According to Microsoft’s Colombian Facebook page, the long-awaited Windows Phone 7.8 upgrade is set to roll out on January 31st.
While the post didn’t specify which phones would receive the update on the 31st — nor did it mention whether this was an international schedule or localized to Colombia — this is the first mention of a hard date for the new software. The post mentions that the update will continue well into Q1, so we should see a continuation well into March or April.
The update mainly addresses the home screen, which will match Windows Phone 8 for the ability to resize tiles according to users’ needs. Other tweaks, such Bluetooth file transfers and new theme colours, are minor at best but will address a few lingering issues with the soon-to-be-deprecated operating system. Considering newer WP7.5 devices like the Nokia Lumia 900 are less than a year old, the lack of a true software update is sure to be grating.
But Microsoft has made the difficult and likely-correct decision to focus its resources on Windows Phone 8, which shares a kernel with its desktop counterpart and supports multi-core processors, high-definition screens and a larger number of development tools.
If you’re still rocking a legacy Windows Phone device, do you plan to upgrade to a Lumia 920, HTC 8X or Samsung ATIV S? Let us know.
