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 10 build 14364 came out to Windows Insiders on the Fast Ring on the 14th, shifting Microsoft’s gears over to full-on bug-bashing mode. The build contains nothing new, instead coming out with a ton of bug fixes and small tweaks to try and polish off the Windows 10 Mobile experience. No more new features for us to sink our teeth into anymore – now, Microsoft is closing in on the official launch of the Anniversary Update. Hopefully, they’re able to smooth everything out sooner than later.
NFC Tap to Pay is becoming a reality for Windows 10 Mobile users – or, at least, some of them. It seems like the highly anticipated feature is only running on certain Lumia devices, as some Lumias just aren’t equipped to support the feature right now. It’s entirely possible that the list of compatible devices is going to grow over time as they receive firmware updates, but right now it only seems like more recent devices, like the Lumia 950 and 950 XL, are going to be compatible.
Things aren’t looking up for Windows 10 Mobile right now. While it doesn’t look like Microsoft mobile users are going to be totally left in the dust anytime soon, it doesn’t look like they’re going to be in for a particularly good rest of 2016. According to Kantar, Windows 10 Mobile is only holding about 1.3% of market share in the USA as of April 2016 – down from 3.8% in last year.
While things may not be looking good for the Windows 10 Mobile market share, that doesn’t mean that Windows 10 Mobile users are dead in the water. This week, Microsoft decided to unveil an array of new UWP apps, including My USPS, Expedia, and The Weather Channel. These mark a slight improvement in the app draught for W10M users, offering them a few new fancy features to play around with going forward. The ability to track packages and book flights with these services is going to be a nice help, and while Windows 10 already has a good weather app, The Weather Channel is throwing in a few extra things to help polish the experience.
Everyone’s favorite Windows 10 Mobile developer is back at it again, creating an unnamed app for an unnamed company. Rudy Huyn, creator beloved apps like the Windows 10 Mobile Instagram client 6tag, announced on Twitter that he has been working on “an official app” that hasn’t been named quite yet. From his description of the app as being official, we can assume that some company out there has hired him to develop it – it’s just a question of what that company is. Whatever he’s up to, we know that Rudy is going to be making something high quality.
Microsoft closed out the week with the release of Insider build 14367 to the fast ring. Much like Insider build 14364, this is another entry in the bug bash saga – the series of builds that are going to be crushing glitches and bugs rapid fire leading up to the release of the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. The build came out with a laundry list of bug fixes, including battery usage tweaks and Windows Hello adjustments.
That’s about it for this week. If you want to stay up to date, you can keep your eye on our Windows 10 Mobile tag for more news as it happens.
