14 DAY TRIAL // During the MIX11 conference in Las Vegas, Redmond-based software giant Microsoft detailed some of its plans for the next Windows Phone devices, including the fact that they would include less restrictive hardware specifications.
We already knew that the company had plans for handsets that would pack lower hardware specifications, thus being cheaper and appealing to more users out there, but nothing was known specifically on this until now.
As stated above, the company came to MIX11 with plans to share some additional details on what the next Windows Phones would pack inside, and so it did.
While previous Windows Phone 7 devices were confined to have 1GHz application processors inside, newer ones would be running under 800Mhz or higher CPUs, it seems.
But this is not all, as the company also unveiled that these devices would be able to pack Qualcomm MSM7x30, MSM8x55 chips inside, which would bring into the mix the more powerful Adreno 205 GPU.
Qualcomm's second-gen MSM8x55 is already present on the market inside various Android devices, including the HTC Thunderbolt and Xperia PLAY. Qualcomm's MSM7x30 comes with great multimedia capabilities as well (it is present inside the T-Mobile G2).
Some other hardware specs the new Windows Phone chassis would come with include:
- 480 x 800 pixels capacitive touchscreen, with 4 or more contact points - 256MB RAM or more, 8GB Flash or more - A-GPS, Accelerometer, Compass, Light, Proximity, Gyro - Common detailed specs, Codec acceleration - DirectX 9 acceleration - 5 megapixels or more camera
Complemented by a better Windows Phone platform in fall, new handsets would deliver an enhanced experience to their users, as well as increased performance capabilities, it seems.
Not to mention that some of them would also be less costly, which would make them appealing to a wider range of users, and would also help the operating system gain more market share.
Also at the conference, Microsoft promised new handsets running under the next Windows Phone version, codenamed Mango, as well as a software update for the existing Windows Phone 7 devices.
More info on the new hardware requirements for Windows Phone devices can be found in this presentation (via MobileTechWorld)
