PhoneTalk

Today at the Windows Phone Summit being held in San Francisco, Microsoft showed off Windows Phone 8. There are quite a few enhancements that users can expect, but existing Windows Phone 7.5 users won’t get is the ability to upgrade their phones to Windows Phone 8. Existing Windows Phone users will, however, get an update to 7.8, which will have the new Windows Phone 8 Start screen -- it’s a bit of a centerpiece of the upcoming Windows Phone 8.

The idea behind the new Start screen is that you can customize it anyway you want, changing tile sizes giving some activities more significance than others (watch the video below to see it in action). Other noteworthy features are the inclusion of Internet Explorer 10 (that’s a full web browser, not a mobile version), the Wallet (manage payments, deals, and cards you might find in a wallet), and Nokia’s mapping software. We should also note that existing Windows Phone apps will work with the Windows Phone 8 platform.

We can expect to see Windows Phone 8 models from Nokia, HTC, Huawei, and Samsung. Some of the hardware features to expect include a multi-core processor (this will make the phone faster and more powerful), a slot for an external microSD storage card, NFC chip (Wallet apps and connecting with other Windows 8 devices), Nokia maps, and a WXGA display (1280 x768) – that’s HD.

Get a peak at the new Start screen in the Mircosoft video below.