Rumor: Windows Phone 8 being tested on Nokia Lumia 800, new features detailed

A poster on the Chinese WPXAP.com forums claims that Windows Phone 8 is currently being tested internally on a number of current and future devices. He cites a friend working for Microsoft in the US, who has been testing the Apollo update on his retail Lumia 800 as well as an unreleased Nokia WP8 device since last month. This, of course, also suggests that current Windows Phones will be able to run Windows Phone 8, unlike earlier rumors. Compatibility with current apps, however, is indeed preserved, with the few incompatibilities that exist being worked on.

While the interface – at least for now – is said to be largely unchanged, according to the poster, speed and touch response are much improved (perhaps all the way down to 1ms?). Other new features include folders, an overhauled Internet Explorer, improved Chinese language support, and “gravity sensing” which we assume to mean an option to lock the orientation. Also, contrary to other reports, the poster specifically says that bulk deletion of text messages is not available yet.

Regarding the VPN support that is currently enabled on the test version, the poster warns that it could be removed once Apollo ships. He claims that the same also happended to some features that were originally being tested for the Mango update. For instance, a feature to close running apps in the app switcher by tapping an X, and an option to disable “gravity sensing” – again, we assume it to refer to an orientation lock – failed to make the cut for the shipping version of Mango as well.

Of course, take all this with a grain of salt, since there’s no way to verify these claims for now. However, after reading through the thread (I’m Chinese, after all ;)) it definitely seems possible that the poster is legit.

Source: WPXAP.com, via Insideris.com. Thanks Anon!