Those interested in the development of high technologies are concerned about when Windows Phone 10 (officially called Windows 10 Mobile) will be released - Microsoft's new operating system for smartphones. The developers of the company assured that the Windows 10 system will be universal and that computers, phones, tablets and even game consoles can work effectively under its control. But the official release of Windows 10 took place in July, and its mobile version is still in the testing stage.
Windows 10 Mobile release date (Windows Phone 10)
On the official Facebook page, company representatives announced that the first devices will be updated to Windows 10 Mobile in December 2015. Official sources have not yet announced the exact date. It is also unknown how long it will take to update the full list of supported devices.
But when Windows 10 Mobile comes out, Lumia smartphone owners will take advantage of the new OS and take their favorite Microsoft services to the next level.
Device requirements for upgrading to a new OS
When Windows 10 for smartphones comes out, in order to update your device to it, it is necessary that it meet only two parameters:
- at least 8 GB of internal memory;
- the installed OS is Windows Phone 8.1 Lumia Denim.
Advice! Update your smartphone to the required version as early as possible. To do this, go to the update settings and run a check for available ones.
Which models will be updated before everyone else
- Lumia 430;
- Lumia 435;
- Lumia 532;
- Lumia 535;
- Lumia 540;
- Lumia 635;
- Lumia 640;
- Lumia 640 XL;
- Lumia 735;
- Lumia 830;
- Lumia 930.
Also, soon the corporation will launch on sale the Lumia 950 and 950 XL smartphones (it is useful to know ""), they will already work on the new Windows 10, which means that these models will be the first devices running on Windows 10 Mobile.
At the same time, when the long-awaited Windows 10 update arrives on Lumia, there will be a more budget 550 model on the market.
What's new in Windows 10 Mobile
After getting an idea of which phones Windows 10 will install first, you should talk about the innovations. The updated interface will include:
- new display options;
- improved menu;
- Continuum function that allows you to work with a smartphone on a computer screen;
- new digital assistants and applications;
- the appearance of interactive notifications.
The ability to use the system before its release
Taking care of the quality of its products, Microsoft has developed a preliminary testing program - Windows Insider. With this innovation, customers can install a test build of the OS prior to release and provide feedback on its performance and functionality.
The Insider Program helps you improve the features and capabilities of Windows. When Windows 10 for phones comes out, it is likely that it will be made with some feedback from insiders.
Update 03/15/2016
According to information that has not yet been confirmed by official representatives of Microsoft, the release of Windows 10 Mobile for devices running the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system is scheduled for March 17. On this day, updates should come to the following smartphones: 1520, 930, 830, 640, 640 XL, 638, 636, 535.
So far, Microsoft cannot name the exact date release of a new OS for smartphones Windows Phone, constantly postponing it to a later date. But this should take place in the first half of 2016.
Update 03/17/2016
Unfortunately, devices with 512 MB RAM do not support the official build of the new OS due to poor performance issues.
If your smartphone is on the official list of supported devices, find out how to update the operating system on it in the article "".
There were some questions about Windows installation 10 Mobile? us and we will try to help.
This material is difficult to write correctly. After reading more than a dozen reviews of mobile Windows 10, I came across approaches that are radically different: from the usual description of menus and their capabilities to an in-depth analysis of system codes from the point of view of developers and programmers. I wanted to approach this review a little differently, from different positions. Describe not only what the user receives today, but also where the development of the system can go, what ideas are embedded in it and what they can ultimately result in. One cannot exist without the other, and therefore, in addition to descriptive, specific moments with illustrations taken from Lumia devices, I will need to lean aside and describe what is not on this platform, but is present in the modern market. Why? The answer is obvious, the Windows 10 Mobile platform does not exist in an airless space, but competes for buyer's attention with systems such as Android / iOS. And only by understanding these differences, it will be possible to break out of the trap of Microsoft's worldview, which prefers to describe only what exists within their systems, and not pay attention to competitors.
Reasons for the emergence of Windows 10 Mobile - life from scratch for the third time
We are already living in the post-PC market, where most web browsing is done from mobile devices rather than personal computers, be it a home system or a laptop. The irony is that one of the pioneers of this direction and the company that accurately predicted the course of events, but was slightly mistaken in the dates, was Microsoft. She never had a shortage of visionaries, people who could predict the development of the market and give accurate forecasts. The problem was in the execution of forecasts, their implementation in practice and the creation of a mobile version of Windows. There has always been one approach that can be called dominant within Microsoft, it has not changed for the last decade or more. The mobile operating system should be a copy of the desktop system and give the user a similar experience. So, when Windows Mobile users were convinced that this is ideologically the same system as on their computer, look, it even has a Start button! Many people bought Windows Mobile devices to realize that they are not in the least like their computers, they are in no way compatible with them or almost incompatible and belong to a completely different class of portable devices. Nevertheless, at the dawn of the smartphone market, the role of Windows Mobile was quite serious, this system influenced the formation of Symbian, its ideology was considered by many to be promising.
But Microsoft made a number of serious mistakes, building a business model on cooperation with Chinese manufacturers that created Windows Mobile smartphones, the company launched the process of destroying its platform. Notable unit sales, programmers who rushed to create applications - everything whispered about the success of the undertaking. But the trouble came from the very same Chinese who, in the battle among themselves, gave up on quality, as a result, the platform became associated with powerful, but buggy devices. The same Symbian lost functionally, did not develop so quickly, but it was guaranteed to work. The direction of Windows Mobile became a kind of cursed place inside Microsoft, there was no person who would present a coherent and detailed development plan. More precisely, there were too many such people, and each had their own plan of salvation. They, like in Krylov's fable, pulled Windows Mobile in their own direction. And the result was that the company suddenly realized that they were losing the market and could lose the race for the consumer. This was at the very beginning of Android's growth, around 2009, when the system first showed its potential and it became obvious even to die-hard skeptics. And at that moment, Microsoft's throwing began, which did not end even today, the first zeroing of the company's mobile platform took place - the appearance of Windows Phone.
