Microsoft Trades Bing For Nokia Maps On Windows Phone 8

Updated on

Microsoft Trades Bing For Nokia Maps On Windows Phone 8

On Wednesday afternoon, Microsoft unveiled their Windows Phone 8 at the Windows Phone Summit. One of they key changes made for their new generation of smartphones starts with maps.  They’re trading their Bing maps for maps from Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK).

These new changes with Nokia maps include special features turn-by-turn directions and offline access. Windows has already been using Nokia maps on their Lumia phones.  It’s also easy to download select maps and save them on your phone or microSD card for future reference.

If developers have any interest in creating map-based or located-based mobile applications for Windows Phone 8, right now is the time to access their API.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s lead executive for the smartphone department, Joe Belifiore, says that the new phones will start shipping out this fall and will feature “more apps, bigger, more important apps coming faster and beautiful games.”

The phones will also feature dual-core processing chips (and possibly more), removable microSD cards, and three different screen resolutions.  The applications that run on Windows 7.5 should run on all three different screen resolutions with no problem. Two other exciting features for the new Windows phone include Wallet, a digital program that makes it easy to purchase things through your phone, and speech integration, a cool tool that allows users to navigate and control the new phone.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a whole lot of more detailed information  about the phones or the maps just yet as this information is still relatively new. Earlier this week, Windows introduced the Surface tablet computer, which will run on the same software that Windows Phone 8 operates. It’s been quite an exciting week for Microsoft.

It sounds like Microsoft is quickly trying to regain the ground they lost with top competitors.  It’s admirable that they’re trying to do what they should have been doing a long time ago, it seems that they might be trying too hard and it may be a little too late.

Leave a Comment