Microsoft has already released one preview build of Windows 10 Mobile
and is said to be hard at work on the next update, which is expected to
land anytime in the next few weeks. The company has been fairly quiet
about Windows 10 Mobile and its plans for the mobile space in general,
preferring to focus on the rollout of Windows 10 proper to PCs, hybrids
and laptops the globe over.
Still, plenty of people are still very interested in the platform that will one day replace the ill-fated Windows Phone.
“Gabriel Aul, head of the Windows Insider, today confirmed that his
team is already testing a new release candidate internally, but no
timing can provided at this point,”
noted Softpedia,
“as any major bug that might be discovered could push back the launch
for several days. Just like the company announced last week when it
released Windows 10 Mobile build 10512, the focus is now on fixing bugs
and improving performance of the operating system, which could be a sign
that the new platform is almost feature complete and Redmond is hard at
work to get it ready for the grand debut later this year.”
“The
team was very focused on our Windows 10 release for PCs and tablets,
and we needed to do some prep work for Mobile to move to a new branch. I
expect the builds to be out more frequently again as we go forward from
here. Our major focus on Windows 10 Mobile right now is on improvements
to core quality,” Microsoft said last week.
Microsoft’s hardware business is on very shaky ground, though. The
Xbox One and Surface tablets are selling well, but only account for a
very small fraction of Microsoft’s business -- a 10th of its total
revenue according to some sources. Basically, Microsoft needs to sell A
LOT more hardware, otherwise it runs the risk of becoming unprofitable,
and after its recent Nokia write-down, investors DO NOT want that to
happen.
With the release of Windows 10 now underway, it is almost time to see
what Microsoft’s first Windows 10 Mobile smartphones will look and feel
like. These handsets need to succeed because as it stands Windows Phone
has less market share than BlackBerry.
"Unless Microsoft can get to hardware break-even within two years or
demonstrate sufficient offsetting value elsewhere in the portfolio, we
think the company should exit the hardware business," RBC Capital
Markets analysts said in a client note.
The departure of Nokia from the ecosystem, Windows Phone’s only real
advocate and force of innovation, was bad news for everybody invested in
the struggling platform. Worse still was Microsoft’s acquisition of
Nokia and subsequent billion dollar write-down on said acquisition.
Things went from bad to worse, essentially, and with the advent of
Windows 10 on
the horizon it was unclear where Windows Phone, or, indeed, Microsoft’s
Lumia handsets, would fit into the mix, if at all. Microsoft was
deliberately coy about the issue of phones, doing its usual
marketing-speak when asked direct questions on the subject of what we
can expect from Windows 10 Mobile in 2015/16.
But all is not as it seems. Nope! Microsoft isn’t ditching its mobile
aspirations just yet – and this time it is apparently looking to take a
more Apple iPhone approach with its mobile releases.
“If there are a lot of OEMs, we’ll have one strategy. If
there are no OEMs, we’ll have one strategy,” Nadella said of Windows
Phone's future.
More recently, news of what these handsets will entail have surfaced
online. Hardcore tech-leaker, and occasional KYM contributor, Evan Blass
– AKA @evleaks – reckons Microsoft will release a bunch of Windows 10
phones in 2015/16. These phones will be designed to set the bar for
innovation, performance and features for other, potential Windows 10
Mobile OEMs.
Speaking to
ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley,
Satya Nadella outlined A LOT of his thoughts on the future of mobile
inside Microsoft. As you’d expect there has been a lot of soul searching
during the past few years and this has resulted in the company taking a
different approach to mobile in the future.
“If anything,” said Nadella, “one big mistake we made in our past was
to think of the PC as the hub for everything for all time to come. And
today, of course, the high volume device is the six-inch phone. I
acknowledge that. But to think that that's what the future is for all
time to come would be to make the same mistake we made in the past
without even having the share position of the past. So that would be
madness.”
Ideally, we’d like to see Microsoft come out with a high-end concept
phone, something that shows off the true power of Windows 10. Microsoft
needs to make a splash in 2015 with Windows 10. Windows Phone failed to
do this during its history and Microsoft cannot afford to get it wrong
again.
