Tonight, Microsoft unveiled the latest release of their mobile platform, Windows Phone 8 at a major event organized by both Microsoft and Nokia. Microsoft took the stage and unveiled a number of new features and hardware capabilities for the new platform, as well as announcing a number of new Nokia devices.
Joe Belifore joined Nokia on stage and did a demo of Windows Phone 8 on the Lumia 920. A lot of time was spent talking about the customization possibilities of the home screen now that the live tiles can be shrunken. Internet Explorer can be customized too, with buttons able to be changed by the user in the UI.
Windows Phone 7 applications in an unchanged state work perfectly on Windows Phone 8. Screenshot ability finally has been added to Windows Phone 8 on pressing "Start + Power" and it is saved to the camera application.
The camera application now includes a new button for "lenses" which allows applications to build seamlessly into the camera to allow instant filter addons and other enhancements.
NFC is also supported by the platform, and at least for Nokia, allows devices to be paired with just by tapping them together (such as to play audio from wireless headphones). We also spotted a "Windows Phone Wallet" application during Joe Belfiore's demo, but nothing was said about it.
Unfortunately today's demonstration seems to have covered mostly things we already recognize and know from Windows Phone 7.
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