For two weeks, we finally know that there will be two Windows Phone versions very soon: Windows Phone 7.8 for today's Windows Phones and Windows Phone 8 for all the new shiny smartphones which are released later this year from HTC, Huawei, Nokia and Samsung. But what exactly are the differences? Well, so far it's only known that Windows Phone 7.8 will only mimic the Windows Phone 8's Start screen but Microsoft is pretty shy if it comes to further differences but only told us that by far not all new features and changes were announced so far. Sounds good but Russian WP7Forum.ru seems to have received further details which show where the differences are.

While Microsoft stressed during its Windows Phone presentation how good Internet Explorer 10 will be, the sad news seems to be that Windows Phone 7.8 users have to continue to live with Internet Explorer 9 only. But it's interesting to notice, that DataSmart seems to be available as a kind of stand-alone app while it doesn't make any wonder that RCS-e (Rich Communication Suite) will also be available on Windows Phone 7.8. That's a pretty carrier-centric feature, basically it's the carriers version of WhatsApp, and the last real friends Microsoft has in the mobile space are the carriers.
Other than that, the list doesn't contains any real surprises but hopefully it's not the full list of Windows Phone 7.8 enhancements.

Cheers ~ Arne