After Mango comes Apollo

May 29, 2011 | By Surur

598px-Apollo_program_insignia The next big update after Windows Phone 7.5 Mango will be Windows Phone 8, code named Apollo, to be released late in 2012.

So far we do not know much about the OS, but the main strong rumour is that it will use the same APX app format as Windows 8, and may represent the unification of the platforms, with Windows Phone 8 being ported to the NT kernel.

Presumably by 2012 ARM processors would be routinely powerful enough to support this, and one can imagine scenarios where one could dock one’s phone and suddenly transition to a full desktop, keyboard and mouse environment, like the Motorola Atrix at present.

Given the impressive advances we have seen in Windows Phone 7 Mango, what do our readers wish to see in Apollo? Let us know below.

Via Monsmartphone.net

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged apollo, rumour, windows phone 8

Ram

That would be cool. If it can become a netbook with full Windows 8 once it is hooked to a laptop dock like Atrix does and like a media box once it is hooked a media dock. That would be really nice.

On a minor not could you please search for “cam ” your post and replace it with “can “. Sorry for the lame comment on spellings, but couldn’t resist.

Anonymous

Thanks, fixed.
Vinnie

On another minor note, Ram can you replace “not” with “note”. Thanks.

Ram

That would be cool. If it can become a netbook with full Windows 8 once it is hooked to a laptop dock like Atrix does and like a media box once it is hooked a media dock. That would be really nice.

On a minor not could you please search for “cam ” your post and replace it with “can “. Sorry for the lame comment on spellings, but couldn’t resist.
http://sawdustandglitter.com PKM

Doing kernel change when the OS hasn’t even matured yet is a bad decision, in my opinion. Users won’t see any significant feature changes while developers have to recompile everything? Sounds like a Vista to me.

Anonymous

Due to the nature of Silverlight/C# – its run under a framework, so porting apps wouldn’t cause any problems in most cases as long as all the api’s are supported.
That said, I have no desire to dock my phone as a PC – I cant see how a WP7 UI on a desktop would be useful. Like PKM suggested, more seamless features (perhaps 3rd party integration into threads etc)

Also Surur, perhaps you should word process all posts before submitting (and proof reading ;-p )

http://twitter.com/Hombaca05 Andrew

I don’t think it’s about putting the WP UI on a desktop. Look at the Atrix laptop dock, it transitions to a different, more friendly UI for the laptop. Docking your WP with a laptop or tablet (which I would love) would hopefully do something similar.

GP007

Uhhh, no. Why would devs have to recompile anything when their apps are already in SL/XNA? The shift to APX that is what Win8s app store will use for apps isn’t much more than a new “container” for your app. Think in terms of videos, the difference between mp4 and mkv is small, the video and audio files can be encoded in the same codec, be it xvid with mp3 or h264 and ac3 etc. Take any mkv and change it’s extention to mp4 and your media player will still play the files because the video and audio is encoded in the same format, it’s just a different container.

The shift to APX from what WP7 uses now should in that case be minor. The whole idea behind using managed code as the platform is for just this sorta reason, now MS can make deep level changes without suffering problems with backwords compatibility with apps other than the native ones it makes itself which are few anyways.

http://twitter.com/imaxxhd Maximilian Hernandez

I’d like to see more basic tools and seamless flow between mobile and desktop

GP007

I think that’s the plan, in the end think about it. If MS unifies the stores and uses the same tools to code SL/XNA apps between the two then a dev can make one app that supports the phone AND the desktop. You can even charge a bit more and let people get both versions, it’s win-win for devs and users. If the Win8 tablet UI matches well with the metro WP7 UI we have now then apps can have a very smooth transition between the phone and the tablet, with the only difference being the need to pan left and right on the phone due to the smaller screen.

Anonymous

You forgot about HTML5, the foundation of the web application platform (or whatever it is called). Great choice by MS to pick something that will further the commodization of apps.

