2018 has passed, but Microsoft still made many moves in the mobile field this year, but most of them have nothing to do with Windows 10 Mobile, but began to link Android and iPhone mobile phone scenarios, such as Opening up timelines for Windows 10, Android, and iOS systems allows original Lumia mobile phone users to continue to enjoy the convenience of Microsoft App ecosystem services after moving to other camps. As expected, original Lumia mobile phone users are inevitably ignored. IT House reports that Microsoft has announced that it will completely stop supporting Windows 10 Mobile on December 10, 2019. However, the Windows Phone era is coming to an end. How many phones will be available in 2018? The fire accidentally landed on the earth.
Lumia 950 XL, Microsoft’s first and last flagship phone
Speaking of Lumia brand mobile phones, IT Home has to mention Windows Phone and Nokia here. The former is the Windows mobile operating system that is very suitable for Lumia mobile phones, and the latter is the true founder of the brand.
But on September 3, 2013, when Microsoft announced that it would acquire Nokia’s mobile phone business and a large number of patent portfolios for US$7.2 billion, the situation seemed to have changed. Microsoft, a traditional software giant, actually wanted to Is the new Lumia phone made with software and hardware integrated? Obviously, this acquisition is not going to be completed so soon, so that Microsoft will have to wait until 2014 to launch the first Microsoft Lumia mobile phone.
On April 25, 2014, Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s equipment and services business was officially completed. At that time, Microsoft China posted on Weibo saying, “Welcome @Nokia Equipment and Services to officially join the Microsoft family!” Many people at that time said People are not optimistic about the alliance between Microsoft and Nokia mobile phones, but the editors of IT House are optimistic about it. They also look forward to Microsoft's Lumia mobile phone becoming an explorer integrating software and hardware like Surface. One month later, on May 20, , the release of Microsoft Surface Pro 3 laid the foundation for the Surface business to skyrocket. Now looking back, IT House can't help but feel sad: Lumia mobile phones did not rise in the end.
Time soon came to 2015, and various breaking news showed that Microsoft would release the Microsoft-branded Lumia flagship mobile phone this year. In early 2015, there was news about Microsoft’s Lumia 940 and Lumia 940 XL, including support for iris recognition, 3GB of memory and other key configurations. Obviously, when Microsoft's Lumia flagship phone was released, it still continued the thinking of the original Nokia mobile phone department. It did not bring the number "4", but jumped from the Lumia 930 to the Lumia 950 series.
Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL are codenamed Talkman and Cityman respectively. On the eve of their release, foreign media also revealed that Lumia 950 XL will support Surface Pen stylus, special protective case and support Windows 10 mobile phone Continuum tablet pattern message. But at the last moment, Microsoft cut off the support for stylus and specific protective cases, retaining the Continuum function.
Microsoft’s first flagship phone, the Lumia 950 XL, was finally officially unveiled on October 6, 2015. At that time, it was equipped with the Windows 10 Mobile preview system. At that time, the Windows 10 system had just been officially released. Not long after the release, Windows 10 Mobile is still being polished.
However, soon after the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL were launched for sale, the official version of Windows 10 Mobile was ushered in. It is worth noting that although everyone is very concerned about the release of Microsoft's Lumia flagship phone, at the October 6 press conference, Microsoft's hardware director Panos Panay quickly finished talking about Microsoft's Lumia flagship phone and entered the Surface Pro 4 release. Come up with the amazing Surface Book with detachable base and screen parts.
IT House editors believe that Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL actually had many highlights when they were released, including being equipped with the mainstream Snapdragon 808 and Snapdragon 810 processors. In order to solve the problem of Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor Regarding the heating problem, Microsoft said that the phone uses a liquid cooling system. Microsoft Lumia 950 series is equipped with iris unlocking method and can be used with Windows Hello.
In addition, Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL also support making mobile phones work like computers, connecting monitors, mice and keyboards through Microsoft mobile boxes to achieve large-screen output. Equipped with a 20-megapixel PureView lens, Zeiss optical certification, and three-color temperature flash. Coupled with a 2K screen, 3GB memory, support for Qi wireless charging, NFC and fast charging, Lumia flagship phones can finally compete with Android and iPhone flagships of the same period.
