Tag Archives: Windows 8 Beta

Windows 8 RTM Final Build 9200 Screenshots Leaked

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We are just days away from the Official RTM of Windows 8 which is scheduled for an early first week August release which is right around the corner.Over the past couple of weeks we have been hearing about the builds getting updated with a few last minute changes.

Image Credits[Win8China]

This time around another leak has floated around the web courtesy Win8China,who supposedly got hold of the screenshots of the Final Build of Windows 8 RTM which is said to be the build 9200.16384.WIN8_RTM.120725-1247.They also got a glimpse of the Lock Screen of Windows 8 RTM.

Though the earlier rumors indicated a version number of 8888 but it seems that due to Microsoft’s complex rules for selecting the version numbers.According to TheVerge who also seconds this story reports that the final versions compile process started on Wednesday outputting SKU, language, and install variations.

The Windows 8 RTM release is expected anytime in the next week,while the final public version has been confirmed earlier this month by Microsoft which will hit the stores on the 26th of October.

Source:[Win8China],[TheVerge]

Nokia Working on Windows 8 Tablet and Hybrids?

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Nokia and their Windows 8 tablet plans have been making rumor mills for quite a while now,with the CEO hinting such a  device is definitely on their roadmap but the question was when ?

Nokia Windows 8 Tablet Concept by Jonas Daehnert

But this report coming from  Financial Times might flash some light on their plans for the upcoming tablets.The company’s  outgoing chairman, Jorma Ollila confirmed to Financial times about Nokia’s plans for upcoming Tablets and Hybrid devices,he was quoted saying “Tablets are an important [product], so that is being looked into, and there will be different hybrids, different form factors in the future.”

Though he didn’t go into more details about what platform will those devices run,but it is expected that Nokia will extend its partnership with Microsoft from Windows Phones to Windows 8 Platform as well.

It would be an interesting battle amongst the biggies when Windows 8 releases later this year,as we already know as many as 32 Tablets will be released from various companies like HP,Dell,Asus,Acer and now with Nokia coming to the party the competition is hotter than ever before !

Source:[Neowin]

Zune Client For PC Coming in Windows 8 Consumer Preview

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A couple of months ago  the blogosphere was buzzing with rumors about the end of the road for Zune PC client for Windows 8,with some of the leaked screenshots suggesting a new music player app for Windows 8.

But as spotted earlier by Neowin,Microsoft in a video recently showcased the Zune app for Windows 8 and that too in Metro UI.So it’s definitely a sigh of relief for the good o’l zune lovers.As far as the new “Microsoft Music” app goes,it’s still there in the list of Metro apps but the app is now being renamed to “Music” most probably the alternative for Windows Media Player desktop version.

Image Credits[Neowin]

This may come as a surprise to many as some of the rumors were suggesting a new dedicated app for Windows Phones and the end of the Zune Era for good,but as of now it seems that Microsoft is in no mood to discontinue Zune.

Windows 8 Consumer Preview will be released on 29th February along with the Windows Store which will feature many exciting Metro based apps and games.Stay Tuned for more Windows 8 Coverage.

AMD Prepping New Processors Eying Windows 8 Tablet Launch in 2012

With the likes of Intel’s and the  ARM processor makers are getting ready for the big launch of Windows 8 tablets with their versions of processors,how can AMD the toughest competitors of Intel in x86 based processors stay behind?

According to the latest reports by VentureBeat,in a recent analysts meeting AMD revealed their plans for the tablet market for this year,stating that they will ship  their  first chips designed to provide the processing and graphics power for tablet computers.

Image Credits[Venturebeat]

First Tablet optimized chip slated to be released later this year codenamed Hondo will be a combination of CPU+GPU and will be an energy efficient low power consumption chip keeping in mind the battery life of the Tablets.They also confirmed that we will see AMD processor powered Windows 8 tablets will be released this year.

So while ARM had its pluses in low power consumption and low costs of processors for the tablets,intel and AMD are bringing their own versions of x86 based low power consuming chips.We will be seeing an intense battle not just amongst the PC manufacturers like Samsung,Dell,HP and the others but the Chip makers as well,as Microsoft releases the final version of Windows 8 later this year.

Windows 8 build 8222 compiled, belongs to Beta branch

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We have been constantly posting details about the Windows 8 beta builds, recently it has been posted on the Russian Forum from where all the information about builds have come that another branch has appeared named winmain_win8beta and the latest build compiled in beta branch is 8222 with build string as 8222.0.winmain_win8beta.120131-1912. The build string clearly states that the build was compiled on 31st January 2012.

It is currently unknown that whether this is the final beta build or we could expect more builds to be released after this. Further there has been confusion about the naming of upcoming Windows 8 build to public. A couple of screenshots have appeared from the recent builds with naming as Windows 8 beta instead of the much hyped Windows 8 consumer preview.

