Only a small subset of Windows phones to get Creators Update

[Phate.exe]

11 minutes ago, Dabombinable said:

Just remember that the Wifi/Bluetooth/GPS reception sucks unless you have the tablet at just the right angle.

Yeah, the 201's are all-aluminum, which makes for a great feeling tablet that also blocks all the antennas inside.  The 700 added a plastic strip to the top where the antennas are, so the wifi performance is way better.

[Bouzoo]

6 hours ago, Droidbot said:

At least when Google stops supporting a device they leave it smooth and fast feeling. 

That is funny. Android phones feel fast. They don't. Some phones do age well, but the majority of Android phones don't. 

[Droidbot]

Just now, Bouzoo said:

That is funny. Android phones feel fast. They don't. Some phones do age well, but the majority of Android phones don't. 

probably nand going bad, which is common

 

and this is why I buy mostly nexus and samsung devices because they age surprisingly well

[Nowak]

Just now, Droidbot said:

probably nand going bad, which is common

 

and this is why I buy mostly nexus and samsung devices because they age surprisingly well

The Pixel has aged pretty well. Better than the Lumia 929/930 have, which apparently is still a great smartphone in 2017 (that won't be getting any more updates LOL)

[Bouzoo]

Just now, Droidbot said:

probably nand going bad, which is common

 

and this is why I buy mostly nexus and samsung devices because they age surprisingly well

My S3 mini and the other one that I can't remember the name of, single core era, have not. Not the flagship phpnes, but they became obsolete in months. 

My G2 has aged like Sean Connery, but recently it's going bad. Also the last update I oficially got was 5.0.2 so yeah, ty Google. 

[Dabombinable]

2 hours ago, Phate.exe said:

Yeah, the 201's are all-aluminum, which makes for a great feeling tablet that also blocks all the antennas inside.  The 700 added a plastic strip to the top where the antennas are, so the wifi performance is way better.

All Asus needed to do was actually copy Apple though-having the logo on the back made out of plastic with the antenna behind it. I've also noticed that the TF201 feels thinner by a substantial amount than the TF701 (which is supported by the TF701 fitting the TF201's dock perfectly, while the TF201 is lose in either of them)

[scottyseng]

Haha, I was about ready to be pretty pissed if the Lumia 950 wasn't on the list...

 

Looking forward to the update...sadly I can't update on the release date because my phone is dead at the moment (battery failure). So far the factory battery lasted 6 months...and the two supposedly genuine OEM batteries from ebay died in three months. I found another seller for the battery, which I hope is OEM, but if it dies as well, I may have to jump ship from Windows Phone and get one of the new Nokia android phones when they come out.

 

I think Windows Phone is alright, sometimes a touch slow (Mostly the "resuming" thing when loading some apps). I hope it makes the OS somewhat faster though. I'm curious to see what this update brings to the table.

 

Meanwhile, I'm back to my Nokia N9 at the moment...It's sad because the N9 is roughly 3 years old now from when I bought it.

[Trixanity]

I'm starting to wonder whether Microsoft's OneCore stuff was worth the trouble. Seems like they spent a whole lot of time on something that isn't panning out and might have made the desktop experience worse off. I know it also runs on Xbox but was it worth it?

 

I'm guessing Microsoft will fold soon. Whether they abandon phones completely or they make a heavily skinned Android phone remains to be seen. I'm guessing they won't join Google's pax initiative though because they'll miss out on that royalty money.

[Doobeedoo]

Meh whatever, Android is slow in getting updates anyway.

They should just focus on WP10 more and release it along new flagship for a fresh new start at least.

[Nowak]

3 hours ago, Doobeedoo said:

Meh whatever, Android is slow in getting updates anyway.

They should just focus on WP10 more and release it along new flagship for a fresh new start at least.

They kinda sold their entire phone business back to Nokia (via HMD Global). They retain the trademarks, but it's almost like their purchase of Nokia's phone business never even happened.

[dalekphalm]

2 hours ago, Daring said:

They kinda sold their entire phone business back to Nokia (via HMD Global). They retain the trademarks, but it's almost like their purchase of Nokia's phone business never even happened.

Their purchase of Nokia was designed around several things:

 

1. Getting a 1st party manufacturer that will make whatever they want

2. Getting all the necessary IP to build in-house a modern device without licensing a ton of IP (and thus cutting deeply into profits)

3. Getting the necessary staff experience and skills to build a baseline

 

I think they accomplished all of those things. Microsoft didn't need Nokia in the long run. They already have a hardware division w/ Surface, and I don't think they really want to be a major hardware manufacturer for smartphones. They don't need 40 different SKU's. They want to make "the gold standard" (Eg: A Surface Phone), and have third party OEM's make the rest of the fleet.

