Well, microsoft promised a strip down version of win10 for those devices. And i'm sure there are plenty of capable win devices that only have 512MB of ram.
Microsoft has a history of lying in this regard. Expect them to make a few minor changes to Windows 8.1, claim it's an update and that will be the last thing you see. Take a look at what they did with Windows Phone 7.8 for an example.
That was when I gave up on WinMo. After being lied to about my 7.8 device that never got 8, I'm glad I bailed when I did, because more than likely any WinMo8 device I bought at the time would have been a 512mb device like the Lumia 920, and just 2 years later it would be bailed on.
No excuse when Apple is still supporting the 6 year old iPhone 4, which will stop receiving updates, along with the 4S, in September when iOS10 launches.
So it CAN be done, they just lie about it. And yeah, iPhone 4's, even the 4S, runs iOS 9 like shit, BUT it runs it. If you want the security improvements and most of the new features, it is at least available. Just don't try running more than 10 apps in the background.
Android, embarrassingly for MS, has come a long way in support. Samsung has done a decent job supporting their devices since the Galaxy S4, and most devices running Android 5 have functional auto OTA/wifi updating from the OEM, no need for a push from carriers.
Blackberry/RIM has been pretty good at pushing updates and supporting their legacy devices, but it's mostly irrelevant now. They could have been a Godsend to the Android ecosystem in 2010 but chose to ignore it until 2015.
"No excuse when Apple is still supporting the 6 year old iPhone 4, which will stop receiving updates, along with the 4S, in September when iOS10 launches." From friends and aquaintances who use older iPhones I regularly hear that after each update, their phones gets a lot worse, with random reboots and slower performance. Not sure how widespread that is or if it was just defective devices. But having that as a plus seems at least weird.
@Samus: "... more than likely any WinMo8 device I bought at the time would have been a 512mb device like the Lumia 920 ..."
The Lumia 920 has 1GB RAM, though it still isn't on that list for some reason. If RAM is the major issue, then it should get the update eventually. I can see why they wouldn't want to hold up Win10 for newer devices while they work on support for older devices, but after the 7.8 debacle, they probably should have released a list of devices they they were still working on support for. As it is, I would not assume an update until it is available.
iOS 9 on iPhone 4s isn't that bad comparing to previous iOS versions.People are just confused because they seem to think for some reason that a newer iOS version will magically upgrade the hardware, too.
Oh gosh, I have had a half-dozen android phones in my household and I cringe everytime Verizon tries to rollout a new "update". The updates that come on a 2+ year device, usually either kills the battery life, makes it horribly slow, or both. I wish they would just leave well-enough alone. It may be well and nice to look at a table showing all the old phones that the new android OS runs on, but try talking to someone who actually owns a 2-3 year old device, and had an update forced on them that renders the device virtually useless. Of course this is all part of the strategy, because when I chatted with Verizon to complain about the new update (that I cannot prevent from happening), the first thing they suggested is to buy a new one.
You acknowledge that reliable info suggests that the iPhone 4/4S iOS updates have been largely detrimental since iOS 7 onwards, so I have to ask, what's the point of having the latest OS update if it makes your phone worse? I had several non-techy friends hold out on iOS 6 and eventually abandon their iPhones for this reason. This is aside from stuff like the hilarity of updating an iPhone 5 to iOS 8 (not enough memory to update! Random instantaneous battery depletion! etc.)
If Microsoft's desire is to provide a good experience to those who update to Windows 10, I think that it's perfectly reasonable to not take Apple's example.
I'm disappointed that my 620 isn't supported, but the insider builds were indeed quite sluggish.
Apple does only high end phones so this is apple to oranges, but you're right that support is not too good in MS, although it's still better than Android on low-end devices.
@Samus: "iPhone 4's, even the 4S, runs iOS 9 like shit, BUT it runs it".
So... you'd rather have an "update" that will cripple your phone's existing functionality while not offering much - if any - of new features, because your phone cannot handle them?
I guess that's one of those "one shoe size doesn't fit all" things... Back in the days, I was not happy at all when Apple released iOS6 that "supported" 3Gs. Granted, my 3Gs was 4 years old... but still perfectly serviceable under iOS5 - for my needs. After iTunes nagged for upgrade for a while, I finally did. Such a waste.
