Windows Phone 8 is reportedly set to go to “full HD” with a 1080x1920 resolution later this year, an update that will come with the GDR3 OS refresh presumably for OEMs.
Now, Justin Angel, who used to work with Microsoft and Nokia, has managed to dig up some emulator files for Windows Phone that coincidentally support that 1080P resolution. The files come by way of Visual Studio 2013, which was previewed at Build last week.
Those files are used by developers for running a “virtual” Windows Phone on their computer, to see how their app or game will look and perform. Emulators support resolutions that they run at, meaning a newly added 1080P skin will allow devs to test at the resolution.
Needless to say, this is just further confirmation that hardware vendors will be able to make new Windows Phones with 1080P displays later this year and developers will have the tools to update their apps.
Source: Twitter
Reader comments
On the horizon: Visual Studio 2013 reveals 1080P Windows Phone 8 emulator files
a 5 inch full hd WP would be fantastic...that device in the picture looks cool btw, hell yes
I tipped this. Lol
I see WP like a fat kid, always is the last one but tries to catch up with the athletes.
Can't wait to see it in person.
...what I want to know is when / why Justin left Nokia.
From the look of this phone, I don't like 1080P. The Start screen is so crowded.
So just to get this straight it a new series of phones or an HD resolution update?
The next update will allow for new Hardware with higher resolution screens. A 720p screen won't ever turn into a 1080p screen.
The screen must be larger to fit the extra row of tiles.
I'd love to know where they got the clock live tile for a Nokia phone. As far as I know, it does not exist, not for Nokia phones.
Feel like they need to move away from the monochrome color scheme, and add a feature that automatically creates some variation.
Comon...
•1920x1080
•Aluminum/magnesium
•super thin
•quad core
•wireless charging
•X86 processor based on haswell
Make me happy OEM's, make me happy...
Just you?
You forgot 3 more additions to that list. 1 - at least 64gb versions or micro SD support, 2 - micro hdmi out, 3 - at least 2 gigs of ram.
I think I could get used to the new layout and surely there are a few advantages of such solution especially for someone like me having loads of apps on my device. Simply, I like keeping them grouped into clusters based on the purpose they serve, ie office, multimedia, hobby, connecting etc. Maybe some of you find it a heretic idea but for me it would do a much better job having multiple screens to scroll across rather than more tiny icons...
You could use an App like Tilemark to group your clusters and add Headlines to them, similar to how it works on Win8.
Good happy now? Now please focus on more innovative hardware.
Seriously though, my home screen is going to take days to arrange. Already on windows phone 8 if I decide I want a new layout it can take me upwards of an hour to get everything into another good looking, functional arrangement. This is not a complaint by the way; this is a comment on how much I enjoy the level of customizability of our OS.
My rule of thumb on arranging tiles is to put no more than 4 small tiles in a grid before breaking them up with a medium tile. Otherwise it gets cluttered looking. But that's just my opinion. To each their own - something you can't say to somebody with an iphone (arguably android devices too, but I find it hard to argue that they aren't customizable with the thousands of different ROMs floating around).
Damn dude, you seriously have heck load of tiles pinned lol. I Currently have only 24 small tiles pinned and these are what I use day in - day out.
Oh yeah bring me the EOS
Cool story, when will HTC start complaining the WP doesn't support 4k resolution.
I don't like that home screen, not even a bit. Messy.
Depends on how you setup your tiles. I think that home screen looks fine to me. With a fifth row, adds more customization options and adding background wallpaper be nice though large tiles would cover it. Though idea I have, everytime we do anything with for example move or tap a tile, or scroll up or down, tiles become transparent. Who knows, all this wallpaper thing may just add clutter.
It may be messy to you and not to others, its upto you how you set up your homescreen none of us are confined to have only 3 small tiles on one row for example. More customisation options = more flexibility.
A wallpaper may or may not add clutter depends how you lay it out, a person's creativity is only limited by their imagination and the tools they have at the thier disposal.
Can't wait to see the new ATIV S2.
Good to see they decided not to continue with 720vs768 madness for full HD resolutions!
That would be crazy! I think I might wait a little longer to get one of those 1080p phones! :D
It looks Awesome!
So are we going to get the clock feature?
Do you think there will be an option where you could switch to 1080p on current devices kinda like you would on your desktop resolution? Or are displays like the Lumia 920 not able to "switch" to that?
No, there would be no reason for a company to advertise a phone at 720p or 768p and put a better screen in at more cost.
This is just a sample image, so don't get all riled up.
FHD is 16/9 right? Will there also be a 15/9 aspect ratio?
Greetzz.
1280x768
as you can see from the VS 2013 screen snapshot...
1920x1200 or more/less? (1920 x 1152)
no...
The only way I'd be buying that would be if it included a Wacom pen and a port of the WinRT version of OneNote, but I'm sure there are others interested in this.
That WOULD be AWESOME I would love onenote with a wacom pen. Im pretty sure wp9 will be essentially WinRT so anything is possible.
Trying to look at all those tiles makes my head hurt...
