14 DAY TRIAL // As expected, Microsoft has just released the Windows Phone 7.8 SDK for developers who wish to get a glimpse of how their apps will look like on the new operating system.
Although the Redmond-based company did not confirm the launch of the SDK for this week, previous statements from various carriers pointed to a January 31 release for Windows Phone 7.8.
However, developers should know before attempting to download and install this SDK that applications created will still only work on Windows Phone 7.5 platform.
With this release Microsoft wanted to offer devs the possibility to see how their applications look on Windows Phone 7.8.
Keep in mind that you will need Windows Phone SDK 8.0 or Windows Phone SDK 7.1 installed before you can install Windows Phone SDK update for Windows Phone 7.8.
Those who already run a Windows Phone SDK 7.1 installation, the update will also download and install the Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 update as part of the update. But this is only applicable to Windows Phone SDK 7.1 installations.
There are a lot of new things included in this update, such as the ones detailed below:
- Windows Phone 7.8 emulator: this OS image emulates your app running on a 512-MB device running Windows Phone 7.8 (build 8878); - Windows Phone 7.8 256MB emulator: this OS image emulates Windows Phone 7.8 (build 8878) running on a 256-MB device;
There are no new APIs available to Windows Phone apps in this SDK, it’s just tiles. Aside from the new additions included in Windows Phone 7.8 SDK, it’s worth mentioning some of the things that are still missing:
- The update does not change your existing Windows Phone OS 7.1 emulator images – you can still develop and debug your apps on a phone running the standard Windows Phone 7.5 image; - There are no new APIs available to Windows Phone apps in Windows Phone 7.8.
For more details on how to install the Windows Phone 7.8 SDK, as well as for the full list of changes, check out Microsoft’s official announcement here. Developers can download the SDK here.