Fans of Windows Phone have done it all when trying to revive the OS and the phones. People have tried everything from trying to install the OS on Android Devices to repurposing old Lumias to Windows PCs. It’s been 6 years since the death of the OS, but Windows Phone refuses to die completely.

While the OS has been booted on Android and Windows devices in the past, we think we have found something epic this time. Someone has managed to boot up Windows Phone on a MacBook. Yes, you read that right, a MacBook, built by Apple.

Apple hardware is notoriously infamous for being extremely difficult to tinker with, but YouTuber Nobel Tech has seemingly done it. He has managed to load Windows 10 Mobile on an old MacBook and has even uploaded a video showing it in action.

Windows Phone seems to work fine. The most interesting aspect of this experiment is that the MacBook’s battery was not just recognized by Windows Phone, but its level was accurately displayed.

This is particularly surprising considering that one wouldn’t normally expect Microsoft to include all default Windows drivers in the Windows Phone system.

Another impressive aspect noted is how well Windows 10 Mobile apps adapt to the larger screen size of the MacBook.

Apps such as Calculator, Settings, Word, Alarms, Clock, Calendar, and even the UWP File Explorer, have been observed to scale effectively, taking full advantage of the larger display. Microsoft had done a great job with UWP apps; it’s a real shame that it didn’t take off.

MacBooks don’t have touch, so you have to do with the mouse and keyboard.

Leaving the lamenting aside, the YouTuber has also put up a guide for adventurous souls to try it out. All you need is a spare SATA HDD and an Intel-powered MacBook.

Interestingly, Microsoft disabled the traditional Windows blue screen on Windows Phone. To see the BSOD error code, modify the BCD and the Windows Phone OS’s registry. Finally, access the BCD file in the EFIESP partition (boot folder) and run several bcdedit commands as an Administrator to enable mobile graphics and disable boot progress and text.

So there you have it, folks, Windows Phone running on a MacBook. Will you give it a try? If yes, we are interested in hearing the results in the comments!

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Brandon Watson, ex-head of the Windows Phone Developer Experience has taken to Twitter to explain the real reason behind the demise of the OS. According to him, it was a lack of interest by carriers which led to the decline of Windows Phone.

In countries like the USA and some EU nations, carriers bundle smartphones with attractive offers and sell them to customers. The salespeople in the stores and the websites are the go-to point for most customers to know and get the best phone available.

“We were fighting an uphill battle trying to get the carriers to feature our phones with their sales people.”

According to Brandon, the salespeople for the carriers simply didn’t push hard for Windows Phones. The momentum for new Lumias would be there for a week or two before the usual iOS push would go on again.

While most people say that the lack of a proper App Store killed Windows Phone, Brandon thinks otherwise. He goes on to say that the lack of apps wasn’t the real reason, but it was one of the starting points:

“I get it, there were people who had FOMO because they couldn’t play the latest version of Candy Crush or Angry Birds. The Chase banking app wasn’t available. I get it. But, again, combinatorial math makes it so that everybody is going to likely have one app that they can’t get that their friends have that allows the discussion to pivot on “there weren’t enough apps.”

The salespeople would then not recommend the Lumias anymore, and potential customers would be led to purchasing a Galaxy or iPhone.

The next problem that he mentions is something of a more interesting one. Microsoft, Brandon says, didn’t allow external developers to access internal app development tools for Windows Phones.

“I actually think the biggest problem with our developer story was that we did not allow the tools that we used internally to be used by developers externally. Therefore the app experiences diverged.”

With different app experiences, 3rd party apps never got to shine. People just didn’t pick up Lumias anymore, and developers lost interest in building apps for the platform.

While this is an interesting take, we can’t help but wonder if Microsoft really cared for Windows Phone. The problems Brandon mentions are challenging but nothing an organization of the caliber of Microsoft couldn’t manage.

What do you think?

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Windows Phone and Microsoft, a love-hate story panning across years, ended in a heartbreak. Once hailed as one of the best Smartphone OS, Windows Phone (later Windows 10 Mobile) was axed by Microsoft in 2017.

Featuring Live Tiles, a unique take on the home screen, Windows Phone was ahead of its time. The OS was smooth, fluid and easy to use. Coupled with the Lumias from Nokia and later Microsoft, Windows Phone gave a strong competition to Android and iOS in its heydays. The Lumia 520 was one of the best-selling phones of all time.

