Windows 10 Mobile

For the past couple of months, I’ve been an Insider with Microsoft for Windows 10 Mobile - the OS that is about to be released to the public in a matter of days. Think of this as a review of sorts, where I will be putting the OS through its paces on my Lumia 735.

Significant Changes #

The OS, if you’re updating from WP8.1, has many changes. A long, more complete list of changes can be found at NokiaPowerUser. Below are the most significant changes and features.

• Continuum - A feature only found in the Windows 10 flagship models - Lumia 950 and 950 XL, this allows you to connect to an external screen, keyboard as well as pointing device and turn that screen into a PC interface. At its simplest, this involves connecting wirelessly to a TV through MiraCast, and using the phone as a keyboard and a trackpad. Alternatively, Microsoft’s Display Dock can be used to connect to TVs that don’t support MiraCast, and connect to wired keyboard and mice. In either set up, the phone can be used independently - you do anything on the phone while someone else does something else on the “desktop”. This powerful feature sets the W10M flagships apart from everything else.
• Windows Hello - Another feature only found on the new flagships, this sign-in method allows you to unlock your phone just by looking at it from up to 1 feet away. It uses a special camera setup to get an accurate facial recognition and iris scan, and securely log you in. This system has so far held up even in the face of twins. When in doubt, it simply locks you out and asks for the pin code. It works in absolute dark (through IR), and the recognition can be improved by training it further.
• Start Screen - The start screen has gone through some changes. It can now be customized extensively: 2-4 columns of medium-sized tiles, 2 different ways to showcase a background image, transparency controls for the tiles, quite a few color options for the tiles themselves. Now you can truly personalize the face of your phone.
• Settings - The settings have been revamped to be more in-line with Windows 10 on PCs. This means an extensive collection of options and a very organized way of navigating the settings. You can even search for any setting you want. I’ll do an extensive story on the many setting at a later date.
• Notifications - The action center has been revamped. It now features up to 16 quick-actions in an expandable stack (pull down from top), with toggles like flashlight, brightness, quiet mode, hotspot, etc. You can also act on push notifications from the ribbon itself. This for now includes replying to messages or responding to alarms without leaving your current app.
• Speed - W10M seems to be highly optimized for multi-core devices with more than 2 cores. The experience is smooth on dual-core devices (like the first-gen WP8 devices). Step up to quad-core, and the speed increases a bit, taking less time to scale the various places of the OS. Step up further to hexa-core and octa-core devices, and the experience truly feels first-class. Resume and loading screens are virtually non-existent, and the smoothness of the OS is unmatched.
• Camera - The camera gets an upgrade. The default camera is now very fast, even on my L735, with features like Rich-Capture (re-touchable HDR) and living images. Most of the features form the Nokia Camera make an appearance too. On phones with 20MP cams, 8K capture and slow-motion video make an appearance. And of course, the speed on these devices (all of whom feature Snapdragon 800-series processors at the moment) is on par with the latest android flagships when it comes to capturing pics. Picture quality is variable by phones, and on my L735, it remains about the same as WP8.1
• Apps - The new Universal Windows Platform promises powerful apps for mobile devices, and we can see some examples. For Continuum-enabled devices, these apps can be used in PC-mode on larger screens, while the same apps will have more mobile-friendly UIs with most of the features in smaller screens. As for apps themselves, the Microsoft Office apps and its default messaging / phone apps are good examples. The former bring excellent compatibility to mobile along with great feature, while the later bring features like integrated skype-messaging (akin to iMessage), and integrated skype video/audio calls (akin to FaceTime, but better). This means you can seamlessly switch between messaging modes, or call someone on skype without opening a separate app. What’s more, all of this come at no cost in performance.
• File System - There’s now an improved file-system management app. File Explorer is a minimal, but feature-rich file manager that allows you to manage files between internal storage, OneDrive, SD Card or any connected storage mediums (USB devices or hard-drives). The root-directories are still inaccessible, though, probably for the best. Perhaps we will be able to access that in some future build as Microsoft unifies Windows on all devices. While in this heading, I’ll note that USB OTG support isn’t available on all devices. My Lumia 735 doesn’t seem to support it. Perhaps a firmware update will fix that.
• Battery Life - The battery life, for the most part remains the same as 8.1. While this is the case for my L735, some users do still report faster drainage. It remains to be seen if this will change when the public builds are released along with device-specific firmware.

Conclusion #

If I were to rate the new version on a scale of 1 to 10, I’d give it an 8.5.

That isn’t bad. I’d only rate Android Marshmallow and Windows 10 on PCs more. At this point in time, apps aside, W10M is more feature-rich than iOS, and catching up to Android, though not there yet.

Having said that, the next Windows update is already being worked on internally at Microsoft. Dubbed RedStone, it’s set for a 2016 release, so that feature parity might not be far off.