Windows Phone may stay year behind in speed

Windows Phone might repeat history and go without competitive high-end features until Windows Phone 8, according to a pair of tips. Historically accurate MS_Nerd claims that Apollo, WP8's codename, will add a Chassis 3 spec that brings the dual-core processors that Android and iPhone users already have. It should also bring 720p Retina Display-like screens, putting them just on par with the Galaxy Nexus and a handful of other phones arriving soon.

WP8 isn't expected until late 2012 and would leave Microsoft a year behind in hardware features, somewhat like it is today with Windows Phone 7.5, nicknamed Mango.

The much closer Tango update, presumed to be coming in early 2012, has also been clarified if the rumor is accurate. It would add a Chassis 2 spec with LTE-based 4G support on higher-end models. Also coming would be support for Windows Phone's first non-portrait ratio, a 480x320 resolution intended for BlackBerry-like messaging phones and budget models.

Support for NVIDIA Tegra and TI OMAP chips wouldn't come until "Win9," he said, most likely referring to Windows Phone 9 in 2013 and not Windows 9, which most presume won't arrive until 2015.

Microsoft's mobile president Andy Lees has already gone on record as saying the OS would get NFC and LTE in the future but hasn't given precise dates.

The decision to follow strict chassis guidelines was made at the outset of Windows Phone to avoid the platform fragmentation that faces Android and faced Windows Mobile. Where the other platforms have often taken months to get updates and sometimes not at all, Microsoft has managed to upgrade virtually its entire Windows Phone base to 7.5 within three weeks. In choosing the strategy, however, it may have instituted a permanent setback that lets Apple and Google's partners get newer hardware much faster. [via WPCentral]

By Electronista Staff