What is particularly worth mentioning here is that Microsoft has launched a new feature called Continuum for Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, which can connect the monitor, keyboard and mouse through the Display Dock (Microsoft mobile phone box) , it can be transformed into a desktop computer, and you can use UWP (Universal Windows Platform) applications to achieve an office experience that is no different from the desktop. Microsoft has demonstrated how the UWP Universal Office application on Lumia 950 XL operates on the desktop.
However, IT House believes that the core key problem on Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL is still unresolved, that is, the lack of important core applications in the App ecosystem has not been improved, even if Microsoft begins to shift to the UWP application ecosystem , and as the UWP ecosystem has just started, there are even fewer apps that are adapted to the Continuum large-screen connection interface, only a few built-in apps from Microsoft's first party.
Windows 10 ARM comes up again and again, but with other purposes
After the release of Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, it is like the usual Windows Phone, except in the eyes of Microsoft fans and enthusiasts Apart from causing a stir, it did not stir up the Windows 10 Mobile phones. For Microsoft, it seems that it doesn’t pay enough attention to Lumia 950 of estrangement.
Microsoft, which has suffered a big setback in Windows RT and its hardware product Surface RT, realizes that Windows’ huge application compatibility is an insurmountable advantage and a software foundation that should not be abandoned. However, all of this There is still a need to innovate to the UWP platform suitable for modern operating systems.
December 8, 2016, is an exciting day for Windows Phone users.
IT House reported that at the Microsoft WinHEC 2016 conference held in Shenzhen, Microsoft and Qualcomm reached a cooperation to launch a complete version of Windows 10 ARM system based on ARM processor, and demonstrated Windows 10 notebook devices based on Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor. Including running large-scale software such as PhotoShop, which means that Windows 10 ARM notebooks can kill Win32 and UWP application games.
For a while, this made IT House editors more confident that Microsoft would soon launch Surface Phone devices. However, after careful observation, Windows 10 ARM was not built for existing Lumia phones. Because there is not much difference between Windows 10 ARM and Windows 10 desktop systems, except that they can run on ARM chips, this integration of hardware and software breaks the previous gap between Windows 10 desktop and ARM mobile devices. The system can also handle work on mobile devices.
However, Window 10 ARM is not equal to Windows 10 Mobile, at least at the official level of Microsoft. You cannot expect that your Lumia 950 or Lumia 950 XL will suddenly be able to upgrade Windows 10 Mobile to Windows through OTA. 10 ARM system.
At the 2017 Build conference, Microsoft showed more news about the Windows 10 ARM system. For example, it will launch a Windows 10 notebook with Snapdragon 835, which can run x86 and UWP applications smoothly. Windows 10 ARM devices can not only install x86 converted Win10 UWP applications from the Windows Store, but can also directly run independent .exe applications downloaded from the Internet. This means that millions of X86 applications can be run on new Microsoft mobile devices without the need for individual adaptation by developers, perfectly supporting Windows 10 App Store content.
At this time, Windows Phone users seemed to see hope, but Microsoft later poured cold water on it. IT House once reported that in July 2017, Microsoft Qiao Beifeng said that existing mobile phones such as Lumia950 and Lumia950 XL cannot be upgraded to Windows 10 ARM system because Lumia mobile phones can only be upgraded on the Windows 10 Mobile system branch. Obviously Windows 10 ARM The system is a new extended desktop system, not a subsequent version of Windows 10 Mobile.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL ignited the fire of Windows 10 ARM
However, Microsoft’s official “not giving enough support”, but the Windows Phone developer community is very interested in it. In 2018, Microsoft's Lumia 950 XL seems to be experiencing a rebirth. Recently, thanks to the efforts of developers, Lumia 950 XL has successfully installed Windows 10 ARM and can run the system and software better. However, judging from the efforts of developers, IT House has observed that Lumia mobile phone hardware and There is a natural gap between Windows 10 ARM systems.