 

The problem was, and still is, that third party OEM manufacturers aren't interested, because of the lack of market share.

 

Nokia needed the money that Microsoft was offering, so it was a perfect match at the time. Could Microsoft have handled the Post-Purchase management of Nokia's phone division better? Certainly.

 

But the alternative is that if Microsoft didn't step in, Nokia likely wouldn't be here at all. They were in financial shambles, and needed the kind of money only a few companies could offer.

[Nowak]

Just now, dalekphalm said:

But the alternative is that if Microsoft didn't step in, Nokia likely wouldn't be here at all. They were in financial shambles, and needed the kind of money only a few companies could offer.

Only their phone business was unprofitable at the time of the purchase. Their networking equipment business was, so they decided to shed the unprofitable part.

[dalekphalm]

9 minutes ago, Daring said:

Only their phone business was unprofitable at the time of the purchase. Their networking equipment business was, so they decided to shed the unprofitable part.

Well Nokia as a whole was in financial ruins - this may well be due to their phone division, but having one particular department be profitable (the Networking division) isn't enough. Nokia is a pretty large company that's at least somewhat diversified.

[paddy-stone]

Doesn't bother me personally, I have a lumia 550 that I bought last year for £25 refurbed.. I only use it in the even my android phone either runs out of battery or can't get signal. The battery lasts me around 5 days minimum between charges as it's on standby most of the time.

[Nowak]

Microsoft has updated the specs required for Windows 10 Mobile, as of the Creators Update.

 

https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-updates-minimum-hardware-specs-windows-10-mobile-eve-creators-update/

 

The OS now only supports the following SoCs:

 

• Snapdragon 820
• Snapdragon 810
• Snapdragon 808
• Snapdragon 617
• Snapdragon 210

 

Every device listed in the OP has at least one of those SoCs. If this isn't official confirmation that the list is accurate, then I don't know what is.

[Shoob]

They did the same thing with Windows 10 Mobile, now the list of supported devices is even smaller. They should EOL the whole operating system, it's barely usable anyway.

I miss Windows Phone 8.1.

[WMGroomAK]

6 minutes ago, Daring said:

Microsoft has updated the specs required for Windows 10 Mobile, as of the Creators Update.

 

https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-updates-minimum-hardware-specs-windows-10-mobile-eve-creators-update/

 

The OS now only supports the following SoCs:

 

• Snapdragon 820
• Snapdragon 810
• Snapdragon 808
• Snapdragon 617
• Snapdragon 210

 

Every device listed in the OP has at least one of those SoCs. If this isn't official confirmation that the list is accurate, then I don't know what is.

However, there are a lot more Windows 10 phones that have these processors than the ones that were originally listed. 

[Nowak]

3 minutes ago, Pandalf said:

They did the same thing with Windows 10 Mobile, now the list of supported devices is even smaller. They should EOL the whole operating system, it's barely usable anyway.

I miss Windows Phone 8.1.

When sites normally positive about the OS like Windows Central are suddenly negative about its future, you know it's time to pull the plug. That being said, there are rumors of Redstone 3 being the last update for Windows 10 Mobile, as W10m is not included in Microsoft's 2018 roadmap, so it looks like that will be the case.

1 minute ago, WMGroomAK said:

However, there are a lot more Windows 10 phones that have these processors than the ones that were originally listed. 

But how many of them are actually in peoples' phones? 81% of Windows Phone users are still on Windows Phone 8.1, which use the older processors.

[Shoob]

14 minutes ago, Daring said:

But how many of them are actually in peoples' phones? 81% of Windows Phone users are still on Windows Phone 8.1, which use the older processors.

I wish I stayed on WP 8.1, but Microsoft is pulling the plug on some applications. Their "planned obsolescence" will most likely be the demise of their mobile platform, as almost nobody would consider buying a Windows phone any more. Windows 10 Mobile is just very buggy to the point it's halting my phone and I'm not alone on this. I'm getting a Nokia 6 with Android Nougat as soon as it gets released.

[Nowak]

1 minute ago, Pandalf said:

I wish I stayed on WP 8.1, but Microsoft is pulling the plug on some applications. Their "planned obsolescence" will most likely be the demise of their mobile platform, as almost nobody would consider buying a Windows phone any more. Windows 10 Mobile is just very buggy to the point it's halting my phone and I'm not alone on this. I'm getting a Nokia 6 with Android Nougat as soon as it gets released.

When Windows Central drops its overly positive tone about the future of Windows Phone, you know things are getting bad.

