back to article Microsoft launches wobbly Windows 10 phone preview for Lumia daredevils only

Some four months after it unveiled the first build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview, Microsoft has now kicked off the early access program for its smartphone OS, known as ... Windows 10 Technical Preview. The naming is in keeping with Redmond's insistence that Windows 10 will be a single operating system for all screens …

  1. Eddy Ito

    For this first Preview, the only phones that are eligible are the Lumia 630, 635, 636, 638, 730, and 830. Other phones aren't supported – including some newer, more sophisticate devices – because they lack sufficient storage space to complete the upgrade.

    The Lumia 630 only has 512 MB ram and 8 GB storage. Is there a Lumia out there with less?

    1. Fuzz

      it's not the amount of storage that is the problem it's how the storage is partitioned. The cheaper Lumias have SD card support so they are given more generous OS partitions. The more expensive Lumias have larger internal storage but no SD card support so the OS partitions are smaller to maximise the available flash space.

      I think it's also possible these phones have been chosen because there are plenty out there so more targets for testing and they share a common CPU.

    2. big_D

      Mine has 2GB RAM and 26 from 32GB free... I don't see how 26GB is too little, if the 630 can do it in 8GB...

      1. Arctic fox
        Windows

        @big_D RE "..........I don't see how 26GB is too little........"

        As Fuzz points out just above your post it is driven by the way the storage is divided up in some of the Lumia phones contra others. From the horses mouth:

        "Some context on why we chose these and not higher end phones like the 930/Icon or 1520: We have a feature that will be coming soon called "partition stitching" which will allow us to adjust the OS partition dynamically to create room for the install process to be able to update the OS in-place. Until this comes in, we needed devices which were configured by mobile operators with sufficiently sized OS partitions to allow the in-place upgrade, and many of the bigger phones have very tight OS partitions.

        Note that this doesn't mean that Windows 10 will take more disk space than Windows Phone 8.1, it's just a function of the upgrade process at this point. Once the partition stitching feature is completed, many more devices will be supported."

        http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/02/12/announcing-the-first-build-of-windows-10-technical-preview-for-phones-2/

      2. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

        Ah, the wonder of woolies

        sorry windows.

        I just did a Server 2008 R2 Update. 66Mb download and somehow more than 1Gb of disk space disappeared.

        The mysteries seem to keep right on coming like a Soap Opera plotline.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Ah, the wonder of woolies

          I just did a Server 2008 R2 Update. 66Mb download and somehow more than 1Gb of disk space disappeared.

          Clean up tmp files and hotfix uninstallers, then you'll be sorted.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      the 635 also has 512mb with 8gb, so can't be that. The only difference I know of between 630 and 635 is it's 4G

    4. Mike Dimmick

      Less storage

      Yes, there is a Lumia out there with less storage: the Lumia 530 only has 4GB. This was basically a chassis designed by Nokia to run either Android or Windows Phone. The savings don't appear to have been worth it - Microsoft are essentially replacing it with the Lumia 532, which has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage for basically the same price. (The launch price of the 532 is actually lower than that of the 530.)

      If you have the Windows Phone 8 or 8.1 emulators installed on your computer, you can actually see the problem by mounting the .vhdx file. The storage is divided into a number of disk partitions, with the OS partition being essentially immutable. This means a phone reset is easy, you just wipe the user partition, rather than having a backup copy of the OS as Windows 8 does on desktop, laptop or tablet. It sounds like it's impossible to resize the OS partition in a device update, in order to make more space, or at least not in just a Windows update. The talk of 'partition stitching' suggests that they might intend to spread the OS into more than one partition for WP8.x phones - of course the Windows NT volume manager driver has been able to do this since at least Windows 2000.

      I wouldn't be surprised to see this partitioning behaviour go away for phones built for Windows 10. It's just added complexity. It doesn't look like Windows Phone supports the Compressed OS feature from Windows 8.1 yet, so there could still actually be a reduction in size from WP 8.1 to 10.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Business as usual?

    Throughout all my years of using Microsoft products, I think this is the first time I've whole heartedly agreed with them.

    "You will encounter bugs. You will see experiences that are clearly just not done yet, and UX that lacks polish at this point"

    Okay, I've taken that quote out of context, but I thought it was funnier that way.

  3. JassMan
    Stop

    No help for long suffering 1020 users then

    Having broken the Lumia 1020 with an untested 8.1 upgrade, they have now prevented their users from seeing if the new OS offers any relief at all. Surely if would benefit MicroShaft to found out if the same power logic problems exist in the new OS as well otherwise it will be a case of history repeating itself.

    1. big_D

      Re: No help for long suffering 1020 users then

      I've had no problems with my 1020 with 8.1 and 8.1.1 (now also on Denim). That said, I've been in the developer programme for 8.1 until now and the process has worked well. It is a shame that we are being left out this time around.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: No help for long suffering 1020 users then

      If you're talking about the bug where a 1020 freezes / locks up and needs a reset to come back to life. The fix for this is in "Denim", this is being rolled out at this very moment. Of course that depends on your carrier but if you're on O2 UK or a country variant it's available now.

      Turn off preview for developers and check for updates, this will pull down the new Firmware and your 1020 should be back to normal. I got it yesterday and haven't had the problem since upgrading, I was having to reset the phone a couple of times a day before that

  4. asdf

    hmm

    Wow more proof Microsoft has rid itself at least of the Sinofsky taint. Who knew designing software and products in secret with no feedback was a bad idea unless you happen to have Apple's magic touch which Microsoft obviously doesn't at least in the consumer space.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: hmm

      Apple's 'magic touch' turned my gen 3 iPad into a tortoise with iOS8!

  5. JDX Gold badge

    You will see experiences that are clearly just not done yet, and UX that lacks polish

    Wow, that Ubuntu Phone project has them so scared they're trying to copy it.

  6. nkuk

    "experiences that are clearly just not done yet, and UX that lacks polish"

    That sounds like every Microsoft product ever released.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Re: Must say it..

    What an absurd rant, attempting to pass itself off as a review

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