By and large, Windows Phone has become Microsoft's anti-crisis plan, a response to the conquest of the market by iOS / Android. At the 2010 congress in Barcelona, the company showed Windows Phone as an animated screensaver on dummies of future phones, no system existed, it had to be created in the coming months. We were all shown pictures that had nothing under them, and the choice of tools for developers, code for the mobile OS was chaotic, it was designed on the knee, just to have time to divide the pie in the form of end users. The only task that was set within Microsoft was to meet the deadlines; in a state of time pressure, the creation of the system could not be properly planned. The first devices of the Lumia series from Nokia had a lot of problems, each of which was corrected in the course of the play, the most serious mistakes were corrected in the first few months of sales, and the "little things" were finished for about a year.
But within Microsoft, already in the first months of the life of Windows Phone 7 on the market, there was an understanding that this system was built incorrectly and that the core needs to be reworked, the transition to the source code, similar to the desktop version of Windows NT. In the future, this would allow the creation of the same applications for different branches of Windows, with minimal differences and effort. The decision was controversial, as the company's PR and advertising new platform promised that users would receive updates. But instead, a year later, the market received Windows Phone 8, and the enthusiasts and pioneers of the new system received version 7.5, in which they added external similarity to the 8th, but the key features were missing. Many people considered themselves cheated, as once again Microsoft zeroed out its mobile platform and started its life from a new point.
I want to draw your attention to the fact that all these years at Microsoft, the idea that a mobile system should be similar to a desktop OS has not disappeared anywhere. With perseverance worthy of better use, the company implanted in phones an interface that few could call successful, it was unusual (Metro UI in the original name or tile), but not the best in terms of ergonomics.
The change in management of the company, the lack of striking success in the Windows Phone field, the murder of the tablet version of Windows RT - all these events took place during the existence of Windows Phone 8.x. And they showed inside Microsoft a simple thing: the system that the company created is not viable without subsidies of iron when it is sold below cost and only therefore has 3% of the world market. Billions of dollars in marketing, the purchase of Nokia's mobile division - nothing made Windows Phone a success. The problems only got worse. And what became next step? Microsoft did what they used to do - they decided to start life from scratch.
The advent of Windows 10 Mobile is a zeroing of the deadlock of Windows Phone 8.x, when the system did not receive any noticeable sales, and the few developers who wrote software for it constantly felt like outcasts. There is an opinion that those who are unable to create software for Andorid / iOS can write it for Windows Phone, where the quality of programs does not play a big role, since these programs are few and users are eager for them. Fish for bezrybe and cancer, as they say in our area.
Such a parameter as the cost of ownership of Windows Phone for the end user was noticeably higher than for Android / iOS, since in the absence of competition between the programs one could set any prices for them. For example, Microsoft paid for the development of the official Instagram client for Windows Phone, it was shown at one of the press conferences, and it seemed that this was the turning point when everyone would start writing for this platform. But it didn't work out. What's more, the official Instagram client for Windows 10 Mobile is still in beta in 2016! It lacks most of the settings available on other platforms, no support for working with video. The best alternative product 6tag does not know how to work with all filters, and to work with video you will have to pay 119 rubles. This is just a small touch that shows the state of affairs with software for Windows Phone.
Microsoft realized that it had lost the battle for the mobile device market and moved into loss minimization mode. The arrival of Windows 10 Mobile is an attempt to take advantage of the key event of 2015, the release of the desktop version of Windows, which received the tenth number. Part of the success of Windows desktop was to kickstart and support mobile sales until the company came up with a new plan and zeroed it out once again to start from scratch.
In early 2015, when they showed Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft told a very interesting thing - the launch of the system will take place later than the release of desktop Windows 10. Why? The answer was obvious - all efforts were devoted to the main product, and they would try to finalize it as soon as possible. Since October, after the launch of desktop Windows 10, most programmers will switch to finalizing Windows 10 Mobile, and it will be brought to mind in a couple of months. Even then, I was confused by these words, it turned out that Microsoft lowered the priority of the mobile OS to the minimum.
But then they announced the Windows Insider program, which allowed anyone to become a beta tester of the mobile system. Fans of Windows Phone perceived this as a good attitude of the company towards them, pragmatists from business - as a reduction in development costs, shifting tests onto the shoulders of end users. This always leads to negative results, since testing must be carried out within the company, and only then can they give an adequate result.
Unfortunately, the number of end-user innovations that were shown in early 2015 for mobile Windows turned out to be so scanty as to cause dismay. In my material, I described them and expressed my bewilderment how you can wait almost a year to release such an update to the market.
Already at the time of the announcement, the system looked archaic, and the speed of development of Windows Phone compared to other systems turned out to be slower. In fact, Windows Phone not only remained a catching-up system, the rate of separation from it by iOS / Android began to increase, over the past five years Microsoft has not been able to bridge this gap, or at least narrow it.
