Microsoft unveiled the new Windows Phone SDK 8.0 and it’s already getting mixed reviews.  A lot are pleased because the new SDK version offers more capabilities to develop apps but some are complaining that developers may need to purchase new PCs in order to use the new SDK.

Windows Phone SDK 8.0

The new version comes with Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows Phone, the Expression Blend UI design toolkit, Windows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 7.1 emulators, and plenty of templates to help developers get started.  It also includes a smart feedback mechanism, in the form of a separate forum, where programmers can write requests asking for new examples and vote for other people’s requests.

Developers will have the option of writing their apps in C#, C++, Visual Basic, Java Script, HTML and HTML5.  The new SDK also caters to add developers who see phones as more of a camera phone – meaning they create apps specifically for the phone’s camera.

“If you happen to write a lens, it becomes available in the built-in camera application,” an article on InforWorld stated.  “The user will pop up the camera and swap “lenses.” A lens app is more a plug-in for the built-in camera than a stand-alone item.”

Early adopters

Microsoft partners such as Sencha, Telerik, and Crittercism, were the ones to get their hands first on the new SDK and they were very pleased with it.

“Our developer community, our ecosystem is strongly telling us that Windows Phone 8 is a platform they’re going to pay attention to,” says Aditya Bansod, vice president of product marketing at mobile software development platform provider Sencha.

Telerik’s vice president of developer Chris Sells is quite excited about the fact that the new SDK supports a much greater range of hardware components such as near-field communications radios, dual- or quad-core processors and better screen and camera resolution.

“Windows Phone 8 finally allows phone manufacturers to build cutting-edge hardware, which is something that wasn’t a possibility in Windows Phone 7,” Sells stated.

Nay sayers

If there are developers happy with the new SDK, some are quite stressed out because of the fact that developers may need new PCs to be able to use the SDK.  To be able to run the SDK 8 emulator and Hyper-V, you need a 64-bit machine that runs Windows 8 Pro.

“[The SDK is] a flop because of the level of difficulty Microsoft has managed to add to getting it up and running for those of us running in a virtual environment. Adding the Hyper-V [virtualization] requirement has shut us down,” said software architect and blogger Tad Anderson.

Windows Store conundrum

Microsoft is lifting a page from Apple’s book and they are getting more strict in screening apps submitted to them.  According to InfoWorld, “The economic model of apps sold at $1 or $2 can’t support the lengthy code review that programmers need, so the app store turns into a black box where a bunch of overtaxed reviewers reject items with inscrutable messages.”  And it doesn’t bode well that Microsoft gave a huge discount to developers who want to start submitting apps.  Early adopters paid $99 for the privilege but Microsoft offered the same thing for only $8 for a limited time – the catch is, the developers were still charged $99 but then they’d get refunded.