I was planning to use my 3Gs another 6 - 12 months, but after iOS6 upgrade, I purchased Lumia 920 within a month. True, I was thinking of trying WinPhone already, but this dodgy Apple practice didn't make me feel any extra love toward them, too. Updates are great when they make sense, but this one didn't. It only had marketing value in giving Schiller some bragging rights, and in forcing people to replace their devices sooner than they would have to. Win-win for Apple, but not for this customer.
So... if W10 can't work as intended on 512MB devices, or dual core devices such as Lumia 920 is, I'd rather keep very functional 8.1 for this phone's lifetime. And it could be so - I can see that even 8.1 runs a bit smoother on my work 4C 830 than on my personal 2C 920, even if my cores are a bit faster. I don't know if difference is due to storage performance or 8.1 already multi-treads efficiently, but difference is noticeable, if not dramatic. 920 is 3 years old already, but I might stick with it until I see if there is Surface phone in the pipeline. I don't want to get 950 or any other non-Windows phone and have cravings to replace it after a year.
So I'm hoping to see W10 for 920 and other older phones down the path, but ONLY if it works fine. Otherwise, 8.1 it is, and I don't mind at all.
Adding to that "history" how they abandon my Band 1. Every single "new" software feature is only for Band 2 even when processing power and sensors on both are mostly identical. I was happy Band and was thinking on upgrading but realize I will be rewarding the practice kind of forced obsolescence.
Hi Antiflash, I am personally sorry that you feel we abandoned Band 1. I'd like to stress though, that several features did come out for Band 1 after the release of Band 2. Further, the principal reason more of Band 2's features didn't make it to Band 1 is because there is insufficient storage in Band 1 to enable them. At the release of each of those features, adding them to the Band 1 was always considered. Ultimately though, adding more features would require regressing on the already existing features in Band 1.
Again, I am personally sorry that you feel the way you do. Going forward, please know that our team does not design in forced obsolescence. All of the people that worked together to design and build the Band really care about our customers, the experience you have, and the feedback you give us.
You should consider an online management tool to manipulate what functions are on the band device, or a phone app to do that utility. This would negate the question of tradeoffs.
I wouldn't call it "lying". A more appropriate word would be incompetence, which is a direct result of their broken management hierarchy. It's that broken structure that led to Windows 8 for desktop.
Lets see if Nadela can fix that. Otherwise, Windows 10 is shaping up to be it.
Well, it looks like its official. Microsoft f*cked us over. What a bunch of lying scums. Just say it at the beginning, that you wont support win10. I would have sprung for a 1GB lumia for my folks, if i knew better.
Guess the luck of the Irish isn't with me or my Lumia 925. Maybe I dodged a bullet because windows 10 mobile makes my phone less functional without Here maps among other issues. Might be a good time to move to Android or IOS anyways.
I've always found the Windows phone UI to be the most intuitive and useful. It's unfortunate that it is taking forever for 3rd party app support to catch up.
It does not really have to catch up, as you don't need 50+ apps all doing pretty much the same thing. However, having at least one good app of each important kind - that's what would be needed.
Anyone knows the process if the device is already on WIndows 10 beta? Will the official one be an older version, e.g. is it worth going to the official? FYI, phone will be for the kid. Grabbed a 640 for $15 - I can't believe how slow this whole Windows Mobile experience is. Multitasking - I read somewhere that it's true - sayyyy whatttt?
You're aware that a beta is not final yet, aren't you? Especially debug and enhanced error detection and reporting could be enabled, as well as a lack of performance optimization in some drivers or libraries.
I'm not overly broken up, Windows phone is close enough to dead that staying minimally aware as a dev isn't a factor any more; and I had enough problems with it corrupting its music DB when trying to sync large amounts of music to the SD card over about 18mo of software updates that I bought a Moto E as an "I want to listen to music, but not enough to risk breaking a $600 phone so I need something cheap enough to be semi-disposable"; which was a big part of what I originally had the 520 for.
Okay, that's strike 3 (lied about WinMo 8 update for my first Lumia which became worthless after only a few months of use, recently killed the Here apps which were basically the reason why I bought all Lumias in the first place, and now they lied again about the Win 10 Mo update for my Lumia 820): Microsoft, you're out!