Initially, Microsoft's plans included updating almost the entire Lumia line to Windows 10 in November 2015, then the deadline was postponed to November, and then to early 2016. This is due to the fact that inside the company they realize that the current version of Windows 10 Mobile can hardly be called a beta version, it is unstable, has many problems and flaws, and even against the background of Windows Phone 7 is striking in the number of problems. The company could not help but release its flagships on Windows 10 Mobile, they were put into production, components were purchased for them. But at the same time, Microsoft is trying to minimize the damage from the launch of raw products as much as possible. Thus, the company does not distribute devices for testing if publications and journalists do not agree that they will not mention the disadvantages, but will focus only on the positive aspects. However, no one warns Lumia buyers that the system is flawed and cannot be called out of beta.
Unfortunately, the classic situation for Microsoft is repeated, the company will not be able to develop Windows 10 Mobile in 2016, since all efforts will be spent on fixing errors and working on firmware. This means that Microsoft needs to reduce the number of phones sold as much as possible, which the company has already officially announced. the lineup 2016 will be minimal and represented by several models. Removing hardware subsidies since there is no more competition for market share, why sell a crude product that will scare away users? And preparing for life from scratch, which will be the Surface Phone, although the name of this product can be anything.
It turns out that Windows 10 Mobile is another, another page in the history of the mobile platform from Microsoft, which can be considered a transitory and temporary one. The company does not make any serious plans regarding this system, to some extent they want to forget it as soon as possible in order to start building the “correct” system for the new time. But many people do not know this, do not understand and can buy a Lumia smartphone. Let's take a look at the system itself and what it offers to its users today. Let's move on to describing the Windows 10 Mobile interface.
Windows 10 Mobile tiles and UI features
The originality of the Windows 10 Mobile interface is hard to deny, the home screen is made up of tiles different sizes, you can choose a small square, a larger square, or a rectangle. You need to hold the tile for the icons to appear, you can also pin the tile to the screen.
The screen has a vertical orientation, that is, the tiles must be scrolled down. You never know how many tiles you have in total, the screen can be conditionally endless. Considering that most of the necessary applications can easily be placed on the main screen, this does not cause any problems. You can place everything you need here.
Unfortunately, in the field of customization, Windows 10 is far behind modern platforms, you cannot customize the color of individual tiles - just choose color range for all. This can be confusing for those who are not familiar with the system and are used to the fact that WhatsApp has a green icon. On my phone, for example, the default color for all tiles is blue, and the WhatsApp icon is the same color.
Does this confuse people who are used to WhatsApp being green? Definitely. But this also creates certain difficulties for software developers, when advertising and promoting your application, you cannot achieve the uniformity that you expect. Why was it done in Windows? Apparently, they thought that the icons might be too variegated. Or they just didn't have time to do it, I don't know. But the fact remains that you will not be able to customize everything for yourself. And the experience of other systems and vast world outside Windows, forget - here the icons will be in the color that you have chosen or for you.
In the "Options" section you can also choose to show more tiles or less, this setting adjusts the same size. There is a choice of wallpapers and transparency of tiles, interestingly, compared to Windows Phone 8.x, wallpapers appeared both on the center screen and in the list of applications.
Now an amazing moment, which remains a mystery to me. In desktop Windows, many functions have been duplicated in different menus so that the user can change the parameter in a matter of seconds. In mobile Windows, everything is different, to change the wallpaper, adjust the color of tiles, you need to go to the settings (this section is called "Options"). Not very logical and not very convenient. But, apparently, the developers proceeded from the assumption that it is not necessary to adjust the color of the tiles and wallpaper so often. There is a certain logic in this.
Unfortunately, switching more / less tiles mode confuses the grouping of tiles on the screen when there are a lot of them. They unexpectedly line up not in three vertical rows, as before, but in two. It is possible that this glitch will be removed in the future, but it looks strange, the system does not remember the previous state.
Many tiles are animated and show information, for example, a mail tile scrolls the headers of new messages, there is a circle with the number of new messages. It is quite simple and informative, but this approach is rather an exception. In most cases, information is displayed chaotically, and there is no system in it, that is, you cannot estimate at a glance what you missed or what happened. For example, news shows headlines, changing them one by one. Something similar was in widgets at the very beginning of the development of Android, then the system evolved, but this did not happen in Windows.
I do not presume to evaluate how the tile looks for the end user, you can get used to it and even love it. Evaluation of UI design is a matter of taste, here everyone will have their own opinion. I would like to dwell on how this UI manifests itself in work.
In standby mode for phones with AMOLED screens, it is possible to display information from certain applications, for example, a calendar. White inscriptions are brightly lit on a black background, for example, it can be a message that your friend has a birthday. You are free to choose the applications that will display information here. Plus, icons of missed events and time are shown.
This screen operation is convenient and allows you not to pick up the phone to see what was happening while you were doing other things. In blocking mode, when you have not yet entered the device, you can see information from other applications, for example, Twitter - as a rule, this is one entry. Therefore, we can consider it more of a design element than something useful and really helping to navigate the flow of information.
The vertical orientation of the interface is due to the fact that the list of applications (swipe to the left) is better displayed this way. You see applications sorted alphabetically, there is a search bar at the top or a selection of letters, then you can jump to a specific section. The irony is that for users outside the US using two languages, the alphabet goes like this - first the local layout, then the English.
That is, English almost always on the second screen, it turns out that you need to scroll the screen and only then select the desired letter. Ergonomics show in such little things, and in Windows 10 Mobile, it is lame on all four legs. Feeling like Microsoft's army of programmers was working on separate features and applications, but there was no chief architect to explain and show how all of these pieces should work together.
At the top of the list, the latest applications that you have installed on your device are shown.
