#36 Windows Phone 8

The Nokia Lumia 920 showcases Windows Phone 8 well.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

36/100

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...Prev
#1. Samsung v. Apple
#2. Windows 8
#3. Mobile usage reaches tipping point
#4. Tablets go mainstream
#5. New fronts in the tech wars
#6. Samsung Galaxy S3
#7. Apple iPhone 5
#8. Foxconn charged with poor working conditions
#9. Facebook's IPO
#10. Tim Cook
#11. LTE/4G connectivity
#12. Marissa Mayer
#13. SOPA legislation
#14. Microsoft Surface
#15. Google Nexus 7
#16. Steven Sinofsky
#17. Cracks show at Apple in the post-Jobs era
#18. Apple iPad Mini
#19. Patent wars heat up
#20. BlackBerry 10 delay
#21. Curiosity starts roving around Mars
#22. Bandwidth crunch has consumer implications
#23. Virtual assistants for mobile devices
#24. Mark Zuckerberg
#25. High-pixel density in your hand
#26. Social algorithms and social mapping
#27. Crowdfunding ideas
#28. Startups jump the shark (and get their own TV show!)
#29. Apple's 'mapology'
#30. The quick rise and fall of Zynga
#31. Phablets
#32. Jeff Bezos
#33. Disney buys Lucasfilm
#34. Traditional TV business model gets turned on its head
#35. Ultrabooks DOA
#36. Windows Phone 8
#37. Motorola Droid Razr Maxx
#38. MakerBot Replicator
#39. Rise of Instagram
#40. Sandy pushes the limits of tech
#41. Mobile payments
#42. Privatization of space travel
#43. Nintendo Wii U
#44. Jack Dorsey
#45. Netflix's undoing and recovery
#46. Twitter gets even bigger
#47. Cloud computing goes mainstream
#48. Sergey Brin
#49. Huawei accused of harboring international spies
#50. Social media makes money
#51. Wearable technology
#52. 4K TVs
#53. Chromebook gets real
#54. Gangnam Style breaks YouTube record
#55. Sheryl Sandberg
#56. Concierge economy takes off
#57. Path privacy scandal leads to App Store changes
#58. Nokia Lumia family
#59. Elon Musk of SpaceX
#60. Home automation
#61. Flashback malware hits Macs
#62. Tesla Model S
#63. Google Glass
#64. Thorsten Heins takes over at RIM
#65. Decline of Japanese CE companies
#66. Companies choose 'glamor' launches over trade shows
#67. Lytro camera
#68. iPad with Retina Display
#69. Nate Silver
#70. Cyberwarfare gets real
#71. Political hackers
#72. Larry Page
#73. 3D TV
#74. Drones
#75. Reed Hastings
#76. Jonathan Ive
#77. Curation becomes a form of expression
#78. Kim Dotcom
#79. Felix Baumgartner goes supersonic
#80. Nokia 808 PureView
#81. Square corners
#82. Mike Daisey
#83. Connected car revolution has arrived
#84. Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13
#85. Everything on demand
#86. Mat Honan
#87. The rise of touch
#88. OLED TVs
#89. Deal sites have a rough year
#90. The Apple TV that wasn't
#91. Google Nexus Q
#92. Self-driving cars win legal approvals
#93. Video games arrive at a crossroads
#94. Women make advances in technology
#95. Gesture controls grow up
#96. Julian Assange
#97. John McAfee blogs on the run
#98. Scott Thompson
#99. IPv6
#100. James Cameron's deep-sea dive
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Hot on the heels of Windows 8 came Windows Phone 8, the first major upgrade to Microsoft's smartphone operating system. By bringing a heavy load of much-needed features like support for HD screens, multicore processors, and NFC, Microsoft did a lot to close the gap separating it from Google and Apple. The ability to customize tile size gave users more control over the OS's unique look and feel, and it didn't hurt that it debuted on strong devices such as the Nokia Lumia 920 and the HTC Windows Phone 8X.

But there were some problems. Existing Windows Phone devices couldn't upgrade to the new version. As a result, owners of even relatively new devices like the Nokia Lumia 900 were left off the evolutionary path for good. Camera features also continue to trail the competition, and the Windows Marketplace needs more developer love.

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