Microsoft opens Windows Phone 8 lock screen to developers

Developers are getting more access to the lockscreen in Windows Phone 8. That reports a Windows Phone fan blog. In Windows Phone 7, only notifications of SMS, mail and missed calls can be shown in the lock screen.

Apps can only display notifications on the lock screen with so-called Toast notifications, colored bars at the top of the screen. In the Windows 8 desktop operating system, apps do have access to the lockscreen; in it, the user can choose seven apps that can display notifications.

Developers can access the Windows Phone lockscreen in Windows Phone in four ways, reports WPCentral. The fan blog won’t say what those are “for fear of Microsoft’s wrath.” The blog promises that the unveiling of the new feature will be ‘within a few weeks’. Microsoft said when presenting some features of Windows Phone 8 that a lot was still being kept secret. According to an unconfirmed rumor, Windows Phone 8 will be released at the end of October, along with Windows 8.

Some of the features of Windows Phone 8 that Microsoft has already unveiled are a new Start screen, support for different screen resolutions, and support for different types of hardware, such as NFC and dual-core processors. Windows Phone 8 shares the kernel and many other elements with Windows 8, and is therefore a completely different operating system than Windows Phone 7. Current Windows Phones, including the Lumia 900, will therefore not be updated to version 8, but will receive the new Start screen via an update, which will receive version number 7.8.