By analogy with Android and iOS, Windows 10 has a curtain for notifications and quick activation of certain functions. You pull the screen down, 4 icons appear, each of which you can customize to your liking by choosing what you need from a list predefined by the manufacturer. You can expand the icons, then a 4x4 matrix will appear, but in the large matrix for three new rows it is no longer possible to select functions, they are determined by the manufacturer.
Notifications in the curtain are grouped by program, you can disable their display here for each application. For SMS / MMS there is a quick response from the shutter, you just need to type a text, and you can immediately send it.
Some notifications do not make any sense, for example, after a system update, this is reported in the shutter. Clicking on a notification doesn't show any information, meaning it's a dead end. There are a fair number of such messages, and why they are needed is decidedly unclear.
Those who use the phone actively and who lack space on the first screen can create folders for icons, just drag one icon over another, and they will be grouped in a folder. When you click on the folder below, a window opens with all the icons, but there are no labels with the names of the applications. But you can give a name to your folder.
The vertical orientation of the main screen and the menu plays a cruel joke with the phone, because modern devices can work in landscape orientation, this is how you watch videos. For example, I start watching a video, but I don't want to look at the credits, so I want to pull the scroll bar and fast forward the video. The slider is at the left edge, but instead of rewinding, the curtain comes out. Why? It's simple, it is tied to the vertical UI, and the curtain does not change orientation - landscape orientation in the video player, vertical in the curtain. Brain blow!
It remains to say that the buttons are made on-screen, and to call them, you need to pull from the bottom up. In many applications, they disappear automatically and do not take up screen space. But in some cases, for example, when calling video playback from another application, they remain on the screen and are constantly on. Which also raises questions.
The buttons are as follows - return back (long press the list of recent applications), the central house from Microsoft (exit to the main menu), search.
In a short line about multitasking, in the last running applications, only seven windows are shown, from the list you can close them individually or all together.
For me, the last seven applications are an anachronism, since I'm used to displaying dozens of applications, even if some of them have long been unloaded from memory and will take time to launch (which is almost always invisible). Moreover, on Windows 10, even "running" applications sometimes require state restoration, and this takes the same time as on other platforms. The restriction is stupid and annoying.
In every phone for me important information is the battery charge, not only its graphical display, but also the percentage, and I would like to see this information in the status bar, choose the possibility of such a display (it is available on almost all Android smartphones, as well as on iOS). In Windows 10, to see the percentage of the battery charge, you need to pull the shutter down. This is damn inconvenient. And then someone will quite rightly say that I am finding fault and you can estimate the charge by the icon. Of course it is. But I would like to get the same convenience that I see on other systems.
In general, I have a distrust of how various progress bars are shown in Windows 10, they were written by some schoolchildren. This is best seen in the example of downloading applications in the store. Microsoft applications... For example, you have an application that is 10 MB, downloaded about 8 MB, how much do you think the loading indicator will be painted over? Common sense dictates that this will be about 80 percent, visually the same story as with the battery. It's a shame, but usually it's half! I specially experimented, and it turned out that almost always the loading indicator lags behind what the system shows in the same window. How it can be, I do not know - the feeling that Windows 10 scoops information about the boot with a long delay and does not immediately show it in the graphic element.
Now a nagging that you can safely ignore. When updating the system software, gears spin on the screen, one larger and one smaller. Exactly the same arbitrary display of progress below them. But it finishes off a trifle that is contrary to common sense, the gears do not mesh with each other in any way. They spin in the air, each on its own. Finding a more accurate metaphor for Windows 10 Mobile is difficult, as the company did.
All felt-tip pens are different in taste and color, but Windows 10 Mobile is distinguished by numerous irregularities in the interface, which were laid down at the design stage of Windows Phone. The system is saved by the absence of a large number of applications and users who can be called "heavy", those who squeeze every last drop out of modern smartphones. Compared to Android / iOS, Windows 10 Mobile has much more limited customization options, from widgets to other aspects of the system. A matter of taste, but for me it is an indicator of predetermination, lack of flexibility in the system. It cannot be customized for yourself, although in the same Android you can change literally any element of the system.
File system - where are my files?
Microsoft has a lot of experience in developing desktop systems, but for their mobile OS they borrowed a lot from iOS and did it mindlessly. For example, the thought never leaves me that by taking Apple's approach to the file system, Microsoft shot itself in the foot. The device has an explorer (file manager) that shows the following folders:
- Video
- The documents
- Downloads
- Images
- Ringtones
- Music
And nothing else shows. At all. For example, if you decide that it's 2016 and you can download a torrent from where you can download videos, music or something similar to your device, then get ready for the first surprise. By default, the torrent client will download everything to its own folder, which is not visible from the file manager. You won't see these files! They can only be viewed from the torrent client! It was 2016 ...
Let's remember how it works on Android, you upload files anywhere, and in the player they become visible immediately, you don't even think about where they are saved. You just press a button and start watching or listening to them. Voila. In Windows 10 Mobile, this is an impossible operation, something that came from the distant future.
Further more. You may have a dozen video players, but only the one that is preinstalled on the phone will open from the torrent client. Surprise! The "Video" application cheerfully informs that "videos copied from a PC will be shown here." We live in a post-PC world, what kind of computers are you talking about? I want to download videos to my device directly and be able to open them with regular means and without dancing with a tambourine.
