​TECHNAVIGATOR

With the Windows Phone OS, Microsoft tried to attack the giants on mobile OS markets Android and Apple. 

Windows Phone was intended to make a simple, yet classy OS to compete with Apple's iOS and Google's Android.

 

In 2002, Windows released the first Windows smartphone. The software then was called Windows Mobile 2002. Windows Mobile evolved to the 2003 version, WM5, WM6, WM6.1 and WM6.5.

After WM6.5, Microsoft came with a totally new concept, built from scratch. The new Windows Phone 7 was born.

WP7 came with a stock internet browser based on Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 and live tiles were introduced.

 

For WP7, Microsoft invented the Marketplace, a place where users could download their apps. Via Marketplace users could download audio, video, apps and games. Some games in the Marketplace are able to connect to the Xbox Live server, so people can get achievements and upgrade their gamerscore.

WP7 had a 2GB of RAM memory available and was able to run 32000 processes at a time, theoretically. 

 

Windows Phone 8

After Windows Phone 7, Microsoft updated it to version 8 of Windows Phone. This included an update to the Internet Explerorer, to IE10.IN addition to that the live tiles were updated to look better.

With WP8, users were able to disable the automatic rotation function, which was unable to disable in former versions, and a lot of new apps were made available. Also it was able to stream music via Xbox Music, which made it easier to provide music streaming. Also it improved the audio playback, wifi connectivity and of course the camera quality.

 

Future:

What's for the future of Windows Phone? Well, now that Microsoft bought Nokia's telecommunication section, they can manufactor their own phone, especially designed for the Windows OS. This may be a better way to improve the functions of the Windows Phones, and to better the User Experience.

 

Rumour has it that Windows Phone 9, will have a great change in the User Interface, as Microsoft wanted to ditch the Metro UI that they have on Windows Phone right now.

 

I think that Microsoft will take the advantage of the Android vs iOS rivalry and that Microsoft will come out on top eventually, as Windows Phones are simple to use, yet elegant.

 

Written by: Jeroen van Kuijk. Nokia Lumia 920 user.