October 29, 2012, 5:08 PM — It’s a tough day if you’ve got a tech announcement. The media capital of the world is facing a historic hurricane Sandy arrival, Apple already hit the tech writers with new devices last week, and did I already mention a huge hurricane? Regardless, Google and Microsoft marched their newest mobile advancements onto the stage, and there’s a lot to digest. Let’s carve it up and digest it as a series of snacks:
Windows Phone 8
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What’s new: The big thing is a new core kernel, based on the NT kernel, same as what’s powering Windows 8. Did you know Windows Phone 7 had some of the same guts inside as Windows CE? Well, now you do. With the new kernel, and with phones sporting multiple cores, there is “never a hint of lag,” as The Verge puts it.
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What’s good: The Verge has the best Windows Phone 8 review I’ve seen. Everything that is unique and interesting and useful about Windows Phone is enhanced and made smoother and less annoying in Windows Phone 8. The somewhat stickier bits, like the Windows Store selection and the apps that can’t compete against other firm’s established strengths (iTunes Store, Google Maps, and so forth), remain just as sticky.
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The flagship Windows Phone, cleverly titled Windows Phone 8X: Boy Genius Report (“BGR”), aptly summating a rather long review:
If you’re willing to make do with Windows Phone in its current state and play the waiting game, I wholeheartedly recommend the Windows Phone 8X. This phone is awesome. The hardware is outstanding and the operating system is unique and smooth. But there are unavoidable compromises you’ll have to make in jumping over to the Windows Phone camp and now, more than two years since the platform first launched, people still seem unwilling to make those compromises.
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