Last week I covered how to safely 'refresh' a Windows 10 Mobile-running smartphone, i.e. clearing out under the hood cruft but staying on the current OS build (whatever that might be). Today I cover something a bit more drastic - deciding to jump off whichever Insider build you're currently on and go 'back' to production status. Unsurprisingly, there are some potential pitfalls along the way - see the steps below and you should avoid them!
The time has come, it really has. If you've been putting off that upgrade from Windows Phone 8.1 to Windows 10 Mobile then perhaps the imminent cessation of Skype support (it still works as I write this, but is in its last days on WP8.1) and the also imminent demise of the BBC iPlayer application will prompt you to leap into action. It may be that your phone is now so old (2012/2013) that it's not supported for the upgrade, but for anything newer then now is the time. Here's how to make sure things go smoothly.
Now, this concept design for an upcoming Surface Phone dates from last year, but I've been hunting around the various outrageous concept designs online and this is the one that rang true. It's still a figment of the artist's (Bartlomiej Tarnowski's) imagination, but he's clearly put a lot of thought into it. With such a device being six months to 18 months away (hopefully closer to the former), I thought it was time for some blue sky commentary to go along with the excellent concept imagery.
It's something we all think about at some point or other - whatever version/branch/ring of Windows 10 Mobile that you're currently on, and especially if it involves Insider builds or trying loads of applications, there will come a point when you fancy 'factory fresh' performance again. No under-the-hood cruft, no detritus. Here are the steps needed to keep things smooth and ensure that you don't lose anything in the process.
Wrapping up MWC 2017 week, and with Rafe exhausted after 100,000 steps in five days, I wanted to provide at least a taste of this year's show, via Rafe's Twitter feed, via my own analysis, and so on. On the AAWP front, we saw the revised HP Elite x3 and news that the IDOL 4S Pro is heading to Europe, but the scope of MWC is vastly wider and Rafe's good at finding interesting tit-bits, see the embedded tweets below!
My series 'Anatomy of a Lumia photo' (here's #1!) has proved popular, even though I used the HP Elite x3 instead for #2 and even though I'm gradually widening out the title! Anyway, here goes another, reverting back to the Lumia 950 XL again - light is again one of the key themes. As it should be for anyone with a keen shutterbug eye!
Guest writer Jason Snowden has been thinking laterally - literally(!) Given that Android and iOS mobiles have homescreen panoramas that scroll sideways, plus Windows itself on the desktop has had the same from Windows 8.x onwards, why shouldn't Windows 10 Mobile adopt the same idea? Here are Jason's thoughts, plus a mock-up or two!
Mobile World Congress 2017 is upon us then. Which means Rafe Blandford is prowling the halls (with his various hats on). And every manufacturer under the sun is bringing out unibody metal-and-glass touch slabs with near ubiquitous feature sets. Which, as a contrast, got me pondering about the Lumia 950 XL, whose USPs seem to grow monthly!
The 'Alcatel IDOL 4S with Windows 10' is the latest W10M flagship on the scene - and it's fair to say that its strengths lie in materials and in audio. Imaging isn't its strongest suit, but as Anthony Fear and I show below, in most light conditions, it's not too bad. Putting it against the Lumia 950 XL, here's our interactive head-to-head.
The disappearance of the Lumia 950 XL from sale across the world over the last three months has been disappointing, not just because it was Microsoft's flagship phone but also because the 950 XL is still a terrific smartphone. A market-leading phone camera, a glorious screen, plenty of RAM, a decent speaker (after it has been tweaked) and, best of all, the nigh on unique feature (in 2017) of having a user replaceable back and battery. Making it a doddle, in the absence of a new phone replacement, to simply freshen up with some Mozo (and battery) love.
