Windows 10 Redstone 5 Gets Telephony APIs hinting at Surface Phone

[AlTech]

For years, Windows Phones fans have been speculating that a "Surface Phone" Device would one day exist. For years, this was deemed a fallacy that would never happen.

 

However, Windows 10 Redstone 5, the version of Windows 10 in development for an Autumn 2018 release, has gotten new Telephony APIs enabling Redstone 5 devices to make phone calls using supported hardware.

 

We can be sure this is not for Laptops, Tablets, Consoles and Desktops for hopefully obvious reasons (you probably don't want to hold a laptop to your ear to call someone) .

 

These new Telephony APIs may allow users to dial, call phone numbers and other phone related APIs. Something that has traditionally required Windows Phone or Windows 10 Mobile. And since the discontinuation of development on new Windows 10 Mobile Builds, we can be sure that if a Surface Phone were ever to exist, it would run Windows 10 proper with Composable Shell which was first introduced in Redstone 3 Insider Previews.

 

Image of potential Surface Phone dual display from Microsoft patent.

 

Quote

Windows has had integrated support for cell modems since Windows 8, but this has been restricted to supporting data connections. Telephony—dialing numbers, placing calls—has always required either Windows Phone or Windows 10 Mobile, which has made the full Windows 10 unsuitable for a phone.

That may be changing. Windows 10 build 17650—a preview of Redstone 5, the next Windows update after the delayed April update—includes some telephony APIs. The new APIs cover support for a range of typical phone features: dialing numbers and contacts, blocking withheld numbers, support for Bluetooth headsets and speakerphone mode, and so on. There also looks to be some kind of video-calling support, suggesting support for 3G or LTE video calling.

 

Quote

Does this mean that Microsoft is going to be making a Surface Phone? On the one hand, there's no smoke without fire. The Andromeda rumors (Andromeda being some kind of a dual-screen device that makes calls but isn't a phone) show no signs of abating, so they likely have some kernel of truth somewhere. On the other hand, these telephony APIs don't appear to be new: they match the telephony APIs already found in Windows 10 Mobile, so their presence in a build of desktop Windows might be nothing more than a mistake (shipping an API package that wasn't meant for the desktop by accident) or the result of some kind of consolidation effort to reduce variance between Windows versions.

 

So yeah. Whilst this isn't 100% conclusive evidence of Surface Phone existing, just like the patents for it and the leaked info from a device matching it in China, this strongly suggests that it will one day exist.

 

Hopefully by the time it does launch, PWAs have become so prevalent that they replace regular applications on Mobile Devices.

 

Source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/04/new-phone-apis-in-windows-renews-speculation-about-the-mythical-surface-phone/

[RotoCoreOne]

Eh... Depends if it's actually something worth running as a daily. I alrdy have a pixel 2 and an iPhone... I don't want to carry 3 phones with me

[Guest]

Windows Phones have always been great tbh, but never the user base or app support for me to get one. 

[NoxiousOdor]

I am excited to see this happen

[AlTech]

1 minute ago, RorzNZ said:

Windows Phones have always been great tbh, but never the user base or app support for me to get one. 

It is possible that Microsoft's push for PWA apps could be an to attempt to combat the app gap situation by pressuring developers into moving from apps to Web Apps and PWAs.

 

Because Microsoft understands that UWP failed to accomplish what they originally wanted.

[Sauron]

Why microsoft... will you ever learn?

[GoodBytes]

Cool. I hope this come true. By that time the Snapdragon 845 should be out, and that should mean better performance.

Microsoft and Qualcomm have been working together for making Windows 10 on ARM a reality. I am sure this partnership is leading for Qualcomm the added technology to the CPU is being made to make things run better.

 

PWA is nice, especially that Android supports it (in fact it is a Google idea).  So far, Twitter joined in, Trivago and Subway among the big player.

 

The problem it will face is games. It has the essential to date, but it is clear that the device will be aimed to enterprise market, and not consumers... at least not yet. For consumer who really has the pocket to this buy this device (I expect it to be more than 1k, and no carrier subsidized plans for gen 1) , I guess there is indie titles via WIn32 emulation, assuming it is there to start with.

 

 

If you don't care about any of this.. well at least the Phone and Message app has now a purpose in Windows 10, and not these useless that does nothing even if you have an LTE enabled device.

 

[Drak3]

1 hour ago, RorzNZ said:

Windows Phones have always been great tbh, but never the user base or app support for me to get one. 

