14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has already confirmed that upgrades would be coming to Windows Phone 8 in the not too distant future, yet the company hasn’t provided specific info on the matter, nor did it offer a release timeframe as of now.
However, recent rumors suggested that a new Windows Phone 8 flavor would be set to arrive on devices in the coming months, in the form of Windows Phone 8 GDR2.
According to a recent article on ZDNet, GDR2 is indeed included in the company’s upgrade roadmap for Windows Phone 8, and will be followed by another such platform release, namely GDR3.
In fact, it seems that it all started with the previously released Portico update for Windows Phone 8, which was GDR1, and that it will continue in the second half of the year with GDR3, where GDR means General Distribution Release.
For the time being, GDR2 is the new platform flavor that users should be keeping an eye out for, as it should arrive on both existing devices and on new ones in the next few months.
It has been spotted on HTC’s device codenamed Tiara recently, but this should be only one of the new handsets that will arrive on the market with this OS version on top.
Following GDR3, however, another Windows Phone upgrade is expected to emerge, codenamed Windows Phone Blue, which should bring Microsoft’s Windows 8 and Windows RT platforms closer to the mobile OS, it seems.
Apparently, Microsoft will pack this OS version with some new programming interfaces and kernel updates, as well as with enhancements to the platform’s user interface, though no major change is expected at the moment.
Just as mentioned in a previous post, these operating system upgrades are expected to arrive on all existing Windows Phone 8 devices, though it remains to be seen when exactly that will happen, and what new functionality users will receive through them.