Everything you need to know from Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 event

News
By
last updated

Phew! Today was fairly eventful, was it not? While not an awful lot was announced by Microsoft, we did manage to see Windows Phone 8 be formally launched into the wild with handsets confirmed for carriers in a number of markets. Welcome to our round-up, which will be useful should you had been absent through the presentation.

Microsoft launched Windows Phone 8 today in San Francisco. We saw Joe Belfiore take the stage as usual, with his children along for the ride and to help demonstrate the Kid's Corner. But that's not all, as model / actress Jessica Alba was also present to help present the platform. She's been wielding a red Lumia 920 since the hardworking mother upgraded from Windows Phone 7.x.

We were on the floor at the event and managed to not only live blog the entire presentation, but also bring the latest news to the homepage for pleasure of viewing. Today was a huge deal for us with the launch of the new Windows Phone Central website design, which we feel was the right move to make prior to the Microsoft presentation.

So what was unveiled during the presentation? Without repeating what we've written elsewhere, Microsoft had a number of Windows Phone 8 features on show. These included Kid's Corner, Xbox Music, Rooms, Office, Live Apps and Live Tiles, as well as apps and games that were on their way to the Windows Phone Store. There was a surprising amount of content to sieve through.

Among the apps and games said to be on their way were the following:

  • Angry Birds Star Wars
  • Pandora
  • Temple run
  • Urbanspoon
  • JetPack Joyride

The interesting deal (or twist) with Pandora is the service and app for Windows Phone will enable consumers of Microsoft's mobile platform to take advantage of a free one-year subscription or free music with no advertising. Sold.

Steve Ballmer also paid a visit to the stage to really beef up the exitement for the Windows Phones that are on the way. While he was no where near as jumpy as we'd like him to be, Ballmer got the job done and ended with carrier availability and pricing in the US.

Microsoft Event Windows Phone Games Apps

If the event wasn't enough to satisfy your Windows Phone desires, then our Windows Phone 8 review might take some of your time to dive into what's on the horizon? If you're into HTC hardware, our Alex Dobie took a look at the HTC 8X and published a number of awesome photos to show off the device aesthetics. Did we mention our Dan Rubino received a AT&T Lumia 920 to review?

But like we said, there's a lot to get through, so be sure to check out our collection of links that you should definitely click through should you happen to have missed any part of our coverage.

Event

Apps & Games

Hardware

Windows Phone 8

Miscellaneous

Unfortunately our website was encountering some issues where some readers were unable to publish comments on articles. We're pleased to announce that this bug has been fixed and should you be in the position where you were unable to participate in the conversation, we strongly urge you to return through our coverage and voice your opinions, and post any bugs you find in the designated forum thread.

Until next time, folks ... tomorrow, if we're accurate - it's time for BUILD 2012 and the Windows Phone 8 SDK.

CATEGORIES
Rich Edmonds
Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.