AWWWW SHIT! = )
I hope tile count is related to physical screen size and not resolution alone. That mockup looks absolutely terrible. The point of higher resolution screens is that you get cleaner images and greater detail, not that you can cram more crap onto a screen.
Want to reinforce the antequated notion that all things Microsoft are cluttered and unintuitive? Show them that screen.
Like the person who saves everything to the desktop.
With all that mess happening on the home screen, there are no people in the people hub.
Photo is a fake, guys, just put up as a "what if?" It's a Nokia with the HTC Sense clock. Think before you post.
I actually really would like an extra column of tiles, the more information being shown the better! I don't even think it should require 1080p... 720 should be enough (providing your eyesight is good enough!). Having said that..... @Daniel am I correct in saying that the photo of the live tiles is just a mockup? There's been no confirmation yet that 1080p screens will include an extra column of tiles?
Would've prefered just one extra row of small tiles totalling 5 small tiles across.
I know we can change the tiles but this really does look like a mess.
What are the hardware limitations for GDR3 refresh? Will it work on the 928 or 925, for example?
It's an update to WP8, and as such will work on all WP8 phones. New hardware support obviously requires new hardware, though.
Are you asking if a software update will turn your 720p phone into a 1080p phone?
No mate. It wont.
There are no known limitations. It seems that the 3 columns of medium sized tiles will only appear on devices at or above 5" screen size. So you will receive GDR3 on the 928/925 but you won't get the added column.
Can't wait to buy my Lumia 1080 at the end of the year, yuk yuk.
Full HD 1920x1080 => Lumia 1920
Seriously? Why not the same ratio as 800x480 and 1280x768?
Because WP8 already supports 1280x720? 8X, ATIV S...
True but almost noone have those compared to the others.
How am I supposed to get my large fingers to tap those tiny tiles? I can't see myself using the small tile size anymore.
That's why they offer multiple sizes. So you can choose the one that works best for you. Too small? Choose a larger size. Of course, if they don't have enough size options, that could be a problem. But they're smarter than that, right? :)
Yep, having different tile sizes is definitely a luxury. I agree with you though. I think Microsoft is smart enough to make more tile sizes, so you can choose if you want 4 or 5 rows of tiles. I think 6 rows is just too much.
But it's so pretty!! I want! :-D
Definately support the increased tile options...
What phone is that
Looks like a mess.....
I don't care about 1080p much since smartphones are so small id be happy with more tiles though :)
Where is the headline picture from? That layout looks very nice.
it's a fan mockup.
1080p screens are rumored to target larger phones only. 5-inch or higher.
Yea Monday monday so good to me..... this reminds me of mamas and the papas
Wow, that Nokia phablet just looks so cool.. I want! Wish that would be a real one..
I think that's just a Lumia 920 running at someone's interpretation of what a 1080p resolution on WP would look like.
I think the phone is a Lumia 920, so it is not a "phablet".
Great, expecting more from GDR 3. :)
I used to think that 1080p screens on a phone were nonsense, but after using the HTC One for a while, they really do bring an added benefit to the OS.
I said that I can see a difference but everyone jumped on me like im the other Rodney.... King.
I did a side by side with my friends gs4, running the same 1080p video.
You can most definatly see a difference, the gs4 does however seem to blue things out, but its much crisper.
We both came to the conclusion that its swings and roundabouts. His gs4 was crisper, my 920 had better colour representation.
To say there is no difference is silly, to say the difference is earth shattering is also silly.
Yes❕ That's exactly right. I did the same comparison in the store, and I didn't see imperfections in my screen until I put it next to the GS4 screen.. I saw exactly what you did. The 1080p screen was sharper, but our 768p screen had much better colors, and was much brighter.. And I'm not being biased when I say "much"... The store associate even agreed that overall the 920's screen was superior... That's what excites me about the idea of a Nokia device with a 1080p screen.. If Nokia can provide a 768 screen that looks better than most competitors 1080p screens,, then how good will Nokia's 1080p screen be... And, like I said before folks, I wasn't being biased. The IPS screen on the 920 does look better than the GS4's screen.. Now, has anyone compared the amoled screens of the 928/925 to the GS4's 1080p screen❔
I already seen on my VS 2013 (27/06/2013) :) :)
Me too. Victoria Secret 2013!!! Swim suit edition.
Oh yeah baby✔✔✔✔✔✔✔
I love Mondays on WPCentral! So much good WP/W8 news!
You damn right sucka❕❗❗..
We already know this. . . We don't need proof. We believe you.
Actually, some of us do prefer proof ;)
Yep.
Very glad to see this proof, such as it is. But really, couldn't you have skipped the screen-shot concept image? It just drags down the comments section as people run off to attack or defend a layout that *does not exist*, burying the lead (or in this case the whole story).
Proof what's that? After all everything on the internet is true.
Think of it like an early pregnancy test.
Look up "science", and then "journalism" on Wikipedia.
Looks very good
If you're talking about the phone screen... then no, it doesn't. It looks way too cluttered. I'm all for having 1080p displays, but presenting that home screen to potential consumers is a turn off, imho.