But that's not Microsoft's way, is it? If you think video is a lucky exception, then forget it. The same story is with ringtones, do you remember the folder of the same name? Accordingly, the file must be in it, otherwise you will not be able to select it, you simply will not see it. How you could have shot yourself in the legs like that, I don't know. But those people who believe that such an approach is convenient, I have doubts about the adequacy. These are unreal dances with a tambourine, and out of the blue.
Microsoft Edge is the fastest browser on the planet
With Internet Explorer, Microsoft did not work out, a heavy legacy of the past, bad karma and a loss to its main competitor in the face of Chrome. The solution was found in Microsoft's simple way, it is necessary to rename the "unsuccessful" product, and after that it will become "successful". This is how Microsoft EDGE was born, the latest generation browser that shares the same icon as its predecessor.
Microsoft has followed the Blackberry route and is competing in virtual parrots, citing benchmark data that prove EDGE is best compatible with HTML5, faster than the competition, in a word, is a work of art. I would add contemporary art, since the browser has no advantages over its counterparts in the face of Safari or Chrome.
Let's start with simple and straightforward things, this is the browser UI. At the bottom of the page there is a line for entering the address, as well as searching. On the left - the window icon, it never displays the number of windows that you have "open". In Chrome, you can always see how many windows you have, which is nice and useful. For example, when I reach 70-80 windows, I close them by order, usually I have 10-15 working tabs.
By double tap, the page and the text on it are adapted to the screen, in one column. Unfortunately, this does not happen very quickly, even on simple pages. The second disadvantage, seen on different devices (Lumia 550/950/950 XL), by default, when adjusted to the width of the screen, the font becomes small, not very readable. The feeling that the developers forgot about the complaints in the 8th version of the system and simply did not give a damn about all subsequent fixes. Here again it is shallow and inconvenient to read. You can adjust it by hand, but this is an unnecessary action.
Unfortunately, the browser is slow to render pages, it is impossible to call it fast. And this happens with any site, there are no exceptions.
When you visit the page again, it should load again! The phone does not keep the cache, which creates certain delays, and if you do not have a network, then it is impossible to view the page. There is a very convenient function "Reading List", you leave the pages for later, they have a large icon, a short description. Probably someone will decide that the pages in this list are saved in the phone's memory and can be called up even without the Internet? But this is not so, on the plane I looked at the splash screen that there was no connection. What is the deeper meaning of the function is not very clear to me. Additional bookmarks and nothing more.
Favorites usually, you can sync it with your Windows 10 desktop PC, which will delight the users of this system. But there is no way to sync with more popular browsers.
Search engines for Russia have Bing, Yandex is the default, but no Google. This is surprising, since in the outside world, EDGE masquerades as Google Chrome, and does not appear under its own name. This sometimes leads to very funny consequences, for example, when you call a link from the Windows 10 system application on your phone to download MS Outlook, the Play Store opens in the browser with the corresponding Android application. The mistake is very rare, but revealing and funny.
Unfortunately, no one, except Microsoft, develops decent browsers for Windows Phone, you will not find Chrome or Safari here. As a consequence, in the absence of alternatives, you will be bound to that browser. One hope is that it will someday be finished, increase performance, add a data cache. At the time of this writing, the EDGE browser is also one of the most power-hungry applications, it drains the battery with a bang. Fans of the Microsoft system are already coming up with options for how to avoid this, for example, you can prevent the browser from running in the background or manually close it after work. Comfortable? It's Windows!
Microsoft application store, cost of programs and their capabilities
The design of the app store has been redesigned in the style of the previous version of Android, there was a rejection of tiles in each of the views, now it is something in between. Again, this is taste, which does not deserve attention, another matter is the quantity and quality of applications, as well as their capabilities.
I'm used to the fact that on Android / iOS you can find many programs that perform the same functions, they differ in both capabilities and design. If in the past on Android many programs were crooked from the point of view of following the wishes in design from Google, then last year this has hardly been observed. They all look roughly the same style and are perceived the same; on iOS, Apple has achieved this from developers much earlier.
The state of Windows 10 and third-party programs can be characterized simply: some in the woods, some for firewood. No uniformity can be traced even remotely, the program settings are randomly scattered across different menus, as well as the size of fonts, the arrangement of elements and other "little things" differ. All together creates a feeling of a messy system, you never know and are not sure how the application that you download from the store will look like.
Historically, it turned out that third-party developers, both large companies and small players, did not want to create software for Windows Phone. Microsoft had to pay for the adaptation of existing programs, but very quickly MS realized that they would go down the drain if they gave everyone money for it. The path was a dead end. Moreover, the complexity of programming for Windows Phone caused rejection among developers, plus a small number of users, most of whom are not ready to pay for applications, since they use phones for calls and SMS, but not as modern smartphones. All this created the conditions when the struggle for the number of applications in the store from Microsoft began, when it was necessary to catch up with other systems. And this led to disastrous results, the store turned into a garbage dump that lives its own life, different from the life of the entire planet.
So, in the store you can find programs that were created on the knee in a couple of hours to show you how to program! For example, this is one of the video players that I stumbled upon by accident. And the creator is not at all shy about this and added this information to the description of the program.
But these are flowers, berries begin at the moment when you are trying to find something, a search in the app store almost never gives an adequate result. The descriptions of the programs are so crooked that many of them drop out of the search, you will not be able to find them unless you know the name exactly. Not cool.
Despite the fact that there are program charts, there are not so many interesting software in them. See what the top 10 apps look like on Android, iOS and Windows 10 Mobile and feel the difference.
