Microsoft promises to focus on out-of-box experience for Windows Phone 8

By Tom Warren, on 17th Aug 11 9:53 am with 35 Comments

Microsoft has revealed it plans to focus on the out-of-box experience for Windows Phone 8.

The first official mention of Windows Phone 8 by the Redmond company comes in the form of a Microsoft job posting via WMPU. The job posting advertises a role in the Consumer eXperience (ConX) team for Windows Phone:

“Want to be part of making Windows Phone 8 a reality? Want to work on a strategic and exciting product targeted at the next version of Windows? Then the Consumer eXperience (ConX) team is the place for you! The Windows Phone team is taking on a huge challenge stirring up the out of box experience for Windows Phone 8 and is committed to building/improving a compelling and dynamic high quality look and feel to our end user experience.”

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 release is rumored to be a unification of Windows and Windows Phone. The company is currently using the “Apollo” codename for the WP8 release. Microsoft recently completed an RTM build of Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” and has started compiling early Windows Phone “Tango” builds. Tango is believed to be an interim release between Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango” and the next-generation of Windows Phone. There is reportedly two versions of Tango scheduled for release before Windows Phone “Apollo” is ready. Tango is allegedly designed with Nokia in mind and focused on lowering the price point for entry Windows Phone handsets.

Little is know about Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 plans but the company could be on the brink of revealing some details at its BUILD conference next month. Microsoft will detail the future of Windows at BUILD which should include Windows Phone. Microsoft is promising one ecosystem for phones and PCs, a vision outlined by Andy Lees, the company’s president of the Windows Phone Division. Lees explained at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2011 last month that “it’s not that this is about replacing the PC, and that’s why our strategy is that these new form factors are within a single ecosystem and not new ecosystems themselves.”

  • Sergio

    Does anyone know if WP8 will be coming to our WP7 devices? Or will it be a brand new phone?

    • http://twitter.com/s_a_r_k_i_s sarkis chamelian

      WP7 handsets were good, WP7.5 handsets are better, WP8 handsets are AWESOME !  ;)

    • http://www.searingarrow.com AlienSix

      Well according to the codename, its going to be out of this world :D

    • http://www.searingarrow.com AlienSix

      Im guessing that our devices will get Tango and then Apollo will either be partially given to 1st gen phones or not at all, assuming minimum specs are raised for Apollo

    • Jinge

      I guess MS don’t want to fragment its OS already. They have set high specs for that, and they said that Windows 8 (not WP8) will have the same hardware requirements than Windows 7, so probably the same for WP7/8.
      I am not sure, but I think I have seen that they OEM must allow 1 major version update…

    • Joe

      Yeah, I kind of think the whole merging of Windows Phone and Windows OS won’t happen till later than Windows Phone 8. Mid 2012 seems to early to have a phone that can run an OS with requirements equivalent to Windows 7.   

    • Guest

      You can rarely go wrong betting on MS to be slow. And I think you’re right. There’s no way they’ll have merged them by 2012, at least outside of a research project.

    • Kaizad Avari

      they mean basically the wp8 and windows 8 devices will be more sync friendly or more compatible; not the same OS. 2 OSes that completely hug each other!!!!!

    • http://twitter.com/laserfloyd Lewis McCrary

      It would likely be a device update like NoDo->Mango->Tango?->Apollo(wp8).  At least, that would be ideal. I wouldn’t mind buying a new device but I’m thinking of the average consumer.  However, since WP7 is still just holding a small market share if their share increases over the next few years then MOST people will be buying new devices.  I’m fine with that too. :)

    • Anonymous

      My guess is they will support 2 major revisions of the OS on each generation hardware.  So Apollo should be available to the 1st gen stuff.  When WP9 or whatever comes around I wouldn’t expect that to work on Gen 1 hardware, at least not supported.

