Reports are popping up on the Internet about Microsoft's plan of having 5-inch screen Windows Phone 8 devices on the market by the end of the year. These handsets will come packed with full high definition 1080p displays, along with some cool treats.

The new support for bigger displays will come via the GDR3 update; it could also bring to the table new changes to the start screen, such as making room for more apps. This makes sense if the screen size and resolution are truly up for getting a boost.

"My contact said GDR3 will add support for five- to six-inch devices with 1080p support. Along with the higher resolution, GDR3 also could include changes in the start screen and core Windows Phone 8 apps, such as possibly adding a third column of apps in the start screen," according to a source who spoke with ZDNet. "GDR3 is expected to be the last Windows Phone 8 OS update Microsoft releases before it introduces Windows Phone Blue. Windows Phone Blue is expected to arrive a number of months after Windows Blue, a k a Windows 8.1, possibly as late as early 2014."

For those Windows Phone 8 users who are huge fans of what the industry calls "Phablets," due to being a phone and a tablet in a single device, this could be good news.

Microsoft might have taken this road a lot sooner. Instead of turning Windows 8 into a tablet operating system, Windows Phone 8 should have been the focus for the tablet market; now everything is a mess.

From the way things are looking, it appears Windows Phone Blue might turn out to be Windows Phone 9, and it would be interesting to see what Microsoft has planned in the pipeline for the next version of the operating system. So far, Windows Phone 8 is well behind the competition where the user-base and features are concerned. Microsoft will need to step it up with the next release or risk finding itself in a similar position to BlackBerry.