Hardware - multi-core processors, three screen resolutions, NFC, and full SD support

With a shift to the shared NT kernel, Microsoft brings with it an array of support for multi-core processors and device drivers. "We have support for dual-core, quad-core, octo-core, in theory as many as 64-cores," says Lieberman, all as a direct result of the move to the Windows 8 Kernel. Although Microsoft isn't discussing hardware specifics and device announcements, the company is confirming there will be dual-core handsets initially. Those handsets will also support two new screen resolutions introduced in Windows Phone 8. Nokia, Huawei, Samsung, and HTC will all launch Windows Phone 8 hardware across 180 countries.

Windows Phone 8 will support three resolutions in total: WVGA, WXGA, and 720p. Discussing the various leaks about Windows Phone 8, Microsoft's Greg Sullivan confirmed to us that the company did have another resolution under consideration. "It was essentially 640 x 480 for a type of device that we're not gonna do." Microsoft dropped the idea primarily because of the disparity in aspect ratio and the impact on app developers. The three screen resolutions supported in Windows Phone 8 will have similar aspect ratios (two at 15:9 and one at 16:9) to ensure there's no separation in classes of applications. "A developer doesn't need to do anything to take advantage of the new screen resolutions," says Lieberman. "We will automatically scale all of the assets of the application appropriately." App developers will have the opportunity to optimize their apps with higher resolution imagery and additional assets, but they won't have to.

"Google has the NFC payment part, Apple has the Passbook thing, we'll have both."

Microsoft will also officially support NFC directly within the Windows Phone operating system for the first time. Windows Phone 8 includes a new Wallet hub designed to support NFC payments and the ability to store credit card information, member cards, and frequent flier cards. "Google has the NFC payment part, Apple has the Passbook thing, we'll have both," says Sullivan. You can expect to see a variety of partnerships for NFC payments, including Chase bank, and Orange France. Microsoft is also showing off a way to surface deals in its Wallet hub, using Groupon to show a deal panel in the panorama of the hub itself. Additionally, there's a new feature called Tap + Send that takes advantage of Windows Phone 8's NFC hardware support. Similar to Android's Beam function, it allows you to bump a phone against another device to share content. Microsoft is integrating the tap feature into Windows 8 so content can be easily shared across the two operating systems.

Another big hardware change in Windows Phone 8 is full SD support, thanks again to the Windows 8 kernel. SD cards will act like removable external storage in Windows Phone 8, allowing users to transfer music, photos, video, and even install applications. Existing SD card support in Windows Phone 7 was always troublesome. Intended to be used only by the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), only certain SD cards would work well enough to extend the storage system and the card could not be removed and used in another device. It was ugly and the majority of manufacturers opted to ditch micro SD slots on recent devices as a result. The new support will only be available to Windows Phone 8 devices, not existing Windows Phone 7 ones with SD slots.