Interesting about the 920. I've made quite a habit of picking up unlocked 920s on Ebay/Craigslist in the $40 range. Test that a TelCel Sim works. I reset it, I add my email, sign into Windows Insider, do all the 8 updates, then move it to windows 10. Then I reset it again but I don't add any Microsoft account.. I select do that later, However. I change language to Spanish, country to Mexico, go through those updates. Note, at this point, I've not re-added a Microsoft account... That's done later by the new owner.
I then send that phone down to Mexico as a gift to friends with instructions on how to get set it up and what apps to install. I've done it so many times I have a nice 1 page word document in Spanish that I print out and place with the phone. Cost me about $10usd to pay customs and ship it via a bus company. My friends go to the bus stations to claim them. Consumer electronics are so expensive in Mexico, that folks are delighted to get this phone. The LCD and Camera are better than any budget phone they'd be able to find in Mexico at $725mxn (about $40usd). As long as Microsoft keeps Windows Insider around, these phones should stay current for a bit longer.
It's a fabulous phone. Windows10 runs flawlessly on it. Can't believe it didn't make the cut.
Seriously hope they reconsider the Lumia Icon. The 1520, 930, and 929, and basically all the same, except the 1520 has the 6" screen, and the Icon and 930 and essentially twin brothers. There's no reason the Icon should be dropped. It's got a Snapdragon 800, 2GB RAM, 1080P screen, and is otherwise just a Verizon version of the 930. I've seen they've said they're already reconsidering that phone. I hope they do.
I just recently picked one up early in the year, because it was taking forever for the regualar 950 to show up in Canada. The Icon was, and still is, 95% of the 950, that I got for about a third of the price, at $250. I use it on Mobilicity in Canada, which is supports the proper HSPA+ bands. I pay $29/month + tax for unlimited talk/text/data. I'm not leaving anytime soon.
But if they cut off the Icon, that's just a slap in the face to a one of the few people out there who has been a Windows Phone fanboy. I've been there since the Windows Phone 7 days (via an HTC HD2). I then loved my Lumia 920, and waited way too long for an appropriate upgrade. Finally I gave up on waiting on the 950, and grabbed an Icon. It's a FANTASTIC phone. But If the updates stop from here, I'll be pissed with Microsoft.
You could say I should've seen this coming, with the HD2 sort-of being promised Windows Phone 7, but never got it (officially). The Lumia 920 being cut out was a stunner to me. I've ran the Insider Preview. By the end, the performance of the 920 was pretty damn good. It was release quality.
I managed to get the Insider Preview installed on a Lumia 520. At first, the performance was nothing short of awful. But I kept the phone alive, and kept on letting it update. And then I tried it again recently. The performance was essentially what I rememember it being back on 8/8.1. They seemed to make major strides in improving the usability of 512MB phones.
If Microsoft had said that we have a set of phones that are release quality right now, and we're ready to update them, and we've got another batch of phones that we want to continue to work on, I'd be ok with that. But they said there's no second batch of phones. Only the Icon seems to be under reconsideration.
Microsoft fucked a small amount of people when it came from going 6-7. They REALLY fucked a lot of people when then went 7-8. And after constantly talking about how all previous Windows 8 phones would work with 10. they change that at the last possible second. And this is after I've seen MASSIVE improvements over the months through Insider Preview.
The Icon I'm livid about, of course, because that's my current phone. But the 920 was my backup phone. It runs Windows Phone 10 just fine. The performance was just fine. This was a flagship phone. To just be kicked to the curb that like that, that's unacceptable.
I hate iOS, I hate Android. I really hope they bring back support for the Icon. I think WPInternals will help the Lumia 920s of the world continue to live on. But it seems like Microsoft has officially given up.
Which is a shame. Snapchat seems to be the only major app holdout right now. In Canada, it seems all the banks have apps available now. I use an obscure bank (President's Choice Financial), and even THEY have a a Windows Phone banking app now.
There's not a single app that I want/need that I can't get. Even though I'm not a fitness band buy, I saw a great deal on the Xiaomai fitness band on Gearbest and bought one. Still waiting for it to to arrive. But there's no official app, but there is an unofficial one that was VERY well reviewed. Paid the $3 before it even arrived.
Anyways, If the Icon is being dropped, I really don't know where I'm going from here. The 950 is overpriced from what you get. And do I really want to support Microsoft after what they just did?!
