Microsoft Windows
IN PHOTO: Microsoft Corp's Ashley Frank talks about Windows 10 at the annual shareholders' meeting in Bellevue, Washington December 3, 2014. Reuters/Jason Redmond

During the ongoing Windows Hardware Engineering Community (WinHEC) event in Shenzhen, China, Microsoft has announced that the Windows 10 will release in the upcoming summer. The Redmond giant has also declared the hardware requirements of Windows 10 for phones through which it can be known what kind of devices and features it will support.

According to the official Windows Blog, the Windows 10 is going to release this summer in 190 countries. The new OS will be available in 111 languages. The upgrade will be available for all the devices that are running on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.1 for free in the first year after it is rolled out.

Microsoft’s partnership with Lenovo will result in the launch of Windows 10 phones by mid-2015 through China Mobile in China. In the near future, Microsoft will be rolling out custom ROMs for Widows 10 phones. It is currently being tested on Xiaomi Mi 4 handsets. However, it is not clear whether Xiaomi will manufacture Windows 10 devices this year.

According to WM Power User, the minimum hardware requirements for running the Windows 10 for mobile are 512 MB RAM, 4 GB inbuilt storage and power, volume up and down hardware buttons. Windows 10 for phones will support varied screen sizes ranging from 3-inch to 7.99-inch. It is an indication that Microsoft may launch phablet devices in this year, reports Windows Central.

The amount of RAM on a Windows 10 device will depend on the size of its display. For QSXGA displays that support a resolution of 2560 x 2048 pixels, 4 GB of RAM or higher is required. For WXQGA and QWXGA displays supporting 2560 x 1600 pixels and 2048 x 1140 pixels, respectively, 3 GB of RAM or more is needed.

Full HD displays will require 2 GB of RAM. For HD displays of 720 pixels, qHD displays that support 540 x 960 pixels resolution, WXGA displays supporting a resolution of 1366 x 768 and WSVGA displays with 1024 x 600 pixels resolution, at least 1 GB of RAM is mandatory. Lastly, devices with lower resolution displays like WVGA 800 x 480 pixels and FWVGA 854 x 480 pixels, 512 MB of RAM is the lowest requirement.

Another report from WM Power User reveals that Windows 10 for mobile will come with support for USB accessories like keyboard, mice, hard drives, pen drives and more. The new Project Milkyway will ensure newer updates will be made available to the users within four to six weeks of release.

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