Despite Limited Device Support, Windows 10 For Phones Has 60,000 Testers
Microsoft is faced with a monumental task in mobile. That task? Quite simply, it's to become relevant in a landscape that is currently dominated by Android and iOS (in that order), the two of which account have collectively staked a claim to 96 percent of the world's smartphone market. On the bright side for Microsoft, Windows 10 is an opportunity to do things differently, and despite the massive disparity that currently exists, there are currently 60,000 people testing Windows 10 for phones.
It's a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things, sure, but that's not the point. Microsoft should view it as a good sign that tens of thousands of people are so eager and anxious that they're willing to install a test build on their Windows Phone to see what the fuss is about. It's even more impressive when you factor in the extremely limited availability -- Windows 10 is only available for half a dozen Lumia devices (630, 635, 636, 638, 730, and 830).
When Microsoft eventually makes Windows 10 available to more devices, get ready to see the number of testers balloon, especially if and when testing is expanded to devices with 512MB of RAM. As it currently stands, around 71 percent current Windows Phone devices are running 512MB of RAM or less, including the Lumia 520, the best selling Windows Phone of all time.
Windows 10 brings several new features to handsets, including full-size background images for the Start screen, more programmable quick actions in the Action Center, interactive notifications, significantly enhanced speech-to-text capability, and a more powerful Photos app, to name a few.
It's a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things, sure, but that's not the point. Microsoft should view it as a good sign that tens of thousands of people are so eager and anxious that they're willing to install a test build on their Windows Phone to see what the fuss is about. It's even more impressive when you factor in the extremely limited availability -- Windows 10 is only available for half a dozen Lumia devices (630, 635, 636, 638, 730, and 830).
When Microsoft eventually makes Windows 10 available to more devices, get ready to see the number of testers balloon, especially if and when testing is expanded to devices with 512MB of RAM. As it currently stands, around 71 percent current Windows Phone devices are running 512MB of RAM or less, including the Lumia 520, the best selling Windows Phone of all time.
Windows 10 brings several new features to handsets, including full-size background images for the Start screen, more programmable quick actions in the Action Center, interactive notifications, significantly enhanced speech-to-text capability, and a more powerful Photos app, to name a few.
