Microsoft Windows Phone 8 Pro Reviews

With the exception of a few new features, Windows Phone hadn't changed much in the last two years. The new version of its OS, however, definitely makes the platform feel more refined and even brings back some of the freshness we originally felt when we first laid eyes on the firmware. We demanded support for hardware that's relevant to today's market, and Microsoft brought it; we wanted more app integration and customization, and it's now much improved over WP7. Indeed, Windows Phone 8 is precisely what we wanted to see come out of Redmond in the first place. There's only one major question mark still looming over its head now; how will developers respond to it? In 2012, an OS is only as strong as its ecosystem, and regardless of Microsoft's best efforts to sell the platform to big-name developers (and even amassing over 100,000 apps to date), it's been an ongoing struggle for Windows Phone to appear relevant enough to attract popular titles. What the new firmware has, however, is much more potential than WP7 ever had; Microsoft has finally laid the proper framework to make the platform desirable to developers. We'll also likely see a large number of Windows 8 customers eventually drawn to Microsoft's phone OS as they begin investing time and money in the desktop or tablet versions.

While there are many new features that have been added to Windows Phone 8, some of the most interesting and potentially life-changing features are still up to 3rd party developers to integrate. Windows Phone 8 has made 3rd party app and content integration much easier than previous versions. Now, developers can integrate with the global speech user interface. That’s a huge deal and really hasn’t been done before. Being able to press one button on a Bluetooth headset and having voice command access to any number of third party application functions really opens the door to a huge number of possibilities while maintaining a high level of consistency and cohesiveness. The new “real” speech UI isn’t the only place where integrated app extensions could get interesting. The lock screen for Windows Phone 8 is now highly customizable, as is the Camera (via “Lenses”), the phone service (any VoIP service can be fully integrated now), and automatic content uploads (auto uploads to whatever you want is an app install away). If all of that wasn’t enough, Windows Phone 8′s rebuild on top of the Windows 8 core means its hardware support is as scalable as the full desktop operating system. We just need some one to make a phone with 64 processor cores and 192Gb of RAM now. We had to take a couple of points off of the score for the lack of Xbox Video cloud collection support and removal of the awesome Zune sync capabilities of the older Windows Phones, but as the cloud connections become more immersive, those frustrations should subside. Just as the Apollo space program of the 1960′s was the third human spaceflight program carried out by NASA, Windows Phone 8 is Microsoft’s third attempt at re-launching its smartphone operating system. Whether or not it will be successful remains to be seen, but it certainly is gaining some significant propulsion power.

The Microsoft mobile platform took the biggest step forward of all the major players this year. While Android focused on optimizing performance and voice assistants, and iOS basically stagnated (shooting itself in the foot with Maps), Windows Phone got some cool new features and, more importantly, can now finally make the most of advanced hardware. Windows Phone 8 is faster, smoother and more powerful than its predecessor. It retains the same familiar - and attractive - design, but something as simple as resizable live tiles is a real boost to usability. The Kid's corner is another nice little thing to have and the Mass storage mode really changes the way you use your smartphone. Zune no longer has a death grip on file transfers and the added microSD slot support means that you'll be able to get smartphones with plenty of storage on the cheap, which might convert a few extra users as well. What's worth pointing out here though, is that Windows Phone was lagging so far behind its main rivals that the update doesn't necessarily mean it's come frighteningly close, let alone on top.

Microsoft has done a commendable job at delivering a truly modern operating system that is just as feature-rich as the competition. Windows Phone 8 takes all the strengths of Windows Phone 7.x and pushes them to the next level. Like Apple, Microsoft now has a broad ecosystem of platforms, devices, apps, and services that run across its product portfolio. It’s a compelling selling point that can't be underestimated. On a feature-for-feature level, no one can tell you that Windows Phone 8 lacks anything. It has just as many tools available as competing platforms when it comes to communication, media, the cloud, and productivity. It surpasses even surpasses iOS and Android in some respects, such as gaming with WP8's tie-in with the XBox ecosystem. Microsoft's approach has never been about focusing on individual features, but on getting the basics better than anyone else. We can see that in the Hubs Microsoft has created for Windows Phone 8. The People Hub, for example, is the central point on which everything else to do with the platform hinges. The People Hub lets you manage your various social networks and contacts in one place that is visually appealing and robust when it comes to avenues for communicating. By adding the Rooms functionality, for example, WP8 users have an incredibly powerful tool to interact in a more intimate way with their closest social circles.

After four days of getting to know Windows Phone 8, our initial mood can be described as positive. While Windows Phone 7.5 already was a fine operating system, Windows Phone 8 offers more options to customise the phone according to your own ideas and preferences. That change is most visible on Windows Phone 8's home screen, but also functions such as groups and simple stuff like being able to select the background colour of the mail app really are an added value. The promised better integration of VoIP services like Skype is also very welcome, while Internet Explorer 10 is a vastly better browser than IE9. It is not just faster and more stable, HTML 5 support is also much improved.

Windows Phone 8 is a good-looking, well-designed, easy-to-use mobile operating system, but with a very different set of apps compared with other platforms, it's still for mavericks.