Windows Phone 8 will reportedly include lock screen notification improvements

Microsoft has revealed very little about the user interface improvements in its upcoming Windows Phone 8 release. Aside from an improved Start Screen with smaller tiles, the company is holding back its other plans for tweak the operating system elsewhere. WPCentral has revealed that Microsoft is planning some lock screen notification improvements for Windows Phone 8.

Existing Windows Phone 7.5 devices support phone, mail, and messaging notifications, but Windows Phone 8 is said to support third-party app notifications. WPCentral says there’s four options for developers to take advantage of the lock screen, which would mean the customization may be similar to Windows 8 (which supports custom app notifications on the lock screen).

It’s not clear if there’s a limit (like Windows 8) or how these notifications will be displayed in Windows Phone 8, but it’s a good sign that Microsoft is looking at improving its notification support. The current implementation is rather basic in the sense that if you miss a notification then it’s not presented on the lock screen or in a notification center. Hopefully these improvements will help avoid this situation in Windows Phone 8.