If you have a Nokia Lumia 520 (on AT&T), 925 or 1020 you already have the GDR2 update for Windows Phone 8. Otherwise the update is slowly rolling out, devices like the HTC 8X and Samsung ATIV S have been seeing it show up for their devices. GDR2 (aka OS build 10327) brings some new features and fixes to Windows Phone for consumers as documented here by Microsoft, in addition to the Other storage fix and new hardware support.
But what about developers? Evidence for an update to the Windows Phone SDK recently appeared and disappeared last night.
Robert McLaws noticed the upcoming update on Microsoft’s website, but it has since been pulled. Although the Twitter page still gives a hint as to what was there. Check out the screenshot of the Tweet below and read on for some quick analysis of what’s coming.
So what does it mean to add four new emulator images to an existing installation of the Windows Phone SDK? For that, I am not your man to ask. But I did ask Jay Bennett, co-host of the Windows Phone Central Podcast and developer of our awesome app what it could potentially mean. He outlined two potential scenarios for why Microsoft would add four new emulator images to the SDK.
Microsoft is either replacing the Windows Phone 8 images because GDR2 is a significant enough update to be a new development target (and devs will have to submit updates to their apps to use new GDR2 features) or we’re getting new device configurations. He thinks it’s the former and not the latter. Which is a bit of a bummer because the latter would mean potentially two new screen resolutions with two emulator images tagging along (those additional displays are expected with the GDR3 release, later this year). Quick update: the screenshot below confirms what Jay suspected. That this update instead is a new development target for developers.
But why wait to see or hear what Microsoft has to say officially on the matter when the download link is still live? If you’re curious, you can download the update right here (clocks in at 920 MB). Another update: The download link and web page is live on Microsoft.
Screenshot of the SDK from winphoneviet
What do you guys think this SDK update for Windows Phone 8 could bring? Sound off down below or download the SDK for yourself to see what’s new.
Source: Twitter, WinPhoneViet Via: WMPU
Thanks for the tip Robert!