    • ZuneMan

      most probably wp7 will not get wp8.
      wp7.5 should be enough i guess…. ;)

  • http://www.searingarrow.com AlienSix

    Can I finish my mangoes first before being launched into space? xD

    • Anonymous

      Is this MS way of saying WP7 is dead.  Why buy mango when MS is promoting how great WM8 is going to be. AUGHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

    • Anonymous

      Is this MS way of saying WP7 is dead.  Why buy mango when MS is promoting how great WM8 is going to be. AUGHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

    • http://twitter.com/revontuli3 Michal Gurník

      man, wp8 will be a normal update of wp7.5 (mango) with an interim update to tango.. you will just connect your phone to zune or it will be done over the air, no license buying and similar stuff… if they’re saying wp8 will be great, it means they’ll make all wp7 phones great with wp8..
      the ecosystem means just the look-and-feel, they’re making all systems into metro style – xbox dashboard this autumn, windows on PCs in version 8 and wp7 already is metro..

    • Guest

      But it will not be backward compatible with WP7 hardware or apps.  

    • http://twitter.com/revontuli3 Michal Gurník

      you don’t need to have them backwards compatible if you update all devices and have no fragmentation.. they should do it the iOS style, not Android

  • Anonymous

    Gah, if only I had a stronger background in C#. I would so apply for this job. Then I would leak everything on here. And then get fired. I guess I’ll have to stick with dreaming.

    • Guest

      Imagine my frustration. I work on Windows Phone for an MS partner. I work on something new and read about it hear a couple of month’s later. I’d love to spill… But I love my job more ;)

    • Guest

      And yes… I spelt “here” incorrectly.

    • http://twitter.com/Koki_v3 Koki_v3

      I hate you. lol :D

    • Guest

      You probably need to know C++, C, Assembly language (especially dealing with ARM architecture), kernel design. Only some of the userland might be C#. Right now, you can write C# and VB.Net apps, but in the future C++ will be available.

      Userland is just a bunch of APIs and/or (uncertain) tools above the kernel.

      Windows = Win32 API/NT kernel
      GNU userland/Linux
      Haiku API/Haiku kernel
      OSX = Cocoa API/Darwin

  • Anonymous

    Whichever company reaches a level where one OS can effectively and adaptively work on a phone, a tablet and a PC will be the winner.

    Something like the Atrix is the future, a smartphone will replace laptops for a lots of people, when they come home, they dock it to a screen and a mouse/keyboard and bam, opens up a full Windows PC experience… when they have to leave, they just unplug the phone and it dynamically switches to a phone UI while saving all the work and layout on your desktop side.

    • Jinge

      Windows had already almost done that.. At the end it was not so great!
      Of course only the core of the system has to be shared, and has to be designed at the beginning to fit all needs, that was the pb of windows mobile.. But still I would say MS doesn’t really need a common OS as long as they have .Net and SilverLight which is cross-plateform.
      I am not 100% sure a server need the same code optimizations as a phone! And I think desktop and phone don’t have the same drivers concerns…
      But sure it is easier
      and cheaper
      to maintain, and has great advantages too… But still I would say instead of common OS, common APIs is the best to reach, after it doesn’t really matter!

    • J A

      People can be stupid to think that “one ecosystem” means that Windows Phone, PCs, and Xbox will all be one OS. This is how dumb the public is. Ecosystem is such a vague word that in this context means same services and user experience (UX) across the devices. We are already seeing the UX being unified with Metro UI of Windows Phone coming to Xbox this fall and already demoed on Windows 8. And there are also details of how the Xbox Live service is being built into Windows 8 and already exists in Windows Phone and expanding in functionalities for the potential of multiplayer experience across all three, Microsoft MediaRoom IPTV service coming to Xbox this fall and eventually on across all three, and a slew of other services across all three. This is what Microsoft meant by “one ecosystem”, not “one OS” across these devices. They are not dumb and do have OSes for each kind of device unlike Google and Apple that only have one OS they can afford to use for everything they do. From an IT standpoint, I don’t want one OS for everything and neither would it make any sense simply because OSes need to be appropriate for their use cases and PC and Xbox OSes are too heavy for mobile device hardware such as a phone and they each have varying hardware and driver requirements.

