Monday, 25 February 2013
HARDWARETwo years ago, the mobile landscape was quite different than what it is today. Android flagship phones sported 1GHz single-core CPUs and were in the process of upgrading to Froyo, the iPhone 4was the Apple phone of choice and the word "phablet" was sure to be followed by a "Gesundheit." (It still is, arguably.) This is just a brief glimpse at the world in which Microsoft'sWindows Phone 7 was born. Destined to be the replacement solution for an obsolete Windows Mobile 6.x platform, WP7 did its best to disrupt the industry by offering its unique Metro user interface and slick performance across the board.
There was one growing problem, however; the mobile industry was rapidly changing, and the Windows Phone honeymoon didn't last as long as Microsoft would've liked. Today, the company enjoys less than 5 percent of the world's smartphone market share as it prepares to launch its next major revision, Windows Phone 8. The new firmware promises to resolve concerns surrounding hardware limitations and the platform's ecosystem, add a plethora of long-awaited features and integrate the OS with Windows 8. It's a hefty task for Microsoft to undertake, to say the least, but we're hoping that two revolutions around the sun were enough for the software giant to impress us with its struggling mobile platform. Did it pull it off? Take a look at what makes Windows Phone 8 tick after the break.
With WP8, Microsoft has either had a change of heart or found a way to keep its platform running as efficiently as before even with the new additions. Either way, it's a necessary change for the outfit if it hopes to be relevant in today's competitive market. Let's take a look at the most significant changes to the hardware capabilities in WP8.
- Multiple cores. Until now, Microsoft's restriction on multi-core processors has been a move that has frustrated power users for the last two years. Critics have argued that the company wasn't keeping up with the times or matching Android and iOS. Microsoft, meanwhile, repeatedly assured us that the move to two cores and beyond would take place once the company found a way to preserve battery life. No matter which argument you agree with, the fact is that now WP8 can support anywhere from two cores to 64. Devices running the OS will start out with dual-core Snapdragon S4 processors, but we doubt it will be long before Microsoft gives the green light to quad-core chipsets. We'll save performance reviews for when we test out these individual devices. Suffice to say, we were already fans of how smooth and quick the OS was on WP7, and our first impressions of the Windows Phone 8X definitely continues (and improves) that trend with the new specs.
- Screen resolution. With WP7, only one display resolution was allowed: WVGA, or 800 x 480. Again, this was par for the course on flagship Android devices in 2010 (and way behind the iPhone's Retina display). As you can imagine, this has been another sore point for users -- especially since 720p resolution became the norm. Windows Phone 8 devices can now support one of three options: WXGA (1,280 x 768), 720p (1,280 x 720) and the old-fashioned WVGA standard (ideal for entry-level smartphones). This brings WP8's screens back into the modern age for now, but we're already starting to see Android phones with 1080p displays, and it won't be long before that becomes the new standard for flagship handsets. WP8 is off to a good start, but we're hoping that we'll see even more options available in the near future.
- Expandable storage. With the mysterious exception of the Samsung Focus, Microsoft put the kibosh on removable storage for WP7 devices. It was an odd situation, since plenty of phones using the OS actually had a slot for microSD hidden in inaccessible places. The whole thing naturally sparked a controversy when the platform launched, but the issue has finally been resolved; Windows Phone 8 fully supports external storage up to SDXC, allowing you to add as much as 64GB in additional memory. Unfortunately, our particular review unit (the HTC Windows Phone 8X) doesn't include a microSD slot, so we were unable to experience this for ourselves.
- NFC. Windows Phone 8 finally brings native support for Near-Field Communications. This opens up lots of possibilities for both users and developers. In addition to the new Wallet feature, you'll be able to use NFC to transfer plenty of content from your phone to either your PC or another person's device. We'll discuss these features in more detail as we go along through this review. (As an aside, we've seen the tech show up on a Windows Phone before -- namely in the Nokia Lumia 610 NFC -- but it was added in as a software stack on top of the OS, while WP8 will natively support the feature.)
Just as it's done in the past, Microsoft has offered up a list of hardware requirements for each phone to run Windows Phone 8. The list includes:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor
- Minimum 512MB RAM for WVGA phones; minimum 1GB RAM for 720p / WXGA
- Minimum 4GB flash memory
- GPS and A-GNSS; GLONASS is supported if OEMs decide to include it
- Support for micro-USB 2.0
- 3.5mm stereo headphone jack with three-button detection support
- Rear-facing AF camera with LED or Xenon flash, optional front-facing camera (both need to be VGA or better) and dedicated camera button
- Accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensors, as well as vibration motor (magnetometer and gyroscope are optional)
- 802.11b/g and Bluetooth (802.11n is optional)
- DirectX graphics hardware support with hardware acceleration for Direct3D using programmable GPU
- Multi-touch capacitive touch screen with minimum of four simultaneous points
Another requirement not listed above is that all Windows Phone 8 devices must include the same standard set of buttons: each one needs to have Start, back, search, power, camera and volume up / down keys. All of this sounds promising, given Windows Phone 7's frustrating hardware restrictions, but we're concerned at how often this set of standards will be updated in order to keep pace with the rest of the industry. It's nearly caught up with competing platforms, and we'd hate to see Microsoft fall behind again.
USER INTERFACE IMPROVEMENTS
The initial boot sequence takes you through the usual litany of welcome and setup screens. You'll be prompted to create or log in to your Microsoft Account, set your preferred language and choose if you'd like to back up your pictures, texts and phone settings. From there you'll find yourself on the Start screen, free to roam through various Live Tiles and the app list as you please. If you've used a Windows Phone before, you'll instantly notice that something is different -- very different. As you enter the Start screen you're presented with a familiar checkerboard-like set of Live Tiles as you're used to seeing on a typical Metro Modern UI, but it now extends all the way to the right edge of the screen (in WP7, the tiles only comprised about two-thirds of it, while the rest was simply unused space). This adds a lot more real estate for each tile. Microsoft has also thrown in support for three Live Tile sizes (compared to two in WP7) and has given developers access to all of them. What used to be the smaller tile in WP7 is now considered medium, which means there is an even smaller option available for stuff you want access to but that doesn't require much space. This works well -- we want to have a settings tile pinned to Start, but there's no reason it needs to occupy a large portion of the screen. Same goes for other utilities. You also have the opportunity to change the tile size, a privilege not extended to WP7 users. Third-party developers are required to support small and medium, but it's up to them if they want to accommodate the largest size. To toggle back and forth between all three sizes, just long-press the tile and a new arrow shows up in the bottom-right corner. Press it and presto -- your tile just shrinks or expands, depending on the direction the arrow is facing. The folks in Redmond claim that this new setup makes your phone even more personal than it was before; we just like that we can add more viewable content to the Start screen, and do so in an efficient, well-organized way
