Why Nokia Lumia phones won’t get Windows Phone 8

Last week, we asked readers if they also think Nokia got the short hand of the deal when Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8, leaving all existing WP7 handsets cold with no promise of a WP8 update.

The folks from Nokia Philippines emailed earlier today to chime in on the discussion and offered a few interesting points.

But before that, let me share with you the reasons why WP8 may not really make sense with older Windows Phone 7 handsets. The gist of it all is that majority of WP8 features that are introduced doesn’t really fit into the current hardware of most, if not all, WP7 phones.

Let’s run thru them one by one:

Support for dual-core or multi-core handsets. No current WP7 phones have dual-core processors so they will not benefit from this feature.
Support for higher resolution screens. Current WP7 handsets will not have their screen resolution increased when upgraded to WP8. It will remain as it is.
Support for microSD card. Current WP7 phones don’t have microSD card anyways so they won’t magically have one when you upgrade them to WP8.
Full NFC support. Again, if the current WP7 don’t have it on the hardware level, they won’t benefit from it with the WP8 upgrade.

Windows Phone 8 was developed from the ground up and is totally different from how Microsoft originally developed WP7. WP8 is code-base closer to Windows 8 RT (the OS for tablets) than to WP7.

Nikka Abes of Nokia Philippines emailed us and pointed out a few more developments under the Nokia Lumia line:

● Lumia smartphones are not doomed. They worked perfectly before the summit, they’re still working perfectly today, and they will continue to do so tomorrow – and become even better with new features.

● All Lumia smartphones will continue to enjoy updates, new apps and features for many weeks and months to come. Let’s list just a few things:

o Software updates for the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 begin this week, bringing new features like WiFi tethering and Flip-to-Silence and media content streaming.
o In July, the full Lumia range will get exciting new features like Camera Extras and Contact Sharing. Camera Extras is brilliant and beautiful, especially with features like Smart Group shot and Action Shot.

o In the third quarter, new games from Zynga like Draw Something and Words with Friends will be available in Marketplace for all Lumia owners.

o Let’s not forget that in May, we announced a number of new and exclusive application partnerships including the PGA Tour App, EA, Groupon, Tripdots, PayPal, Time Magazine, Newsweek and Box – applications from all these partners will also be available for Lumia smartphones, if they’re not there already.

o There are now 100,000 apps in the Marketplace available for Lumia owners – giving people so much to choose from.

o Updates to the free Location features on our devices: Drive, Maps, Transport, City Lens Beta and Pulse, all of which make Lumia smartphones unbeatable when you compare them with competitor smartphones.