This is news from Microsoft itself, though it's a bit of stuff and nonsense in terms of branding and partnerships at the end of the day. Still, with all the 'iOS & Android' prose in the original story, I wanted to emphasise that the 'new' Microsoft News is also just as much part of Windows 10 Mobile, even if it's not called out explicitly. Because... of course. It's Windows 10.
This won't be news to most AAWP readers, since we've been tracking the beta versions of the UWP implementation of Podcast Lounge for a while, with numerous Flow updates. But today the commercial app Podcast Lounge 2 is formally launched for all Windows 10 users, on phone, tablet, desktop, etc. I've never seen a beta testing period as extended and as in depth, but the winners are its users, as it arrives fully rounded, with depth in terms of functions and podcast discovery.
Last featured here back in November 2017, Whatsapp is a stalwart Windows Phone 8.1 application that has been continually updated month after month, year after year. And, on the whole, keeping parity with the versions of this messaging tool on iOS and Android. Below, I attempt a changelog summary of everything added so far in 2018.
Last covered here, a month ago, Twitter's new PWA app status on many platforms has meant that the company has been able to roll out updates server-side. And a big one hit last night, with the Explore 'tab' now much expanded and with Twitter's 'Moments' now scrolling vertically, which is more intuitive and consistent. All good, though the big downside of using PWA tech for the Windows 10 UWP app is that there are no push notifications (anymore).
The world of Internet services moves at a pace and it's not surprising that older platforms don't get on fully with the latest services and APIs. In this case it's the official Twitter client for Windows Phone 8.1 that has stopped working - we did know that this might happen at the start of June, according to Twitter's own announcements. You'll remember that they replaced their (also quite old) UWP application with an all-encompassing PWA in the Store a few months ago? Don't panic if you're on 8.1 though, third party clients come to the rescue.
People think of Windows 10 Mobile being dead. Not quite. Not yet. We're still looking at (at least) a year of support in terms of monthly patches and fixes for Windows 10 Mobile 'Fall Creators Update'. And build 15254.401 (from .369) is fresh out today, so go grab it for all phones currently on the 'Fall Creators Update'. Meanwhile the Creators Update branch gets its regular patches and the Anniversary Update gets a first 'extension' patch.
It's no secret in the Windows 10 world that Maps has its share of issues - one of which is horribly outdated map data in some countries and one of which is that the online 'quick match' search results aren't (ironically) matched up to the format of place names in the offline maps, resulting in 'We can't find' errors on the very thing you just accepted. Happily, this is now sorted out, as of a server-side fix applied a few hours ago.
The Alcatel IDOL 4 Pro, available across Europe, seemed to have fallen through the cracks at Microsoft and was not provisioned to update to Windows 10 Mobile (CU or) 'Fall Creators Update' retail builds, despite being 'officially supported'. However, changes behind the scenes an hour ago on Microsoft's Windows Update servers have finally fixed the upgrade path for this, the only currently sold Windows 10 Mobile 'flagship' in Europe, we can exclusively report.
People think of Windows 10 Mobile being dead. Not quite. Not yet. We're still looking at over a year of support in terms of monthly patches and fixes for Windows 10 Mobile 'Fall Creators Update'. And build 15254.369 (from .313) is fresh out today, so go grab it for all phones currently on the 'Fall Creators Update'.
As we approach April's Patch Tuesday updates (ok, they've been a day or two late in recent times, but...!), it's worth noting that this one will be the last ever patch for 'Windows 10 Mobile Anniversary Update'. Which is massive in theory, but it won't impact too many real world users, especially those clued up phone users who read AAWP, as I explain below.