Who the fuck are you and what have you done with Rorz?

[NMS]

As an ex windows phone user, I WANT THIS BADLY! The main appeal to me is design of the system, and in my opinion both Android and Apple have trash design. they have no consistency and it's just a bunch of random colors from every app out there. As if a magical unicorn crapped all over my screen.

Also, those live tiles were a life saver!

 

But I will admit that functionality was lacking at best.

[James]

1 hour ago, AluminiumTech said:

..this strongly suggests that it will one day exist.

IMHO, no it doesn't.

 

1 hour ago, AluminiumTech said:

We can be sure this is not for Laptops, Tablets, Consoles and Desktops 

This is where I think you're wrong. This year, Windows 10 machines equipped with ARM processors and LTE hit the market. Isn't it conceivable that you'd want all your LTE devices to have the same capabilities?

[AlTech]

2 minutes ago, James said:

IMHO, no it doesn't.

 

This is where I think you're wrong. This year, Windows 10 machines equipped with ARM processors and LTE hit the market. Isn't it conceivable that you'd want all your LTE devices to have the same capabilities?

They wouldn't need to be able to dial or call phone numbers or other things.

 

 

[AlTech]

2 minutes ago, James said:

This is where I think you're wrong. This year, Windows 10 machines equipped with ARM processors and LTE hit the market. Isn't it conceivable that you'd want all your LTE devices to have the same capabilities?

No. This is why Telephony was limited to the Mobile Device Family on Windows 10 (aka Windows 10 Mobile).

[mr moose]

1 hour ago, RorzNZ said:

Windows Phones have always been great tbh, but never the user base or app support for me to get one. 

I don't even care about app support,  The idea of having a stable secure phone that I can buy outright with pocket change trumps the inconvenience of apps.  Especially when I break phones almost yearly.

 

 

 

[James]

3 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

They wouldn't need to be able to dial or call phone numbers or other things.

 

 

What do you mean?

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

No. This is why Telephony was limited to the Mobile Device Family on Windows 10 (aka Windows 10 Mobile).

No what? No it's not conceivable?

[AlTech]

16 minutes ago, James said:

What do you mean?

No what? No it's not conceivable?

It is conceivable but as someone who has owned Windows Phones and been a part of that community. And as someone who has played around with Windows 10 UWP app development, Microsoft would not bring these new APIs to Windows 10 for PC unless it was to enable a device like Surface Phone to exist.

 

Microsoft has been prototyping Surface Phone since early 2015. The addition of Windows 10 Composable Shell (which would allow any device to have a scalable Windows UI on smaller screen sizes) , the support for Windows 10 on ARM, the addition of Telephony APIs, the patents for Surface Phone designs, their internal prototypes of it (which have been discovered), etc all point to the same conclusion. And Microsoft themselves were very adamant that Windows on Phones in any future iteration would very much be an enterprise or business device and not aimed at consumers. All of the evidence points to what they wanted in late 2015, Windows running on a Snapdragon chip running full WIndows 10 on a form factor similar to a phone. With the possibility of emulating Win32 programs for enterprise.

 

Not to mention the leaks of the existence of Surface Phone originating from China. It's not a co-incidence. And Terry Myerson and Joe Belfiore have said and done things which support it.

[Guest]

On 4/28/2018 at 8:53 AM, Drak3 said:

Who the fuck are you and what have you done with Rorz?

I've owned Windows Mobile phones before I switched to an Android, then an iPhone. I miss the Windows Mobile a lot more than the Android :'(

 

Really excellence fluid interface. Android always felt laggy even when I had a good device, and I was very impressed by the iPod Touch I had so I switched. 

On 4/28/2018 at 9:10 AM, mr moose said:

I don't even care about app support,  The idea of having a stable secure phone that I can buy outright with pocket change trumps the inconvenience of apps.  Especially when I break phones almost yearly.

Windows Phones are so cheap tbh. Those nokias were built pretty well and cheap af. 

[Drak3]

5 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

Microsoft would not bring these new APIs to Windows 10 for PC unless it was to enable a device like Surface Phone to exist.

Unless Microsoft if going to use them for business oriented products and/or reworking Skype.

 

But let's pretend that it's a guarantee that they're going to go after a market that repeatedly rejects them a fourth time, and right after conceding defeat with their third try.

9 minutes ago, RorzNZ said:

I've owned Windows Mobile phones

I need an "I don't believe you" GIF.

[Guest]

On 4/28/2018 at 3:17 PM, Drak3 said:

I need an "I don't believe you" GIF.

