News - Windows Phone 8 based on the Windows 8 desktop kernel

[HEXUS]

Codenamed 'Apollo', details confirming Microsoft's wish for many devices, one OS.

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[1stRaven]

Sounds good. A big jump over WP7.5 (Which is decent enough for a new OS). I just need to work out if I upgrade now to a Nokia 800 (my current LG E900 is dying a slow death) or see if I can keep it going until Dec 2012.

[TheAnimus]

The whole based on the desktop kernel is a very missleading marketing term.

Sure it has similarities but its thankfully a very different beast.

As most of the apps run in .Net be it via silverlight or XNA its quite interesting to see the differences in the runtime environment (the 'kernel' of .Net lets say) because whilst both process the exact same instructions, they have very different aproches to memory management and garbage collection.

The intresting thing to see here is the feature convergence, the adding of the bitlocker functionality, which i'd also love to see paired with biometrics on some handsets.

We live in exciting mobile phone times! Wonder what Andriod or Blackberry will do?

[miniyazz]

with the new OS supporting multi-core processors, four new screen resolutions and removable MicroSD storage options

Four new screen resolutions? Why not impose a minimum horizontal/vertical res and/or fixed aspect ratio, and support an infinite number of resolutions? I'm not particularly a fan of fixed resolutions since it tends to make the screens at the back of the pack (look what's happening with current Windows 7 phones being left behind on the hardware front).

[krazy_olie]

with the new OS supporting multi-core processors, four new screen resolutions and removable MicroSD storage options

Four new screen resolutions? Why not impose a minimum horizontal/vertical res and/or fixed aspect ratio, and support an infinite number of resolutions? I'm not particularly a fan of fixed resolutions since it tends to make the screens at the back of the pack (look what's happening with current Windows 7 phones being left behind on the hardware front).

I think they are trying to avoid manufacturers creating bad phones with things like weird resolutions that make icons look dodgy.

[crossy]

Windows Phone 8 'Apollo' will in fact be based upon the same kernel as the desktop Windows 8

No insult intended - but does this mean that the desktop's kernel will be a lean, mean power efficient beastie, or that Windows8 phones will be saddled with a humongous OS image? Reason I ask is that the idea of a desktop OS running a stripped, super-efficient kernel sounds like a darned fine idea. On the other hand a phone running a bloated not-designed-for-mobile kernel sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Feel free to slag Palm off, but that's one thing that PalmOS got right - it was minimalist.

Got to have a small shot of a WindowsPhone7 device this week - pretty responsive. I could have even been persuaded to switch from Android - although I'm not sure how many of the current WP7 phones are going to get WP8, and don't fancy buying a device that's not going to get updates.

[AlexKitch]

No insult intended - but does this mean that the desktop's kernel will be a lean, mean power efficient beastie, or that Windows8 phones will be saddled with a humongous OS image? Reason I ask is that the idea of a desktop OS running a stripped, super-efficient kernel sounds like a darned fine idea. On the other hand a phone running a bloated not-designed-for-mobile kernel sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Feel free to slag Palm off, but that's one thing that PalmOS got right - it was minimalist.

Got to have a small shot of a WindowsPhone7 device this week - pretty responsive. I could have even been persuaded to switch from Android - although I'm not sure how many of the current WP7 phones are going to get WP8, and don't fancy buying a device that's not going to get updates.

Windows 7 is actually built on a fairly lean kernel, as far as desktop operating systems go. Whether it was lean enough to have translated directly onto mobile hardware, I'm not so sure - likely not, given that Windows Phone 7's kernel turned out to be a fairly bespoke creation (albeit a decent one).

From what I understand, Microsoft have made efforts with Windows 8 to merge the Windows kernel with the Windows Phone kernel into a nice, runtime scale-able kernel that works on any platform without the need for too much code platform specific code.

If I'm right, and Microsoft pull it off correctly, then Windows 8 should be a very impressive OS.

I also suspect that the Xbox 720 will be using the same kernel.

[Funkstar]

The whole based on the desktop kernel is a very missleading marketing term.

Just like the iPhone running OSX then

[aberkae]

Im waiting for a windows 8 phone with tegra 4, dual boot with android 5.0 and you have yourself the best of both worlds.

[Scribe]

Im waiting for a windows 8 phone with tegra 4, dual boot with android 5.0 and you have yourself the best of both worlds.

Fingers crossed someone works out how to bypass the boot-locking mechanism!