First of all, in February 2018, developers began early research on flashing Lumia 950 XL into Windows 10 ARM. Among them, unlocking the Bootloader of Lumia 950 The problem is to adapt the appropriate firmware and drivers to the Windows 10 ARM system running on Lumia 950 XL.
Two months later, the developer successfully ran UEFI boot on the Lumia 950 XL by writing a minimal driver. There is also the Secure Boot required to deploy Windows 10 that needs to be overcome. They are the bridge between the hardware and the Windows 10 ARM system.
In early May 2018, developers successfully started the Windows 10 ARM system on Lumia 950 XL. By the end of May, Lumia 950 XL had successfully installed the Windows 10 ARM system, but it remained. What I give you is not a perfect installation solution. At this time, I am using Windows 10 ARM system on Lumia 950 XL, without WiFi, cellular network connection, Bluetooth, accelerated graphics, camera, microphone, USB-C Hosts, battery metering, automatic positioning , automatic brightness, etc. have not yet been implemented. For a device without a network connection, the playability will be greatly reduced. This also shows that Lumia 950 XL still faces many problems even if Windows 10 ARM is installed, and the difficulty can be imagined.
IT House reported that by August 2018, tutorials for flashing Microsoft Lumia 950 XL into Windows 10 ARM had also spread, and developers also launched the WoA Installer installation tool to enable dual-system startup. And being able to add feasible drivers to it seems to be getting smoother and smoother here, but there are still several key issues that have not been resolved, such as GPU graphics card driver and WiFi driver adaptation.
By January 2019, Microsoft Lumia 950 XL had a breakthrough in installing and running the Windows 10 ARM system. It seemed to have achieved "perfect" running of the Windows 10 ARM system and solved the problem of GPU graphics driver and WiFi. Connection drives two important issues.
After many difficulties, the Lumia 950 XL installed on Windows 10 ARM has become a small computer. In addition to the regular built-in application demonstrations, task manager viewing browser, and file explorer, It can also install Win32 programs and UWP applications. According to the developer's video, Lumia 950 XL can also run old versions of the "Fallout" game.
Is Windows 10 ARM really suitable for mobile phones?
Although developers have achieved such high results, for ordinary Lumia 950 XL users, is Windows 10 ARM really suitable for mobile phones? Is Windows 10 ARM suitable for small mobile devices? Maybe not.
Windows 10 ARM is still a system with traditional desktop operating logic. It is built for notebooks. First of all, the screen of notebooks is much larger than that of existing smartphones. In addition, in Lumia 950 Although XL realizes WiFi network connection, the important cellular connection still needs to be broken through. However, in this regard, the Snapdragon 810 SoC of Lumia 950 But obviously Microsoft no longer provides desktop LTE connections for Lumia phones, which requires developers to find a way.
Another level is the important Shell experience.
According to Microsoft, the Windows team is currently divided into two parts, namely the Core OS and the Shell team. Core not only supports Windows, but also includes Azure, Xbox, etc., while Shell is the experience part that everyone often comes into contact with, and it still remains in the original team. Shell will create a better experience and better integrate the platform with hardware and applications.
If Windows 10 ARM is not suitable for phones or more modern mobile devices, what will Microsoft do next? The editor of IT House believes that the Microsoft Andromeda OS (Andromeda) system is even more worth looking forward to. According to reports, the biggest improvement in Microsoft's Andromeda system is the CShell experience, which uses different experience interfaces for different devices.
Future Microsoft mobile devices will contain a complete Windows 10 system running core, and will at least be equipped with an adaptive CShell interface experience for mobile devices and large-screen connections.
Conclusion: Windows 10 ARM is not the future of mobile phones, but it is a new beginning
Running Windows 10 ARM on the small-screen Lumia 950 XL is indeed a feat, in addition to the developer’s In addition to hard work, of course this is also inseparable from the capabilities of Microsoft Windows 10 ARM itself. Microsoft does not plan to apply it to mobile phones because it was not built for mobile phones from the beginning.
But running Windows 10 ARM on Lumia 950 XL also opens a window for us to see the potential of ARM mobile devices in terms of productivity and entertainment in the future. This may be just the beginning, and the more anticipated Surface Andromeda device will tell us the answer.