A majority of Windows phones were removed from the official Microsoft Store last week and for many people, this definitively marked the death of Windows 10 Mobile and the end of the availability of devices powered by this operating system. Well, it was not so: fans just got one last chance to get a Windows handset on the Microsoft Store as Alcatel Idol 4S is back in stock.

The flagship has been made available to purchase in a bundle with VR glasses with a price tag of just $169.00 in the U.S. Unfortunately, Alcatel Idol 4S was only available for a short time frame: now, it is listed as “out of stock” again. This probably means that only a few units of the Windows phone were available, and all of them have already been purchased. But we suggest you check the page again as it may return in the coming days.

RELATED: Windows 10 S Coming To All Windows 10 Versions Thanks To The S Mode

Alcatel Idol 4S was the most powerful Alcatel device launched in the past few years, even though until a few hours ago on the Microsoft Store it carried the price of a mid-range device. It sports a 5.5-inch AMOLED display showing images at a Full HD resolution a high-end quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset, 3 GB of RAM, and 32 GB of internal storage expandable with a micro SD.

(via)

The post Last Chance To Get A Windows Phone on the Microsoft Store: Alcatel Idol 4S Briefly Returns In Stock appeared first on Gizmochina.

Around a year back, when Microsoft had released the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, it had removed all the phone-related APIs from it. This was one of the clear hints for Windows phone users that Microsoft had no plans to launch a smartphone anytime soon. Also, the company had shifted its focus towards Always-Connected PC for making Windows 10 available on PCs driven by Snapdragon 835 and 845 chipsets and LTE modems.

Fresh information reveals that Microsoft has replaced the APIs into the upcoming Redstone 5 that will be arriving as Fall Creators update later this year. Since Microsoft has included phone-related API again in Windows 10, the rumor mill is now speculating that a Surface Phone may debut by the end of this year. It may sound interesting, but the rumors about Surface Phone have been circulating since the past few years.

The Lumia 950 and 950 XL phones were the last flagship phones that were introduced in 2015. Since then, the rumor mill is speculating on the existence of Surface Phone. Some reports have claimed that Microsoft’s Project Andromeda could be the highly awaited Surface Phone. However, some reports claim that these could be two separate devices.

The arrival of phone-related APIs in Windows 10 could mean that Microsoft is making way for developers to start working on programs that will run on the rumored Surface Phone. Previous reports have claimed that the Surface Phone could be a business centric pocket PC device that will be arriving with a stylus.

Read More:Microsoft Patents New Surface Pen With Built-in LEDs

Recent reports have claimed Samsung, LG, Apple, Huawei are all gearing up to launch foldable smartphones by next year or later. Like the aforementioned companies even Microsoft has filed for foldable display technology in the recent years which also suggests that the Surface Phone may feature a foldable screen.

Do you think Microsoft will take on Samsung and Apple with Surface Phone in the near future? Share us your views by posting your comments below.

(source|image)

The post Microsoft Surface Phone Could be in Works? appeared first on Gizmochina.

Microsoft killed Windows 10 Mobile a long time back, but it has never stopped supporting it. Months ago the Redmond giant confirmed that the operating system was not going to receive new features anymore — the Fall Creators Update was the last major update and no hardware products would feature this operating system anymore. Now, Brandon LeBlanc from Microsoft has confirmed on Twitter that the OS will no longer receive new builds in the Insider Preview program. The operating system is slowly dying and it might soon be abandoned.

Actually, Microsoft was supporting Windows 10 Mobile with cumulative updates released every month. The versions compatible with the updates are Anniversary, Creators Update, and Fall Creators Update. This last one is also the last major update of the operating system rolled out by Microsoft. While the Fall Creators Update for PCs belongs to the Redstone 3 branch, the one for mobile devices is just an extension for Redstone 2 which has been called “feature2”. This means that it does not bring important changes or new important features, but it can be considered just a minor improvement over the previous version, even though it is being called as a major update.

No mobile builds are coming.

— Brandon LeBlanc (@brandonleblanc) 24 gennaio 2018

At this moment, only two Windows 10 Mobile smartphones are available to purchase on the Microsoft online store in the U.S. and the other models have been all retired from the market. There are no U.S. carriers selling Windows phones currently, so it is really hard to find one. Satya Nadella declared months ago that if Microsoft is to ever come back to the mobile phones market, it will be with a device which is completely different from the ones we saw until now. By the way, many leaks (mostly patents) have recently hinted the existence of the Surface Phone, but nothing is official yet.

