About this Book
This book is a hands-on guide to building mobile applications for Windows Phone 8 using XAML, C#, and HTML5. The Windows Phone 8 operating system is Microsoft’s latest entry into the fiercely competitive mobile market. In this book we show how to build user interfaces that adhere to the Windows Phone design and how to use the Windows Phone Runtime and .NET APIs to access the sensors and integrate with built-in applications.
Windows Phone 8 is both a brand-new operating system built upon the Windows 8 kernel and an upgrade of Windows Phone 7. Microsoft replaced the Windows CE kernel that powered Windows Phone 7 with the same Windows 8 kernel that runs Windows 8 PCs and tablets. The Windows Runtime was adapted and modified for the phone. Microsoft migrated core features and APIs from Windows Phone 7, such as the XAML user interface framework, .NET APIs, fast application switching, launchers and choosers, and platform extensibility. This hybridization of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7 means that two different APIs exist for some features, and in this book we cover the newer Windows Phone Runtime APIs instead of the Windows Phone 7 APIs.