ClintonFitch.com

While it has been floating about in the rumor mill for the last week or so, Microsoft themselves have now confirmed that 1GB variant of the Lumia 635 is on its way to select markets and carriers.  The change is welcome as the Lumia 635 remains the most popular Lumia Windows Phone on the market with every carrier globally seemingly having the device available for as low as $69.  The 1GB will bring it up to spec with the Lumia 535 which has 1GB of RAM but is outperformed by the 635 overall.

You can read my review of the Lumia 635 at this link.

One of the challenges that has plagued Microsoft with Windows Phone since its inception, and something they must resolve with Windows 10 for Phones has been carriers.  If you look at the history of Windows Phone 7, 8 and 8.1, the carriers have always held the strings when it comes to updates on devices.  In some cases, particularly in Europe, this has been fine as the carriers have gotten updates out in a timely manner.  Here in the US however it has been nothing short of a debacle.  Verizon Lumia Icon users just now got Lumia Cyan (rolled up with Lumia Denim) after it was available for a year.  AT&T has yet to roll out Lumia Denim to the Lumia 1520, arguably the flagship phone of the market today.  T-Mobile has been hit-or-miss which is the same for Sprint.

Microsoft in leading up to Windows 10 for Phones has indicated that they are working on ways to get around this problem and go with something akin to how Apple approaches update on iOS.  What they have not been clear on is how they plan on doing that feat.  Having done a lot of reading and asking even more questions, I think I know how they are going to do this with the next generation of Windows Phone.  The secret ingredient to me seems to be the “appification” of what use to be core components of the mobile OS.  Couple this the foundations laid with the Windows Insider program as the way to push out updates universally and you have the makings of what Microsoft wants to do:  Control the release of updates to everyone on Windows 10 for Phones in a timely manner.

Earlier this week Microsoft announced that effective at the end of March they are ending support for Rooms on Windows Phone.  Then I watched as Twitter lit up with everything from “this is the end of Windows Phone” to “They don’t care about their customers”.

Really?  Really peeps?  Did anyone actually use Rooms?  I have spoken to at least half-a-dozen serious Windows Phone users this week and not one of them used Rooms on Windows Phone.  In fact two of them (the innocent shall be protected) didn’t even know what Rooms was on Windows Phone.  I appreciate that 6 people doesn’t represent everyone in the Windows Phone user base but equally I cannot see how the dismissal of a feature that few knew of really constitutes a crisis.

Microsoft’s continued drive in their “Mobile First, Cloud First” mantra has continued with the news that they have teamed up with iPass to bring eligible Microsoft users access to 18 million global access points for free.  While the details are still not fully defined, particularly this “eligible” customer portion, the news is exciting and could open a new wave of connectivity for millions of users who travel.  iPass, for those who don’t know, has a network of WiFi access points (commonly shared with other vendors) that is unsurpassed in the world.  They bill themselves as having the “largest commercial WiFi network” and having been an iPass user for many years, the value this could bring to Microsoft customers may be hard to measure when it is all said and done.