Microsoft (Finally) Ships Windows 10 Mobile Upgrade for Windows Phone 8.1

Microsoft (Finally) Ships Windows 10 Mobile Upgrade for Windows Phone 8.1

You’ve waited and waited, and the day has finally arrived (sort of): Microsoft announced today that it has finally—finally—begun the rollout of the Windows 10 Mobile upgrade for existing Windows Phone 8.1 devices.

“Consistent with our approach to the Windows 10 PC upgrade, we are focused on delivering a high quality experience for our customers,” Microsoft corporate vice president Michael Fortin writes in a new post to the Windows Experience Blog. “The Windows 10 Upgrade Advisor app can be downloaded from the Windows Store to see if the upgrade is available for your device.”

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First, you can grab that Windows 10 Upgrade Advisor app for Windows Phone 8.1 from the Windows Phone Store.

Next, you’re probably curious about which phones will be able to get this upgrade. It’s a fair question given the hoops that Windows phone users have had to jump through to get any updates over the years. Sadly, this is where things break down a bit.

According to the Microsoft page that is supposed to list the phones that are ready to receive the Windows 10 Mobile upgrade, Microsoft is “working with phone manufacturers and mobile operators to make Windows 10 Mobile available to supported Windows Phone 8.1 devices as an update.” In other words, there’s no list. (Yet.) And yes, once again, mobile operators will determine when—and, more sadly, if—you can even get this upgrade. So don’t hold your breath.

Or, as Mr. Fortin notes:

“As Windows 10 delivers significant new innovations, many older devices are not able to successfully upgrade without an impact on the customer experience. Our goal is to only offer the Windows 10 upgrade to devices that we are confident can continue to deliver a good customer experience.”

Here’s the real list of which phones qualify though, again, your carrier must approve the upgrade first.

Lumia 1520
Lumia 930
Lumia 640
Lumia 640 XL
Lumia 730
Lumia 735
Lumia 830
Lumia 532
Lumia 535
Lumia 540
Lumia 635/636/638 (1 GB)
Lumia 430
Lumia 435
BLU Win HD w510u
BLU Win HD LTE x150q
MCJ Madosma Q501

In other words, the waiting game continues. But at least my theory about the Twitter app was correct. 🙂

 

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