Welcome back to our weekly Windows 10 Mobile news recap series, where we go over the top stories of the past week in the world of Microsoft’s mobile operating system. Let’s get started.
Windows Phone sees more declining sales in FY17 Q1 earnings report
Unsurprisingly, the numbers aren’t great for Windows Phone sales right now. The earnings report for the first quarter of the 2017 fiscal year has released, and it shows a serious drop in sales for Windows Phone devices from last year – 72%, to be exact. At this point, the future of Windows 10 Mobile seems more or less up in the air. Is Microsoft going to settle for the phone’s enterprise base, or will they ever expand to commercial markets with a Surface Phone?
The Ockel Sirius A skips Continuum to put all of Windows 10 in your pocket
The Ockel Sirius A is currently on IndieGoGo, and it’s probably the weirdest phone to come out in a while. The phone smashed right through its goal of $100,000 dollars and is now nearly at $300,000, with 18 more days left in the campaign. Outfitted with a few USB 3.0 ports and an ethernet port, the wedge-shaped device is being marketed as a “Mini-PC”. If this seems like the sort of thing you can’t live without, you can get the “Super early bird” package for $559 on IndieGoGo. If you find the crowdfunding aspect to be a little sketchy and want to wait, it looks like the Ockel Sirius A should be out around May.
HP Workspace lets you run full Windows apps with Continuum and the HP Elite x3
Continuum was a big selling point for the Lumia 950 and 950 XL, but some people think that the experience isn’t quite meeting expectations right now. As it stands, Continuum can only support apps that are directly supported by it – and that’ isn’t a very long list of apps. In the interest of creating a more versatile alternative, HP has launched HP Workspace: a premium service that lets you have a more familiar desktop experience (with apps like Chrome, Office 2013, etc.). The service starts at $49 a month, and is pretty heavily directed towards enterprise users.
SharePoint app releases for Windows 10 Mobile
So long as you have a work or school Microsoft account, you can now download the SharePoint app for Windows 10 Mobile. For those unfamiliar, SharePoint is a service that lets you collaborate with people, share documents, keep tabs on your team, and more. The app leaked a while ago, and it’s great to see it make its way out into the wild.
Specifications leak for the Alcatel IDOL 4S
A training guide for T-Mobile employees has leaked, and it shows off the specifications of the new Alcatel IDOL 4S. The phone, which happens to come with a virtual reality headset, was compared to the iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 and stacked up pretty well. You can check out the leaked screenshots for the full details, but Alcatel’s new device has the biggest display, most memory, and best camera out of the three.
Here’s the Insider build that came out this week
Thanks for joining us. If you want all of the news as it happens, keep an eye on our Windows 10 Mobile tag.