Then there was the camera prowess of the Lumias. The Nokia Lumia 920, 1020 and the Microsoft Lumia 950XL took some of the best photos of their time. I had a 950XL and boy, did it take some amazing photos!

However, not all was rosy.

The OS was rebooted several times. Users can still recall the Windows Phone 7 to 8 fiasco when none of the phones running the older OS could be updated to the new OS. Microsoft probably learned from their mistake and Windows 10 Mobile was rolled out to most phones.

Coupled with features like continuum and UWP apps, Windows 10 Mobile promised to be a game changer until the real problem of Windows Phone cropped up again. Apps.

App availability was never a strong point of Windows Phone. With declining sales and waning interest from developers, Microsoft axed their smartphone division in 2017.

Many industry experts criticized the move. We at Windows Latest were also devastated, but Microsoft was adamant. Windows Phone was dead.

Many years have passed and Windows Phones have been mostly relegated as fond memories by their users. The beloved OS was mostly forgotten by everyone.

That was until this week.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft met with the CEO of Insider and gave a wide range of interviews on various topics. Ranging from AI to the acquisition of Activision, Nadella spoke about a lot of things.

But there was one thing which caught many of our attention.

Windows Phone.

Yes. Nadella spoke about the ill-fated OS and even regretted the decision of axing it.

“The decision I think a lot of people talk about – and one of the most difficult decisions I made when I became CEO —was our exit of what I’ll call the mobile phone as defined then. In retrospect, I think there could have been ways we could have made it work by perhaps reinventing the category of computing between PCs, tablets, and phones.”

Lot of language there, but yes, the CEO of Microsoft admits killing their mobile business was wrong.

But then, that’s all there to it. While he admits he was wrong killing it, Nadella isn’t bringing it back to life. After the ill-fated Surface Duo, Microsoft is no longer in the smartphone business.

Is there a future for Windows on Phones? Who knows, but one thing is sure, whatever the form is, Windows Phone was and is still one of the best things to happen.

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The first preview build 22000.51 of Windows 11 is now officially available for desktops with Intel, AMD and ARM (Snapdragon) processors in the Windows Insider program’s dev channel. Thanks to the beta build, a developer has now managed to install Windows 11 on Windows Phone to show how well it scales to a mobile form factor.

Developer Gustave Monce managed to compile an ARM build of Windows 11 using the UUP images and successfully installed the operating system on a Microsoft Lumia 950 XL, a device that was released in 2015 with Windows 10 Mobile and discontinued in 2016/2017 due to the app gap problem.

Although Windows 11 is officially designed for tablets/desktops, the upcoming operating system scales well on a mobile form factor. Lumia 950 XL, which features a 5.7-inch display, is able to boot the new Windows and it fits wells.

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The Start Menu works, animations are intact and Windows 11 responds well to the smaller form factor, as you can see in the above and below images, but plenty of work still needs to be done.

The developer has also managed to enable cellular connectivity in Windows 11 by manually porting drivers from Windows 10 Mobile and Windows 10 on ARM project. This hack brings calling and messaging support to desktop OS.

Windows 11 apparently comes with dedicated settings to manage cellular connectivity on Snapdragon-powered Always Connected PCs, but it also works on Windows Phones.

Windows 11 is essentially Windows 10 and it takes a lot of inspiration from Microsoft’s cancelled Windows 10X while still retaining the look and feel of Windows. The live tiles are gone, but icons have been optimized for touch input.

It’s also worth noting that Microsoft is not working on a mobile version of Windows 11. The official documentation has confirmed the operating system works on devices with a 9-inch display only and this may mean that the company is not planning on using it for mobile form-factor touch screen devices.

While this project may not be ideal, it’s an impressive feat and it proves that the Lumia 950XL can still run new operating systems.

Some developers have been also trying to bring Windows on ARM to flagship Android smartphones, but these efforts are in their early stages and we don’t know when it would be possible to run Windows 11 or Windows 11 on Android phones.

According to Microsoft, Windows 11 devices will be released later this year ahead of the holiday season, with some reports suggesting rollout could happen as early as October 20.

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Way back in 2019, reports suggested that x64 emulation is coming to Windows on ARM, but it got pushed back a bit. In November, Microsoft confirmed that 64x emulation support will be finally included with the next version of Windows 10, which is expected to launch in the spring of 2021.

Windows 10 on ARM was first announced in 2016 without the ability to run x86 apps in emulation. There was no immediate plan to support x64 apps, but as more users wanted Microsoft to address the ‘app gap’ in the Windows Store, x64 apps emulation finally arrived with Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21277.

