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Windows Phone 8 Detailed, Uses Windows 8 Kernel

Posted by Soulskill on from the starting-from-scratch dept.

MrSeb writes "Thanks to a leaked video — a video that Microsoft made for Nokia — we now have lots of details about Windows Phone 8 (WP8). From deep Windows 8, Skype, and SkyDrive integration, through to the addition of NFC 'wallet' payments and BitLocker encryption, it sounds like Windows Phone 8 will be close to iOS and Android in terms of features. The interesting stuff is under the hood, though: WP8 will have the Windows 8 kernel instead of the Windows CE kernel of its predecessors. Through the Win 8 kernel, WP8 will support native code and multi-core processors. It will also have the same network stack, security, and multimedia support as Windows 8. While Win 8 apps won't be directly compatible with Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore says developers will be able to 'reuse — by far — most of their code.'"

29 of 267 comments (clear)

  1. Scrolling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    And it'll still scroll more smoothly than an Android.

  2. Multi-purpose phones. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now with 'handwarmer' function!

  3. Xbox too? by spire3661 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Im pretty sure anyone with a brain figured this was the general direction they were gonna go when Win 8 was announced. MS wants to unify mobile, living room and desktop. The Xbox 720 will probably be the Win 8 kernel too.

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    1. Re:Xbox too? by epiphani · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Possibly stupid question: where's the video that leaked? I can't find it on that site or the one it links to as a source. Anyone know? /Could be my noscript causing problems

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    2. Re:Xbox too? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's because you weren't paying attention. The number of consoles affected has been estimated at between 23% and 54%. In other news, anecdotes aren't data.

      You seem to think that you're somehow smarter than most people. A general rule of thumb is that anyone who believes themselves to be an expert probably isn't; people who are smarter and know more realize how much more there is to know. For a more elegant statement, refer to Socrates. For a more scientific statement, see here.

  4. Same apps on smaller screen does not work. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "While Win 8 apps won't be directly compatible with Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone manager Joe Belfiore says developers will be able to 'reuse — by far — most of their code."

    Good. I'll only need 8 handsets to display the ribbon in MS Office.

  5. Bizarro World by RazzleFrog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I predict a world where Microsoft has the best mobile platform but can't break the stranglehold of Apple and Google.

    1. Re:Bizarro World by coinreturn · · Score: 4, Funny

      I predict a world where Microsoft has the best mobile platform but can't break the stranglehold of Apple and Google.

      I highlighted the part that shows what a wild imagination you have.

    2. Re:Bizarro World by RazzleFrog · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You can say wild but companies learn from their mistakes. Look at how they've done with XBOX and Kinect. As a PS3 owner I can tell you that they leveled Sony.

    3. Re:Bizarro World by FuegoFuerte · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We're almost there already. Win Phone 7 is a bit short on apps perhaps, but already has many features the other two don't (and yes, there are some features the others have that WinPhone 7 doesn't).

      There's still plenty of room for improvement in Windows Phone, but it's been improving rapidly already. I've owned one for about 6 months now I think (since the HTC Arrive came out on Sprint, whenever that was). It's been more stable than the "feature phones" I've owned, with the exception of my original Nokia 6185 in the '90s. If this keeps up, with Google's "Screw Security and Privacy" attitude, and Apple's "You can have it our way or you can't have it at all" "we know what hardware you want" attitude, I think Microsoft may even be able to break the stranglehold, with proper execution.

    4. Re:Bizarro World by Tridus · · Score: 3, Informative

      Just like all that Android malware is also taking over Linux desktops, right?

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      -- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
    5. Re:Bizarro World by bonch · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Don't count out Microsoft. They broke Sony's stranglehold at the height of the PS2.

    6. Re:Bizarro World by jbwolfe · · Score: 3, Informative

      Sony broke Sony's stranglehold...

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      Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?
    7. Re:Bizarro World by binarylarry · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If anyone broke anyone, it was Nintendo putting a size 6 Japanese boot in both Microsoft and Sony's ass.... at the same time.

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      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    8. Re:Bizarro World by Missing.Matter · · Score: 3, Informative

      Windows Phones come in a variety of form factors at a variety of price points determined by the manufacturers. True the hardware variety is not as wide as Android, but that has also allowed Windows Phone to avoid many of the problems associated with keeping the ecosystem up to date; every single windows phone past and present is updatable to the latest release. Can't say the same for Android even over a year after 2.3 was released.

      Currently hardware varies by CPU speed, screen tech, memory, storage size, materials, colors, sliding keyboard, camera specs, and software features. And yes there are phones with front facing cameras. Again, this is more variety than you'll find in Apple's lineup (3 storage choices, 2 colors, everything else is the same), and less than you'll find in Android's lineup.

      What this leak is saying is that in the future phones will have different resolution, cores, form factors (blackberry-like), upgradable storage, etc.

  6. Re:code reuse shares vulnerabilities by SJHillman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Does that mean anyone who hacks a Linux desktop gets their Android phone too? If anyone that hacks a FreeBSD box also gets Mac OS X boxes too?

  7. So much for backward compatibility, huh? by Shag · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Or forward. Or sideways. WP8 won't be binary compatible with WinCE-based WP7 (which itself wasn't compatible with WinCE-based WM6), nor with desktop Windows 8, nor with, apparently, any other OS that's ever existed. Sure hope they make it real easy for developers to build their existing code for WP8.

    Oh, and it'll also be real interesting to see whether any WP7 devices can be upgraded to WP8.