I've heard from others that development builds are still gonna come out for phones are are supposedly not supported anymore in the next couple of weeks, but that's speculation so far, and I'll believe it when I see it.
For the fun of it. I did the Win10 upgrade on a spare 520 I had. The key was just to make sure very few apps were on the start screen, and very few of those use animated tiles. With that criteria, the 520 with Windows 10 is an acceptable phone. Never had Phone, Messaging, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Camera hang up.... What more would you expect from a 3 year old $40 phone?
That said, it's performance under 8.1 was slightly better. So, I can see Microsoft's decision to stay with 8.1 on the 512MB phones... I mean, you CAN run Win10... but why WOULD you? 8.1 performs better for that footprint.
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hojnikb - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
When can we expect win10 for 512MB devices ?Brandon Chester - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Most likely never. Not enough RAM to run properly.hojnikb - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Well, microsoft promised a strip down version of win10 for those devices. And i'm sure there are plenty of capable win devices that only have 512MB of ram.Flunk - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Microsoft has a history of lying in this regard. Expect them to make a few minor changes to Windows 8.1, claim it's an update and that will be the last thing you see. Take a look at what they did with Windows Phone 7.8 for an example.Brandon Chester - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Yup. I was not impressed by 7.8 on my original Samsung Focus.Samus - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
That was when I gave up on WinMo. After being lied to about my 7.8 device that never got 8, I'm glad I bailed when I did, because more than likely any WinMo8 device I bought at the time would have been a 512mb device like the Lumia 920, and just 2 years later it would be bailed on.No excuse when Apple is still supporting the 6 year old iPhone 4, which will stop receiving updates, along with the 4S, in September when iOS10 launches.
So it CAN be done, they just lie about it. And yeah, iPhone 4's, even the 4S, runs iOS 9 like shit, BUT it runs it. If you want the security improvements and most of the new features, it is at least available. Just don't try running more than 10 apps in the background.
Android, embarrassingly for MS, has come a long way in support. Samsung has done a decent job supporting their devices since the Galaxy S4, and most devices running Android 5 have functional auto OTA/wifi updating from the OEM, no need for a push from carriers.
Blackberry/RIM has been pretty good at pushing updates and supporting their legacy devices, but it's mostly irrelevant now. They could have been a Godsend to the Android ecosystem in 2010 but chose to ignore it until 2015.
Death666Angel - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
"No excuse when Apple is still supporting the 6 year old iPhone 4, which will stop receiving updates, along with the 4S, in September when iOS10 launches."From friends and aquaintances who use older iPhones I regularly hear that after each update, their phones gets a lot worse, with random reboots and slower performance. Not sure how widespread that is or if it was just defective devices. But having that as a plus seems at least weird.
BurntMyBacon - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
@Samus: "... more than likely any WinMo8 device I bought at the time would have been a 512mb device like the Lumia 920 ..."The Lumia 920 has 1GB RAM, though it still isn't on that list for some reason. If RAM is the major issue, then it should get the update eventually. I can see why they wouldn't want to hold up Win10 for newer devices while they work on support for older devices, but after the 7.8 debacle, they probably should have released a list of devices they they were still working on support for. As it is, I would not assume an update until it is available.
Daniel Egger - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
iOS 9 on iPhone 4s isn't that bad comparing to previous iOS versions.People are just confused because they seem to think for some reason that a newer iOS version will magically upgrade the hardware, too.jaydee - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
Oh gosh, I have had a half-dozen android phones in my household and I cringe everytime Verizon tries to rollout a new "update". The updates that come on a 2+ year device, usually either kills the battery life, makes it horribly slow, or both. I wish they would just leave well-enough alone. It may be well and nice to look at a table showing all the old phones that the new android OS runs on, but try talking to someone who actually owns a 2-3 year old device, and had an update forced on them that renders the device virtually useless. Of course this is all part of the strategy, because when I chatted with Verizon to complain about the new update (that I cannot prevent from happening), the first thing they suggested is to buy a new one.Spunjji - Saturday, March 19, 2016 - link
You acknowledge that reliable info suggests that the iPhone 4/4S iOS updates have been largely detrimental since iOS 7 onwards, so I have to ask, what's the point of having the latest OS update if it makes your phone worse? I had several non-techy friends hold out on iOS 6 and eventually abandon their iPhones for this reason. This is aside from stuff like the hilarity of updating an iPhone 5 to iOS 8 (not enough memory to update! Random instantaneous battery depletion! etc.)ET - Sunday, March 20, 2016 - link
If Microsoft's desire is to provide a good experience to those who update to Windows 10, I think that it's perfectly reasonable to not take Apple's example.I'm disappointed that my 620 isn't supported, but the insider builds were indeed quite sluggish.
