When Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8, adding that current Windows Phone 7.5 devices would not be upgraded, it also announced a Windows Phone 7.8 upgrade for those devices. Aside from the new Start Screen from Windows Phone 8, it’s not been clear what else it could bring with it. A leaked document obtained by WP7Forum.ru may now have shed some light on this question. The table below shows these differences:
| Functionality | Windows Phone 7.8 | Windows Phone 8.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Browser | IE9 | IE10 |
| Skype | Separate application | Integrated |
| Voice commands | Yes | Yes, extended set |
| DataSmart | Separate application | Yes |
| Bing Audio | Yes | Yes, improved recognition TV |
| RCS-e | Separate application | Integrated |
| Cloud | Office OneNote, 365 | Synchronization of all content |
| An updated startup screen | Yes | Yes |
| OTA | No, only notify | Yes |
| Visual Voicemail | Only for some countries | Yes |
While Windows Phone 7.8 will benefit from a few new apps (like DataSmart, its usage monitoring app), it does not appear to be changing in a significant way. For example, Skype will remain an “app” with deeper integration reserved for Windows Phone 8.
It also looks like Windows Phone 8 will gain the ability to identify TV shows, presumably much like an app like Shazam does for music.
This may not be a complete list. When it unveiled Windows Phone 8,Microsoft indicated that it would not reveal a number of new features until later. We have yet to see what those are and whether they will make it down to Windows Phone 8.
Read more: WP7Forum.ru (in Russian) [Google translation] (Source: WMPoweruser)