Surface Phone Speculation Spurred By New Phone APIs In Windows (arstechnica.com)

Microsoft has been rumored to be working on a "Surface Phone" for years now, with little concrete evidence that such a device actually exists. "But the latest Windows 10 Insider Preview has given new fuel for the speculative fire, it has a set of new APIs for cellular phones," reports Ars Technica. From the report: Windows has had integrated support for cell modems since Windows 8, but this has been restricted to supporting data connections. Telephony -- dialing numbers, placing calls -- has always required either Windows Phone or Windows 10 Mobile. This has made the full Windows 10 unsuitable for a phone. That may be changing. Windows 10 build 17650 -- a preview of Redstone 5, the next Windows update after the delayed April update -- includes some telephony APIs. The new APIs cover support for a range of typical phone features: dialing numbers and contacts, blocking withheld numbers, support for Bluetooth headsets and spearphone mode, and so on and so forth. There also looks to be some kind of video-calling support, suggesting support for 3G or LTE video calling.

Comments

Interesting timing

[ArhcAngel]

Normally I would just laugh and make a snarky comment about the 200 or so attempts Microsoft has tried to get into the mobile phone market but given Google's headlong march into Microsoft's Embrace, Extend, Extinguish territory there are a growing number of people looking for alternatives. Of course this is Microsoft so we'll see if they can stay focused long enough to build an ecosystem.

Re:Interesting timing

[ArmoredDragon]

The only reason they even made it as far as they did was because Nokia.

Nokia already had a strong following, so Microsoft bribed them to adopt their piece of shit for $1 billion. Microsoft rode on the popularity of that brand, which consequently gave it better sales in Europe. Then their shit platform dragged Nokia's name in the mud, so people stopped buying them. Even when they did buy them, the return rate was so high that even Amazon suspended its sales a few times.

Even Bill Gates was quick to switch to Android at the end.

Re:Interesting timing

[TheRaven64]

I disagree. My partner had a Nokia Windows Phone and reluctantly gave it up for an Android phone a few months back when it became so old that the TLS stack wouldn't connect to modern servers. She liked both the hardware and the software and still finds Android clunky in comparison. She'd still be using it today if Microsoft had managed to persuade third-party developers to invest in the platform. The one thing that she does like about Android is that when she sees a company telling her that they have an app, they actually do for her phone now.

If you could run Android apps on a Windows phone, I'd probably have got one as well - it's the only mobile UI I've used that hasn't annoyed me (I have an Android phone and an iPad).

Re:For decades....

[Anonymous Coward]

For decades we could not get developers to look at ANY platform other than DOS/Windows and then Windows 95/98/2k/XP

Now people have enough sense to write portable code and treat "platform" as a commodity.

If your a developer and your writing Win32/64 apps you are a relic of a bygone era, similar to the mainframe dudes when they were king of the hill.

If you're a developer and you're writing smartphone apps chances are pretty high you are just another tool wasting your time on worthless consumer noise. SNR in the App market is embarrassing.

You can say the writing is on the wall, the PC will die on the desktop while computing moves on.

I've been hearing this load of crap for decades. Surprise everyone developing software are still using real computers not tiny touch screen displays.

The only thing that has changed is more people have more choice on what is the best fit for them. Nothing has been supplanted.

Re:For decades....

[exomondo]

You can say the writing is on the wall, the PC will die on the desktop while computing moves on.

The PC will always be relevant on the desktop, despite 10 years of the modern smartphone (and 8 of the modern tablet) we still have a vast array of applications from image, video and audio editing and composition along with CAD, CAM, CAE, BIM, simulation, 3D modelling, etc. applications that just don't work in a smartphone/tablet formfactor.

The desktop is mostly dead for things like simple web browsing, email and general social networking as well as doing tasks like taking audio notes or the most basic video composition. Smartphones and tablets have become the core device for personal computing while the desktop PC remains for professional computing.

Re:For decades....

[gravewax]

Even for Web browsing and Email a phone or tablet suck balls. After 10 years the desktop/laptop is still an infinitely better experience even for those items. tablets and phones appear like they will always augment rather than replace desktops as they just don't provide the same experience.

Re:For Cortana?

[rtb61]

If M$ were to drop the Windows anal probe 10 and forced software installs, that might help but I think the trust is gone and people will simply not buy any consumer level software from M$ they do not have to for existing compatibility. Games are keeping them afloat in the consumer market but that market hold is diminishing. They had better start being really, really nice to their customer base, otherwise there will be no recovery. I doubt it though, they are still driven by corporate arrogance and wont change until it is too late.

They have chance to get it right

[donstenk]

A third ecosystem is needed and a Surface phone that can easily dock into a large screen, keyboard and mouse setup could be enough to cover most people s computing needs.

Add OneDrive for data storage, Office 365 and all you need is a phone that can dock in a monitor or tv to work or be entertained or dock in a car for navigation etc.

Convergence like that finally makes sense.