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    1. Re:So much for backward compatibility, huh? by recoiledsnake · · Score: 3, Informative

      >Or forward. Or sideways. WP8 won't be binary compatible with WinCE-based WP7 (which itself wasn't compatible with WinCE-based WM6), nor with desktop Windows 8, nor with, apparently, any other OS that's ever existed. Sure hope they make it real easy for developers to build their existing code for WP8.

      WP7 apps will run on WP8.

      http://wmpoweruser.com/brandon-watson-squashes-rumours-that-windows-phone-7-apps-will-be-incompatible-with-windows-phone-8/

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      This space for rent.
  8. Computer in a phone by TheLordPhantom · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I haven't really seen Windows 8 yet, but, this could potentially be a really awesome direction. I don't much like Windows personally, but I have always wished phones, tablets in particular had the flexibility of a general purpose computer. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping Microsoft let's this happen.

  9. Windows Phone will become the best by ndtechnologies · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Mark my words, and I can't believe I'm even saying this, but Windows Phone, will soon be considered the best mobile platform, due to it's unification with the desktop, and XBOX. Unfortunately, it won't mean much because people will still want shiny iPhones and will clamor to the numerous free Android phones that they can get. From a technical standpoint, there is nothing about Android that is good. The reason it is so popular, is because it is cheap and most people can get one. There, I said it. /standby to be marked as Troll in 3, 2, 1

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    1. Re:Windows Phone will become the best by jdastrup · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I tend to agree with much of what you said. But I think it's more that they have the potential to become the best. They are late in the game, but they can learn from everyone else. A major problem they will have is getting developers to make apps for it. To compete with Android, it will have to be free. If not, as long as their marketshare numbers are a fraction of the Android devices out there, developers will dismiss it and so will everyone else.

  10. Explains why no native SDK by caywen · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'll bet this was in the roadmap for some time, and helps to explain why they do not offer a native SDK currently.

    I think this is great for their phone platform as the Windows 8 kernel is likely to be far more robust in the areas of thread scheduling and memory management. Given that Windows 8 demonstrably can execute even in 128MB RAM (http://windows8beta.com/2011/10/windows-8-runs-on-64mb-and-128-mb-ram), the resource impact probably isn't an issue.

  11. Re:code reuse shares vulnerabilities by neokushan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Only if the hack involves something deep within the Kernel - which in terms of hacks, is generally pretty rare. Most hacks come from privilege escalation, usually because of some shoddily written plugin (i.e. just about anything Adobe makes). I very much doubt that Microsoft will offer WP8 users the same level of...freedom that Windows users get. Hell, you'll be lucky to even sideload apps.

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  12. Why? (Re:Windows Phone will become the best) by EXTomar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I never understood the desire to unify desktop and other things (XBox) on a phone let alone why is it valuable. There is value in creating apps that interface with other systems but one is overstating the value of a whole phone dedicated to interfacing this way when it turns out people would rather have other features (mobile location services, e-readers, etc).

    Another way to think about not: Are people chomping at the bit who support Android and iPhone to get or sharing accessing to their home machines? These platforms aren't popular because of this nor do I see that changing in two years. If you can answer "Why do you think that is valuable?" then I can begin to see your stance otherwise I suspect that such features are "gee-whiz" but not necessary or the best use of the mobile phone platform.

  13. Re:code reuse shares vulnerabilities by anonymov · · Score: 3, Informative

    At least, for some values of "hacks" and some values of "gets their phone".

    Here, for example, how to get root on Android using generic Linux kernel vulnerability.

  14. Re:Windows 7 Phone apps by gbjbaanb · · Score: 3, Interesting

    its not that clear if they will be fully supported however.

    From Herb Sutter's recent "Why C++" presentation (here's a transcript), he mentions that mobile development moves towards native... with the implication that native mobile code will be much more predominant with Windows and phone 8.

    I should imagine there will be native (winRT) APIs but not sure if they will create wrappers for the old .NET phone APIs. Certainly Silverlight is no longer even listed under the technologies available for mobile development! I think you'll be ok to redevelop apps for windows phone 8, but they won't work without a little modification.

  15. Windows 8, C#, .NET by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Windows Phone 7 is C# only, which is why I don't support the platform with my games (99% of my C++ code is shared between the iOS and Android builds, which is how it should be). So if Windows 8 developers can "reuse — by far — most of their code" does that mean Windows 8 is C# only too, or that Windows Phone 8 will allow 3rd part apps to be written in C++?

    IMO, if Windows Phone 8 doesn't support C++, it is dead in the water from the perspective of 3rd party apps. Only the really big players have the resources to completely rewrite their iOS or Android apps (mainly games, which usually aren't intimately tied to the native GUI) in C#. That is one of the reasons there aren't many apps for Windows Mobile 7, and certainly why there isn't as much commonality as you see between iOS and Android apps. If MS had half a brain they would allow development in C++, and include APIs like OpenGL ES which is supported by both Android and iOS, which will make it very easy for developers like me to release my games for Windows Mobile 8.

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  16. Re:No Comments by Luckyo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Not to be a dick, but your argument comes about half a decade late. Microsoft really did everything right in terms of security since XP. They minimized the damage that the biggest issue, user, can cause to the system, hardened the system itself significantly, slapped a properly functional firewall into a default installation and so on.

  17. Wow.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I did not know that Android sucked so bad you had to compare quad core devices with single core ones.