New Windows Phone 8 OS packs in social, personalization features
Can new apps, new lock screens, and a child-safety mode draw in users
Microsoft formally introduced the next iteration of its mobile
operating system, Windows Phone 8, at an event Monday in San Francisco.
The OS includes numerous refinements over the previous version, Windows
Phone 7.5 Mango, as well as a few new features that make it more
competitive with rivals Android and iOS.
With Windows Phone 8, Microsoft is introducing a feature named Data
Sense intended to help monitor and regulate customers' usage of data
plans. Data Sense will allow users to route their browsing experience
through a "system in the cloud" created by Microsoft that will compress
every web page loaded on the phone, and can automatically adjust network
settings as users near their data limits. Data Sense will also
visualize for customers how much data they've used and pop notifications
if they're getting close to finishing off their allowance for the
month. Data Sense also monitors WiFi availability, shows where nearby
hotspots are, and switches to WiFi when it's available. Microsoft has
not provided details on whether or how Data Sense will work with the
shared data plans on family packages offered by carriers.
Among the most noticeable new elements are the resizable live tiles
on Windows Phone 8's home screen. In our review of the Mango flagship
Nokia Lumia 900
last year, we dinged the OS for its low home screen information
density. In this new OS version, users can resize icons down to roughly
one square centimeter and the icon still retains all of its live
animations.
Windows Phone 8 will allow for more customization of the lock screen,
too. Users can select an app to display certain information when the
phone's screen is woken from sleep. If users select CNN, for example,
the lock screen will be updated regularly with breaking news; if they
select Facebook, the phone will display the users' Facebook photos in
rotation (currently, Facebook doesn't allow the app to display status
updates or similar info due to privacy concerns).
One of Windows Phone's flagship features has been its "People"
section, which works like a more holistic version of other OS's
"Contacts." Now, in addition to creating "groups" of people, users can
create "rooms," which allows the people you group together to have a
shared Windows Live Messenger-powered chatroom, a shared calendar, and a
shared photo stream. Microsoft noted to Ars that while the calendar and
photos are accessible by non-Windows Phone users, the only messaging
service that can power the shared chatroom is Microsoft's own Live
Messenger.
Microsoft also placed emphasis on the availability of third-party
apps. Windows Phone 8 will get its own official twitter app, and the
platform has 46 of the top 50 most popular apps, according to Joe
Belfiore, manager of the Windows Phone division at Microsoft. A Pandora
app will be offered on the platform, and customers who buy a Windows
Phone 8 handset will get a free year of service, beginning in early
2013.
To make the devices more kid-friendly, Microsoft has introduced a
feature called Kid's Corner that allows parents to set up a controlled
environment for children to use their phones. Kid's Corner is accessed
by swiping the Lock Screen to one side, and users can place certain apps
inside with restricted features to prevent children from wreaking
financial and informational havoc (like sending unintended emails full
of gibberish and charging hundreds of dollars of in-app purchases, for
instance). The OS places some strict rules on what can and cannot go
into Kid's Corner; for example, it's impossible to include Internet
Explorer there.
Microsoft announced that Windows Phone 8's Photos app now works
closely with SkyDrive, and users can store as many photos as they want,
for as long as they want (though presumably not beyond the 7GB storage
limit). Xbox Music will be present on Windows Phone 8 to compete with
the free Pandora service, offering 30 million tracks for streaming and
automatic cloud-syncing for playlists and purchases within the app.
Local Scout, a feature that recommends locations to eat, drink, and
visit, has received a new panel in Windows Phone 8 titled "For You." For
You is informed by information pulled from social networks like
Facebook, and will suggest places or events to users that their friends
have liked or mentioned in the past. For instance, if a user happens to
be New York City and several of their friends liked the band "Of
Monsters and Men," the For You panel will point out that the band is
playing a show in NYC in the coming days.
Windows Phone 8 includes a new Wallet app, which combines the functionality of Android's
Google Wallet and iOS's
Passbook.
Users can store debit, credit, and loyalty card information in the app,
and can use phones with NFC to tap and pay at compatible points of
sale.
Microsoft has finally added the ability to make in-app purchases, a
long-overdue feature that will help earn even more attention from app
developers. Microsoft also points out that Windows Phone 8 can now
thread VoIP calls through services like Skype directly through the
phone's dialer, without having to use a separate app.