At Windows Phone Summit in San Francisco, Microsoft unveiled details regarding its latest Windows Phone 8 OS dubbed as Apollo. Nokia revealed further details regarding the OS at the launch of Nokia Lumia 920 and 820. So now we have a complete picture of the new OS. Here is a closer look at the key features of the new operating system. 

Shared Core

Windows Phone 8 uses the Windows kernel along with various elements of the Windows architecture. The new OS can be considered quite similar to Windows 8 OS for desktop. Users will get a version of IE10 which is quite similar to the desktop version. Security features like encryption, Smartscreen and the media platform in Windows will also be accessible by the users of this new OS. The shared core will ensure faster access to more apps, better choice of hardware and consistent experiences on laptops and mobiles. 

New hardware

Support for multi-core processors is one of the major changes in the new OS. Developers still need to rely on the same multitasking model as Windows Phone 7 however faster processors and new background processes will ensure that switching between applications is easy. Microsoft has informed that they are currently focusing on dual-core processors for the time being although quad-core Windows Phone devices are not out of the cards. 

A wide range of accessories will be available for Windows Phone 8 devices. Micro SD cards will also be supported which will ensure faster data transfer. 

New Screen Resolution

15:9 and 16:9 displays which support resolutions of 1280x768 and 1280x 720 have been included by Microsoft. This will provide much more screen space for enjoying video and games.800x480 is not eliminated as some users may find its use. 

Start Screen

There is support for 2 new tile sizes and there is also lots of room for customization. The start screen layout has been made larger and new theme colors have been added. The new small tiles use a quarter of the space compared to tiles in Windows Phone 7.The small tiles does not fail in elegantly displaying information. The second new tile is large in size and takes up the entire width of the screen. App developers will be able to add this large tile to their code. Windows Phone 8 will automatically generate small tiles for every app. 

Kid’s Corner

A new tile called Kid’s Corner has been included in the start screen. Tapping this icon will take the user to a virtual smart screen which can be customized with apps and games. This is mainly designed keeping kids in mind who would basically like to play around with the new OS. Parents can protect the content which will be displayed on this screen using a PIN. 

Lock screen notifications

Users will be able to set any app which uses push notifications to notify them straight to the lock screen. Users will be able to unlock directly to that app. 

More color themes

Windows Phone 8 offers a whole new range of color themes. Users will gain a color selector screen palette that runs the length of the phone screen. There will be 20 themes available for users to choose from. 

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