Brace yourselves, Windows Phone fans, because a new leak may have just given us a glimpse at some big changes that Microsoft has in store for its mobile platform. Reddit user "chinaman28" claims that a Nokia Lumia 920 that he recently purchased off of eBay is running what looks to be some internal Microsoft test firmware.
The user has posted a number of screenshots to Flickr that show new, unannounced Windows Phone features. One of the major additions is a notification center, which can be accessed by tapping the small Live Tile to the right of the Phone app in the left screenshot above. Other new goodies include a weekly view in the calendar app, the option of sorting apps alphabetically by app name and the ability to close apps while in the multitasking view. The phone is running software version "12084.WPMAIN(wpbldlab).20130509-1407," suggesting that it was compiled on May 9, and is also sporting a number of test applications that start with the letter "z."
A notification center is one of the most highly-requested features for Windows Phone, and it appears that Microsoft may finally be planning to answer fulfill that wish. The other new features shown in this leak, while not totally groundbreaking, do appear to be small tweaks that will add up to help make Windows Phone a better overall platform.
As with most leaks, there's no way of knowing for sure whether or not these screenshots are legit (at least not without Microsoft coming out and saying so), but faking all of these images would take quite a bit of effort. It's also worth mentioning that since this software is likely early and meant for developers' eyes only, some of the stuff shown in the screenshots could be changed or cleaned up by the time a consumer release happens. The source of the screenshots says that he may post a video of the software soon, so stay tuned and I'll update you if anything else comes up. What do you think of the features shown in this leak? Are you happy to finally see a Windows Phone notification center?
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