Anonymous

Ready to go the mother spaceship !
http://twitter.com/s_a_r_k_i_s sarkis chamelian

BRING IT !!
Anonymous

As far as I’m concerned, I think it may becomes possible in a not so near future. It has been said you could install Windows 8 on an USB key. So, it means you will be able to boot your OS on any PC from that USB key. The reason why a phone could not be that USB key is yet to be found

The only problem I see: if Microsoft will it to becomes a success, it needs to make it “reboot free”, which shall be difficult… Allowing to change the hardware on the fly will be a headache for Microsoft (but it’s not impossible: on windows phone 7, applications can be paused at any moment and saved on the hard drive, and then reactivated; they could even not notice that the hardware has changed (beside the performance improvement or degradation)).

Anonymous

While this is possible, I don’t think it’s the way MS will go. They will rather use the phone as an harddrive to save your settings and applications, so that you can run any windows with your settings and applications even if the internet is not accessible or is too slow (it would be a kind of personnal “cloud”); note that Apple is also rumoured to work on something like that…

Anonymous

I’d like that. However, seeing how most pcs are jacked up to the net with high, or somewhat high, connections, and this will only change for the better i’d probably prefer a cloud-based solution using my mobile device simple as an identifier. Couple it with NFC (or similar) and kinect face recognition and you dont even have to login, As you sit down, your data is being pulled from the cloud as you are being logged in. Very neat.

(Doesnt have to be too bandwidth heavy anyway, seeing how you dont need everything stored locally on your machine anyway).

Anonymous

the future is not “phone docks.” it is windows azure + windows live + anything in the cloud

Anonymous

I happen do disagree, personally to me i won’t ever go from having the option of keeping my information local. Cloud computing has had several iteration and i doubt it will go all cloud and since MS believes in having both option i hope they never move away from this model.

http://twitter.com/Hombaca05 Andrew Haynes

Agreed. I like both, preferably local storage. I would actually prefer a tablet that has a dock in the back for my phone. Easier to carry around than a laptop.

revolutions

I’m mostly worried that this will mean that current Windows Phone owners would basically be dumped, like what happened to Windows Mobile users. I doubt current phones would be able to support this.
Anonymous

Since it’s the unification of desktop & mobile, and since desktop has an excellent TV viewing experience (Media Center), I’m sure they’re going to do something with HD-out/DNLA, finally bringing it in line with the Zune HD.

I also expect them to go all in on Skydrive/Mesh.
Anonymous

i dont see the point in doing that… NT kernel is just heavy… no need for it… dont see any advantage… the phone is not a pc…

Anonymous

What exactly about the NT kernel is heavy? I keep hearing this from people who have little understanding of the NT architectue.

Wurstsalat

A bit sad about the release date, “late 2012″…i would prefer more minor updates for wp!

Interop of windows 8 and windows phone would be nice…i hope windows phone 8 will be as fluent as windows phone 7 and wp8 runs on actual wp7 devices!

http://twitter.com/Hombaca05 Andrew Haynes

My thoughts exactly. If MS wants to stay competitive in mobile, they need to launch WP8 before late 2012. At least Spring. I would like to see a future where major phone releases are more in line with console timelines, but for that to happen they’d need to have an very mature, well-developed OS and supportive eco-system. WP7 is not that, but maybe WP8.
http://www.flavors.me/fludlyt Fludlyt

I’m being optimistic here but hopefully we’ll see updates (7.6 – 7.9) between Mango and Apollo as opposed to the suggested yearly schedule. For example I hope they won’t wait until Apollo to add more customisation, integrated 3rd party services and new SkyDrive and Office functionality.

Azjerei

Unless the following features are coming in Mango, I want them to appear in Apollo, if not sooner:

- Color selector for themes instead of a set (and VERY limited) of pre-defined colors.
- Access to Facebook Inbox from within the OS, similar to any e-mail account.
- Favorites in Bing Maps.
- Disable the Search button while inside a game. There is no reason for this button to work while playing a game. I have experienced too many times my games becoming ruined when I accidently pressed Search.

markiz

bing maps has no favourites?! wtf?
Hussein

Well, lets say you want to check for some tips when you find a game to hard in a special level. Wouldn’t you wanna go search for that then multitask them? Microsoft are not stupid, it’s a great software company and they think it through.
José Villaró

Bing maps will no longer exist, It will be replaced by OVI Maps

Anonymous

Nope! Ovi Maps will be rolled into Bing, or integrated into WP7. But it won’t replace Bing. There’s no way in hell Microsoft would allow that. In fact, I think Microsoft should just buy Ovi Maps and Navteq from Nokia.

