Microsoft just concluded the Windows Phone Summit, where it announced Windows Phone 8.  The event highlighted only platform-level changes, not final end-user features, but there was still plenty to cover.  Most significantly, Windows Phone is moving from the Windows CE kernel to the same Windows NT components underlying Windows 8.  Windows Phone 8 features a revised Start screen with resizable live tiles, higher screen resolutions, support for removable memory cards, and more.

Like Windows 8, the new phone OS will feature background multitasking for apps like VoIP services (e.g. Skype) and turn-by-turn GPS navigation, along with native C/C++ code support and NFC.

However, all the changes mean that no current Windows Phone 7.x handsets will support the new OS.  Microsoft will release a Windows Phone 7.8 update, though, to add the new Start screen to WP 7.5 phones.

Read on after the break for all the new platform features announced:

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