After many hiccups, Microsoft has begun rolling out Windows 10 Mobile updates to older Lumia devices running Windows 8.1. It’s been a long wait, but no doubt Windows fans will rejoice.
Software updates are great, but looking at the downward spiral that Windows Phone is heading into, one really has to wonder if it’s too little too late.
Following the announcement of the rollout, Microsoft released a list of supported devices, and while there are more than initially expected, it’s still a fairly limited affair — for instance, my Lumia 625 isn’t on the list.
Here are a list of devices that can be upgraded to Windows 10 Mobile 10586.164:
Lumia 1520
Lumia 930
Lumia 640
Lumia 640 XL
Lumia 730
Lumia 735
Lumia 830
Lumia 532
Lumia 535
Lumia 540
Lumia 635 1GB
Lumia 636 1GB
Lumia 638 1GB
Lumia 430
Lumia 435
BLU Win HD w510u
BLU WIN HD LTE x150q
MCJ Madosma Q501
According to their blog post, Microsoft stated that only these devices were chosen because Windows 10 delivers “significant new innovations” that if applied to older devices might “impact customer experience”. They then continued to say that with this crop of devices, they are confident that they can continue to deliver a good customer experience.
Well, good customer experience or not, that remains to be seen, but from what we could tell based on our Lumia 950 XL review, it’s a tough promise to make.
Updates are usually fun and if you find your device on that list, you can download the Upgrade Advisor app from the Windows Store to check if Windows 10 Mobile is available for your device (if you haven’t already received it OTA).
Keep in mind that even if your device is on the list, you may not get this update today as there are other variances to account for. Stuff like your region, mobile operator or service provider among other things may factor into a delay on the update.
Too little too late
Windows Phone as a platform has faced many problems. Poised to be an OS that should have shaken up the Android-iOS hegemony, it simply tripped over itself before it could even stand with the big boys.
Recent news seems to make matters even worse for Microsoft’s operating system as one of the key selling points of the platform, their maps and navigation service HERE Maps, is pulling support for the Windows platform. That’s like if Google Maps left the Android platform.
What’s more HERE aren’t the only people stopping support for Windows Phone, even WhatsApp are cleaning up their supported devices by killing off support for Windows Phone 7.1. Things aren’t looking that good and we can’t honestly say that we’re surprised.