Windows 10 Mobile
Let me give you a simple example from life. I like to play different games on the road, preferring the widespread Tower Defense genre. There are more than a dozen excellent games on iOS / Android, on both platforms they coincide almost entirely, and the total number of toys in this genre is estimated at a hundred something, if not more. How many games of this genre are on Windows 10? Exactly one, according to a Microsoft store search term.
As I mentioned above, many free programs from other platforms are not available on Windows 10 or have severely reduced functionality. For example, the same Instagram is in beta, there is no support for videos and many effects, as well as editing tools. In the alternative and best client 6tag, you will have to pay 119 rubles for the ability to work with video.
The main complaint about the software for Windows 10 Mobile is that it has no alternative, no different versions programs. But even more depressing is the fact that the software itself is extremely simple, to match the system. By the standards of the modern OS world, this is a kind of stone age. I tried to remember at least one program that on Windows 10 Mobile would be superior in its characteristics to similar software on iOS / Android, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not do it.
Moreover, MIcrosoft considers their own operating system to be so poor and limited in capabilities that they create software for their services primarily for iOS / Android, this is a trend of the last year. Interestingly, software for other people's systems is the first to receive functions that will appear on Windows 10 Mobile in a year or will not appear at all. That is, a natural question arises, what is the advantage of the operating system from Microsoft, if all branded services are available in the best quality on iOS / Android? For Microsoft fans, this fact is very painful, they try to come up with many excuses to shield the company. But I see here only that the development for other systems is so much easier that even at Microsoft they prove it with their software. What could be the best Windows 10 Mobile anti-ads?
And this is another indirect indication of where the company is heading and why it is going to ditch the current version of the system in favor of regular Windows 10 running on Intel processors.
Microsoft Outlook - mail on the top ten
Many of my acquaintances like MS Outlook on a personal computer so much that they install some version of Windows on their MacBook and use their mail in this environment. Outlook Anywhere did not inherit all the features from its elders, but it did not become an ugly duckling either. The mobile version of MS received the ability to attach files to messages from OneDrive, other programs, but not from the file system, which is actually not there for the user. The engine has added the formatting of letters, as in MS Word, which is not bad, many HTML pages open in the MS EDGE window. There are even gestures when you can swipe certain messages in the menu and configure an action for them (check the box or archive - this is the default, or you can set other actions). There is a combined mailbox, but there is no filter system, which may upset someone. But there is good integration with the calendar, when events can be entered into it with a few taps. Another thing is that there is simply nothing unusual or distinguishing this program from the standard GMail mail on Android.
Navigation online and offline, maps Here
For me, the quality of navigation is measured not only by the drawing of maps, but also by the number of POIs by which you can search for certain objects. In Here, the number of points that are available both online and offline is not very large, and their relevance leaves much to be desired, the same Google Maps is a cut above. In the US, I used the Here navigation for a week, compared it with Google Maps, and all the time I realized that without such insurance I would often miss when stores are open, where they are located, and the routes would be far from optimal. The main reason is that cards can be improved when a large number of people use them, but here it simply does not. The only plus is the ability to download maps of different regions for offline navigation (free of charge).
Universal apps, or UWP
Microsoft has decided to fight the lack of quality mobile apps by creating a Universal Apps Platform (UWP).
Developers with a minimal number of changes can create their applications for different devices, and the user gets virtually the same application on each of the devices. Comfortable? Undoubtedly. The problem here is exactly the same as before. Many creators of software for the desktop version of Windows are not represented in any way on mobile platforms, which means that they cannot be the source of such software. But those developers who are active on iOS / Android will almost never create applications for Windows, since they do not see this market. Isolated cases of universal applications show that they are created either by Microsoft itself or by large companies. As a rule, such applications are not too complicated when it comes to third-party developers.
Р'РёРґР¶РµС ‚РѕС‚ SocialMart
All sorts of things and some impressions
It so happened that Microsoft began to actively release its key applications for iOS / Android, for example, this applies to the office suite, that is, now these applications are more functional on foreign platforms. Marvelous? Not that word. And there is no reason to get them within Windows 10 Mobile, except for the cost of the subscription, which may differ in the future, now it is zero everywhere. I don't see much point in describing this software, it is well known.
As well as stop at MS Groove, TV and Movies, the applications "News", "Finance". They are all standard and familiar, they have both positive and negative features, but they cannot have any decisive influence on the choice of the system.
Almost two months with the Lumia 950, a few updates to the OS in that time, and a conclusion that many will not like. The system remains crude. It gets to the unimaginable, the Photos app (album) suddenly starts consuming energy like abnormal, about 7% of the battery per hour. For half a day, the phone is discharged to zero, and at the exit I have only irritation. The error is well known, documented, and they promise to fix it in the near future, in a month or two.
I like the fact that now, at least, you can get the GMail phone book, pull up contacts from the cloud from Google, no crutches are needed. But I absolutely do not like the fact that applications live an independent life, and the system is assembled from separate bricks that they did not bother to bring to a common denominator.
Of the funny, but typical for Windows 10 Mobile errors, I can remember the alarm clock. If you miss your alarm in the morning and don't touch your phone, then the next morning you will know that you missed it twice. That is, first you will be shown a new alarm clock, and then the missed old one. This does not fit into my mind. The system does not replace with a new event something that has already passed and has not received a response from the user. I don't care what happened to the alarm clock yesterday, I already missed it, and I don't need it. Why show it a second time? Moreover, the alarm is set to the same time throughout the week.
Another point, which is very annoying, is the constant suggestions to restart the phone, since he believes that the SIM card or its settings have changed. No changes were made, and after the reboot everything starts over. The glitch is floating, it happened that he was gone for a week, and then he again manifests itself and annoys.
