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Hardware Limitations in Windows Phone Tango Unveiled

By Wong Casandra - on 9 Mar 2012, 11:48am

Hardware Limitations in Windows Phone Tango Unveiled

Source: WP7forum (Edited by The Verge)


We already know that Microsoft's Tango update is tailor-made for lower-tiered hardware with approximately 5% of current apps identified to malfunction on these devices. However, the company has been pretty mum about the specifics of its limitations for these devices, until now. Microsoft has been updating their Windows Phone How-to website on the sly, underlining official restrictions on the site. Here's a list of what a Tango can (or rather can't) do:

 

  • Windows Phone Marketplace app restrictions – Some processor-intensive apps have memory requirement  and won’t work on phones with 256MB of RAM. You can check how much memory you have on your phone by tapping Settings > About.
     
  • Podcast/Video Podcast Subscriptions – You won’t be able to manage podcast subscriptions on your phone or watch video podcasts if your phone has 256 MB of RAM.
     
  • Bing Local Scout – Bing Local Scout won't feature on a device with only 256MB of RAM.
     
  • Fast app/Task switching – The feature differs on Windows Phones with 256MB of RAM in that if a single application uses over 90MB, it will be killed on exit and thus not appear in the task switcher.
     
  • SkyDrive automatic photo upload – 256MB of RAM means no auto-upload option, but users will still be able to upload their photos manually.
     
  • HD video playback – Some compressed videos will be unable to play due to a lack of codec support on devices with 256MB of RAM.
     
  • Background agents – To free up RAM for the foreground on such devices, generic background agents (PeriodicTasks/ResourceIntensiveTasks) will be disabled.

Other new features to Windows Phone 7.5 operating system include a new location alert, MMS enhancements and improved SIM contact management. According to GSMArena, Tango devices should make their appearances in Q2 this year.

Source: Liveside.net via GSMArena

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