(Via)

The post Windows 10 Mobile: No More Builds Are Coming, Reveals Microsoft appeared first on Gizmochina.

This year, several smartphone makers have launched phones with super-slim bezels and high screen-to-body ratio. However, Microsoft was working on a bezel-less phone around three years ago. The smartphone was expected to debut as Lumia 435, but it appears that the Redmond giant killed the idea of launching it.

Microsoft had released a phone with Lumia 435 moniker in 2015. However, it had arrived as a low-end device that sported a 4-inch display. The cancelled Lumia 435 was codenamed as Vela and it was also expected to arrive with low-end specs. However, it would have featured a 5-inch HD display with thin bezels.

As it can be seen in the above image, the bottom bezel of the cancelled Lumia 435 is quite thick, but the side bezels are relatively thin. The handset was expected to deliver a screen-to-body ratio of 79 percent which is slightly more than that of Sharp Crystal Aquos that was unveiled in 2014. The Crystal Aquos was first smartphone with very thin bezels to hit the U.S. markets.

The near bezel-less smartphones of this year such as Apple iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and LG V30 have screen-to-body ratios that are slightly more than 80 percent. Hence, the cancelled Microsoft Lumia 435 could have been an attractive budget phone in 2014 and it was expected to be price around $199.

The near bezel-less Lumia 435 is not the only cancelled device from the company. Recent reports have revealed that Lumia McLaren, Lumia 960 and Surface Mini tablet are some of the cancelled devices from Microsoft.

The Redmond giant had stopped providing support for Windows Phone 8.1 in July this year.  Recent tweets from Joe Belfiore, Microsoft’s Corporate VP for Windows claim that the company will be only releasing bug fixes, security updates, etc. for Windows 10 Mobile. He added that adding new features to it or introducing new hardware is not the focus of the company. The reason behind it is that Redmond giant could not convince enough developers to create apps for Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile. Also, since there is low number of Windows 10 Mobile users, most companies are not interested in investing on the platform.

It appears that Microsoft is unlikely to release a smartphone in the near future. It may not even launch the long-rumored Surface Phone smartphone.

(source)

The post Cancelled Microsoft Lumia 435 with Near Bezel-less Design Appear appeared first on Gizmochina.

There have been a lot of speculations regarding the future of Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform. Now, it seems that the company’s executive Joe Belfiore has put the matter to rest.

Joe Belfiore, former Windows Phone program manager and current Corporate VP for Windows, has tweeted that new features and hardware for Windows 10 Mobile “aren’t the focus anymore” for the company.

However, if you are the one who is still using Windows Phone, you’ll still get fixes and security patches, but don’t expect anything more than that. The fixes and patches will keep coming mainly due to the adoption of Windows 10 Mobile for Work in the enterprise market.

One of the major reason he pointed out for dropping the platform is to get developers to develop apps for the platform. He even said that Microsoft tried paying companies to make apps, but the lack of users became another problem as for most companies, the userbase was too low to invest.

Of course, there were more reasons behind the failure of Windows Phone. While the company failed to keep up with Android and iOS, it also had no specific hardware strategy, or so it appeared.

The tweets clearing the air regarding Windows Phone comes from Belfiore after talks about him switching to iPhone and Android devices as his daily drivers.

While it is clear that Microsoft is no longer focusing on the platform, at least not for the near future, the company seems to be more focused on developing and improving applications for Android, macOS and iOS.

Read More: Microsoft Edge’s iOS and Android Version Arriving Soon, Preview Version Now Available

Microsoft is encouraging employees to create cross-platform apps in their spare time with Microsoft Garage. Apart from that, it has also launched a few apps for other platforms, including Microsoft Launcher, Edge, Kaizala, Cortana, Next Lock Screen, among others.

As per the rumours, Microsoft is working on a new “mobile” device codenamed Andromeda, which is expected to launch next year. The device will run on the new “Windows Core OS” platform.

(Source)

The post Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore Says Windows Phone Is No Longer Company’s Focus appeared first on Gizmochina.

After the launch of Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, the company has been silent and has not released a single flagship phone. However, the rumor mill has been speculating that since the Lumia line of smartphones have been axed, the Redmond giant is working on a Surface branded smartphone. Fresh information coming from Brad Sams, executive editor with Thurrott has revealed the company is examining a prototype of Windows 10 mobile device.