The system turned out to be very crude, moreover, many things that worked in Windows Phone 8.1 are missing or work incorrectly here. And this is a clear step backward, which cannot be corrected in any way. For example, for the "People" bookmark, all social accounts associated with a person's name were removed, now they cannot be viewed from the bookmark, as before.
This system is perfect for budget devices from which people call, write SMS, sometimes use other functions. But you can't call it a full-fledged and modern platform for a smartphone. Of course, everyone here can have their own opinion, but even after waiting a couple of months from the start of sales of the Lumia 550/950/950 XL, I did not wait for a stable version of Windows 10 Mobile and fixes for minor and serious bugs. The reason is that the system is not being actively developed and de facto has already been abandoned, it is a living dead. Of course, many of its elements will form the basis of the next version, today the build numbers of Windows do not differ in any way between the mobile and desktop versions, in the future the unification will be even greater. It was possible to delve into individual details, but this is not necessary. What is described above is enough to assess what Windows 10 Mobile is capable of and what it cannot do and will never learn. At the moment, the demand for Windows 10 Mobile smartphones is at a historic low for Windows Phone, sales of three Lumia models are so low that with the same Lumia 950 they give the Lumia 550 completely free of charge. And here it should be noted that the devices have normal hardware, but everything rests on the system itself, which the market and consumers on it did not accept. And there is simply nothing to add to this, the share of Windows Phone in the world fell by 1 percent and continues to decline. This is not even the category "Others", but less. In the first quarter of 2016, third place after Android and iOS, oddly enough, will be taken by Tizen, sales of one and a half months speak about this with all clarity.
P.S. Reviews of Lumia 950/550 will appear in the next few days, in which I will focus on my impressions of the hardware and the devices themselves.
Recently, I have often heard statements from users that the mobile version of Windows 10 is dead and you need to quickly get rid of it, but is this really so? Let's try to understand this issue more thoroughly.
Honestly, Windows users are amazing people and at the slightest rustle they panic and say that everything is gone.
Let's start a little with history. For the first time Windows Mobile appeared already in 2000, which was based on Windows CE, which in turn appeared in 1996, after which there were already 6 versions of Windows Mobile, which were supported until 2012. Yes, in the early 2000s, Windows Mobile was on top, but with the advent of other mobile operating systems that were more responsive to users, the share of Windows Mobile dropped sharply, but nevertheless Microsoft supported it for as long as possible, until the release of Windows 8.
Microsoft understood that Windows Mobile needed a restart and on February 15, 2010, Steve Ballmer officially unveiled the new Windows Phone mobile operating system. Back then, Microsoft and Nokia signed a cooperation contract. Strange as it may seem, but it so happened that the Nokia brand also needed a restart, and therefore, for a certain amount of money, Microsoft simply bought the Finnish mobile division. After that, fruitful cooperation began. Nokia was engaged in its smartphones, which were great in design, of course this does not apply to cinder blocks like 920 Lumiya, but then there was his revolutionary mother wireless charging, which slightly leveled this defect. Carl Zeiss optics were the highlight of smartphones and they took pictures really well, even by today's standards. Microsoft, in turn, was engaged in software and supposedly exclusive support for Nokia, since in fact it was already their company. And the people who followed the tandem of these two giants were sure, including me, that it would be just bombing phones that would wipe out the nose of all iPhones and Samsung, but this did not happen. When Windows Phone 7 came out, they turned out to be kind of nondescript and not very functional. And in principle, both developers and users, oddly enough, were not particularly upset. And they said that this is supposedly their first joint devices and everything is still ahead. And after the release of the new Windows Phone 8 platform, we already saw some work on the bugs. The smartphones looked pretty cute. The aforementioned flagship Lumiya 920, although it looked like a brick, was still popular. After that, by the way, Microsoft updated the smartphone to version 925. He looked much cooler and thinner. Even then I could not resist and bought Lumia 820.920 was too much for me, as it seemed to me huge, and 720 is rather weak. Although the Lumia 720 was the most beautiful smartphone at the time. The Lumia 820 had an excellent 8MP camera with dual LED flash and a good design, which won me over. It seems to me that it was during the existence of Windows Phone 8 that the mobile OS was at the peak of its popularity. Then came Windows Phone 8.1 and the new 3rd and 4th line of Lumia smartphones, which were great from the design side. Moderately graceful and not oversized.
Then Microsoft announced the release of Windows 10 and again renamed Windows Phone to Windows Mobile. It released at the end of 2015 smartphones of the 5th line called Lumia 950 and 950 XL - this is a kind of cosplay on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The phones, frankly speaking, turned out to be not the best and with a rather buggy OS at that time. Microsoft realized that it could not give such a system to other older smartphones, so it delayed the release of the tenth Windows until March 2016, after which all smartphones of the 3rd and 4th line, Lumia 1520 and third-party smartphones were able to receive this cherished update. The second line of smartphones did not officially receive Windows 10 Mobile, but still, through Windows Insider, Microsoft allowed updating to version 10 without problems, but after that, of course, it banned the release of assemblies for these smartphones, summarizing this by the fact that smartphones are too old, but the Top Ten on them it was possible to get.
