Windows Phone Tango minimum hardware limitations outlined

Offerings from both Nokia and ZTE debuted the next major build of Windows Phone last week at MWC, dubbed "Tango". The new Nokia Lumia 610 and ZTE Orbit both took to their respective stands to show off the new lower-end capabilities of Microsoft's mobile OS.

Despite the latest iteration (excluding Apollo) of Windows Phone having made it to these devices on the floor at MWC, Microsoft had been particularly vague about just what the limitations were for devices employing lower-tiered hardware, until now.

Both the Lumia 610 and Orbit employ 256MB of RAM and this means that there are certain implications which consumers will need to bear in mind when choosing a Windows Phone device, these are as follows:

? Windows Phone Marketplace app restrictions ? Some processor-intensive apps have particular memory requirements, and won?t work on phones with 256MB of RAM.

? Podcast/Video Podcast Subscriptions ? Managing podcast subscriptions or watching video podcasts on a device with 256MB of RAM will not be possible.

? Bing Local Scout ? Bing Local Scout won't feature on a device with only 256MB of RAM.

? Fast app/Task switching ? The feature differs on Windows Phones with 256MB of RAM in that if a single application uses over 90MB, it will be killed on exit and thus not appear in the task switcher, besides this the functionality will remain unchanged.

? SkyDrive automatic photo upload ? 256MB of RAM means no auto-upload option, but users will still be able to upload their photos manually.

? HD video playback ? Some compressed videos will be unable to play due to a lack of codec support on devices with 256MB of RAM.

? Background agents ? To free up RAM for the foreground on such devices, generic background agents (PeriodicTasks/ResourceIntensiveTasks) will be disabled.

As well as informing prospective buyers of these new more competitively priced Windows Phones what they'll be missing out on, Microsoft have also made a point of appealing to Windows Phone developers who will need to take into account the limitations of devices using the new minimum hardware requirements.

Speed seems to be key with a message of optimizing app start times and reducing an apps' memory footprint being pushed to developers. All this being said, Microsoft are adding features to Windows Phone 7.5 too, including a new location alert, MMS enhancements and improved SIM contact management.

Windows Phone "Tango" should be arriving on 256MB of RAM-endowed Windows Phone devices come Q2 this year.

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Windows Phone Tango to have restrictions on 256MB RAM phones

Windows Phone Tango will bring many cool improvements but also some tight restrictions for low-end phones. Russian site WP7forum tested Tango on a dev phone (the HTC Mazaa) and they've dug up some very interesting details on the matter.

Let's start with the bad news - Tango will enable phones with just 256MB RAM (all current Windows Phone models have 512MB). That's quite low for a smartphone (even Symbian uses more nowadays) and such won't support all apps, plus third-party Live tiles won't update automatically.

The list goes on - Tango phones with 256MB RAM won't be able to play videos with bitrate over 4Mbps (that applies for videos on the phone and streaming video), they won't let you manage podcasts on the phone (you'll need to use Zune on your PC) and photos can't be uploaded automatically to SkyDrive.

This sounds pretty harsh, but we're likely talking about very low-end devices - Microsoft will even let makers use 3MP cameras (the current minimum is 5MP). We're not sure what that means about the 720p video recording that is mandatory for WP phones right now.

Plus, Windows Phone Tango will bring some great usability improvements. It will let you import/export contacts from your SIM card, offer finer grained roaming options and download and update apps automatically through Zune. Tango will also more than double the number of pre-installed apps and support new countries.

MMS support will be greatly improved too - in its current form you can attach a single photo and that's it. With the Tango update, Windows Phone will let you attach multiple photos but also videos and audio files too.

So, Windows Phone Tango will bring some needed improvements to mid- and high-end phones and enable affordable, low-end phones that can pry some users away from the grasp of feature phones.

Source 1 ? Source 2 (in Russian)

View the original article here

Windows Phone Tango to have restrictions on 256MB RAM phones

Windows Phone Tango will bring many cool improvements but also some tight restrictions for low-end phones. Russian site WP7forum tested Tango on a dev phone (the HTC Mazaa) and they've dug up some very interesting details on the matter.

Let's start with the bad news - Tango will enable phones with just 256MB RAM (all current Windows Phone models have 512MB). That's quite low for a smartphone (even Symbian uses more nowadays) and such won't support all apps, plus third-party Live tiles won't update automatically.

The list goes on - Tango phones with 256MB RAM won't be able to play videos with bitrate over 4Mbps (that applies for videos on the phone and streaming video), they won't let you manage podcasts on the phone (you'll need to use Zune on your PC) and photos can't be uploaded automatically to SkyDrive.

This sounds pretty harsh, but we're likely talking about very low-end devices - Microsoft will even let makers use 3MP cameras (the current minimum is 5MP). We're not sure what that means about the 720p video recording that is mandatory for WP phones right now.

Plus, Windows Phone Tango will bring some great usability improvements. It will let you import/export contacts from your SIM card, offer finer grained roaming options and download and update apps automatically through Zune. Tango will also more than double the number of pre-installed apps and support new countries.

MMS support will be greatly improved too - in its current form you can attach a single photo and that's it. With the Tango update, Windows Phone will let you attach multiple photos but also videos and audio files too.

So, Windows Phone Tango will bring some needed improvements to mid- and high-end phones and enable affordable, low-end phones that can pry some users away from the grasp of feature phones.

Source 1 ? Source 2 (in Russian)

View the original article here