Windows 10 Mobile Build 10136 - you can't get there from here

On June 16, Microsoft released Windows 10 Mobile build 10136.  I've been using two different phones to test - a Nokia Lumia 635 and a 735.  

 One of the first challenges you ran into for this particular update is that you could not update from a previous Windows 10 build.   You had to use the MS Phone Recovery tool and go back to WP 8.1 and once you then got all the WP updates for 8/8.1 and reinstalled Windows Insider - then and only then could you get the 10136 build top install...

 For the 635 - this was literally an all day ordeal.  From the time I first plugged the 635 in to a PC to run the Phone Recovery Tool (PRT), until the time that Build 10136 actually downloaded and installed and all the apps updated - was somewhere in the 8 - 10 hour range across two days.  Now I blame a part of this on T-Mobile.   They have never updated the 635 to Denim or supplied WP 8.1 update 1.   In fact T-Mobile has provided no support at all for the 635.
So that meant the PRT took the phone back to WP8 and then to meet all the prerequisites to get the 10136 - I'd check updates - run some, reboot, check again, etc, etc, etc - same with apps - after a new 8.1 build would install - the store app would go out and immediately start to update 24 or so apps - that might take an hour or more.  And all of this was done over WiFi. - so really not a bandwidth issue.

 Additionally I don't like the fact that MS states - oh - please wait while install Apps and then actually installs few is any "native" apps and relies on the store for the rest.   And God forbid you try and run Windows Update before all the apps complete their updates - the phone slows to crawl and you often have to reboot to clear

 Even after 10136 finally installed.  I had to perform a phone reset to actually get the build to stabilize enough to even launch apps like the Store or to get tiles to show up on the Start screen.

 I've been flashing phones for over 10 years now. While I certainly understand MS wanting to test their Windows Update approach to updates - I would have loved to have a seen the Phone Recovery Tool allow you to choose a build - any build and flash directly via USB.   This going back to the "OEM" load and then walking forward step by step was just ridiculous

 Luckily the 735 was not quite as painful since I had previously run the PRT and it had applied Denim + WP8.1 Update 2.   So it updated is about 2 hours all in. Again the most painful part was getting all the Store apps to update.   

 So the universal apps are coming in - News, Sport, Weather, etc.   And they look okay - in some cases they are bit more painful to navigate than their predecessors.  The new Office apps seem okay.   

 The good news is that most of the 3rd party apps I use also work.   But there is still clean up - you end up with multiple phone, search and other apps and you can't uninstall the old ones.   Music and Movies/TV seems to be getting better.   OneDrive works okay and Photos was updated.  Also some of the apps show up in the like the Notifications settings with UUIDs versus actual app names.

 Is 10136 better then 10080 - yes by a large margin.   But man was it painful to get there...




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