      Per new WP OS releases, I would expect that any new Windows Phone OS release will not only come on new devices but also be available to ALL existing devices users already own, just like the iPhone. Who knows, I get a phone deal every year and a half or so when I am eligible with my carrier, so that is when I get a new mobile device anyway.

    • Jean_collas

      Ecosystem, is mostly for devs to be able to extend their apps to other platforms at very low costs, and for users to get the same app and design on all platforms without being lost!

      MS Surface and WP integrated apps can be a good illustration, even if it is only for demo…
      Moving a file from a device to another, using its phone as a remote or an extension of a desktop app, that kind of thing is going to be easier and easier. 

    • Paul

      Actually, I agree with the troll for once. The Atrix, which is a copy of earlier technology, is a good example of where it’s likely to go over time; a device that’s a PC when docked and a phone when not.

      This:

      “it’s not that this is about replacing the PC, and that’s why our strategy is that these new form factors are within a single ecosystem and not new ecosystems themselves.”

      Is just wishful thinking on Lees and MS’s part. In fact, the largest group in MS should be getting up every day trying to figure out just how to replace the PC. What comes next? Obviously a smaller group still needs to keep PC relevant. But that’s not the game for winning the futuere. Just like protecting mainframes didn’t keep IBM healthy, or minicomputers in Digital Equipment’s case.

    • J A

      People can be stupid to think that “one ecosystem” means that Windows Phone, PCs, and Xbox will all be one OS. This is how dumb the public is. Ecosystem is such a vague word that in this context means same services and user experience (UX) across the devices. We are already seeing the UX being unified with Metro UI of Windows Phone coming to Xbox this fall and already demoed on Windows 8. And there are also details of how the Xbox Live service is being built into Windows 8 and already exists in Windows Phone and expanding in functionalities for the potential of multiplayer experience across all three, Microsoft MediaRoom IPTV service coming to Xbox this fall and eventually on across all three, and a slew of other services across all three. This is what Microsoft meant by “one ecosystem”, not “one OS” across these devices. They are not dumb and do have OSes for each kind of device unlike Google and Apple that only have one OS they can afford to use for everything they do. From an IT standpoint, I don’t want one OS for everything and neither would it make any sense simply because OSes need to be appropriate for their use cases and PC and Xbox OSes are too heavy for mobile device hardware such as a phone and they each have varying hardware and driver requirements.

      Per new WP OS releases, I would expect that any new Windows Phone OS release will not only come on new devices but also be available to ALL existing devices users already own, just like the iPhone. Who knows, I get a phone deal every year and a half or so when I am eligible with my carrier, so that is when I get a new mobile device anyway.

    • ZuneMan

      dream!!!!

  • http://twitter.com/jn1974 Jani Nevalainen

    I won’t disclose anything, but if you think that chassis specs for 7.x are from 2010, and 8 is out on 2012 – do you seriously think that the HW requirements won’t be bumped up in two years..

    • http://twitter.com/ThomasMaurer Thomas Maurer

      windows 7 released 2009 and windows 8 released in 2012….

      windows 8 has same or less requirements ;)

    • http://twitter.com/ThomasMaurer Thomas Maurer

      windows 7 released 2009 and windows 8 released in 2012….

      windows 8 has same or less requirements ;)

  • Guest
  • http://twitter.com/JLancaster3 J Lancaster

    The idea is one app that will work on the phone, pc and Tv (via xbox).  I am looking forward to carrying a pc in my pocket. plug my phone into a slate and have a full pc. or plug my phone into a tv and get mediacenter/xbox video capabilities.  or plug my phone into a dock and run dual monitors.  I want the power of a full os on my phone.  As long as my battery last all day.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Viki-Maverick/100002523433166 Viki Maverick

    Sweet Mango first.

    Dance to the Tango second

    Finally, take off with Apollo