Windows Phone 8: What We Missed Yesterday

If you missed our Windows Phone coverage from yesterday we highly suggest you read up on those before venturing onwards – articles are found here, here and here. We also warned you that we were bound to miss something from yesterday and here is the article that will redeem ourselves.

What KitGuru missed yesterday:

• There will be a “cross-screen shared experience” between Windows 8 devices of any kind and the Xbox 360. What makes this interesting is that users will be able to manage their phone from a new desktop syncing app (the death of Zune!?) or log in to a cloud-based service.
• ‘Data Smart' will help users manage their mobile data and Wi-Fi consumption. It is similar to the one present in Android 4.0 but it appears to have a few extra functions such as customisable live tiles.
• Internet Explorer 10 will have a cloud based proxy service to reduce data consumption. This will be similar in nature to Amazon's Silk browser on the Kindle Fire.
• A Local Scout feature will help users find nearby Wi-Fi hotspots. Also, if a carrier provides their own Wi-Fi networks in the area, then the phone will automatically switch over to that.
• SkyDrive integration will run deep – the Xbox Music and Movie apps will be able to grab and stream media directly from SkyDrive. SkyDrive will also be able to freely grab content from the phone such as pictures.
• Some camera APIs will be left open that will allow third party applications to tap into the camera button. This means that apps like Instagram can be launched instead of the standard camera application.
• We mentioned yesterday that Windows Phone 8 shares the same RT kernel base as Windows 8. What we forget to mention is that this will allow developers to quickly port applications and games to run on Windows Phone 8. Apparently porting apps between iOS and Android will be made simpler as well.
• The developers' SDK will be available “later this summer”.
• There will also be DirectX support and Direct3D hardware acceleration.
• Gaming ‘middleware' engine partners will include Havok, Audiokinectic and Autodesk. Will allow for true high quality games on the platform. N.O.V.A. 3 will be destined for release on the platform.
• Microsoft will try to reach out to the business and enterprise market as well. Device encryption, secure boot, Office 2013 based applications, device manageability capabilities and side loading of business apps are all features that Microsoft hope will push Windows Phone into businesses.

KitGuru says: Right now, it looks as if Windows Phone 8 will significantly close the gap between itself and iOS and Android.

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