After months of speculation Microsoft has just taken the wraps of its next mobile operating system Windows Phone 8, and the new software promises to bring with it many new features when it is eventually released.

The upcoming operating system has now been made official by the company and as Cnet are reporting the platform will finally support multi-core hardware theoretically up to 64-core processors. While that is not likely anytime soon, we should start seeing quad core smartphones on the platform in the not too distant future.

There will also be support for three new screen resolutions that includes WVGA at 800 x 400, WXVGA at 1280 x 768, and True 720p at 1280 x 720. Although Microsoft hasn’t yet released IE10 yet, the code for it will be very similar to that on the mobile version, which will allow it to make use of the desktop’s more stringent security features such as its SmartScreen Filter and online phishing detector.

Many current users have moaned about the lack of microSD card support on the platform, but the next update will provide this so handsets could potentially see memory expanded by up to 64GB, and will also allow users to upload data from the handset to the PC more easily. The Metro interface is staying but the start-up screen is getting a facelift as live tiles will now fill up a handsets entire screen instead of being positioned more to the left.

Users will also have the option to choose from three tile sizes with a new smaller box being added to the familiar medium and large options, and the smaller tiles will be more ideal for apps that need a minimum amount of space to offer necessary information, but users can customize the size of each applications tile.

There will be more tile colours and themes added to provide users more ways to personalize their handsets, and while Windows Phone 7 handsets won’t be able to upgrade to Apollo the new start screen has been confirmed to be coming these devices. Support for NFC is coming so Microsoft will be able to create its own mobile payments service.

As we reported recently Nokia will be providing the Maps service for the platform, and in-app purchases will also now be supported. No release date was given for the software but it is expected to be coming during the fall. Will you be considering a Windows Phone 8 handset later this year?