Windows Phone 8 Concept Shows Windows 8 on a Phone

Artist RVanhauwere has created a mockup of what he thinks Windows Phone 8 would look like from the operating system and user interface side. From RVanhauwere‘s concept, it appears that Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 will be moving closer together and meshes well with Microsoft’s strategy of creating some unification between three screens–the phone, the computer/tablet, and TV by way of Xbox.

Neowin first reported on the concept rendering of the new UI on its site.

The standard start screen with Metro’s Live Tiles that first debuted on Windows Phone 7 is still present as the first pane on Windows Phone 8. With Live Tiles, users can pin their favorite hubs and shortcuts to. Navigating this pane requires users to flick up and down. Swiping to the right, it seems that you would get some of the Start screen element from Windows 8, including mini apps that act like widgets and auto-update in the background.

The move would expand Microsoft’s simple UI into Android realm where there are more home screens, more widgets, and more swiping. It’s unclear if this will be the best direction for Microsoft to move in as the company had stated that it did not want to have widgets when it debuted Windows Phone 7 in favor of a cleaner UI that allowed users to find the information they want quickly.

According to The Next Web, the design move is a risk for Microsoft, but will allow the company to provide consistency in the user experience across platforms.

For the end-user on a Windows Phone 8 device, the user experience will be all but the same (albeit on a smaller screen) as on a Windows 8 tablet, we suspect. The same interface on your PC, phone, and console is no small feat; Microsoft is essentially all-in with Metro. If the design aesthetic fails, the company will pay a price for years and years to come.

Other features that have been confirmed by Microsoft executives for Windows Phone 8 previously include a PC-less synchronize environment–similar to how Apple is leveraging iCloud to create a tether-less experience that centers around mobil–along with NFC support and growing the ecosystem of apps. Windows Phone 8 will also use server-side compression technology to compress data handled by the mobile version of Internet Explorer 10, which will definitely help in the age of tiered and metered data plans.