively mark it it as "updated to iOS 6*".

 

[jalaram]

Even the iPhone 4 (An ancient 2 yrs old) won't get all the features in iOS6 although it probably could have most of them.

 

[VashHT]

Even the iPhone 4 (An ancient 2 yrs old) won't get all the features in iOS6 although it probably could have most of them.

The iphone 4 didn't even get fully supported for one year, the biggest feature they touted for iOS5 was cut out.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

But it's not getting many of the new features in iOS 6, especially several that Apple highlighted at their presentation.

I'd probably want to find a complete list of what users will/won't get before determining if the update is even worthwhile, but for now I'd tentatively mark it it as "updated to iOS 6*".

Of course you're not going to get all the features, it's a 3 year old phone. What's important is you are getting pretty much everything else (including security updates) and since most developers are going to require iOS 6 as a minimum, you'll still be supported by them also.

 

[Eug]

The iphone 4 didn't even get fully supported for one year, the biggest feature they touted for iOS5 was cut out.

Yeah, it was a joke... or so I thought... until Google and Microsoft decided to support their phones even less than that.

This is stark contrast to Microsoft's support of really old hardware with Windows.

 

[Dominato3r]

If I'm interpreting this correctly, is he saying that newer apps will still run on 7.5/7.8?

http://youtu.be/royJee1SQlY?t=1h54m40s

 

[Mopetar]

Of course you're not going to get all the features, it's a 3 year old phone. What's important is you are getting pretty much everything else (including security updates) and since most developers are going to require iOS 6 as a minimum, you'll still be supported by them also.

I can understand leaving out some features due to lack of hardware (e.g. you don't have a front-facing camera so we're not giving you Facetime) or the feature being too processor intensive for older hardware, but it seems as though they just drew some arbitrary lines in the sand for a lot of features.

 

[Deeko]

If I'm interpreting this correctly, is he saying that newer apps will still run on 7.5/7.8?

http://youtu.be/royJee1SQlY?t=1h54m40s

Its like this. When you write an app, you specify your compile target (or minimum SDK level, or selected platform...they all use different terminology to mean the same thing). If you don't need WP8-only features (they haven't said which these are, but presumably native code will be the big one), you just select 7.5 as your target. Then, every device from 7.5 on up can use the app. I'm sure there will be ways to support both, too - say you have an app that uses the new wallet, and say that isn't available in 7.8 (which they also haven't said either way)....I'm sure there will be a way to have a version of your app w/ wallet support and a version without, depending on the user's OS level.

 

[AstroManLuca]

If I'm interpreting this correctly, is he saying that newer apps will still run on 7.5/7.8?

http://youtu.be/royJee1SQlY?t=1h54m40s

If you think about it, since WP8 can still run WP7.x apps, developers can continue developing 7.x apps in order to cater to all existing Windows Phone users, or they can make WP8-only apps if they want to utilize those new features. I think all he's saying is that not all developers will instantly stop making 7.x apps and only make WP8 apps. There will be a few, but most of those would probably be too demanding for 7.x hardware anyway. Over time, they'll switch entirely to WP8 apps.

There are several Android apps out there that maintain versions for older devices. I know a popular file browser, ES File Explorer, has a version for Cupcake and Donut devices. Of course it's missing a lot of features and they will probably stop maintaining it soon, if they haven't already, but that's just an example.

 

[VashHT]

Yeah, it was a joke... or so I thought... until Google and Microsoft decided to support their phones even less than that.

This is stark contrast to Microsoft's support of really old hardware with Windows.

Well the nexus line seems to get really good support, google doesn't really support other manufacturer's phones so they aren't really to blame there. This latest move by MS is really screwing over anyone who recently bought a WP7, but moving forward it sounds like it should be a lot better. Maybe MS was hoping that people who care about updates were holding off from buying any recent phones, and that most people wouldn't even care or notice that they're missing out on WP8 (just like many android users don't know they're missing 4.0). To me everything they're adding to WP8 makes the platform pretty exciting and I may switch back to it depending on what else comes out.

 

[happysmiles]

I'd be interested to see the 1280x768 phones

 

[rockyct]

Well the nexus line seems to get really good support, google doesn't really support other manufacturer's phones so they aren't really to blame there. This latest move by MS is really screwing over anyone who recently bought a WP7, but moving forward it sounds like it should be a lot better. Maybe MS was hoping that people who care about updates were holding off from buying any recent phones, and that most people wouldn't even care or notice that they're missing out on WP8 (just like many android users don't know they're missing 4.0). To me everything they're adding to WP8 makes the platform pretty exciting and I may switch back to it depending on what else comes out.

I think basically WP7 users will be mainly missing out on the new WP8 hardware features. It's going to look the same and I don't think devs are going to completely abandon WP7 the day WP8 comes out.

Windows users basically are not used to being "cutoff" with legacy support. I'm sure this was a tough decision for Microsoft, but one that had to eventually be made. The unifying of the code base between desktop/tablet/phone/Xbox (rumored) is just too tempting. I think this "unification" can't be over exaggerated right now. It can really create a wonderful ecosystem between all the major devices.

The larger picture here could result is something pretty awesome and that's where Microsoft's vision is right now. There could be a massive backlash and Win8/WinRT/WP8 could just fall flat and not go anywhere. However, for such a seemingly "boring" company, Microsoft is taking a huge risk here. They realize that people are moving to multiple devices and "beyond PC" really is correct term. Desktops/laptops will still be very important to users but they are going to use tablets and phones as well. Having a similar UI with a user's data shared between all of them is going to be a big advantage.

 

[crisscross]

Will WP8 have a Siri equivalent? Voice recognition on WP7.5 is shit.

 

[dagamer34]

Will WP8 have a Siri equivalent? Voice recognition on WP7.5 is shit.

Yes, and then some. There's a 3rd party API for developers to hook into to control their apps.

 

[happysmiles]

I think basically WP7 users will be mainly missing out on the new WP8 hardware features. It's going to look the same and I don't think devs are going to completely abandon WP7 the day WP8 comes out.

Windows users basically are not used to being "cutoff" with legacy support. I'm sure this was a tough decision for Microsoft, but one that had to eventually be made. The unifying of the code base between desktop/tablet/phone/Xbox (rumored) is just too tempting. I think this "unification" can't be over exaggerated right now. It can really create a wonderful ecosystem between all the major devices.

The larger picture here could result is something pretty awesome and that's where Microsoft's vision is right now. There could be a massive backlash and Win8/WinRT/WP8 could just fall flat and not go anywhere. However, for such a seemingly "boring" company, Microsoft is taking a huge risk here. They realize that people are moving to multiple devices and "beyond PC" really is correct term. Desktops/laptops will still be very important to users but they are going to use tablets and phones as well. Having a similar UI with a user's data shared between all of them is going to be a big advantage.

They've known this for some time and watching Apple succeed with their ecosystem probably explained why they rushed a conference for Surface tablet when they had a decent working prototype and it's very clear that they've been working towards a unified system for a long time.

 

[WelshBloke]

Will WP8 have a Siri equivalent? Voice recognition on WP7.5 is shit.

Voice recognition in Siri isn't that fantastic either.

 

[kaerflog]

I'll definitely get a WP8 when it comes out.
My 2 biggest gripes have been resolved.
The start screen and the higher resolution.
The new start screen kick ass.