Murloc - Sunday, March 20, 2016 - link
Apple does only high end phones so this is apple to oranges, but you're right that support is not too good in MS, although it's still better than Android on low-end devices.nikon133 - Sunday, March 20, 2016 - link
@Samus: "iPhone 4's, even the 4S, runs iOS 9 like shit, BUT it runs it".So... you'd rather have an "update" that will cripple your phone's existing functionality while not offering much - if any - of new features, because your phone cannot handle them?
I guess that's one of those "one shoe size doesn't fit all" things... Back in the days, I was not happy at all when Apple released iOS6 that "supported" 3Gs. Granted, my 3Gs was 4 years old... but still perfectly serviceable under iOS5 - for my needs. After iTunes nagged for upgrade for a while, I finally did. Such a waste.
I was planning to use my 3Gs another 6 - 12 months, but after iOS6 upgrade, I purchased Lumia 920 within a month. True, I was thinking of trying WinPhone already, but this dodgy Apple practice didn't make me feel any extra love toward them, too. Updates are great when they make sense, but this one didn't. It only had marketing value in giving Schiller some bragging rights, and in forcing people to replace their devices sooner than they would have to. Win-win for Apple, but not for this customer.
So... if W10 can't work as intended on 512MB devices, or dual core devices such as Lumia 920 is, I'd rather keep very functional 8.1 for this phone's lifetime. And it could be so - I can see that even 8.1 runs a bit smoother on my work 4C 830 than on my personal 2C 920, even if my cores are a bit faster. I don't know if difference is due to storage performance or 8.1 already multi-treads efficiently, but difference is noticeable, if not dramatic. 920 is 3 years old already, but I might stick with it until I see if there is Surface phone in the pipeline. I don't want to get 950 or any other non-Windows phone and have cravings to replace it after a year.
So I'm hoping to see W10 for 920 and other older phones down the path, but ONLY if it works fine. Otherwise, 8.1 it is, and I don't mind at all.
Myrandex - Monday, March 21, 2016 - link
Ummm the 920 had 1GB of RAM and I really liked that phone. It was a hell of a phone and I still miss some things about it.Antiflash - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Adding to that "history" how they abandon my Band 1. Every single "new" software feature is only for Band 2 even when processing power and sensors on both are mostly identical. I was happy Band and was thinking on upgrading but realize I will be rewarding the practice kind of forced obsolescence.Voyager_2084 - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Disclaimer: I work on the Microsoft Band teamHi Antiflash, I am personally sorry that you feel we abandoned Band 1. I'd like to stress though, that several features did come out for Band 1 after the release of Band 2. Further, the principal reason more of Band 2's features didn't make it to Band 1 is because there is insufficient storage in Band 1 to enable them. At the release of each of those features, adding them to the Band 1 was always considered. Ultimately though, adding more features would require regressing on the already existing features in Band 1.
Again, I am personally sorry that you feel the way you do. Going forward, please know that our team does not design in forced obsolescence. All of the people that worked together to design and build the Band really care about our customers, the experience you have, and the feedback you give us.
mkozakewich - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
I wish there were more employees of these companies finding their way onto tech blogs an answering comments. This was nice.lmcd - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
You should consider an online management tool to manipulate what functions are on the band device, or a phone app to do that utility. This would negate the question of tradeoffs.lilmoe - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
I wouldn't call it "lying". A more appropriate word would be incompetence, which is a direct result of their broken management hierarchy. It's that broken structure that led to Windows 8 for desktop.Lets see if Nadela can fix that. Otherwise, Windows 10 is shaping up to be it.
Donkey2008 - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
What? Their management is perfectly fine according to Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai.Wolfpup - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
I completely understand if 512MB devices wont' be able to get 10. I was really surprised when they claimed they would.I do hope they actually TELL us at some point though LOL.
lowlymarine - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Insider Preview builds of Win10 Mobile are already available on at least the 512MB Lumia 635 and have been for some time - I have it running on mine.hojnikb - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
Well, it looks like its official. Microsoft f*cked us over.What a bunch of lying scums. Just say it at the beginning, that you wont support win10.
