Windows Phone 8 to be based on Windows 8 ?

News · 20 Jun 2011 · MTW Editorial Team

Ever since Microsoft announced that Windows 8 will be ported to the ARM architecture many people (me included) have been wondering if this meant that the upcoming Windows Phone 8 codenamed Apollo was going to be based on the same kernel. I personally find it unlikely that WP8 which is said to be released in fall 2012 (alongside Windows 8 ) will already be using this new Kernel instead of an updated version of the current CE6.X version powering Windows Phone 7. But Microsoft has been making some surprising moves lately so anything is now possible and I just came across a new Job ad for a Software Development Engineer on the Windows Mobile Entertainment Group which contains something rather interesting.

Product: Windows Phone
Division: Windows Phone Division

Do you have a passion for working on consumer mobile products and want to have an impact on the end-to-end experience? The camera team is looking for academic excellence in imaging technologies. Our team is part of the Windows Mobile Entertainment Group creating a mobile consumer solutions. Our team is looking for exceptional SDE’s to help turn our vision into reality. As an SDE on this team, you will be involved with system-wide designs and implementation, providing key parts of our media experience, and you’ll have regular opportunities to work directly with our partners.

Responsibilities:
* Develop Windows 8-based Camera pipeline’s components that are highly optimized for Mobile Devices
* Participate in the development of key camera features
* Contribute to the overall camera architecture and ease of its expandability and customization
Qualifications for this position include:
• 2+ years of professional software development.
• C++ / C and general object oriented knowledge
• Experience with Windows Mobile/Windows CE development is a plus
• Experience with Windows Desktop Building Environment, code development and general debugging skills is a plus
• Knowledge of COM object, DSHOW and Media Foundation is highly desirable
• In depth knowledge of video and video streaming technologies is a plus
• In depth knowledge of imaging technologies

Windows 8 components highly optimized for Mobile Devices ? Interesting to say the least… One thing is for sure though. If Windows Phone 8 is indeed based on the Windows 8 kernel then all current and upcoming (launching this fall) Windows Phone 7 devices most probably won’t be able to run it given the hardware required to run it (see Qualcomm and Texas Instruments SoC certified for the ARM kernel). Here are two more interesting Windows Phone related job ads.

source: Microsoft