So has BUILD basically outlined the future of Windows Phone?

[Drael646464]

Saw some pics of Fluent Designs in W10M. Ill take that as a good sign

Searched that up using duckduck go. Turns out you are totally right about them developing fluent design for win 10 mobile.

Dunno why this isn't on the front page with all the other FDS news.

(People have noted they visually differ slightly from desktop: indeed groove looks nothing like this on my desktop CU, and Films & TV doesn't have any FDS for me - is it insiders for mobile or still coming?)

TV & Movies on windows 10 mobile:


Groove Music on windows 10 mobile:

 

[garisa]

But these are on Redstone 3 I assume? Are they going to come to Redstone 2 as well? They should if I remember correctly?

Sent from mTalk on Windows 10 PC

 

[Drael646464]

But these are on Redstone 3 I assume? Are they going to come to Redstone 2 as well? They should if I remember correctly?

Sent from mTalk on Windows 10 PC

The fast insiders w10 mobile ring got them last night. So redstone 3 aka "FCU", but perhaps they'll roll them out to us via cumulative updates IDK.

 

[garisa]

Silly how FCU reminds of GTFU...

Joke aside, though it sounds a little bit strange, it makes sense.

Sent from mTalk on Windows 10 phone

 

[faisalbaba]

Before BUILD I know a lot of us around here were hoping that Microsoft would have some news regarding the future of their mobile vision. Since that didn't happen... Silence says it all? Anyone want to make their own interpretation?

Seems like more than anything Build highlighted Microsoft's commitment to platform agnostic growth. My own take is they're going full speed ahead with mixed reality and cloud. Windows Phone is not a priority, it no longer completes either of those two visions. It's like everyone else said... the future is devices you can bring with you, just not the kind we currently put in our pocket. But until a full transition is made it's better to focus on the devices currently shaping the market and not ones of MS' own design.

Considering what they showed off this seems like the right move. Windows Phone was clearly holding them back. Without having to commit so heavily to the platform they can invest elsewhere... and it seems to be paying off in spades.

I think they didn't talk mobile at build because they will talk future of mobile at may 23 event in china

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[techiez]

I think they didn't talk mobile at build because they will talk future of mobile at may 23 event in china

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Actually Shanghai is a good place to introduce new hardware(mobile), afterall WPs were popular in Asia.

 

[garisa]

Yeah, right, that's why we can download offline maps for Japan, Korea, China, etc... (Just sarcastic, you can't download them actually.) It's funny how we keep hoping while through don't care. If they are about to release a new devices, it's going to be in the USA first. Even though people in Europe like those phones more. Unless it would be a phone released for Chinese market only.

Sent from mTalk on Windows 10 phone

 

[Drael646464]

Yeah, right, that's why we can download offline maps for Japan, Korea, China, etc... (Just sarcastic, you can't download them actually.) It's funny how we keep hoping while through don't care. If they are about to release a new devices, it's going to be in the USA first. Even though people in Europe like those phones more. Unless it would be a phone released for Chinese market only.

Sent from mTalk on Windows 10 phone

Honestly I think if one is under the impression any corporation "cares" that should be dispelled.

I like MS stuff. I like their direction. MS is pretty charitable, which is cool. But I don't trust any corporation, and I certainly don't believe any of them "care". Business is about cold hard choices, success is usually built on them. In that, I'm far more inclined to trust "the little guy" who is motivated to go out of their way to distinguish themselves, and is also, I guess less burdened by experience.

 

[Drael646464]

I think they didn't talk mobile at build because they will talk future of mobile at may 23 event in china

Sent from mTalk

This is possible. With windows on ARM for tablets planned, a likely surface mini style device may be somewhere in the works. China is a place with a few major manufacturers of smartphones and tablets - Oppo, Leveno, Hauwei and Xiaomi and Shanghai is their trade capital.

The could be demoing the prototype for the "mobile pc", so they can get some OEM partners onboard, and if they do, they will be also talking generally mobility/telephony, so will have to address their general vision for it.

It could also be something else they unveil, but its certainly interesting that they are presenting this in a country that possess all three of the fastest growing mobile phone companies. I doubt its a phone per se, but it seems likely to be a related technology.