José Villaró

It’s what you think, but not what’s been said to happen. They already said Ovi maps would replace Bing Maps, it was part of the agreement
Anonymous

Nokia has no interest in selling their maps, nor do they (at this moment) need the cash. You cant buy what someone does not want to sell.

YouKnowIt

Bing maps supports favorites in Mango: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgK33sWD8T0&feature=relmfu (3:25 mark).

Avatar Roku

I hope the release date for Apollo is not late 2012. That release schedule is too slow. I would rather have two medium sized updates a year than one giant sized update each year. What I want to see:

-Add a pivot page to the left of the Start screen just for pinning favorite Media (album art, playlists, artist shortcuts, radio stations, songs, videos, etc.). Shortcuts to Media and Apps should be separate, not on the same home screen as they currently are.

-Allow background images on start screen that work like the background pivots in any of the hubs. (This image should also be used on the task switcher screen)

-Integrate Skype video chats into the phone application.

-Allow users to create Hubs and decide what applications share information in that hub.

-On phones with a physical keyboard auto-open the messaging hub when the keyboard is slid open on the Home screen. Allow user to choose in settings whether this action opens Bing search, Email, or Messaging.

http://www.facebook.com/todor.tsvetkov Todor Tsvetkov

It will be late 2012 maybe, because the Windows 8 will come out in late 2012 and the next Xbox 360 dashboard update will be in late 2012 as always. So it’s pretty clear that they will rock our socks off in late 2012 (September to be exact ).

PS. If they integrate Skype … the battery life will last for about 2 hours = that’s the reason and I’m pretty sure that Skype will be an application for WP for life just for that reason .
http://www.facebook.com/todor.tsvetkov Todor Tsvetkov

It will be late 2012 maybe, because the Windows 8 will come out in late 2012 and the next Xbox 360 dashboard update will be in late 2012 as always. So it’s pretty clear that they will rock our socks off in late 2012 (September to be exact ).

PS. If they integrate Skype … the battery life will last for about 2 hours = that’s the reason and I’m pretty sure that Skype will be an application for WP for life just for that reason .

http://twitter.com/travisnew87 Travis New

Windows 8 tablets are set to release late this year early next year following a desktop version shortly after. Dell and HPs roadmap has been leaked for sometime now showing they have Windows 8 tablets in ready for the release this/next year.

Peter

- Have an option to select colors not just limited number of colors by default. (Hope this come sin Mango)

- Have option to disable vibration for 3 buttons (Back, Window, Search) on Windows Phones. (Hope this come sin Mango)

- Have option to set text message system the way it was in Windows Mobile 6.5. I don’t like phone brings all conversations of the last person who texted you to top of the list. Ability to set text messeing the way that you could have text messages in order you recieved them (Example: Text message from person A then B, C, A, A, B, C, D, etc.

- Have more than these colors on phones Like Windoows PCs.

- I really don’t care about front face camera but it’s cool to have it (Extra bonus)
Anonymous

I actually love the NT kernel idea. This should lower the cost of R&D and allow more GUI development. Why build and maintain 2 kernels? Makes no sense.

As for features. I would like…

- Speech SDK support. It’s already in the Desktop .Net Framework, and also Mango has lots of Speech features. If they haven’t opened those up by Mango they should in Apollo. Developers need built-in Text-To-Speech support.

- Better Hardware!!! dual cores are here, quad cores are coming out next year. LTE is here and will be deployed in most markets next year. Please don’t lag behind Android.

