"Two independent sources inside of Microsoft have told me that there is a new hardware device being tested internally and that there is also a separate branch of Windows Mobile for this device."
You see thurott interprets this as "reboot". But if you think about what he's actually been told, that its a "branch", its obvious its not a reboot. A branch, isn't a reboot. A branch is a fork in the road, it means that there is another "branch" ie win10m. Two OS SKUs, one for the new device, and one for the current devices.
Pretty logical if you consider it.
It seems IMO to be talking about Andromeda.
Andromeda, because its a new form factor, with as far as I can tell, dual detachable screens, requires its own OS. Obviously win10m wasn't designed for that sort of application.
Check here, in my thread, which discusses code found, and aspirational videos, that came about well before all this recent talk of new phone hardware.
And keep in mind the COO of surface division and the CEO of MSFT words about "will not look like phones do today". When MSFT releases a phone, it will not look like phones today. That is, it won't just have a hinge and a keyboard slapped on, it won't just have different software, but it will be a radical departure from slab smartphones.
They were both teasing a current project - Andromeda.
Anyway, here's the thread I made:
https://forums.windowscentral.com/u...phones/459251-andromeda-what.html#post3670664
Here's one of the parts of code that was found:
https://mobile.twitter.com/h0x0d/status/865492892734730241
Here's the code showing Andromeda is an sku of windows, like win10m is:
https://mobile.twitter.com/h0x0d/sta...92892734730241
*God dang it, one of thems been taken down, see next post
And here's a screen cap of the detachable clamshell dual screen design, from microsofts much earlier aspirational video:
View attachment 135864
As you can see, this stuff, which (sorry to repeat this) is actually part of the windows code, is a lot more concrete than whispers from his insiders (although they entirely match, which does make me wonder if the similar whispers about "one last Lumia this year to tide us over until the new thing" might also be true). And it shows what is obvious linguistically, "a branch" is not a reboot, it's a deviation from, it's a new device catergory with matching OS.
People have been saying reboot for so long now, all this surface phone, windows on arm on a phone, ultramobile blah, blah, I don't think a lot of these bloggers can see the wood for the trees any more. Almost everything they hear no matter what it is, they see "reboot". They are "reboot mad".
The writing is right there on the wall of the current windows code - this is a new SKU (ie branch of the OS), based on win10m, with a "hinge value" and TWO SEPERATE sets of gyros. It's not a reboot, its a new type of product, like the surface was.
And despite there being hard proof in the windows code, none of these bloggers remotely see this coming. They are being dropped clues all over the place, and they still haven't got it. Reboot this, cshell that. The CEO made it completely clear what their intention was. The COO echoed his words. They literally showed us what it might look like in a video, and now these leakers are telling us "new branch based on win10m", but...still they imagine some slab phone with a new OS being the next step......
That said, blog writers are not serious journalists. They are click farms. They make money with sensationalist titles, and their only intergerity or accuracy requirements are hardware/software reviews, and tech events. The rest of the time, they have full license to ramble whatever speculative whatever they like - and are encouraged to, if people click the link, buy into the speculation, and spread it to their friends.
It's a bit like the "converting to apple" articles on the main page here. You know they only do that because like an article on feminism, the feminists click to support, the anti-feminists click to hate, and nobody wins but the advertising revenue and google rankings.
I'm not saying I know exactly what this "Andromeda" device is, or what it will be called. But if there's a new branch of windows, with a matching mobile device- well that's in the code already, was spotted awhile back, its this, which is absolutely not a reboot, it's not even nessasarily a replacement. Its a totally new, separate, thing, with a different type of useage, like hybrid tablets were, when they released the first surface.
Amusing side note: Virtually all windows bloggers seem to think Andromeda is something to do with cshell, because someone said it once, and Chinese whispers. So far as I know, no blogger has reported on these code discoveries that actually make it pretty clear what Andromeda is, and what the "new device with a new os' is. The site we are on, has referred to it as an aspect of cshell, and I imagine thurott probably has to. Blogs aren't nessasarily authorities. Heck, news channels aren't. Not saying I am, I get plenty wrong, but with this one, actually all the pieces of evidence are clearer than they usually are with these things.
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