Microsoft to preview Windows Phone 8 late June
 

Microsoft will preview the next Windows Phone version at an event scheduled for 20 June. Windows Phone 8 Apollo will be the biggest revision of Redmond's mobile OS since its introduction and it should help eliminate a number of rather annoying restrictions.

Apollo is expected to support higher resolution screens, hardly a surprising move as Windows phones are still stuck at 800x480, while Apple and especially Android players have gone mental with high-res screens sharp enough to slice well cured Dalmatian prosciutto.

That is one limitation out the window, but Apollo should also get rid of CPU restrictions, dual-core and perhaps even quad-core chips will be supported. Most Mango phones shipped with 8GB of storage, while high-end units featured 16GB, with no memory card slots. However, Apollo will also support user-expandable memory and it is safe to assume that we will see more generous internal storage as well.

It all sounds very good, but it is a pity that such draconian restrictions were imposed in the first place. Granted, Windows Phone is a very sleek OS with superb resource management and a tiny footprint and the restrictions also helped limit fragmentation, thus making development and updates rather straightforward. However, consumers want shiny toys and big numbers - 800x480 screens and single-core A8 processors simply don't cut it in this day and age, Apollo is already overdue.

The big question is whether Windows Phone 7.5 devices will get an Apollo update. At this point it is not clear whether they are compatible, but we should hear it from the horse's mouth in two weeks.

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