There have been rumors around the release of the next version of Windows operating system, Windows Phone 8. But it is to be reminded that the current Windows Phone 7.x devices will not be able to run or update to Windows Phone 8. Also, new applications are being compiled specifically for Windows Phone 8 and will not be made available for Windows Phone 7.x devices. That’s why; equally popular has been the discussion around the release of the last updated version of the current Windows Phone 7 platform, WP 7.8 among the user community as it is their last hope to meet the next level of technology.

WP7.8 (codename Apollo) is the last major version of Windows Phone 7 and is the successor of the previous major version, WP7.5 (codename mango).The version is expected to be released in the last quarter of 2012 and is considered as a trailer of the Windows Phone 8. It’s because several of the features that one would find in WP8 are present in WP7.8 and the most popular of them is the interface. In the new operating system, the users will have the ability to resize the tiles to three different sizes according to their requirements. This is one of the features of the WP8 and will completely redefine the display. Also, there are some unspecified features that the users of WP7.8 will share with those of WP8.

All the current Windows devices will be delivered upgrades to WP7.8. It will be sold alongside WP8 in the future as a low spec version. That’s why, Nokia has decided to take out all its WP8 based devices one by one starting with the low spec devices first so that the current user community doesn’t feel to be cheated or pushed out.

Let’s see what ‘new’ this platform brings to the current options.