Sams is not sure whether it is a smartphone or tablet. Since Microsoft heavily pegged to re-enter the smartphone market, speculations are rife that the company could be probably working on a premium smartphone. For those readers who are speculating that it could be a Surface Phone, the information coming from Thurrott’s editor reveals that the Alex Kipman is heading the project. Kipman is the one who is pioneering on HoloLens project is working on the mysterious Windows 10 device.

Hence, it seems that the smartphone could be coming with AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) capabilities. It appears that this upcoming smartphone from Microsoft will be a premium device that will carry an expensive pricing. This would be an attempt from the company to convince other smartphone OEMs to make similar devices.

Read More: Microsoft’s Foldable Tablet Design Revealed in Patent Images

It is speculated that it may run Windows 10 on ARM that could be probably based on CShell. However, CShell is not very stable at present. Hence, the Redmond giant has plenty of work to deal with before making it available to the end user. CShell will unify experience Microsoft’s various devices. In the previous month, leaked images showing Windows Phone running on CShell had surfaced.

In June, a report had also surfaced that Microsoft is working on a device called Surface Mobile and it two codenames of its two speculated variants were revealed as Surface Peking and Surface Slavonia. Reports have suggested that it could be running on Snapdragon 835 chipset.

Since Microsoft is testing this mysterious phone, speculations are rife that this phone may debut in the next year. It seems this year will also pass without a smartphone from the company.

(source|via)

The post Windows 10 Mobile Powered Premium Smartphone with AR, VR Features in Works? appeared first on Gizmochina.

The market share of Windows 10 Mobile has considerably decreased to under 1 percent as Microsoft has not released a new smartphone since October 2015. Many may have speculated that the operating system would perish soon looking at its current status. A report from the previous month stated that Microsoft may soon kill Windows 10 Mobile. However, it appears that Microsoft is internally testing a refreshed UI for Windows 10 Mobile and it will be made available through a new smartphone.

Several Microsoft insiders have revealed that the new smartphone is speculated to be driven by “a different branch of Windows Mobile.” Also, the user interface of the operating system is said to be different from what we can see on the current Windows 10 Mobile OS. It seems that the new UI is in the initial stage of development. Also, it may not support older Windows Mobile apps. In order to provide new mobile experience on the forthcoming edition of Windows 10 Mobile, the Redmond giant may have axed the Silverlight apps.

Read More: Microsoft Launches Surface Laptop with 13.5 inch Display and Windows 10 S for $999

Petri’s Brad Sams is of the view that the release of the device ay be around a year or less away. The new device is expected to support UWP apps. The market is filled with numerous Android and iOS devices. Hence, in order to attract consumers, Microsoft will have to provide a new experience through the redesigned Windows 10 Mobile. There is a possibility that Microsoft may cancel the project completely if the testing does not yield good results.

Microsoft has killed its Lumia line of smartphones and it has said that other OEMs will continue to launch phones running on Windows Mobile OS. Hence, the rumor mill is eagerly anticipating on a Surface branded smartphone. However, there is no confirmation on whether the new hardware that is used for testing the refreshed Windows 10 Mobile experience is the highly anticipated Surface phone.

In a recent interview on Marketplace’s make me smart, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the company will make phones. However, the new phones will not appear like conventional phones. He added, “We make phones today, we have OEMs like HP making phones and others and we picked a very specific area to focus on which is management, security, and this one particular feature that we have called Continuum, which is a phone that can even be a desktop,” He also claimed that the Surface is a good example on how the firm could differentiate in the market.

Hence, the upcoming smartphone could possibly have Continuum as one of its best features. Moreover, it may sport a unique design like Surface devices. The alleged phone may ideally transform in a notebook or PC.

(source|via)

The post Refreshed Windows 10 Mobile OS Running Smartphone May Arrive Soon appeared first on Gizmochina.

