Every site deserves a small hiatus over Christmas and the holiday season, and the All About sites are no different. In fact, for personal reasons (an immediate family funeral in my case) the gap in content started yesterday, and things will resume in the week after Christmas. Hopefully with an addition to the All About site roster. See below...
For the last 20 years of smartphone cameras, from the earliest Symbian handsets (Nokia Nseries, mainly, then the 808 PureView) through the Lumias (1020, 950, mainly), and with iPhones and Android handsets also providing highlights here and there, users have had two main options in terms of phone imaging, both compromised. That changes this week, do please read on.
The Surface Duo launch has been something of a long, drawn out affair, and even now the first USA reviewers are bound not to show the device turned on, since evaluation of the software is both waiting for updates and also the expiry of an embargo (possibly the date of public availability in the shops). But we are starting to see real units handled and shop presence, so I've embedded a few likely candidates below along with some thoughts on the Duo's future...
After a month's reprieve(!), Windows 10 Mobile really does receive today its very last OS/security update, marking the end of Microsoft's official support, though of course phones aren't going to suddenly stop working. Under the hood here there are kernel and security fixes, for all phones currently running the '1709' branch (potentially most of you, see the upgrade/hack links below). Grab this last (January 2020) update in Settings. Make the most of it, it's the last time you'll ever be seeing those cogs*.
So... it's the end of 2018 and AAWP is still around. And you're wondering what our plans are for next year, in the context of one OS which is now officially not supported anymore (Windows Phone) and one which is entering its last year (Windows 10 Mobile)? Some thoughts below, but not until we have wished you all a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Surprising everyone, this month's 'February update for branch 1709' from Microsoft includes new Windows Hello code that completely fixes the fingerprint recognition issues that the Alcatel IDOL 4 Pro has had since launch.
The headline above is more of a confirmation than a revelation, of course, but it's still worth stating, if only to work out the phones that are still going to be supported. The sources here are independent tweets from Jason Howard and Brandon Le Blanc, senior managers on the Windows Insider programme. Below, I dig deep into timescales and support windows to find out what this means for some classic Lumias.
As each new build of next year's Redstone 2 Creators Update for Windows 10 Mobile hit over the last few months, the 'Slow' Insider ring had stuck determinedly to mirroring the Redstone Anniversary Update 'Release Preview' builds. I'd been saying that it was only a matter of time before the 'Slow' ring got switched up to the next major OS version and this has now happened (last night). Changing the update landscape for many of our enthusiast Windows 10 Mobile devices.
Although Microsoft never gave an exact date for the start of the official Windows 10 Mobile upgrade for existing Windows Phone 8.1 users, it's fair to say that its hints were originally for late 2015 - which then slipped a little. However, at least Q1, 2016 was achieved, if only by a couple of weeks, with the arrival of Windows 10 (10586.164) for a whole clutch of devices, including the popular Lumia 640, 735, 830 and 930. There's an initial hurdle, presumably to make sure that only keener users get Windows 10, and then this will be replaced by the full 'pushed' update later.
The latest set of Kantar Worldpanel data, released today, shows mixed fortunes in terms of the sales share for Windows Phone devices in various market. Figures for the 3 months ending February 2014 suggests a slow down in growth in some of the platform's strongest markets (Italy, UK, France), but there are improved figures in the US and Germany.