Agreed, too much
Good thing all WP screens don't have to be configured that way, isn't it?
What theefmam said.
Are you saying everybody doesn't have to have the same fixed number of tiles or same tiles sizes configured on their home screen? :P
Yes... I know you can configure it better. I'm just saying it looks horrible the way it's presented. People do look at these photos when making their buying decisions. These tiles look like they were put together at random. And why are there two Internet Explorer tiles, two messenger tiles, two phone tiles...?
My guess on the duplicate tiles: Large device, small icons. They are on either side so you can easily reach those applications with either hand?
Because this is just something some random internet dude threw together? Obviously Microsoft's own advertisements would have far fewer tiny tiles if they were to add more columns. Maybe just 1 group of 4 small tiles to show that they're available.
Photoshop
They'll probably add a 'large' tile like they did in Windows 8.1, then the more tile space will make sense.
I actually liked it.
I agree, it's horrible. I don't think having such a prominent accent colour helps. Something more Windows 8-like would work better at that size.
I actually think it looks amazing. If it does look to,, cluttered, you might be able to rearrange it until you feel it is more organized. Opinions differ I guess.
I second that, I would love to see this getting real, more more more tiles otherwise what's the point of having 1080p for that two raws we get now 720p is enough.
Also, if these "tiles" get small enough, they start to look like the icons of old, which is what Android and iPhone have been doing. I think putting too many "tiles" on the screen loses the competitive edge that Microsoft enjoys with their tile technology.
To me it looks alot better than how my 920 looking if I had that it wouldn't look that clustered and its fine to me as I said before alot of people will like it I feel it.
Agreed. If MS really is going for more tiles I hope it get added as an option. Looks terrible,
The picture shown in this article is a fan mockup. 1080p screens are rumored to only be targeted to 5-inch and higher "phablet" models.
So the extra tiles should be finger friendly on the larger screen. And I don't think the extra tiles layout has been confirmed either.
That's what I thought about WP8 upon its official unveiling.
Me too. And I still feel that way.
It really grew on me.
That's a sharp development.
DTOWN
Old news, not surprised.. So, I've know for a while now that Nokia is working on a quad core 1080p phone, and if you haven't guessed that Samsung will make a GS4 version then you've been living under a rock.. Coming just in time for the holiday season, they will be.. Maybe even the suspected WP version of the HTC One will join the party to.. This is pretty much your next generation lineup guys.... But, once again we have a lot of recycled hardware to choose from.. I'm confident that Nokia will deliver, but I already am expecting more from the others,, as usual.. Nevertheless, this bore, and predictability might be a sign of WP going mainstream.. Now all we need is for the WP devices to appear six months earlier, with the other guys, to close the gap on competiveness..
So true. LATE is always associated with the Windows phone team. I suspect there is no plan whatsoever to increase the resolution until Android did it and HTC threaten to once again abandon the windows phone. Whoever is at the helm of windows phone should really be replaced with a visionary instead of an Apple follower.
Yep❕
Who will have the first 4K phone I wonder?
It'll probably go 2k first.. There's a rumored Sony phone with a 20mp camera and the first 4k video.. Not sure what kind of screen it has folks... I hope scientists are working on better battery technology because Ultra High Definition screens are coming to smartphones.. And, Smartphone's are getting much bigger... Like Sony's awesome new 6.3 inch phone.. Man, I pray that Sony starts making WP devices.. I really like the way they do things.
Simply hand over WP development to Nokia, throw all the money to develop it and just see how much wonders this platform can do.....
I don't agree.. I would rather MS try to work harder to $onvinc$ the others to clean up their act.. I would like to see high quality devices from HTC, Samsung, Sony, Fujitsu, LG, Nokia, Huawei, ZTE, Alcatel, and.. at some point MS.
If you look at the development of MeeGo and Symbian you really don't want Nokia to be in charge of OS development. Sometimes they were years late in delivering updates.
Y u mad bro?
❓❔❓❔❓❔❓❓
Ultimately, Balmer is responsible. He should have been axed a few years ago.
HTC One Win will be a nice addition to the lineup.
Yep❕
While I wholeheartedly agree that the platform needs to leapfrog the competition in terms of adding new features and innovation, there's also the aspect that the fragmentation within Windows Phone and the quality of the product cannot be minimzed. The biggest criticism of Android is that it is fragmented to death and the quality suffers because you have a very fast moving development division that adds new features and releases new versions of Android every 6 months but all that innovation hardly trickles down to the end user that has already bought into the platform. The point is, there needs to be a balance between innovation and quality and unfortunately, that means that Windows lags behind Android in this regard.
That said, however, it is important to keep adding hardware features to attract consumer interest and I would very much appreciate it if Microsoft acted on this faster. If it were up to Nokia, their Lumias would already be running 8 cores - that's the kind of pace Microsoft needs to show. If it can't put resources into the platform, they won't see the growth.
Yep, Yep, Yep❕❗❕
Nokia has a track record of rather underspeccing their phones. It might have changed with WP but all in all I don't think Nokia would have released higher specced devices.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/DFW-Windows-Phone-Supporters/528488330547...