Windows 10 for phones

Bydlo

So it seems the new Windows OS is going to be the next update for phones too, ie a unified system. Any thoughts?

TBi

Interesting. OSX will soon have to move to OS 11. Now WP8 will be moving to WPX

I can see them getting closer to a unified system but it will be too much work to go all the way. They probably learned from Longhorn to keep promises doable.

theothernt

Nothing new so far, this was all expected.

More details on Windows 10 (and the version for phones) next year.

Overheal

The 5S was among the first 64 bit phones, it's only a matter of time before you get true unity between platforms. For now, they're at least keeping the branding consistent between phone and ARM and PC. I can only wish them good freaking luck on the unified app store. Some things are just never going to play well on all platforms. Wild example, do you think the people who published Radiant Defense will necessarily be able to launch a phone-friendly version? The game takes decent advantage of tablet or bigger screen real estate.

Fingleberries

Overheal wrote: »

The 5S was among the first 64 bit phones, it's only a matter of time before you get true unity between platforms. For now, they're at least keeping the branding consistent between phone and ARM and PC. I can only wish them good freaking luck on the unified app store. Some things are just never going to play well on all platforms. Wild example, do you think the people who published Radiant Defense will necessarily be able to launch a phone-friendly version? The game takes decent advantage of tablet or bigger screen real estate.

The idea is that it will be possible for developers to create a Universal App that can be made available on all platforms (PC, Phone, ARM tablet and Xbox One), if the developer chooses the specific platform when publishing it (e.g. Apps that require 1024 MB RAM do not appear for download in the Store on a Lumia 520).

But, the idea will be that the developer will only require one developer account, and will only need to publish to one store instead of the old way of one store for Phone, one store for PC / Tablet and no store for Xbox One.

If they don't want to publish on a specific platform, they can choose not to as well. It's their prerogative.

MJohnston

Overheal wrote: »

The 5S was among the first 64 bit phones, it's only a matter of time before you get true unity between platforms. For now, they're at least keeping the branding consistent between phone and ARM and PC. I can only wish them good freaking luck on the unified app store. Some things are just never going to play well on all platforms. Wild example, do you think the people who published Radiant Defense will necessarily be able to launch a phone-friendly version? The game takes decent advantage of tablet or bigger screen real estate.

You mean the Radiant Defense that's been a Universal App for months already?

theothernt

That little icon can mean one of two things...

1) the app is a 'universal app'
2) 2 apps that are linked in the store

It's important to note that a universal app is not a single app that runs on all platforms. It appears that way to the consumer, which is great, but from a technical perspective it's not true. In a simple sense, it means lots of resources are shared between the different versions of the app.

And don't get caught up in 64bit vs 32bit or ARM vs Intel - that doesn't matter anymore to devs or consumers!

MJohnston

I think in this case it's just the latter, but still - that company have never had any problem porting their games from desktop to phone (I've played a few of them, they're incredibly fun).

wheresmybeaver

So with this new unified OS: aka Windows 10 on your tablet, PC, phone etc does this pretty much mean a simple rebranding of the Windows Phone 8.1 that we know and love? the biggest change it seems is the unified app store, so that if I was to install Plex in my phone then it would be installed on my laptop too, paid for just once. Which is just a cleaner version of the Universal app feature we already enjoy. Additionally, if i change the theme on my lumia then the theme changes on my laptop too. Its just more of this integration? Which is good!

I really hope though that this isn't another gutting of the platform; I assume the apps we already use on Windows Phone 8.1 will work on my phone running Windows 10?

ukoda

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

So with this new unified OS: aka Windows 10 on your tablet, PC, phone etc does this pretty much mean a simple rebranding of the Windows Phone 8.1 that we know and love? the biggest change it seems is the unified app store, so that if I was to install Plex in my phone then it would be installed on my laptop too, paid for just once. Which is just a cleaner version of the Universal app feature we already enjoy. Additionally, if i change the theme on my lumia then the theme changes on my laptop too. Its just more of this integration? Which is good!

I really hope though that this isn't another gutting of the platform; I assume the apps we already use on Windows Phone 8.1 will work on my phone running Windows 10?

microsoft have slowly been dropping the word "phone" from its phone devices, the branding is leaning towards being Windows 8 instead of Windows phone 8

http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/10/6131695/microsoft-is-killing-the-nokia-and-windows-phone-brands

they are now wording it as "Lumia - with Windows 8"

MJohnston

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

So with this new unified OS: aka Windows 10 on your tablet, PC, phone etc does this pretty much mean a simple rebranding of the Windows Phone 8.1 that we know and love? the biggest change it seems is the unified app store, so that if I was to install Plex in my phone then it would be installed on my laptop too, paid for just once. Which is just a cleaner version of the Universal app feature we already enjoy. Additionally, if i change the theme on my lumia then the theme changes on my laptop too. Its just more of this integration? Which is good!

I really hope though that this isn't another gutting of the platform; I assume the apps we already use on Windows Phone 8.1 will work on my phone running Windows 10?

Nobody really knows for certain yet, but I'll give you an educated guess based on everything they've said about Windows 10 so far:
1. Not just "download once, download everywhere" but all apps are the exact same app, they just change UIs based on device (a bit like how responsive design for websites works). This will seem little different for users from how Universal Apps currently work, but it'll be a boon for developers, and will mean they can cut down their development time for three or four different platforms (desktop, tablet, phone, Xbox) to just one. This will benefit the end-user with an increase in the depth and availability of apps.
2. Windows 10 for phones will probably be backwards compatible with WP8.1 and WP8.0 apps, but I would imagine that there will be extra functionality available to apps which target W10 specifically. This is exactly the same situation as with WP8.1 apps having extra functionality not available to WP8.0 apps. Regardless, I expect we'll not have to start from scratch with a completely empty app store.
3. Windows 10 will be available to all current WP8.0 phones. There's no way this shouldn't happen.
4. We don't know yet what Windows 10 on phones will actually look like, or how different it could be from WP8.1, but there's the possibility that it will involve a fairly radical change from a UI perspective. The W10 event from last week included this little mockup that suggests such a change:

Notice there that small tablets appear to be getting the same UI as phones.

I would love it if W10 on phones led to a massive improvement in the multitasking capabilities. Being able to do the swipe from the left to switch from app to app (Like on touch Windows 8) would be fantastic.