Windows 10 Mobile is Here! Out with the old……

…and in with the new. While I have been sporting Windows 10 Mobile on my Lumia 950 for several months, and even longer on my Lumia 635 test device as a Windows Insider, it’s nice to know that the OS is being released to everyone. Well, not quite everyone. It appears that some of the devices that Microsoft thought would work with Windows 10 Mobile received some bad feedback through the Windows Insider Program. Ironically, the same portal that allowed users like me to experience Window 10 Mobile first hand with a non-qualified device. Am I bitter or disappointed? No. Truthfully, while I didn’t spend a tremendous amount of time navigating W10M on my Lumia 635, the little time I did was not always pleasant. So it’s no surprise that my device, nor any other 512MB phone, made the final cut.

Now there will be some Blu WIN Jr owners who are not going to be happy with the news that their devices will NOT receive the W10M update, despite being assured by Microsoft that they would. Hopefully someone makes it right with a nice trade in offer for those left hanging. And for those Lumia Icon owners out there. Well, I suppose there is still hope. If Microsoft can go kiss some more butt over at Verizon to convince them it’s the right thing to do. But then, when has Verizon ever done the right thing regarding Windows Mobile, Windows Phone, or Windows 10 Mobile. My guess is there is no technical limitation on the Lumia Icon. Just plain old fashioned stubbornness, or stupidity. Take your pick. For the rest of the devices that didn’t make the cut, maybe it’s time to send them out to pasture. My Lumia 1020 included. While the phone may still work great, the insides simply can’t handle the demands of this new OS. It’s time that Microsoft stopped trying to make “everything” backward compatible. The two year promise for updates is reasonable. And what about the other guys. Do all Android devices get OS updates for two years from date of release? Uhhh, no. And while Apple gladly lets you update your old iPhone 4S to the latest OS version, the experience is so crappy, you’ll be waiting outside your local carrier store to put down some more cash and retire that 18 month old relic. Funny how the attitudes of iPhone and Windows Phone customers are so different. Bahhhhhhh.

Faced with a device (my L635) that would no longer receive Insider updates and would eventually need to revert back to Win 8.1, it was time for a replacement. So on Friday, after seeing the final cut of updatable devices, I ordered a new Lumia 640 GoPhone from Amazon for $43. Probably should had done that the last time it was on sale for $29.99. Oh well. It arrived this morning as Amazon had promised. An hour before it arrived though, I got an email from the Seller explaining how I could unlock the phone if I chose to. While I have been an ATT customer forever, and this phone most likely will never see an active SIM card (unless my L950 takes a dump some day), I thought it would still be nice to have an unlocked phone should I want to sell the phone to someone on another network someday. Made sense to me. I followed the directions for first activation and went through the steps. In two days I will find out how easy this is to do.

With all these phones floating around, it’s been a busy day. I used an L950 backup to restore to and activate my new L640. After it had completed that, I decided to do a backup of my L950 just for good measure. I deleted almost all the apps on the new device as I only use it for testing, and my next step was going to be joining the Fast Ring to get the latest Windows Insider update. So I wanted as much available memory as possible.  Then the L640 did a full backup, but unfortunately, it decided to call itself a Lumia 950 (duh, I renamed it after the backup). That gave me two backups on OneDrive for today, both labeled Lumia 950. Ugh. I deleted both backups and started again with a new, fresh backup  of my L950. Done. I started a rollback restore of my L635 to Win8.1 with the Windows Device Recovery Tool, but I got a warning that my battery was really low. So it’s on a real charger for a bit  before I roll it back. I’ll find someone at the office who needs a nice, lightly used phone for their kid. Meanwhile, the L640 is updating to a new build. Hopefully the latest Fast Ring build. Not sure what to do with my L1020, which I haven’t turned on or touched since last December. I guess a hard reset is in order. After that, not sure.

This new L640 is certainly a good looking, capable device. It lacks some bells and whistles, but for the price I don’t have any complaints. Think of it as a Ford 150 vs. the 350 (L950). They both look the same, but the latter can tow your Tiny Home wherever you want it to go. So, don’t fret that your Windows Phone is not getting updated to Win 10 Mobile. If you simply have to have the latest and greatest, suck it up and get a new phone that can update to this new OS.

Here is a list of compatible Windows 10 Mobile devices, if you haven’t already seen it.