Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Reportedly Will Share Code

With Windows 8 moving toward release later this year, providing an integrated operating system for laptops, desktops and tablets, new details are beginning to emerge about Microsoft’s plans for its next phone OS. Recent reports point to the ways in which Windows Phone 8, code-named Apollo, will advance the company’s mobile platform and tie in with the tablet and computer OS.

The online reports began appearing this week. They build on a leaked video of a Microsoft phone executive, Joe Belfiore, which reportedly had been intended only for the eyes of Nokia executives, as well as various postings and hints by Microsoft.

Web Browsing, NFC, BitLocker

According to the reports, the Apollo OS will provide support for multi-core processors, four different screen resolutions, removable microSD cards, wireless e-commerce, and near-field communication, which allows tap-to-share functionality that will work with other phones, computers and tablets.

From the perspective of user interface and application development, the interfaces between Windows 8 and Apollo are expected to be similar, and Phone 8 is expected to reuse the kernel, network stacks, security and multimedia coding of Windows 8. As a result, applications developed for Windows 8 could potentially run, with relatively little modification, on Apollo phones.

To speed up Web browsing, Apollo will also reportedly use proxy servers that compress and deliver pages to the Internet Explorer 10 browser on the phone, a la the Opera browser. The reports also indicate that a revised Skype, now owned by Microsoft, will be integrated with Apollo, there will be automatic Wi-Fi connectivity, and Microsoft’s 128-bit BitLocker will be used for full disk encryption, which is expected to appeal to businesses. Support for SkyDrive will allow data to be shared among Windows 8/Phone 8 devices.

Apollo’s release schedule has not yet been announced, but it is expected to occur sometime after the coming…

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Tags: Code, phone, Reportedly, Share, Windows

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 4th, 2012 at 3:18 pm and is filed under More Science/Tech News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.