Category: Microsoft Windows

One of the biggest and best pieces of news for Windows 10 Mobile came out at the end of last week and the implications are huge.  Microsoft stated in an article on ZDNet that they will be controlling all update to Windows 10 including those of Windows 10 Mobile.  This not only includes businesses running Windows 10 Mobile but consumers like you and me.  This is fantastic news as it takes the carriers out of the equation which, in theory, means that we should see updates to Windows 10 Mobile far faster than we ever have under Windows Phone 7, 8, or 8.1.

I wrote about this very subject back in February where I outlined how Microsoft could bypass the carriers on updates to Windows 10 Mobile via a Windows Insider style mechanism.  While in the article from Mr. Bott clearly states that carriers will still be in the mix, it will be at a far lower level and Microsoft ultimately is the one that determines when the upgrade button is pushed on devices.

As was expected today, Microsoft has released a new build of Windows 10 Mobile to Windows Insiders who are participating in the Fast Ring.  Build 10080 is the first build to support a non-Lumia device, the HTC M8 for Windows Phone which is great to see in addition to the support for the Lumia 930, Lumia ICON and Lumia 640 XL.  As expected, there are a lot of new features and apps to test out in this build as well as a good list of known issues.  I’ll remind everyone that this is beta software and there will be issues so proceed with caution.  I personally am still not running Windows 10 Mobile on my daily phone and after playing with this build for a little bit on my Lumia 635 and Lumia 1320, it will remain that way.

Microsoft has announced on the Windows Blog the editions of Windows 10 that will be available later this year and unfortunately, it is as confusing as ever.  While Microsoft has made it clear that this version of Windows will be on every device – Phone, Tablet, PC and even Xbox – they have broken it down into multiple editions with different feature sets.  This is the same thing they have done since the Windows XP days and while I get it, it creates unnecessary confusion for consumers.

The biggest news is probably the fact that build on phones will be known as Windows 10 Mobile.  There has been a lot of debate on what Microsoft would call the phone edition but it seems now it is locked into this name.  And to add to the fun, there is a Mobile Enterprise version.  Oi….

It may be time for me to create a “This Week in 6Tag Updates” section of the site.

Once again developer Rudy Huyn has dropped another update to the popular Instagram app for Windows Phone, this time it increments up to version 4.3 for those keeping score at home.  This update, like the 4.2 update last week, brings several new features both from a photo sharing perspective as well as the user experience.  It’s certainly worth the upgrade and it is available now in the Windows Phone store.

6Tag for Windows Phone – Free – Download Now

Microsoft has released an update to the various Office for Windows 10 apps today as they prepare the preview apps for wider distribution.  Word, Excel and PowerPoint all have received updated this morning, mostly focused on bug fixes and performance improvements.  If you are running the Office for Windows 10 preview app then you should go to the Windows Store beta in Windows 10 and get the updates.

The updates come with it widely expected that the next release of Windows 10 for Phone this week to contain the preview apps.  The last update to the Technical Preview not only did not have the new Office for Windows 10 apps but it actually killed off the existing Office hub for Windows Phone.  Hopefully that gets sorted this week.

This morning I have uploaded 15 new wallpapers for you to download (for free) and use on your Android or Windows Phone device.  These wallpapers are not original creations but rather a collection of those I have found across the Web over the past few weeks.  As such it is a bit of what I like and hopefully you will too.

To get to the wallpaper page, just use the top navigation of the site or click this link.  There you will find the entire collection.

Wallpapers are a great way to personalize your mobile experience, be it your phone, tablet or even your laptop PC or Macbook.  There are literally millions of them on the web so my little collection is far from complete nor will it have something for everyone.