AAWP's very own Universal Windows Platform app, 'AAWP Universal', has been updated again, with attention paid to formatting and reliability. In fairness to Joe, the developer, much of this has been driven by past downtime and link errors on AAWP itself, i.e. it wan't the application's fault. So, to go along with the app update, we've done a few improvements to AAWP itself. Hooray!
The story so far. Microsoft's Maps product, built into all Windows 10 devices (including phones), had been using out of date (2016) maps from HERE, pending a major platform update in terms of how Microsoft massage and process the raw map data. Prompting complaints from users and a response from the Bing Maps team. Happily, I can reveal that the new data went live overnight for much of the world, with my 'canary roads' in the UK now present and correct. Phew!
After my story a fortnight ago on why it didn't need updating to match the iOS and Android versions because they were just playing catch-up, effectively, it turns out there was an update coming to the News UWP app for Windows 10 Mobile, but it's out now and it's fairly minor. But worth screenshotting.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Following our criticism of the outdated maps used in Windows 10 Maps, Microsoft has now got back to AAWP officially, so see the statement below. Summary? They know that the licensed HERE maps are stale, but there have been some fundamental platform updates which required rework, and they hope to be back on track by the 'summer' (of 2018).