- Release Silverlight for Android. Or at least some support for Mono C#. This isn’t WP directly, but will help WP developers stay on the WP platform as the OS gains market share.
markiz

Convergence between desktop windows, and wp would be awesome! this atrix gimmick should not even be mentioned in the same sentence. it just sucks.
Anonymous

I’m so torn on this idea. Consumer code needs to be very lightweight. Windows 8 most likely won’t be very lightweight. At this point, I think I would like to see W8 move closer to WP7 codebase than vice-versa. Ugh, so tough for MS to make good decisions about this.
José Villaró

There are two things I would really like to see, but when Mango comes out. I haven’t seen many comments if any at all about these points:

1) Is it only me or for a phone that fancys itself as a way to get in and out fast, making a damn call takes to long… I hate the two ways to make a call right now. You either have to enter the contacts hub, search or “jump” to your contact select it and then call. Or you enter the telephone app that for some reason MS thinks your always most likely going to call a recent contact or then enter the contact hub from there or bring up the keypad to type a phone. Actually seems to much to me.
What I would really like it to be is (OK, of coarse leave the contact hub as is) when I bring up the phone app, give me the keypad directly and implement a “smart dialing” like on other phones (I had it on my Nokia E71), with this i can start typing the numbers/letters and start getting hits from my contacts that either match the phone number or name. That would seem to me at least a faster, more efficient and elegant solution.

2) Other “simple” tweak I would like is a faster way to turn on and off Wifi, bluetooth, 3G/data, airplane mode, etc. Could it be something on top the way you toggle between ring and vibrate. Maybe swiping down would lower the little panel down a little bit more to access these other controls?

There are many things that I would like to see but these two are simple things that would let me better use my phone.
Jai

I want Apollo NOWWWWWW!!!!!!
Jai

I want Apollo NOWWWWWW!!!!!!
Anonymous

…i hope its just like the mango (updates) rather than a whole new OS that existing devices cant have
Ojohn

Offer a “cloud agent” through Windows Live / Azure, that could work in tandem with each phone. The phone content could be replicated to this cloud agent, and it could perform operations on behalf of the phone. Thus, if an app needs a lot of processing power, it could be offloaded to this agent.
http://twitter.com/TheBigM72 Samil Shah

Maybe processors can handle NT but what about battery life?!?

What is important is a seamless transition between using the phone and using the laptop. You don’t the phone to become the PC to achieve that. Even a Metro-ised tablet will be different to the phone because of a much larger screen, much larger battery and more powerful processors.

You just need your “digital life” to transition over. Cloud sync of your office files (skydrive, 365 or enterprise sharepoint can help achieve that). The only thing you’d want to have is a direct, USB sync for when you’ve not got internet connectivity (an increasingly rare thing going forward). All your media can already sync via Zune. What else do you need? Well, some skype or WLM intelligence will be cool. Your phone can sync your threaded IM conversations to your skype or WLM and you carry on from there. EMail is already cloud-sync’d. Phone calls? Intelligent skype (especially if it becomes a meta-carrier) could transition over so your calls then start to come in via the PC instead of the phone.

TBH, many of the pieces of the puzzle are here or just around the future. All we will be doing in the future is making the transition even easier and even more seamless, to the point where all you do is either plug your phone into the laptop and/or tell the cloud you’re switching to a laptop now.
Anonymous

Why does WMP insist on calling Mango version 7.5, when Microsoft officially labelled it as version 7.1 last week.

On Topic: I hope Microsoft won’t come with Windows Phone 8 that fast, because there is a good chance that WP7 owners won’t be supported anymore…

Avatar Roku

IE9 info page says Mango OS version is 7.5

Given the significance of the changes it is much more believeable it will be called 7.5 than 7.1
Avatar Roku

IE9 info page says Mango OS version is 7.5

Given the significance of the changes it is much more believeable it will be called 7.5 than 7.1

Ennadatti_759

This rumor is not so new… http://www.windowsphonefr.com/atterrissage-de-windows-phone-8-apollo-imminent/1384
Anonymous

With regards to sharing application W8 introduces the “web application platform” (or whatever they call it), building on HTML5, which is (for all our purposes) platform independent (assuming MSFT renders HTML5 similarly on all devices). Beyond that i think we (and MSFT) should be more patient. In the near future our phones will be powerful enough to “run it all”, and programs will be developed with various formats in mind (i.e. multiple GUIs), but we are not quite there yet. Easy does it.

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