Try out the new Windows Phone home screen with W Phone 8

A fairly lightweight Windows Phone emulator has made its way onto the Marketplace, which enables the user to see how the upcoming UI refresh would look on their handset. By lightweight we mean that no tiles launch any apps (links to Marketplace listings instead), but it certainly gives you a feel for what's to come with live tiles showing data, flipping around and having fun.

That's pretty much W Phone 8 in a nutshell, and while it may not seem a lot it's very well presented.

Tiles displayed cover all available sizes in the announced UI refresh. Tapping the "Settings" tile will open up the accent selection screen where different themes can be chosen and applied. The email tile simply composes a new email using integrated accounts - likewise with the messages tile. 

You can download W Phone 8 from the Marketplace for free. Should you wish to check out more apps from the developer (SYM), be sure to hit the IE tile to be taken to a web Marketplace search.

Thanks, Kunal, for the heads up!

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.