I had an iMate K-Jam. Those slide-out keyboards are epic - don't take up space on the screen either. 

 

If Apple made an iPhone with one of those it would be so nice. 

[DrMacintosh]

8 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

These new Telephony APIs may allow users to dial, call phone numbers and other phone related APIs.

So what Apple does now with continuity? 

 

Sounds great but it will only be successful if it actually works as a phone. 

 

Apple gets around most limitations by actually only using the device you want to make/receive a call/text as a relay with the iPhone being the one that is actually handling everything. 

 

From what I gather this would be using Cellular data such as LTE to make calls, but really for a phone to really be useful it has to be compatible with everything and for that you want a 1x connection. Unless carriers can/have been shoving 1x into 3G and LTE data lines (I know Sprint has not been since everything defaults to 1x unless both devices support voice over LTE) this might be "cool" but ultimately not very versatile. 

 

(plz inform me if I'm wrong in assuming anything here, cell towers and phone lines are not my specialty)

[Drak3]

Just now, RorzNZ said:

If Apple made an iPhone with one of those it would be so nice.

If ANY decent smartphone maker had one it'd be sooo nice.

 

Or just a native physical keyboard of any kind.

[TheKDub]

Give it up Microsoft, nobody wants your shitty phones...

[Fetzie]

11 hours ago, GoodBytes said:

 

If you don't care about any of this.. well at least the Phone and Message app has now a purpose in Windows 10, and not these useless that does nothing even if you have an LTE enabled device.

 

But hasn't TAPI been around for years?

[iamdarkyoshi]

12 hours ago, RotoCoreOne said:

Eh... Depends if it's actually something worth running as a daily. I alrdy have a pixel 2 and an iPhone... I don't want to carry 3 phones with me

Add a blackberry for style points and a nokia for bulletproofing while you're at it

[LAwLz]

11 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

It is conceivable but as someone who has owned Windows Phones and been a part of that community. And as someone who has played around with Windows 10 UWP app development, Microsoft would not bring these new APIs to Windows 10 for PC unless it was to enable a device like Surface Phone to exist.

 

Microsoft has been prototyping Surface Phone since early 2015. The addition of Windows 10 Composable Shell (which would allow any device to have a scalable Windows UI on smaller screen sizes) , the support for Windows 10 on ARM, the addition of Telephony APIs, the patents for Surface Phone designs, their internal prototypes of it (which have been discovered), etc all point to the same conclusion. And Microsoft themselves were very adamant that Windows on Phones in any future iteration would very much be an enterprise or business device and not aimed at consumers. All of the evidence points to what they wanted in late 2015, Windows running on a Snapdragon chip running full WIndows 10 on a form factor similar to a phone. With the possibility of emulating Win32 programs for enterprise.

 

Not to mention the leaks of the existence of Surface Phone originating from China. It's not a co-incidence. And Terry Myerson and Joe Belfiore have said and done things which support it.

I think you're seeing patterns where there are none.

Please, for your own sake, give up on the Surface Phone. I think it is slowly eating away at your sanity.

 

Microsoft might just be creating this new API so that you can take and make phone calls from any device with cellular connection. For example if someone calls you and you got an LTE enabled tablet with a bluetooth headset, why pick up your phone when you could potentially answer the call through your tablet?

[GoodBytes]

2 hours ago, LAwLz said:

I think you're seeing patterns where there are none.

Please, for your own sake, give up on the Surface Phone. I think it is slowly eating away at your sanity.

 

Microsoft might just be creating this new API so that you can take and make phone calls from any device with cellular connection. For example if someone calls you and you got an LTE enabled tablet with a bluetooth headset, why pick up your phone when you could potentially answer the call through your tablet?

It can be perfectly possible. And probably will ('cause why not.. might as well get some use out of the dev work that was put into Windows phone/mobile?).

The thing is, Microsoft has been pumping patents after patents after patents non stop of technology related specifically at dual screen foldable smart phone, including ideas to solve the problem with the rear camera, solve the lack of tracking of touch sensor between the 2 displays, and other problems and challenges of such device. I have not done any counts, but it feels like easy once per month minimum. Last time Microsoft did something like this, we ended up with the introduction of the Surface.

 

So yes, Microsoft internally might be doing testings as part of its R&D, and end up "We can't do it/too expensive/doesn't work right", and it might never see such device. But, regardless, this brings a lot of excitement in the air. Competition IS needed in the smartphone market. It has been stale.