Will the mobile branches ever merge?

[Schnuffi]

Just wondering will the 2 mobile branches ever merge? ( 10586 & 14383 ) Seems rather confusing to say the least. Seems like a good opportunity with upcoming anniversary release. If they do, How far apart are the 2 as it stands now.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Just wondering will the 2 mobile branches ever merge? ( 10586 & 14383 ) Seems rather confusing to say the least. Seems like a good opportunity with upcoming anniversary release. If they do, How far apart are the 2 as it stands now.

it's not mergng but moving from one branch to the next. Users on 10586 will be moved to 14xxx build. Ideally, all 10586 users should be able to move in this direction

 

[Schnuffi]

So I assume that I will be moved to the 14xxx from 10586 but remain on preview ring.

 

[charlatan1978]

Nothing has been confirmed yet, so no definite answer.

 

[RumoredNow]

So I assume that I will be moved to the 14xxx from 10586 but remain on preview ring.

Right now... Fast and Slow Rings are testing Redstone 1 builds of 14xxx. This is the upcoming Anniversary Update. Redstone 1 is a branch, the experimental branch. Just as Threshold 2 is the current branch.

When Redstone 1 gets finalized (RTM) it will move to Release Ring and roll out OTA to Official/Production Ring (probably in waves).

Unsupported devices will not see any Redstone builds. Only the phones on this list will move to Redstone 1: Phones Eligible for Windows 10 Mobile Official. Once Redstone 1 hits Slow Ring, I would expect all unsupported devices will get locked out of Insider and the door will be closed to them getting W10M (my conjecture based on what we have been seeing)...

If your phone is on the list of supported devices and you are on Official or on Insider and have elected Production Ring or are on Insider Release Ring you will be moved to the 14xxx builds from your current 10586 build when Anniversary Update goes live.

After some time (a couple of weeks) to congratulate themselves, accept praise, and unwind...

The whole process will start again and the W10M team will start pushing Redstone 2 builds to Insider Fast Ring and then eventually those will drop down into Slow Ring.

Official/Production Ring and Release Ring will continue on with 14xxx Redstone 1 builds until such time as the new Redstone 2 experimental branch is ready to go current.

Official and Production are the same thing with the provision that anyone on Insider who drops from a higher Ring down to Production stays where they are until Official catches up to or passes their build number. At that point they get OTA updates again and are back inline with Official. The only way to instantly revert from Fast/Slow/Release to Official is by using WDRT and then getting OTA updates. If WDRT reverts you to 8.1 you must then use the Windows Upgrade Advisor App to get back into the current branch.

To sum up:

• Fast Ring and Slow Ring of Insider test the experimental branch
• Release Ring of Insider tests the planned advances, patches and fixes for the current branch
• Production Ring of Insider is just a way of stopping future testing builds

Get used to seeing this cycle repeat. It's the new deal.

 

[Schnuffi]

Thankyou for the detailed and informative reply.

 

[Tien-Lin Chang]

It sucks if they really close the door for old devices, it means you can't afford anything this wrong with the system like the bootloop issue in some build. Once those s*it his you and you flash back the old rom you're sucked there forever....

 

[RumoredNow]

It sucks if they really close the door for old devices, it means you can't afford anything this wrong with the system like the bootloop issue in some build. Once those s*it his you and you flash back the old rom you're sucked there forever....

Well Threshold 2 is generally viewed as very stable. Things going wrong in the build should not really be happening anymore. So sitting at 10586.452 or whatever Threshold 2 finalizes at should be OK.

I do agree, though, that at times you may have no choice but to reset and start fresh due to rogue app processes or what have you... If that happens on a legacy device Hard Reset should be the go to so you might preserve running 10586.xxx and WDRT would only be a last resort.

IDK if Microsoft has thought up an answer for this or if WDRT will start flashing W10M instead of 8.1 at some point in future.

There are also a few spoofs possible to get your device recognized as W10M eligible...

 

[Kerry2112]

Hmmm. So, if I understand correctly, there will be a short period starting with the release of the Anniversary Update (a couple of weeks, say) when all Redstone-capable phones will have the same version, regardless of Ring?

Or will Fast Ring Insiders' phones already be beyond the Anniversary Update version when it goes live?

 

[RumoredNow]

There should be a short period when all eligible devices are at or near the same build on Redstone 1.

Fast Ring is testing candidates for RTM right now. The last version pushed to them may not be the actual RTM winner...

 

[Maurizio Troso]

Hmmm. So, if I understand correctly, there will be a short period starting with the release of the Anniversary Update (a couple of weeks, say) when all Redstone-capable phones will have the same version, regardless of Ring?

Or will Fast Ring Insiders' phones already be beyond the Anniversary Update version when it goes live?

Dona twitted people in Fast Ring will be always one step beyond.... to the next Redstone2 .