[AlTech]

 

On ‎4‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 7:07 AM, Daring said:

Remember when "no fragmentation" was an advantage of Windows 10 Mobile over Android? Yeah, me neither. Anyway, only a small number of Windows phones are going to be receiving the Creators Update, which is due to be released on April 25th for phones.

There has not much fragmentation on Windows Phones until now.

 

The majority of devices running Windows 10 Mobile are running the latest updates.

The small minority lags behind.

And a lot of devices still run Windows Phone 8.1

 

On ‎4‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 7:07 AM, Daring said:

Between dwindling app support and, as a consequence, dwindling users, a lack of consumer interest, mixed reception for the last few Windows phones released and accusations of Microsoft not being committed to the OS and Windows Phone subsequently having no future despite what executives claim, Windows Phone can't catch a break, huh? According to ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley, only these Windows phones are getting the Creators Update:
 

• Alcatel IDOL 4S
• Alcatel OneTouch Fierce XL
• HP Elite x3
• Lenovo Softbank 503LV
• MCJ Madosma Q601
• Microsoft Lumia 550
• Microsoft Lumia 640/640XL
• Microsoft Lumia 650
• Microsoft Lumia 950/950 XL
• Trinity NuAns Neo
• VAIO VPB051

What I will be interested to see is if Microsoft decides to create budget Lumias or Windows Phones in the future which are 64 Bit as a means to kill off all 32 Bit Lumia devices so that app developers won't be forced to compile 64bit and 32bit arm when Microsoft adds 64 Bit support.

On ‎4‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 7:07 AM, Daring said:

the Creators Update doesn't bring anything new to phones.

That is a complete and utter lie. The Creators Update includes new things. Performance improvements are chief among the changes.

On ‎4‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 7:07 AM, Daring said:

However, this doesn't bode well for Microsoft's future commitment to their mobile efforts, considering how many users on older phones are being left in the dust. And yes, this list is, apparently, accurate and final.

I'm surprised many of the Blu Phones didn't make the cut. I can only imagine that Blu have stopped supporting the devices themselves.

 

The phones not on the list represent devices which are no longer officially supported. Microsoft will provide a bare minimum of updates but they should generally be considered discontinued.

 

On ‎4‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 7:07 AM, Daring said:

This just continues Microsoft's trend of sell-offs, layoffs and decisions against releasing new Microsoft-branded phones, instead selling a lightly customized version of the Samsung Galaxy S8, as well as obsoleting older phones that can apparently otherwise run the updates, despite Microsoft persistently claiming it is not leaving the mobile market.

The problem with those phones is that Nokia is the company that developed them and Nokia no longer supports them. They were unofficially dead a long time ago.

On ‎4‎/‎6‎/‎2017 at 7:07 AM, Daring said:

What do you think? Do you think Microsoft should just pull the plug on their lemon of a mobile OS already? Let me know below!

They've stated that they won't and yet despite this you seem to find enjoyment from letting people believe something which will not come to fruition.

 

Your efforts are fruitless and annoy those who really know what Microsoft is doing. Microsoft wants a more focused approach from the hardware side and Nokia/HMD refused to provide firmware updates.

 

[Nowak]

@AluminiumTech I know what response you want from me, and I'm not gonna give it to you.

[AlTech]

6 hours ago, Pandalf said:

I wish I stayed on WP 8.1, but Microsoft is pulling the plug on some applications.

That's because Windows Phone 8.1 is no longer supported...... Mainstream support ends in June 2017.

6 hours ago, Pandalf said:

Their "planned obsolescence" will most likely be the demise of their mobile platform, as almost nobody would consider buying a Windows phone any more. Windows 10 Mobile is just very buggy to the point it's halting my phone and I'm not alone on this. I'm getting a Nokia 6 with Android Nougat as soon as it gets released.

I have experienced very few bugs in the past month. If you wish to buy an Android device then you can but know that you are not going to help the situation. You're only going to make the situation more dire.

[AlTech]

Just now, Daring said:

@AluminiumTech I know what response you want from me, and I'm not gonna give it to you.

I don't expect any response from you. All I expect is professionally written journalism from a journalist who is not trying to manipulate information to suite their agenda.

[Nowak]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

I don't expect any response from you. All I expect is professionally written journalism from a journalist who is not trying to manipulate information to suite their agenda.

All I'm saying is, despite what you desperately want to believe, it looks like everyone else disagrees with you. Even Windows Central, which used to be extremely positive about Windows Phone and maintained that there was a light at the end of the tunnel, is asking Microsoft to speak up about the future of the OS - if there even is one - and give closure as to what is going on.

 

Don't act surprised if Microsoft does pull the plug. With the way how things are going, it's looking to be a very real possibility.