After the release of this preview update, independent developers have now managed to get x64 desktop apps to run on an old Lumia device via emulation in Windows 10 for ARM.

For those unaware, there’s a passionate Windows Phone community that modifies Microsoft’s mobile devices to run a full version of Windows, such as Windows 8 and Windows 10 on ARM.

x64 emulation is the latest project they’ve pulled off. As you can see in the above screenshot, it’s possible to run desktop apps via emulation and landscape mode is also supported.

Desktop apps on Windows Phones look pretty good and they work very well, but it’s not a practical solution. This is because smaller areas in desktop programs cannot be accessed using the smartphone touchscreen.

However, it’s still nice to see developers accomplish feats like this and it’s also possible that Windows 10 on ARM will arrive on Android phones in the near future.

It’s all thanks to Windows 10 ARM, an operating system which has been optimized for ARM-based processors, such as Samsung Exynos and Qualcomm Snapdragon.

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Yesterday, Adobe published beta versions of Photoshop that run natively on Windows 10 devices with ARM chipset. Developers have now managed to install the full desktop version of Photoshop on a Lumia 950 XL and it surprisingly works very well considering it’s a mobile form factor.

Previously, Photoshop software has only worked via emulation, but Adobe is now allowing users to run their software via Windows on Arm natively.

Photoshop apparently doesn’t run that smoothly on an old Lumia phone, but it’s a fun project and another proof that Windows Phones are versatile. This is also a piece of good news for anyone planning to invest in the latest Microsoft products based on Snapdragon chipset as it shows improvements in Windows 10 ARM platform.

Photoshop for Windows 10 on ARM currently has its own limitations. For example, users are currently unable to use advanced tools, such as healing brush and content-aware fill functionality. However, there are plans to improve support for Photoshop in Windows 10 for ARM and these improvements will also make their way to Lumia phones.

Windows 10 on ARM is also likely to get better when Microsoft will enable support for 64-bit apps emulation.

Microsoft has already confirmed that ARM-based devices running Windows 10 will have access to even more. Currently, Windows 10 on ARM supports 32-bit native ARM apps, 64-bit native ARM apps and only 32-bit Intel (x86) apps can be emulated. After the next feature update, it would be possible to run 64-bit Intel apps.

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Microsoft claimed that Windows 10 was modular and capable of running on any device you could think of. However, developers were still required to optimize their UWP apps for all form factors and Windows Phone failed to get more than 10 per cent of the market.

Windows Phones, such as the Lumia 950 XL and Lumia 950, share components with Windows 10 desktop and other Windows operating systems, such as Surface Hub OS.

We’ve already seen Windows 10 on ARM for Windows Phones and some developers are also enabling cellular connectivity support in Windows 10 21H1 preview builds.

Now, French developer Gustave Monce managed to hack the Lumia 950 XL to run Microsoft’s Windows 10 Team OS, which is a version of Windows 10 that runs on the Surface Hub.

Running a full version of Surface Hub OS on a smartphone is pretty impressive because the OS is designed for whiteboards, and with a few tweaks to the firmware, it wouldn’t be too difficult to use the OS on a smartphone.

Of course, Surface Hub OS on a mobile device is not a practical solution, but it’s another proof that Windows Phones are versatile and can run almost any desktop OS.

Developers have managed to run the following operating systems on Lumia phones:

• Windows 10 on ARM.
• Windows 10 on ARM with Mobile Shell.
• Windows RT.
• Linux and Ubuntu.
• Windows 10 Team (Surface Hub OS).

For those unaware, Surface Hub devices ship with Windows 10 Team OS and it comes with a special interface optimized for collaboration. Surface Hub OS doesn’t get significant updates all that often, but it’s still being actively supported.

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Independent developers have posted some pretty convincing evidence of cellular connectivity working in Windows 10 Build 20215 running on a Lumia 950 or 950 XL.

While having a desktop version of Windows 10 working on a phone is pretty, it’s still not a practical replacement for Windows 10 Mobile. Fortunately, there are plans to make this project better and improve the performance of the OS before adding support for other devices, including OnePlus and Xiaomi phones.

In Windows 10 Build 20215, developers have installed custom drivers to re-enable cellular connectivity after Microsoft removed the GUIDs for phone calls-related features earlier this year.

For now, Windows 10 for phones project remains exclusive to Lumia 950 and 950 XL, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t be able to install the OS on your Android.