 

[anon(9809330)]

Maybe (hopefully) this fall we might see a HP X3 refresh and or an Idol 5S come out with Snapdragon 835 that can run RS3. It was tested with Snapdragon 820 and these are the only Windows phones that have them. No interest what so ever in IOS or Android.

 

[Sedp23]

Build only showed they care about every other mobile os but Windows 10 Mobile

Sent from Idol 4s

 

[Marek Tyrpa]

I was at build and here are some of my thoughts.

Windows Phone had almost no presence at the conference. When they announced the new Azure Mobile Management App, it was announced for iOS and Android, later through a tweet someone at MS mentioned that a UWP app is in the works. This is cryptic because UWP does not necessarily mean a mobile app. Yeah I know that most people use iOS/Android, but MS is NOT some struggling startup, with extremely limited resources. You mean to tell me they could not have developed a UWP/Mobile app at the same time as their iOS/Android offerings? Especially since they now own Xamarin, and keep promoting the whole: write once, run everywhere line... Also the HP Elite was marketed as a business phone, and apparently enough customers wanted HP to make a phone so they would have one OEM for all of their IT needs. So not supporting those customers with what is clearly a business app is a bit strange.

LinkedIn: The ink has long dried, and they are now part of MS. So why no update to the Windows Mobile App? MS has the iOS bridge to Windows Mobile. You would think they could get a intern or two to take the LinkedIn iOS app and port it to Mobile through their own bridge!?!?!? Wishful thinking is that they might be developing a from the ground UWP re-write, but before that is done, how hard would it be to use the bridge and port the iOS app?!?!? MS cannot even be bothered to do that, using their own tech? That speaks volumes right there...

NO mention of the Fall Creators Update coming to Mobile. NO demos of their new design language on Mobile. NO news at all about mobile.

I had a chat with a MS engineer on the last day of Build. It was a really good conversation. He mentioned how Satya has changed the mandate of the Company from Devices and Services (Ballmer) to a Services and Platforms mandate. This was very clear at this year's Build. The Azure Keynote was presented on the first day, and the Windows Keynote on the second. This was the first year, Windows took a back seat. Previous Build's had OEM's present showing off their latest wares. This year, not a OEM, or device in sight. It was all Azure and Graph, with a lot of HoloLens thrown in.

To show how little devices mattered, they had the Cortana speaker on stage during a demo, with NO details about it mentioned. In fact you would be forgiven to think it was a new Amazon Echo on stage... Sure we all know it was not, but damn not even a peep about, oh yeah here is our new Cortana speaker...

Even Windows on ARM was only mentioned through a supplemental video released through Channel 9. I know this stuff may not be ready yet, but at least give us something to be excited about.

I feel Windows Mobile as entered maintenance mode. While they did not give an exact release date for the Fall Update, Fall is not that far away. So I don't buy the, we needed to break the branch to do some work on the Core before Mobile catches up to the Desktop branch. With 4 to 5 months left before release, if Redstone3 does not appear on Mobile before mid June, you can bet Mobile is dead, and they are just maintaining it for contract reasons.

 

[theefman]

When looked at objectively only the most devoted Microsoft fan would say this platform is anything but dead. No meaningful developer interest, no new phones despite unfounded claims by posters, no significant software advances to the OS beyond bugfixes, number of supported devices diminishing with each update and finally Microsoft going out of their way to say absolutely nothing about their future plans for the OS. How can anyone with a rational mind say this is a viable platform?

None of this means the OS itself is bad in its usage, though its still not on par with the best WP8 had to offer, but there's no question Microsoft as a company sees the platform as not worth their time and its incredible to see people inventing excuses on their behalf when the company itself cant be bothered to be forthright with its ever diminishing userbase.

 

[pallentx]

What I take from it is that Windows will never be more than a desktop OS and will slowly dwindle from relevance. UWP has nothing compelling for developers if there are no mobile devices.

 

[Tunde Fajimi]

Thank you for that! I do believe Microsoft is doing a bit of a Trojan horse to win customers to their services' UI and UX on competing desktop and mobile platforms, then when they fully execute Fluent and Mixed Reality they can have the best and most-intuitive services on new form-factor devices.

I also have a theory that why so many staff and executives of Microsoft are permitted to use other platforms devices is part of the process of gaining better understanding of what makes them tick and studying them sufficiently to one-up them when the platform is ready to evolve and expand the user experience beyond the current smartphone-focused computing generation.