[image via Canouna ]

ARM CEO Says Windows 8 Tablets May Have an Edge Over Android Tablets

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By this time almost all of us might be aware of the fact that Windows 8 is going to be released not just for the Intel’s and AMD’s i.e x86 based hardware but also on the ARM based processors as well.

As reported earlier by CNET, Yesterday while announcing the earnings for the year 2011 CEO  of ARM Warren East shared his thoughts about the upcoming Windows 8 tablets.He said,

“Consumers are familiar with Microsoft and very familiar with Windows and they’re less familiar with an Android environment. Microsoft has an awareness advantage with consumers that the Android folks didn’t have”.

“It’s up to Microsoft [and we'll see] how well they’re going to exploit that advantage. But I think that’s a fundamental difference.”

Having said that he also mentioned that it will take some time for the people to get used to Android on the Tablets,but that would eventually take off the sales some years down the line.Plus point about Windows here is that most of the people are already familiar with the Windows family of operating system and if the growing interest in Windows 8 is any indication this is definitely a good sign of things to come for Windows 8 tablets.

 

ARM Version of Windows 8 To be Seeded to Developers By February

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Windows 8 beta version for the x86 version of hardware is about to release in less than a month along with the Windows Store.As we all know Windows 8 is going to be released not just for the x86 versions but also for the ARM based hardware devices like the one which was showcased at CES 2012 when Texas Instrument’s demonstrated Windows 8 on a tablet running on ARM based OMAP 4470 processor.

Now as Reported earlier by CNET ,the ARM version of  Windows 8 beta will be seeded to the developers by next month according to their sources who had a hands on with high-profile device from a major PC maker,they also went on saying that the version feels more stable than ever before.

The final version of Windows 8 for ARM would be released on the similar timeline with that of x86 counterpart,according to the sources,also suggesting that the Windows 8 ARM based devices will be priced lesser than their Intel and AMD based counterparts.So we will see an intense battle amongst the manufacturers when the final version releases later this year worldwide on variety of hardware including desktops,laptops and tablets.

 

More Personalizations On the Way With Windows 8 Beta

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Windows 8 beta release is right around the corner,so its now about time to explore some of the customization features which will be made available with the beta release.

Talking about some of the windows 8 features on TechRadar, director of communications Chris Flores detailed some of the custom features of the Metro UI of Windows 8 beta.The Background of the UI which is by default Green can be personalized with  8 new styles,with  swirls and curlicues to lines and squares and a color picker, however you are not allowed to use any background image for the start screen.

The reason behind not allowing the custom background image is that as you go on adding more tiles in the screen,the image would not auto stretch and because of the designing of the tile interface you won’t be able to see the background at all.


Some other features coming to Windows 8 beta includes,the mouse swipe feature for those who don’t have a touch screen based PC or tablet,along with that there are features like Semantic Zoom,Switching apps using the mouse scroll,swiping the app down to kill the Metro App which is of no use.

Along with the Windows 8 beta we will see the release of the Windows Store as well with a flurry of free Metro Based apps for Windows 8.Watch this space for more Windows 8 Scoop.

 Image Credits[TechRadar]

Windows 8 latest build, build 8192 reaches beta Escrow stage

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As we know that Microsoft would be releasing the Windows 8 Beta which is currently called as Windows 8 consumer preview in February, today Canouna has posted on winunleaked that Windows 8 has reached beta escrow stage with the last build compiled in pre beta stage was build 8189 with build string as 8189.0.winmain.120120-1830 which was compiled on January 20.

Microsoft started working on beta escrow builds from January 22 and the latest build compiled in beta escrow stage is build 8192 with complete string as 8192.0.winmain.120125-1820 which states that the build was compiled recently on January 25. Further it is estimated that if all goes well Microsoft would be signing the Beta build this week.

We would keep you updated as we get more news about Windows 8 consumer preview.

Windows 8 beta to be called Windows 8 ‘consumer preview’ ?

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We currently know that Microsoft would be releasing another preview of Windows 8 to public next month which was till now called as Windows 8 Beta. Now Paul Thurrott has posted that during CES 2012, Microsoft director of public relations Janelle Poole has said that the Consumer Preview would be released during February 2012.-

“We haven’t talked about the release date and we generally don’t,” she said. “We are talking milestone to milestone, so for us right now we’re talking about the next milestone being the Consumer Preview happening in late February.”
It would be interesting to see whether the PR team mentions the Windows 8 public builds internally as this or is she actually meant that the next public release would be called Windows 8 consumer preview
Further Paul mentioned that as the public preview was called Developer preview, the upcoming preview would be called the Consumer Preview and the last public preview which we used to call Release candidate may be called the Enterprise preview.
Talking about the current status of the builds Microsoft is expected to compile Windows 8 build 8190 today which would probably belong to the beta escrow branch.