No Windows 10 Mobile Version 1607 Today, Sorry (Updated)

UPDATE: A now-deleted Microsoft tweet claimed that Windows 10 Mobile 1067 “will be available on August 9, 2016.” –Paul

Microsoft has been strangely quiet about this, but it is now apparent that the “final” version of Windows 10 Mobile version 1607 is not shipping publicly today as we had expected.

While there’s been no official confirmation about this, Microsoft’s Dona Sarkar did tweet that “if you have 14393 you have the latest Mobile build. So relax.”

Probably the wrong message there: If there’s one thing Windows phone users aren’t very good at, it’s relaxing. But to be fair to Ms. Sarkar, this isn’t actually all that serious, beyond some vague goal to have the PC and Mobile versions of Windows 10 aligned. For some reason.

By which I mean this.

“Releasing” Windows 10 Mobile version 1607 publicly doesn’t mean anything: Wireless carriers still need to be involved with rolling out this kind of a major update anyway.

And as I strongly advise all Windows phone/Windows 10 Mobile fans, if you’re going to stick with this platform, you need to get your device on the Windows Insider preview. By doing so, you will always have the latest OS updates, and can bypass your carrier.

So in that sense, Sarkar is actually downplaying where Windows 10 Mobile is in the release cycle: The (arbitrary) “shipping” version of the Anniversary Update brings Windows 10/Windows 10 Mobile up to build 14393 (i.e. 14393.0), which is the build she noted. But Windows Insiders have gotten two cumulative updates since then, and are in fact on build 14393.5. The PC version is only a bit ahead, and has seen three post-1607 cumulative updates, bringing it to build 14393.10.

Point being, relaxing is actually pretty good advice. My only beef here is that Microsoft didn’t lay out the schedule in a blog post. Don’t make us guess, guys: Transparency always wins the day.