14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has just announced the immediate availability of the Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 Update, which is in fact the final version of the CTP that was launched back in February.
Two things make this update very important for Windows Phone developers. Firstly, it offers them the possibility to create applications that will run within the parameters on smartphones that are equipped with only 256 MB.
Secondly, once developers update to Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1, they will be able to create applications on devices running Windows 8 operating system.
Although Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 doesn't add too many new features, it includes several tweaks that will make developers' life much easier when creating new apps for Windows Phone platform.
The installation process of this update will take about 15 minutes, as the patch is about 300 MB in size. It contains two virtual OS images, for 256 MB and 512 MB devices, and runs on Windows 8 devices, though unofficially until the RTM release of Windows.
The following changes have been included in this Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 update:
- Visual Studio IDE is patched to enable selection from a list of emulators, and launching it; - Windows Phone (512 MB device) emulator image is updated to use build 8773; - Microsoft Advertising SDK is updated to the latest version, and fixes some issues that were previously reported by developers, mostly at runtime; - IntelliSense now supports specifying the 512 MB device requirement in the manifest file, should devs choose to opt their app out from running on the new 256 MB devices; - Language support includes all 10 of the WPSDK 7.1 languages and in the emulator OS, Malay and Indonesian have been added.
Keep in mind that this update can be installed without having to uninstall the CTP launched last month. Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 Update is now available for download here.