8 major features to look forward to in Windows Phone 8

Smartphone owners have a lot to get excited about in 2012.
Microsoft has just announced its next-generation mobile phone operating system Windows Phone 8, Apple is working on brand new voice recognition and mapping features for iOS 6, and Google is gearing up for some big mobile platform announcements at its I/O developers conference on June 27.
Apple and Google are caught up in a cutthroat race to outdo each other in the mobile software platform. The launch of Windows Phone 8 will finally see Microsoft coming to the party with devices and operating systems that can finally compete.

Windows phones to miss out on new software

NEW YORK (AP) — As it struggles to gain a foothold against the iPhone and Android phones, Microsoft Corp. is planning to issue a dramatic update to its phone software, one that won't be available to current Windows Phones.
The new software, Windows Phone 8, will be available on new phones this fall, Microsoft said Wednesday at a presentation in San Francisco. The software will bring Windows phones closer to PCs and tablets running the company's upcoming Windows 8, which is also scheduled to launch later this year.
With its planned software updates —and the Surface tablet computer it introduced earlier this week— Microsoft is taking dramatic steps to ensure that it plays a major role in the increasingly important mobile market.