More exciting news comes from Redmond-based software giant Microsoft this week. After having presented the new Windows 8-powered Surface tablet, Microsoft officially announced the upcoming Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system. The company explained that Windows Phone 8 is based on the same core technologies as Windows 8 and touted the fact that it is the most advanced mobile OS it ever made.



Just like Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 will be released to the public later this year. New phones powered by the Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system will be rolled out to the market later in the year, presumably this fall.

Here’s a quick a look at Windows 8’s new features:

• Start Screen

Windows Phone 8 comes with a “beautiful, flexible new Start screen” that is very similar to Windows 8’s Start screen.

Here’s an image of the Windows 8 Start screen.



And here are some images of the Windows Phone 8 Start screen.

• Display

Windows Phone 8 adds support for 1280x768 and 1280x720 screen resolutions. This means there will be handsets with HD 720p displays.

• Processor support

Because its built on the same core technologies as Windows 8, Windows Phone 8 comes with support for multi-core processors.

• Sharing

Phones powered by Windows Phone 8 will be able to share data via NFC wireless transfers. NFC is short for Near Field Communication – it lets you share photos, docs, contacts, and other info just by tapping your Windows Phone 8 phone to another NFC-equipped device.

• Digital Wallet

The operating system come s with a digital Wallet that you can use to store debit cards, credit cards, coupons, boarding passes and other similar data, and it lets you pay with a simple tap at compatible checkout counters.

• Maps

Nokia mapping is part of the Windows Phone 8 platform, meaning you will get more detailed maps and turn-by-turn directions to where you need to get. There will be an option to store maps offline and thus work with maps even when you don’t have an internet connection.

• Internet Explorer 10

IE10, the upcoming version of Microsoft’s web browser will be included in Windows Phone 8, just like it will be included in Windows 8.

• More Apps

This is another advantage that comes out of basing Windows Phone 8 on the same core technologies as Windows 8. A new wave of Windows Phone 8 apps and games will be released. And speaking about apps, Microsoft was glad to announce this week that the Windows Phone Marketplace officially hit 100,000 apps and games. Microsoft pointed out that it reached this milestone faster than Android and that about 200 new titles are released daily to the Windows Phone Marketplace.

• Enhanced Security

Technology to encrypt the device is built into the Windows Phone 8 operating system,
Support for the United Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) secure boot protocol has been added and app sandboxing has been improved – this means Windows Phone 8 is better protected from malware.

• Language support

A total of 50 languages will be supported by the Windows Phone 8 operating system.

As mentioned above, phones powered by Windows Phone 8 will be released to the market later this year. Microsoft explained that Nokia, Huawei, Samsung, and HTC will release the fist wave of Windows Phone 8-powered devices.