On the front Windows Phone 8 may look similar to the previous iterations of Microsoft’s mobile OS, but there are radical changes under the hood, none so imperative than the kernel change.
Microsoft changed the very base of the core kernel in a bid to make it more modular. While this brought with it several benefits from easier software coding (and porting) and faster development of hardware, it also bought with it a slew of disadvantages.
The most glaring being the loss of several features that were available on Windows Phone 7.5, along with app compatibility, obviously. It was a necessary decision that had to be made sooner than later.
One such feature was Nokia’s Flip to Silence, which was available on older Lumia devices, but missing from its Windows Phone 8 powered lineup. Now it seems that the feature might be making a comeback, and soon be present on the company’s Lumia 620, 820 and 920 smartphones.
According to WPCentral, a closer look at the new firmware on Nokia’s servers indicates that this feature is readied to be pushed to these new Windows Phone 8 devices.
Though no timeline when this updated firmware is set for release is given.
Another thing this new firmware is supposed to bring is an improvement on battery life and general performance of the devices. These obviously are Nokia’s own enhancements on the devices — the OS itself will remain the same at build 10211.