As for when we’ll see these handsets… no-one knows. But a release
around or shortly after the release of Windows 10 would certainly make a
lot of sense. And maybe ditch the Lumia name to – it drags up too many
bad memories. The Surface Phone sounds loads better.
We’ve already looked at the 10 things you need to know about Windows 10 for PCs, now lets take a look at the 10 things you need to know about Windows 10 Mobile.
1) Windows 10 Mobile: Price and release date
No release date has been set yet. That’s because development of
Windows 10 Mobile is running out of sync with development of Windows 10
for PCs. While Windows 10 will launch on PCs this July, Windows 10
Mobile won’t arrive until the end of this year. But the wait will be
worth it because Windows 10 Mobile will be a free download for all
Windows Phone 8.1 users.
2) Windows 10 Mobile: Device support
Right now the only supported phones for preview releases of
Windows 10 Mobile are Lumia smartphones and the HTC One. However, by the
time Windows 10 Mobile ship, expect to see plenty of other Windows
phones and tablets supported. Windows 10 Mobile will support ARM
system-on-chips from Qualcomm's Snapdragon line and IA-32
system-on-chips from Intel and AMD.
3) Windows 10 Mobile: Universal app system
A really cool feature of Windows 10 Mobile is that it uses a
universal app system that allows devices written for Windows 10 on a PC
to be easily ported to Windows 10 Mobile devices. This essentially means
that any app made for the PC can run on a Windows 10 Mobile device with
not much code tweaking involved.
4) Windows 10 Mobile: iOS and Android apps can be ported over
In addition to the above universal app system, Windows 10
Mobile will also make it easier for developers to port Android and iOS
apps to Windows 10 Mobile. This means you could begin to see many more
quality apps for Windows 10 Mobile. This is something Microsoft needs
because lots of developers only make their apps for Android and iOS.
5) Windows 10 Mobile: Turn your smartphone into a PC with "Continuum"
Another killer feature of Windows 10 Mobile is Continuum. This
is a feature that allows a Windows 10 Mobile device to be used as an ad
hoc PC. On supported devices you’ll be able to plug your Windows 10
Mobile phone or tablet into an external monitor and plug in a keyboard
and mouse and the device’s user interface will scale up to resemble a
“PC-like” desktop interface.
6) Windows 10 Mobile: It’s got a new web browser called Edge
Windows 10 Mobile will include a modern new web browser called
Edge. The big thing about Edge is its new rendering engine, EdgeHTML,
which will make browsing much faster. Edge will also support reading
lists, on-screen annotations, and extensions.
7) Windows 10 Mobile: Notifications sync between devices
Another really nice feature about Windows 10 Mobile is its
ability to sync notifications between devices. This means you can
dismiss a notification–say a Skype notification–on your desktop and it
will also be dismissed on your Windows 10 Mobile device.
8) Windows 10 Mobile: There’s an improved keyboard
Windows Phone 8.1 has a great keyboard called Word Flow. That
keyboard is sticking around in Windows 10 Mobile, but it's gaining some
improved features. Now you can resize the keyboard to better fit your
fingers and even move it around the screen anywhere you want for the
placement that makes the most sense for your hands.
9) Windows 10 Mobile: There’s also a new photos app
It seems everyone is getting a new photos app this year (ahem,
iOS, Google). Windows 10 Mobile is no different. The new photos app will
allow you to sync your photo library across devices and will
automatically enhance your photos and create albums for you.
10) Windows 10 Mobile: The Lumia Camera app is becoming the default camera app on all Windows 10 Mobile phones
If you’ve got a Lumia phone already, you’ll know about its
excellent Lumia Camera app. Well that camera app is becoming the default
camera app on all Windows 10 Mobile devices. That means all Windows 10
Mobile devices will have a camera app that takes auto-HDR shots, offers
4K video recording, and takes Dynamic Flash snaps (the same picture with
and without flash