I would have sprung for a 1GB lumia for my folks, if i knew better.
Oh well.
damianrobertjones - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
Will your folks care? Probably notMurloc - Sunday, March 20, 2016 - link
we got shafted, whatever, this is a phone I bought to use whatsapp and it does that, what do I need an upgrade for?457R4LDR34DKN07 - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Guess the luck of the Irish isn't with me or my Lumia 925. Maybe I dodged a bullet because windows 10 mobile makes my phone less functional without Here maps among other issues. Might be a good time to move to Android or IOS anyways.MeowPurr - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Who?Timothy003 - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
No support for 2nd-gen Lumias other than the 1520? Even those with 1 GB of RAM?MrSpadge - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Not even the Lumia 1020 with 2 GB of RAM :/Sivar - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
I've always found the Windows phone UI to be the most intuitive and useful. It's unfortunate that it is taking forever for 3rd party app support to catch up.Yuriman - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
It's not going to catch up, and I'm skeptical that it'll even get better. Windows Phone is on the decline.MrSpadge - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
It does not really have to catch up, as you don't need 50+ apps all doing pretty much the same thing. However, having at least one good app of each important kind - that's what would be needed.Murloc - Sunday, March 20, 2016 - link
there already is, but it's always your bank or local newspaper app that is missing or something like that that shafts people.djsvetljo - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Anyone knows the process if the device is already on WIndows 10 beta? Will the official one be an older version, e.g. is it worth going to the official? FYI, phone will be for the kid. Grabbed a 640 for $15 - I can't believe how slow this whole Windows Mobile experience is. Multitasking - I read somewhere that it's true - sayyyy whatttt?MrSpadge - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
You're aware that a beta is not final yet, aren't you? Especially debug and enhanced error detection and reporting could be enabled, as well as a lack of performance optimization in some drivers or libraries.DanNeely - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
RIP my Lumia 520 I guess.I'm not overly broken up, Windows phone is close enough to dead that staying minimally aware as a dev isn't a factor any more; and I had enough problems with it corrupting its music DB when trying to sync large amounts of music to the SD card over about 18mo of software updates that I bought a Moto E as an "I want to listen to music, but not enough to risk breaking a $600 phone so I need something cheap enough to be semi-disposable"; which was a big part of what I originally had the 520 for.
damianrobertjones - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
U.K. release? Anyone?Daniel Egger - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
Okay, that's strike 3 (lied about WinMo 8 update for my first Lumia which became worthless after only a few months of use, recently killed the Here apps which were basically the reason why I bought all Lumias in the first place, and now they lied again about the Win 10 Mo update for my Lumia 820): Microsoft, you're out!smartthanyou - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
Daniel, hopefully the phone still works well enough you can call 911 for a waaambulance.Donkey2008 - Saturday, March 19, 2016 - link
"hopefully the phone still works well enough you can call 911 for a waaambulance."Ironically, that is exactly what Microsoft is saying to Windows phone users.
lmcd - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
Here Apps are in old Nokia's court.zodiacfml - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
What a mess. Microsoft should stop this madness and go straight to an x86 hardware and OS.Meteor2 - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
This.HardwareDufus - Friday, March 18, 2016 - link
Interesting about the 920.I've made quite a habit of picking up unlocked 920s on Ebay/Craigslist in the $40 range. Test that a TelCel Sim works. I reset it, I add my email, sign into Windows Insider, do all the 8 updates, then move it to windows 10. Then I reset it again but I don't add any Microsoft account.. I select do that later, However. I change language to Spanish, country to Mexico, go through those updates. Note, at this point, I've not re-added a Microsoft account... That's done later by the new owner.
I then send that phone down to Mexico as a gift to friends with instructions on how to get set it up and what apps to install. I've done it so many times I have a nice 1 page word document in Spanish that I print out and place with the phone. Cost me about $10usd to pay customs and ship it via a bus company. My friends go to the bus stations to claim them. Consumer electronics are so expensive in Mexico, that folks are delighted to get this phone. The LCD and Camera are better than any budget phone they'd be able to find in Mexico at $725mxn (about $40usd). As long as Microsoft keeps Windows Insider around, these phones should stay current for a bit longer.
