The Xbox Insider Program has an Xbox One update they've begun delivering today to all participants on the console. Customization elements will be delivered to both Xbox One and Windows 10. This new update will also give users an "effortless" guide navigation, a reorganized Activity Feed, and a new Game Bar. This update is all about deeper control of the system - how it looks and what it does.
As of today, Windows Phone 8.1 is deader than dead. You’ll probably be more surprised to learn that it wasn’t already, but they do say that fact is stranger than fiction. Officially speaking, however, Windows Phone 8.1 only ends its mainstream support 11th July this year. This means that, unless Microsoft relents and shows a bit of mercy, devices running on this version of Microsoft’s operating system will no longer receive updates, even critical security ones.
With Microsoft's announcement of Windows 10 S and the Surface Laptop, there were two big questions in fans' minds. What of the Surface Pro and, perhaps more importantly, what of the Windows phones. Exhibiting perfect PR craftsmanship, Nadella's answer to the latter is, to be blunt, a non-answer. According to the CEO, the company will still be making phones. But those phones may not even resemble the form, or even the idea, of phones we have today. Cue the speculations.
While the new Creators Update officially rolled out to Windows 10 users on the PC earlier this week, Windows Phone holdouts are still waiting. That will change on April 25th, however, Microsoft has stated that only a handful of devices will be eligible for the update. Even more disappointing is that Windows Phones that don't support the Creators Update will no longer receive future development builds from the Windows Insider Program.
This week the folks at Microsoft's Mojang have announced an update for Minecraft on Windows Phone. Not just any Windows Phone, but Windows 10 Mobile - specifically NOT Windows Phone 8. You see, Minecraft stopped getting updated for Windows Phone 8 back in October of 2016, and will never be updated for that OS ever again. For Windows 10 Mobile, however, it's time to get some new features!
WhatsApp has been around for a while and the company has been good about bringing out features that its user base is clamoring for. One of the big features that WhatsApp users have been requesting for a long time is the ability to make video calls within the app. WhatsApp has announced that after lots of requests it is bringing video calling to the mix.
This week the folks at AT&T have introduced another data plan for the masses, one we're about to run down and tear apart for you right now. This new data plan's name is very similar to the other plans AT&T has available. While this new plan offers data without overage charges, users will find their data speeds throttled to a much slower rate once they've run through their allotted data for the month. Pricing is also extremely similar to previous plans.
What Microsoft says and what Microsoft does are two very different things. Granted, it hasn't actually committed to a solid smartphone hardware business, but it hasn't completely discounted that future either. But if there were any doubt that Microsoft doesn't really have smartphones in mind, as far as devices are concerned, this revelation of nearly 3,000 job cuts should probably banish all that. And with that employee exodus, Microsoft has practically rid itself of the Nokia smartphone business that it acquired two years ago to the tune of $7.2 billion.
Rovio has bid farewell to both Windows Phone and the PC, advising its users in an email recently that it is dropping support for both platforms. If you haven’t downloaded the Rovio game you want onto your Windows Phone device or PC, it appears you’re out of luck, at least in certain cases (some PC games remain available for Windows 8.1). Both the Bad Piggies and Angry Birds games for PC have had their development suspended, and they’re being pulled from digital shelves.
Windows Phone users...they're still out there, and they're sad they don't have access to Pokemon GO. The ultra-popular mobile game has topped the charts on both iTunes and the Google Play Store, and though its international expansion was temporarily paused, the game is destined to span the globe. That is, unless you have a Windows mobile device, in which case you're out of luck.
Microsoft's exit in the smartphone arena, or at least the hardware side of it, sends all the wrong signals to OEMs as well as app developers, whether Microsoft likes it or, most likely, not. As if by coincidence, PayPal has just announced that it will sunset the Windows Phone version of its app starting June 30. The good news for Windows Phone users is that they won't be alone in their misery, as BlackBerry is doing the same for BlackBerry and Amazon Fire owners.
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.
