News Technology Windows Phone Windows Phone 8 offers new features

Microsoft introduced the next version of mobile operating system, Windows Phone 8 - but he admits that it will not work in an existing mobile phone handset as diverse as Nokia Windows Lumia.

The company launched its new software at an event in San Francisco, said it will be built on the same underlying code with the upcoming operating system Windows 8 and tablet PCs, scheduled for launch in the fall, when the software will also be new phone is available.

The new mobile phone - from handset makers Nokia, Samsung Electronics, HTC of Taiwan and China Huawei - will feature voice commands, Skype calls, Near-Field Communication (NFC) for wireless transactions and a high -Nokia Maps with turn-by-turn navigation.
Dual-core and more

They will also run on dual-core processors, which should improve video playback and other capabilities. The phone, available in three screen resolutions will have a screen, launch a new style suited to Microsoft Update "Metro", which focuses on the untouched "tiling" - great icons - to represent people, applications and services that update in real time, such as displaying or posting a new email. Metro is also the interface for Windows 8.

Windows Phone is struggling to compete with the runaway success of Google Android Mobile Software, including more than 900,000 devices activated each day. Research firm Gartner indicates that Android sales in the second quarter 56% of the smartphone market worldwide, while Apple's iPhone has 23%. Competitors such as Windows Phone, RIM BlackBerry, Nokia Symbian and obsolete has a part in the single digits.

However, the success of mobile marketing depends in part on the support they receive from the operator, especially in the United States in which the plan minimizes the difference between the price of the product. The largest cellular operator in the U.S., Verizon Wireless, said in April it will Windows Phone 8 devices in time for the Christmas shopping season, due to a strong competitor for the iPhone and Android.

The second largest U.S. mobile operator, AT & T, and the fourth, T-Mobile USA, said they plan to put Windows Phone 8 smartphones later this year. The third U.S. carrier, Sprint, declined to comment.

Microsoft says the use of a common core of meaning customers will have a wider selection of phones and applications, and can switch between multiple machines more easily. This follows the launch of the tablet surface, on Monday, Microsoft's effort to join the rapidly growing market of mobile computing and the Apple iPad to tackle head.
There is no upgrade path

But there are devices like the Nokia range Lumia, who runs the telephone current Windows version 7.5, will not be able to update to the next version - and applications written specifically for Windows Phone 8 does not work on older devices . However, existing applications will run on the new platform.

It is common on all smartphone platforms for applications that do not work on newer operating software of the old - but it is not unusual for less than two years can not afford the handset moving to new software. Apple iOS 5, was released last October, and the upcoming sixth IOS, expected this fall, will run on the iPhone 3G, was released in 2009. Android phones bought in the same period of time can usually be upgraded to the latest version of Android 4.0.

Greg Sullivan, senior product manager for Windows Phone, the phone said that it would not be able to do a full upgrade because the new software is designed to take advantage of certain hardware capabilities - such as dual- core - the existing windows do not have a phone handset.

Instead, there will be "temporary" version of Windows Phone - 7.8 - which will bring a number of basic elements of Windows Phone 8 for older devices.

"The basic principles of Windows Phone 7 is the main reason that we do not have support for multi-core ... so we do not have the [mobile broadband] CDMA LTE [data systems used by Verizon], which requires [the next generation Internet protocol] IPv6, and why we do not take advantage of the latest generation of SOCs [systems on chips], "said Sullivan.
Kiosks in kiosks?

Analysts puzzled to see the difference between Windows Phone is still unclear and the date that the next version of the software as hazardous materials existing partners - particularly Finland Nokia, who has staked the future smartphone Windows Phone.

"If Nokia do the job properly, consumers will want to upgrade to the next Lumias, so that the models [it] better come quickly, like [sales] in [Lumia] 800 and 900 are blocked," Carolina Milanesi , smartphone Gartner analyst, was observed. "This is certainly not good news for Lumia 900."

Nokia, which until the beginning of 2011 is a market leader in both FeaturePhone and smartphone, has launched its smartphone Lumia 900 in the U.S. in April in order to regain a foothold in this important market. But the rush of buyers want to buy them may be disappointed that their phones do not work for new software.

Windows Phone Wallet 8 includes a new center designed to support NFC payments and the ability to store information from credit cards, membership cards and loyalty cards. "Google has NFC payments, Apple has a booklet, we will have both," said Sullivan. SD card can also be used as extra storage space, and can be transferred between devices - giving capacities of mobile Android that have long been, and who have not the iPhone.

Microsoft Windows mobile phones have been well examined, but did not take on the market. Most of them were ignorance and the bad part: the launch in November 2010 took place just as the Android phone maker and Apple have reached their stride, leaving Microsoft - it is not the Nokia as a partner - to try to push the first version of a software company that later see more opportunities in Android.

Another factor is the cause, is that there are only 100,000 or more applications are available, compared to 500,000 or more for both Apple and Android devices. Has not the ability to purchase add-on functions in an application - although this will be fixed in Windows Phone 8.