Lumia

Lumia phones are pretty much dead. Windows RT is even more so. But who says you can’t have both? Microsoft probably never imagined, much less wanted, its Windows Phone Internals tool to be used this way, but developers like Ben Wang, a.k.a. imbushuo, aren’t going to take no for an answer. Wang has more or less successfully gotten Windows RT to run on recent Lumia phones, like the Lumia 640 XL, and is now sharing the process so others can join in the fun. That is, if you consider this fun.

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The Android community is filled with mods of all kinds for devices, from customizations to rooting to even installing alternative operating systems. The same can't be said for other mobile platforms, especially iOS. Microsoft's Windows phones, however, was a no man's land until recently. Now thanks to some avid fans, and indirectly thanks to Microsoft, soon some users might be able to dust off their old Lumia phones and find new use for them. Like, for example, installing Windows RT.

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Microsoft has never been great at handheld devices past Windows CE (arguably). From the Zune media player to the Lumia phones, it failed to compete in markets already overrun by giants. As if to add insult to injury, it often doesn’t give abandoned users with ways to move forward, leaving them with practically useless devices. That slightly changed when Microsoft released the Windows Phone Internals tool which, to some extent, allowed some rather patient hackers to install Windows RT or even Windows 10 on older Lumia phones.

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There's no use crying over spilled milk, as the saying goes. There are, however, some milk you really can't help but cry over. Such is the case for Surface Phone hopefuls who are constantly reminded of what could have been. The latest wound to be inflicted on them is a video of an alleged Lumia prototype, codenamed the Lumia Hapanero. Like the elusive Surface Phone, the device showed some crude Surface Pen support, further reinforcing the theory, and the tragedy, of how Microsoft came so close to fulfilling that geek dream.

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Here’s another one for the “things Microsoft should and could have done but didn’t” files. It wasn’t too long ago that there rumors and leaks of abandoned plans for a Windows 10 Mobile Lumia phone that could have become the Surface Phone that Windows fans have been dying to have. Unfortunately, that possibility no longer seems to even be on the table, with Microsoft’s practically backing out of even Windows 10 Mobile. Almost to add insult to injury, a new video of an old prototype has surfaced, showing off working Surface Pen integration on a Lumia phone.

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If Google is the home of throwaway (and sometimes expensive) prototypes, Microsoft is perhaps the home of broken dreams and, to some extent, promises. From the Courier to Continuum to, now, Windows Mobile, Microsoft has us always asking "what if?". Like, what if it put out a nearly bezel-less smartphone? Well, it almost did back in 2014, 2 years before even Xiaomi got the ball rolling. Unfortunately, like many of its actually good ideas, it passed up on the opportunity.

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It is perhaps to no one’s surprise, and maybe to very few shed tears, that Microsoft might soon be putting its Lumia brand as well as its devices to pasture. According to an insider source, it will be sooner rather than later. Before this year ends, Redmond is reportedly stopping the sales of its Windows smartphones. Windows fans, however, might still have something to look forward to, as a Microsoft exec seems to be teasing what most of them are hoping for: a Surface Phone.

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The writing has been on the wall for Microsoft's smartphone ambitions for some time, and now that wall is being demolished altogether. The software giant, unable to coax a viable mobile strategy out of Windows Phone, and now facing uncertainty around Windows 10 on phones, has announced plans to axe 1,850 jobs related to its smartphone business.

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While you will not be able to get the full desktop experience you'll get with a Lumia device, Windows 10's newest build includes a brand new feature for Android devices. Just so long as you've got a device that's able to mirror its display with Google Cast, you'll be well on your way to mirroring to Windows machines without the aid of a Miracast adapter or dock. This is the first time Microsoft has enabled this ability natively - and it'll be working on all Windows 10 devices soon, thanks to an app by the name of "Connect".

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Owners of Lumia smartphones other than Microsoft's latest 950 and 950 XL are in for some disappointment today. Well, make that further disappointment. After a very long wait and Microsoft's continued promises that all Lumia devices currently running Windows Phone 8 would be updated with the new Windows 10 Mobile operating system, the company has revealed that won't be the case after all.

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It is somewhat understandable that Microsoft would want to first focus on getting its latest and greatest OS on its latest and greatest smartphones. But months after it launched Windows 10 and the Lumia 950 and 950 XL, the major OS update for its older Lumia handsets is still nowhere to be seen. Or perhaps Windows Phone users are already used to this sort of treatment. Nonetheless, their long, long wait might finally be over. That is, if Vodafone finally got its dates right, Windows 10 will be landing on the Lumia 1520, Lumia 930, Lumia 735, Lumia 830, Lumia 635, and Lumia 535, this week.

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Microsoft’s sleek budget phone, the Lumia 650, is available for preorder in the United States and Canada. The handset debuted earlier this year, and is the maker’s budget-tier Windows 10 handset. Initial reactions to the smartphone have been mixed, with some praising its design and others criticizing the lack of Continuum, the company’s sleek business feature.

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