Microsoft Rolls Out Windows 10 Mobile To Windows Phone 8.1 Devices
by Brandon Chester on March 17, 2016 3:10 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- Lumia
- Blu
- Windows 10 Mobile
The journey of Windows 10 Mobile from announcement to release has certainly been a strange one. The OS itself was announced roughly one year ago, and around that time Microsoft stated that it would make its way to existing Windows Phone 8.1 devices in December. As December of 2015 came and went, they issued another statement which said that it would be pushed to the first part of 2016.
The delays with the release of the OS were fairly well understood by users participating in the Insider beta program, as there were clearly areas that needed to be improved before the software could be widely released. However, October brought about an oddity of sorts as the Lumia 950 and 950XL launched with Windows 10 Mobile while the OS still felt unfinished to users who were beta testing it. While I won't get in to the state of Windows 10 Mobile as it launched in October, the launch of the 950 and 950XL made it clear that the OS needed to come soon to the rest of the Windows Phone user base.
Today Microsoft has made good on their promise to bring Windows 10 Mobile to select Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 devices. Getting the specifics on which devices are supported is probably the most important part of the announcement, as the update does not cover all Windows Phone 8 devices, and it doesn't necessarily cover all devices that were originally eligible for the Windows Insider beta program. By brand, the devices that will receive the Windows 10 Mobile update are as follows:
| Windows 10 Mobile Supported Update List | |||
| Brand | Models | ||
| Lumia | 1520 930 640 640XL 730 735 830 532 535 540 635 (1GB) 636 (1GB) 638 (1GB) 430 435 |
||
| BLU | Win HD w510U Win HD LTE x150q |
||
| MCJ | Madosma Q501 | ||
I have to admit that I'd never heard of the MCJ Madosma Q501, but it's a phone for the Japanese market, so hopefully those users will be pleased with the update. As for the devices from BLU, the update is limited to the Win HD and Win HD LTE. The former of those two is a Snapdragon 200 device with two Cortex A7 cores but 1GB of RAM, which makes it clear that the limiting factor here is RAM more than processing power.
Finally, there's the Lumia devices. The list of eligible devices is fairly substantial, but there's again the caveat with models that came in two versions that you need the model with 1GB of RAM.
To prepare for the update to Windows 10 Mobile and confirm your phone's eligibility Microsoft recommends that you download the Update Advisor application. They've also set up a support page with some more information about the upgrade.
Source: Microsoft Windows Blog
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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.