I think BUILD was positive for Windows mobile enthusiasts. Although the focus was on integrating Microsoft services with android and IoS was the focus, Windows powered mobiles were present. This would simply not have been the case if Windows mobile was "dead".

I have a theory that Microsoft is integrating its services with android and IoS not only because it's great business sense, but also in order to pinch those customers later on. A big stumbling block for Windows mobile was that too many people were too integrated with Google or Apple services which made switching to Windows mobile out of the question. If Microsoft can get people using Microsoft service, OneDrive instead of iCloud or Google Drive, etc, then it will make it easier for those consumers to switch to a Windows powered device in the future whatever that iteration may be. Windows 10 S already seems like an effort to boost the Windows store by locking people into it which should hopefully help with the app gap by attracting developers to create UWP apps. And the prestige they're building with the Surface brand means a phone with that brand, with all other factors included, could be huge.

 

[guidorobben]

See the Groove App. Check the Hamburger menu.

 

[VITNE]

I think Build was actually very revealing for mobile...it just wasn't direct, as in "this is what's happening with Win10 Mobile". The Windows 10 ARM presentation said it all.

Microsofts whole point of OneCore is to have one Windows, not desktop and mobile iterations. One Windows. Windows 10 ARM was running super smooth on a Snapdragon chip, and they demonstrated installing Win32 programs and how seamless it all was. Look at the size of the demo unit they were running it on. I bet with Cshell and Continuum, it will be a full desktop once plugged into a screen, not a "desktop like" experience anymore. UWP apps run in phone mode, but plug it into a monitor, now you've got UWP and win32 programs.

This is the next step. This is blurring the lines of mobile and desktop.

 

[Tunde Fajimi]

Microsoft has a long term strategy and no short term. They acknowledge that the mobile OS wars are lost, so they are trying to keep Windows 10 relevant in today's world, until the OS is ready for use as a mobile phone also. Microsoft wants that people use its services. This is more important to the company, than having a dominant mobile OS.I think that Microsoft is doing the right thing here, by making its products even better. When the time comes, we will certainly see a mobile device from Microsoft that will be very interesting to consumers.

I would say it's the smartphone-form-factor wars that they lost, not so much the "mobile OS" wars, since there will always be a need for one-handheld or pocket-able devices. The OS and use experience will become mobile. That's the end goal. One water-resistant device (in your ear and water-resistant for example) for that extra mobility, with Cortana (like the AI in the movie "Her") guiding your experience, logging you in contextually with relevant services for home or work (maybe with IoT/geofencing/presence recognition determining your desired use case, apps and data).

The technology is almost there, more or less, the user experience mobility and flexibility and devices need to catch up, and Microsoft is the closest to achieving this, electing to suffer short-to-medium term losses in the mean time.

 

[DarrenSproat]

I think, at best, Microsoft's mobile strategy is blurry. It is clear the Windows10S, UWP, Windows Store, and the entire concept of converged computing experience across all devices/platforms is their focus and I believe they need significant traction in all those areas before a truly Microsoft mobile push can be sustained. Only when those areas demonstrate traction with industry will the time be right to make a push into the strictly mobile market... Remember, Windows 10 IS a mobile OS.

 

[TheZeeMan]

I don't believe it's like that. Firstly, how is Cortana going to replace my recently lost banking app. Cortana cannot replace applications, it actually depends of applications. And secondly, in many situations it's far easier for us to handle something on a screen than by speech. Not to mention to for these speech commands you actually need to learn how to communicate with Cortana. Far from that she can understand you like computer from USS Enterprise.

I think that this build was far from positive. It more looks to me like Microsoft actually focuses on mobile, but not on their platform but on bringing their services to mobile platforms - primarily to Android and iOS.

I have to agree with this. Real-world scenarios barely anyone talks to their phones because its not always convenient nor private, secure, and sometimes annoying. Let's say you want to voice text someone something very personal, you are not going to say it out loud. Banking, seriously, why would you want other people to hear what you are doing? Try doing this stuff in a restaurant with background noise. It barely works. The reality is mobile as a whole is at a standstill and no one knows for how long. Maybe if I can get an AR phone that works on my hand or whatever, something will change, until then, we're all at a stalemate and I think MS knows this.