It's a fabulous phone. Windows10 runs flawlessly on it. Can't believe it didn't make the cut.
mrbios - Sunday, March 20, 2016 - link
Seriously hope they reconsider the Lumia Icon. The 1520, 930, and 929, and basically all the same, except the 1520 has the 6" screen, and the Icon and 930 and essentially twin brothers. There's no reason the Icon should be dropped. It's got a Snapdragon 800, 2GB RAM, 1080P screen, and is otherwise just a Verizon version of the 930. I've seen they've said they're already reconsidering that phone. I hope they do.I just recently picked one up early in the year, because it was taking forever for the regualar 950 to show up in Canada. The Icon was, and still is, 95% of the 950, that I got for about a third of the price, at $250. I use it on Mobilicity in Canada, which is supports the proper HSPA+ bands. I pay $29/month + tax for unlimited talk/text/data. I'm not leaving anytime soon.
But if they cut off the Icon, that's just a slap in the face to a one of the few people out there who has been a Windows Phone fanboy. I've been there since the Windows Phone 7 days (via an HTC HD2). I then loved my Lumia 920, and waited way too long for an appropriate upgrade. Finally I gave up on waiting on the 950, and grabbed an Icon. It's a FANTASTIC phone. But If the updates stop from here, I'll be pissed with Microsoft.
You could say I should've seen this coming, with the HD2 sort-of being promised Windows Phone 7, but never got it (officially). The Lumia 920 being cut out was a stunner to me. I've ran the Insider Preview. By the end, the performance of the 920 was pretty damn good. It was release quality.
I managed to get the Insider Preview installed on a Lumia 520. At first, the performance was nothing short of awful. But I kept the phone alive, and kept on letting it update. And then I tried it again recently. The performance was essentially what I rememember it being back on 8/8.1. They seemed to make major strides in improving the usability of 512MB phones.
If Microsoft had said that we have a set of phones that are release quality right now, and we're ready to update them, and we've got another batch of phones that we want to continue to work on, I'd be ok with that. But they said there's no second batch of phones. Only the Icon seems to be under reconsideration.
Microsoft fucked a small amount of people when it came from going 6-7. They REALLY fucked a lot of people when then went 7-8. And after constantly talking about how all previous Windows 8 phones would work with 10. they change that at the last possible second. And this is after I've seen MASSIVE improvements over the months through Insider Preview.
The Icon I'm livid about, of course, because that's my current phone. But the 920 was my backup phone. It runs Windows Phone 10 just fine. The performance was just fine. This was a flagship phone. To just be kicked to the curb that like that, that's unacceptable.
I hate iOS, I hate Android. I really hope they bring back support for the Icon. I think WPInternals will help the Lumia 920s of the world continue to live on. But it seems like Microsoft has officially given up.
Which is a shame. Snapchat seems to be the only major app holdout right now. In Canada, it seems all the banks have apps available now. I use an obscure bank (President's Choice Financial), and even THEY have a a Windows Phone banking app now.
There's not a single app that I want/need that I can't get. Even though I'm not a fitness band buy, I saw a great deal on the Xiaomai fitness band on Gearbest and bought one. Still waiting for it to to arrive. But there's no official app, but there is an unofficial one that was VERY well reviewed. Paid the $3 before it even arrived.
Anyways, If the Icon is being dropped, I really don't know where I'm going from here. The 950 is overpriced from what you get. And do I really want to support Microsoft after what they just did?!
I've heard from others that development builds are still gonna come out for phones are are supposedly not supported anymore in the next couple of weeks, but that's speculation so far, and I'll believe it when I see it.
HardwareDufus - Tuesday, March 22, 2016 - link
For the fun of it. I did the Win10 upgrade on a spare 520 I had. The key was just to make sure very few apps were on the start screen, and very few of those use animated tiles. With that criteria, the 520 with Windows 10 is an acceptable phone. Never had Phone, Messaging, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Camera hang up.... What more would you expect from a 3 year old $40 phone?That said, it's performance under 8.1 was slightly better. So, I can see Microsoft's decision to stay with 8.1 on the 512MB phones... I mean, you CAN run Win10... but why WOULD you? 8.1 performs better for that footprint.