Windows Mobile might be dying but a number of folks still use a Windows phone as their daily driver. Some of these loyal Windows fans own older devices that didn’t get updated to Windows 10 Mobile. Devices like the Lumia 520 and Lumia 635 didn’t get the update because of their small RAM (512MB) and small storage (8GB) while others like the Nokia Lumia 1020 didn’t get updated because of it’s old Snapdragon S4 processor.

seems to be available to the 520 and 635 512MB model

— WINDOWS (@FMCREPAIRARMAGH) April 25, 2017

However, those devices might just be able to get the update to Windows 10 Mobile today, thanks to an anomaly. Microsoft earlier released the Windows 10 Mobile Creators Update to the Release Preview Ring of the Insider Program. That’s the equivalent of a developer version of an Android ROM. Twitter user @mccools2013 who checked out the update found out that the it is available for the Lumia 520 and 635 512MB model.

The Creators Update itself isn’t even available to all devices running Windows 10. Although Microsoft says unsupported devices can get the update if they are registered for the Windows Insider program.

READ MORE: Xiaomi Mi 6 Microsoft Edition to Be Available on Microsoft Store?

According to Neowin.net, the anomaly is limited to devices with 512MB of RAM as they didn’t get the updates on the Lumia 1020 and LG Lancet. So if you own any Windows phone with 512MB RAM and wish to update it to Windows 10, you may want to give this a a shot.

(Source)

The post The Insider Program Allows Older Windows Phones Get Windows 10 Mobile appeared first on Gizmochina.

When Windows 10 Mobile was launched in July 2016, Microsoft had made the major software upgrade available to limited number of phones. The newer Windows 10 Creators update is only available to 13 smartphones. Now, the Redmond giant has removed the Upgrade Advisor app which allowed smartphones with Windows Phone 8.1 to upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile. Moreover, it is no longer providing newer builds of Windows 10 Mobile through Windows Insider app for the phones running on Windows Phone 8.1. These recent actions from Microsoft suggest that it may be prepping up to kill the Windows 10 Mobile OS.

If a user has installed an insider build of Windows 10 Mobile on a phone running on Windows Phone 8.1, the removal of Insider app support means that if the user downgrades to Windows Phone 8.1, there will be no chance of installing Windows 10 Mobile builds again. Even though there were rumors in the previous year that Microsoft is considering to abandon Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft’s Dona Sarkar had confirmed in the previous year that the company has no plans for axing its mobile platform OS.

Read More: Microsoft Surface CloudBook Running on Snapdragon 835 to Launch on May 2?

In the previous year, Microsoft did not launch a Lumia smartphone and the recently released Anniversary and Creators updates do not add significant features to the Windows 10 Mobile phones. Moreover, the Windows 10 Creators update is only available to a handful of six Lumia phones. Since there are no new Lumia phones, Microsoft is heavily rumored to have axed its Lumia line of smartphones. Also, the current market share of Windows Phone is embarrassing low compared to Android and iOS.

Even though the rumor mill is talking about a forthcoming Surface branded phone, Microsoft has not revealed any plans on launching such a device. Samsung has introduced a Microsoft edition of the Galaxy S8 which include various kinds Microsoft apps such as Office, Skype, and OneDrive. These things hint that the Redmond giant may discontinue the Windows 10 Mobile OS platform. However, Microsoft is yet to make an official announcement on it.

(source)

The post Windows 10 Mobile to be Killed Soon? appeared first on Gizmochina.

A few months back, Xiaomi and Microsoft entered into a partnership which allowed the company’s Windows 10 OS to be installed on Xiaomi’s Mi4 flagship. We have already seen a couple of Mi4 devices running on an early version of the OS, but today, Microsoft released an official Windows 10 Mobile ROM version for all Xiaomi Mi4 users. This means that you can experience the power of Windows right on your Xiaomi smartphone. The ROM will be publicly made available for all Mi4 users to try out.

Along with the new ROM, Xiaomi also announced today that it will make the Windows 10 ROM available for its Xiaomi Mi Note series. So, in the coming weeks, there will be at least three different models running on Microsoft’s Windows 10 OS — the Mi4, Mi Note and the Mi Pad 2.

While we have not yet tried out the newly released version, here are some pictures of the Xiaomi Mi4 running on the Windows 10 Mobile operating system directly from Xiaomi. So far everything looks good, but we will have to wait for some more feedback to see whether there are any major flaws or bugs in the OS.

Check out the pictures from down below. Meanwhile let us know whether the idea of Windows 10 Mobile on your Xiaomi Mi4 sounds interesting to you.

The post First Look At Windows 10 On Xiaomi Mi4 [Pictures] appeared first on Gizmochina.