Category: Windows 10 for Phone

For the first time Microsoft has clearly laid out the Windows 10 Universal App development methodology.  In an event held at Mobile World Congress today and then followed up by a blog post on the Windows blog, the company outlines how developers will have access to a streamlined development process aimed at bringing Windows to virtually any device with minimal modifications to code.  Further, there is one single Windows Store for everything and development of applications will be driven off an adaptive user interface.  The information in the blog post is dense and if you are not a developer you may not understand all of the concepts.  Still, give it a read.  You will get a peak into the thought processes Redmond has around Windows 10, development for that platform and the future of everything running Windows.

The evolution of Cortana continues at a rapid pace with the Personal Assistant continuing to get more information of interest to you and bringing it to the fore.  If fact the biggest problem with the updates to Cortana is they happening so fast that they often get missed until you discover them by accident.  That may be the case with the new edition of Showtimes + Trailers and Concert Watch which now appear in the Interests settings of Cortana.  As the names suggest, you can now get movie show times and trailers for new movies in your area while the Concert Watch allows you to get concert information on your favorite bands when they are going to be in your area.

Earlier this week Microsoft announced that effective at the end of March they are ending support for Rooms on Windows Phone.  Then I watched as Twitter lit up with everything from “this is the end of Windows Phone” to “They don’t care about their customers”.

Really?  Really peeps?  Did anyone actually use Rooms?  I have spoken to at least half-a-dozen serious Windows Phone users this week and not one of them used Rooms on Windows Phone.  In fact two of them (the innocent shall be protected) didn’t even know what Rooms was on Windows Phone.  I appreciate that 6 people doesn’t represent everyone in the Windows Phone user base but equally I cannot see how the dismissal of a feature that few knew of really constitutes a crisis.

If you took the plunge last week and put Windows 10 on your Phone, you know by now that it is very much a work in progress.  As I put in my initial thoughts post on the next generation of Windows for your phone, it has some rough patches and things that just aren’t working the way they should.  But hey, it’s beta and that’s to be expected.  That said, Microsoft has made an easy way for you to get back to Windows Phone 8.1 if you have decided that beta testing is not for you.  Fortunately they have made it super easy to do and in this How To I will cover how to go about it.

There are a lot of new features in Windows 10, many of which we saw during the Windows 10 event last month.  However there is one new feature that wasn’t mentioned and that is the power down Reminder feature.  Today under Windows Phone 8.1, when you power off your device (press and hold the power button then swipe down on your screen), you are given a “goodbye” message.  Under Windows 10 for Phone however this changes to provide you a bit more information.

One of the changes that I outlined in my initial thoughts on Windows 10 for Phone is the semi-transparent tiles on the Start screen.  As I discussed with my friend Mike Temporale (he runs MobileJaw) yesterday on Twitter, I personally like them as it was one of the aesthetic things about iOS 8 that I enjoyed in my walk through the iOS wilderness.  Mike however isn’t so sold.  Well Mike and others who aren’t 100% sold, take heart.  Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore in a Tweet last night confirmed that Transparent Live Tiles like we have in Windows Phone 8.1 is returning in a later build of Windows 10 for Phone.

@OpenPlumbob yes… Were planning to include both the “full background” and “in the tiles” options.

— joebelfiore (@joebelfiore) February 13, 2015