Well, would you look at that! We have a bona fide leak in the well-protected fortress that is known as Windows Phone 8, and assuming these images received by Nokia Innovation from a user named 'DarkRiver' are real, there's quite a bit to talk about. We're going to jump on past the break for a breakdown of each alleged screenshot point-by-point, so join us if you're in the mood for a nerdy investigation into the secrets of Apollo.
One of the most exciting things we're looking forward to with Windows Phone 8 is the rumored Skype integration, which will treat incoming video calls as a phone call in the native operating system. These new screenshot confirm that Skype as well as other VoIP service will soon have the ability to be deeply nested inside the People Hub, allowing you to instantly call someone on Skype from the same contact page you would use to call their phone. The screenshot on the right also hints that Skype chat will be native to the operating system as well, since the description underneath is 'Voice, Video, Chat'.
Next up we have our very first look at what many rumors have dubbed the new Lens application for the camera in Windows Phone. Speculation suggests that the blue slider is for zooming in/out, another button to switch between front and rear-facing cameras, and the last button which we believe could be an app to switch back-and-forth between the Lens and the default app. This is all without knowing how Lenses really work, so take that with a grain of salt.
This image depicts yet another feature we've heard about before dubbed DataSmart. A similar feature is found in Windows 8; it's a native software that measures how much data your device uses and can also support some deeper carrier features. The screenshot to the right also shows that the app will have its own live tile, which will presumably flip to show you how much data you have left with your plan.
Finally, this last screenshot is actually not of Windows Phone 8 but rather Nokia Drive 3.0. We're assuming this is what the update will look like on all Windows Phones irrespective of the software, and as you can see it looks quite a bit better with that contrasting white bar on top. We're guessing that area shows you the amount of time/distance until the next listed item in the directions.
Man, that was a lot to get through. So is any of this real? If we had a gun to our head, we'd say yes. It's not surprising at all to see that Windows Phone 8 cosmetically won't change too much, and all of these screenshots seem like accurate interpretations of the features we've learned about over the past several months. We won't have to wait much longer to know for sure, though, so we'll keep our ears to the ground and you can keep your eyes glued to our site for the latest.
Source: Nokia Innovation