Last year, developers posted screenshots of Windows 10 running on two Android phones – OnePlus 6T and Xiaomi’s Mi MIX. In addition, there’s another project that aims to bring Windows 10 to Samsung’s discontinued Galaxy S8.

Experimenting with Windows 10 on Snapdragon-powered products would be an interesting thing to do for tech-savvy users and Windows Phone enthusiasts.

In addition, some users have also developed a MobileShell for Windows 10 that improves the experience on mobile hardware.

Again, there’s no practical benefit of running desktop operating system on a mobile device, but it’s still a pretty cool concept that you can try later this month if you have got a spare Lumia phone.

Would you ever want a Microsoft phone with a mobile-optimized version of Windows 10 or do you now prefer to use a standard mobile device with apps? Let us know in the comments.

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The idea of Windows 10 on phones actually died some time ago when Microsoft stopped bringing new features to Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft also discontinued the production of Lumia phones and PC makers including HP stopped releasing new models following the HP Elite x3.

After Microsoft internally abandoned the development of Windows 10 Mobile and Lumia smartphones, Microsoft was still working on a smartphone codenamed ‘Andromeda’ with two screens before shifting to the Surface Duo.

Andromeda idea was also abandoned after the Windows Store app situation didn’t improve on the PC. Microsoft moved on and the software giant started writing dozens of excellent apps for Android and iOS, such as Your Phone, Office, Microsoft Launcher, OneNote, and more.

Moreover, Microsoft partnered with Samsung on its Android Galaxy devices to integrate its services, including the Windows 10 Your Phone app.

A report also suggested that Microsoft was considering Surface Neo-like large device that would run both Windows Core OS and Android apps.

Those crazy Microsoft Android phone rumours were partially true. In October 2019, Microsoft surprised everyone and unveiled the Surface Duo, a dual-screen mobile device that comes with two 5.6-inch displays and runs fully authorized and licensed version of Android with Google services on it.

What if the Surface Duo was a Windows 10 phone?

Naturally, due to its failures with Windows 10 Mobile, Windows Store, and Andromeda OS, Microsoft decided to create a dual-screen phone as an Android OEM.

But what if the Surface Duo was a Windows 10-based dual-screen device? Thanks to a new video posted an early adopter of the device, we now have our first look at Surface Duo running Windows 10 in tablet mode.

This has been achieved using an app called “Duet Display”, which provides a lag-free way to use your Surface Duo to extend the desktop of a Windows PC.

The app basically allows users to access Windows apps and desktops directly from an Android device that supports the Google Play Store.

“The app can be finicky when spanning but once you set it up the latency is surprisingly very low and the image quality is great despite being wireless. I set the Duo to be the only screen for my PC which let me enter tablet mode,” Reddit user noted.

The developers of the Duet app promises stellar performance with zero lag and it works pretty well on Surface Duo too, thanks to the recent optimizations to the tablet mode of Windows 10.

Do you like the idea of Windows 10 on a Surface Duo-like pocketable device? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

The post Here’s what Windows 10 would look like on a Surface Duo phone appeared first on Windows Latest

While Microsoft has discontinued the Windows Phone lineup, some hackers have shown us a preview of the full version of Windows 10 on smartphones.

Running full Windows 10 on a phone has long been a dream for many tech enthusiasts and the developers have already started porting the OS to OnePlus, Samsung, and Mi phones.

The recent releases of Windows 10 on ARM have allowed enthusiasts to enable support for dual-screen and, naturally, some of the developers have managed to recreate the Windows Phones’ Continuum experience.

Developer Ben managed to create a prototype of Windows kernel-mode driver that works in a user-mode process. This allows Snapdragon-based phones to run Windows 10 on ARM and project the screen to an external monitor, with your phone still functioning as a full-fledged desktop.

It’s good for web browsing, multitasking, productivity and viewing photos.

Remember that Windows 10 on ARM support won’t be limited to Lumia phones as there are plans to recreate a similar experience using Android phones.

However, don’t get your hopes up yet, as the project for non-Lumia hardware is still under development at this point, with multiple issues, including an inoperative touchscreen that will prevent you from using your handset’s touch panel.

One developer has already teased Windows 10 on ARM for Snapdragon 835-powered Galaxy S8 with a proof-of-concept.

In a conversation with us, developer Evsio0n said that they managed to build a custom UEFI firmware for the Galaxy S8 using the TianoCore, which allowed Windows 10 to boot on it.

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