Details of Windows Phone 8 Apollo surface.

We first heard about the Windows Phone Apollo, in December. At that time there was no information or details regarding the upcoming operating software, except for the fact that it may possibly be announced during the last quarter of this year. In a post by Paul Thurrott, it was revealed that he could now discuss what the upcoming OS will feature. He states, “Windows Phone 8, codenamed Apollo, will be based on the Windows 8 kernel and not on Windows CE as are current versions. This will not impact app compatibility: Microsoft expects to have over 100,000 Windows Phone 7.5-compatible apps available by the time WP8 launches, and they will all work fine on this new OS.”

The report says that the Windows Phone 8 will have integrations with the desktop version - Windows 8 - and both will be launched around the same time. Both the desktop OS as well as the smartphone OS will have an integrated ecosystem, due to the shared underlying code, components as well as the user experiences. He states that this upcoming smartphone OS is part of the Windows Reimagined campaign that had been announced by Microsoft for Windows 8.

Here is a quick look at the highlighted features of Windows Phone 8 Apollo:

Data Smart – This would help to reduce as well as simplify the way one monitors data. It also provides a break-up of data consumption and will actively try to offer the option of switching to Wi-Fi connections whenever possible. This feature can be extended to wireless carriers to tie-up with their offered data plans.

App-to-App communication – It will provide a Windows 8 contracts-like app-to-app communications capabilities.

Internet Explorer 10 Mobile – Latest web technologies will be used with this highly tuned version of Internet Explorer.

Shared components with Windows 8 – Multi-core processor support, kernel, security model and various other features from Windows 8 will be featured on the smartphone version.

Companion experiences with Windows 8 – A new sync client will be used, instead on Zune and a set of common cloud services will work across Windows Phone 8, Windows 8 and Xbox vNext. This will help in syncing data between all three devices.

SkyDrive integration – One’s content across of Microsoft’s platforms will be made available using this integration.

Skype app – Better app to be used with the upcoming OS.

NFC and Wallet – This OS will allow one to securely make payments using NFC and manage it using an integrated Wallet

Local Scout – This will now have a feature known as personal recommendations.

Camera improvements – A better camera experience is expected with the new lens app

Business features – Full device hardware acceleration encryption with Bit-locker and
always-on Secure Boot capabilities with Windows Phone 8. The new OS will also have support for Exchange ActiveSync policies and System Center configuration settings and inventory capabilities.

Apart from the above mentioned features, a report by PocketNow, reveals that Skype will be deeply integrated in the OS. Thurrott claims that there are more features, which he will not disclose, but states that Microsoft’s plans for the OS are ‘quite exciting indeed.’