I’m still haunted in my dreams by the time that Microsoft said that Lumia Denim (as well as Lumia Cyan) would come to flagship Lumias first. Well, it appears that they’re putting out a list of the first devices to get Windows 10 Mobile.
Those devices include Lumia 430, 435, 532, 535, 540, 640, 640 XL, 735, 830, and 930. It’s an interesting range of devices, from the super low end to the flagship. One thing that they have in common on the low end is that they’re all Microsoft Lumias.
WMPowerUser has leaked the specs of upcoming Lumias. Personally, I think it’s bullshit, but we’re going to talk about it anyway because that’s what we do.
Don’t get your hopes up. We’re talking about Lumia Camera, not Lumia Camera. First, let’s break down the FOUR different versions of Lumia Camera. At the end, we’ll talk about the update for Lumia Camera that’s not Lumia Camera 5.
First we have Lumia Camera 5. This is the new version of Lumia Camera for the Nokia Lumia 830, 930, Icon, 1520, and Microsoft Lumia 640 and 640 XL. It includes features like Rich Capture and a dedicated button for switching between cameras.
Currently, Verizon sells two Windows Phones. Well, in the mid-range. They still sell the HTC One M8 for Windows. You can still find a Nokia Lumia Icon in some places, both of which are amazing phones.
But we have two brand new Windows Phones on Verizon now, the Microsoft Lumia 735 and the LG Lancet. The phones are very similar in that they use similar chipsets and have the same RAM and storage. They’re different since the Lumia 735 has a camera with better specs and the Lancet has a 64 bit processor, but we’ll get to that later.
I’m extremely excited about the LG Lancet. It’s LG’s first try at Windows Phone since Windows Phone 7 and so far, I think they’ve done a pretty good job.
OK, OK, I know I’m not unboxing the Microsoft Lumia 735. It’s the Nokia Lumia 735; however, I really promise that for the purposes here, both phones are exactly the same.
I recently received an LG Lancet to review. The interesting thing here is that it’s exclusive to Verizon and it sits on the mid-range side by side with the Microsoft Lumia 735 as Verizon’s two Windows Phones.
The objective is to compare the two devices and find out what the best Verizon Windows Phone really is (it’s the Lumia Icon, but they don’t sell it anymore). So take a look at the unboxing of the Nokia Lumia 735.
If you’re the Windows RT user, you’re probably a little stung that Microsoft has left you out in the cold for Windows 10. Microsoft did promise a subset of Windows 10 features that will come as an update for the person that uses a Windows RT PC.
Good news! That update is coming in September, called Windows RT 8.1 Update 3. I know I’m forgetting something, but I have no clue when Update 2 was.
Last Friday, Microsoft left us with another Windows 10 Mobile build. This time, it’s build 10166. The week before, we received Windows 10 Mobile Build 10149, which most were shocked to find how fantastic this build was. There were still some issues, so I had high hopes for Windows 10 Mobile build 10166.
When I went to install the new build on the five phones that I run the Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview on, I had two successful installs, two bricked phones, and one that just didn’t take. I ended up using the Windows Phone Recovery Tool and installed from there. My high hopes were now gone.
I’ve been using the build since as a daily driver to test it. It’s been working pretty well since then. Check out the video.
Just in case you’re in the U.S. and you were thinking that the big hardware launch would be in New York City, you were dead wrong. Expect to see all of that fancy new Windows 10 hardware on September 4 in Berlin.
Every year after Computex is IFA. If you’ll recall, IFA is where Microsoft launched the Nokia Lumia 730, 735, and 830 as well as where they announced Lumia Denim, so they’re no stranger to big news at IFA. Expect to see big news from other OEMs as well, as it’s usually time for Samsung to launch the next product in their Note line, Motorola to launch a new Moto X, Moto G, and Moto 360 (assuming they follow the same schedule as last year), and maybe even Sony will launch their second half flagship.
Today, Microsoft released Windows 10 Mobile build 10166. This is a very important build, if you ask me. It’s mostly all about bug fixes. They don’t have a laundry list of new features like they have in every build thus far.
The last Windows 10 Mobile build was pretty great. Surprisingly great, in fact. I was all set to use it on my daily driver, but I figured that before I installed it on my gold Lumia 930, I’d try it out on my Lumia Icon first, since they’re the same phone. I made it all of two hours.
All bug fixes and no features means we’re getting close to RTM. Get ready. It’s going to be an interesting second half of the year.
It really wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t write anything about this. At this point, we’ve all heard the news. Microsoft is laying off 7,800 people, mostly from their phone division.
Sure enough, Twitter blew up. “Windows Phone is surely dead!” No, it’s not. Many seem to have the same confusion. Windows Phone is not Lumia.
Before we go any further, yes, Lumia makes up 96% of the Windows Phone market. Personally, I think Lumia hurts Windows Phone, simply by existing.