So this is what I mean by all this. This story was needed to restore a certain consistency. To be honest, there were even skeptics who, back in the early 2000s, said that Windows Mobile is an unnecessary OS and that will soon die, but almost 20 years have passed and the system is still alive. It has had ups and downs, but still there are people who use it and do not want to give it up. Even Microsoft itself claims that it will not stop releasing builds for smartphones on Windows 10 Mobile. This is already a good sign, another thing if Microsoft were silent at all, and so one can hope that for several more years the mobile Windows will receive updates in the form that it will now receive. Yes, my God, even Windows RT, which has dozens of times less users than Windows 10 Mobile, still receives updates, even one owner of this tablet once told me that a menu was added to the RT version Start, like in Windows 10, while, let me remind you, the system was released in 2012, 5 years ago, and after that you will say that Windows 10 Mobile is dead? At the moment I have Lumia 830, the phone was released in the fall of 2014, now it is already 2017. It's been about 2.5 years and the smartphone is still receiving updates. Many Android smartphones cannot even afford this. Even if suddenly the updates stop coming out for this platform, then the phone will immediately turn into a brick? It will still work, except perhaps there will be problems with some applications, but looking at the same Windows RT, which is less popular, while everyone has already forgotten about it, except for Microsoft and some enthusiasts, then we can say that Windows 10 Mobile will still live very long.
Personally, I can say that, for example, I broke the Lumia 820 in 2014, when I was riding a bike and fell on the right side, and it was on that side that I had a phone in my pocket and I still haven't been able to fix it. , due to the lack of the desired part. The Lumia 830 has already been repaired once, though it was under warranty, but it was still, so most likely the Lumia smartphones themselves will die faster than the mobile operating system from Microsoft.
Yes, Microsoft is preparing new smartphones, which should be closer to the functionality of a full-fledged Windows 10, but in parallel, ordinary mobile Windows will live, no one is going to give it up. I have been hearing for about 2 years that the mobile system is dead. And that she is dead now? No, more alive than all the living.
If we talk about the problems of Windows 10 Mobile, then there is only one. This is very expensive devices... If Microsoft sold these devices at a loss, like the Xbox 360, the system would have a much larger user and developer base. It is the valuable one that we kill two birds with one stone. Since users, looking at branded smartphones from Microsoft, still chose similar phones on the Android system, since they are cheaper and better in performance, and more wealthy people took the iPhone, because it is an iPhone. Like, if you have an iPhone, then you have taken place in this life. And smartphones on Windows Phone and Windows Mobile were mainly taken by enthusiasts and those people who wanted to try something new. Some are gradually leaving for other systems, while others are returning, as they are accustomed to this OS.
Microsoft has paused for the moment, there were rumors about a full-fledged Windows 10 on smartphones with Intel Atom processors, but Intel has curtailed their production, and now Microsoft is hoping for Qualcomm, the new chips of which support Windows 10 and DirectX 12 at the hardware level. ARM chips will can be built into both smartphones and laptops, while thanks to the Andromeda project, the system will adapt to the device, it will even be able to run x86 applications thanks to the emulator of this architecture.
Switch to another mobile system or stay on Windows 10 Mobile - it's up to you. I am in no way defending Microsoft, since it is she who is mostly to blame in the mobile market, but even now this system suits me completely. There are plenty of apps in the store, and the protection is pretty good on a smartphone. What else do you need to use? If you are still playing toys on your phone, and the required games are not available on this OS, then most likely Windows Mobile did not suit you initially. I repeat once again - the system is not dead and yet, perhaps, it can even surprise with something.
Microsoft said a new version the operating system for smartphones will be completely separated from the entire Windows 10 series. This system is called Andromeda and all phones that will be released after the OS release will use this version. Modern gadgets will not be able to support the Andromeda OS.
Support for the current edition of the OS for phones will continue for the next year and a half. After this period, Windows 10 Mobile will no longer be updated and supported by the manufacturer.
The Andromeda operating system will take into account any form factor, which will allow it to be installed on any device capable of supporting it. However, all smartphones from Microsoft released before the release of the new OS will not be able to use it.
Also interesting is the fact that Google is developing new items in the field operating systems with the same name as Microsoft - Andromeda. This operating system will be designed to combine the operating systems Android and Chrome.
New development branch - Feature 2
Feature 2 is a new offshoot of Windows 10 Mobile development that is completely isolated from its entire series. It was this separation from the main project that caused the closure of the current version.
This version of the software will be supported by developers for the next year and a half. For the current version of the OS, bug fixes will be released, new features for specialized versions will be introduced, and a security service will be supported.
The developers also announced the backportation of a new multitasking platform for the current version of Windows 10 Mobile, which is used on more modern platforms, for example, Redstone 3 and 4. This innovation is needed for Feature 2, since it is similar in functionality and capabilities to Redstone 2. Such support will be provided until the end of the Windows 10 Mobile project.
Backporting for the current software modification is necessary so that the smartphones supporting it do not become obsolete early. This will allow them to use modern applications and applications that will be released during the remainder of the OS support period. After graduation new development support for the old will end, and phones like the Lumia 950 or HP Elit x3 will quickly become obsolete.
Windows mobile version
The latest edition of the operating system for smartphones is the usual Windows 10, but adapted for devices with a display diagonal not exceeding 9 inches. The entry of this OS was in February 2015. The main feature of this version is the ability to connect the phone to a stationary computer with their full synchronization, as well as the use of a smartphone as a full-fledged system unit when a monitor, keyboard and mouse are connected to it.
However, Microsoft was unable to occupy its significant niche in the market for smartphones and operating systems for them. At the moment, almost everyone mobile devices run on software from Android or iOS. On Windows, only 0.4% falls. At the same time, 80% of smartphones from Microsoft use Windows Phone 7, 8 or 8.1 and only 20% support Windows 10 Mobile.
