A month ago I featured Launcher10, a replacement launcher for Android which emulates the live tile system of Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile. But if you want to switch to a newer platform yet don't have to take tiles with you then Microsoft offers its own replacement launcher for Android, tying its own Assistant, browser, services and ideas - yet keeping the look and feel of an Android launcher, with no unexpected surprises. I reviewed this last year, but it has seen numerous updates since then, summarised below, to coincide with the new v5.5 being available in the Play Store (in the UK and elsewhere outside the USA), a rather massive update in itself.
The biggest new UWP application for Windows 10 (and yes, including phones) to arrive in June, Spotimo is a third party Spotify client that pulls out every stop in order to deliver a smooth and fluent interface. It's beautiful, it's fast, it's arguably way better than an official Spotify UWP client might have been. Read on for the link, screenshots and impressions.
Windows 10 Mobile is now somewhat in the rear view mirror in terms of Microsoft's mobile plans, though it can be argued that its spirit will live on in terms of 'modern OS'. And the OS is still supported, whatever you might have read elsewhere. Under the hood the foundations are receiving kernel and security fixes today, for all phones currently running the 1709 and 1703 branches. Grab this June 2019 update in Settings, in the usual way. Note that this may be branch 1703's last ever kernel and security update.
VLC's UWP version for all Windows 10 phones, tablets and (yes) desktops has been advancing steadily in terms of reliability, performance, and international support. It's such a useful media player, even on phones which already have Microsoft (local) music and video players. Below is my summarised changelog (for v3.2.1) since we last featured VLC here a year ago (for v3.0.2), including four separate updates during approximately 14 months.
Last covered at the start of 2019, myTube! hasn't quite reached the 'next generation' v4.x that is promised for 2019, though it's definitely still coming. But fear not, for there has been a mountain of changes and fixes to the main v3.x codebase since our last story, see the list below and with the app last updated yesterday.
Spotify has effectively ended its service on Windows-powered phones, as of last week, with the withdrawal of the core search facilities (i.e. for music). This was expected and I try to provide links and quotes below to chronicle Spotify on the platform(s). As to alternatives, there's a third party client, but it does come with a few quirks and caveats.
Windows 10 Mobile may be far from the front line of Microsoft's 2019 mobile plans, but the OS is still supported, whatever you might have read elsewhere. Underneath the hood the foundations are receiving kernel and security fixes today, for all phones currently running the 1709 and 1703 branches. Grab this May 2019 update in Settings, in the usual way, though see the note below about backups. Next month will be the interesting one, with 1703 probably getting its last ever kernel and security update.
Last covered here back in March, Twitter keeps on improving its Twitter PWA, most easily accessed on Windows 10 Mobile through the official UWP Store application, even if the code changes are all server-side. Still, Twitter gets smoother and more functional week by week - it's the flagship social network for W10M these days, I'd argue. Here's what's new, updated and fixed.
With various scare stories being put forward over the weekend, I thought it appropriate to refute them with the aid of an informed tweet or two. The scare was that Microsoft wasn't going to update the Store client for Windows 10 Mobile anymore, potentially leading to something breaking earlier than planned. However, this didn't seem quite right, this early, and the dependable Rudy Huyn came to the rescue with an informed MVP viewpoint.
One of the interesting things about Microsoft's Groove Music player application for Windows 10 (whether for desktop or mobile) is that, in addition to local playback of music files on the device, it can also stream music files found on your OneDrive. Well, it can until April, after which Microsoft is killing the server hook-ups that let this happen. Why Microsoft is doing this is a mystery, especially since it hits Groove Music on their beloved PCs/desktops as well. As many have mentioned on social media, maybe Microsoft really does hate consumers? Now, are there workarounds?
