Windows 10 Mobile Build 14342 - Why Windows 10 Mobile will fail
I've been a Windows Insider since the inception of the program and have been actively testing Windows 10 builds on PCs, Tablets and Mobile for quite some time. Typically I install on the day of the new build release and consistently am looking forward to the next one.
On May 16, MS released the 14342.1000 version of Windows 10 Mobile to the Fast Ring. As usual I downloaded and installed the build...
And that's when the trouble started. In my case and as experienced by many others, post the "spinning gears" portion of the update, the phone hung at the Windows Logo during boot up.
The issue was obviously significant enough that A) a notice was published in the Feedback Hub of this being a known issue and B) Build 14342.1003 was released two days later to correct the issue.
But the problem I have is not so much that a particular build had an issue - these are "test" builds - but it was the recovery experience that was absolutely horrible and took multiple attempts to return the device to some level of stability.
And that's why I say that Windows 10 Mobile will fail.
So here's a little more on my experience and I think you'll understand my statement.
Okay - so the build hung. So now it was a question of recovery. Since the actual flash piece of the update completed, meaning the OS had actually updated, the approach to recovery was to use the built in recovery capability at the hardware level. That recovery approach utilizes a specialized sequence of power/volume keys to enter recovery mode - which effectively re-flashes the phone. It also erases all apps/data, so basically a "factory" reset.
That part worked great. The Phone re-flashed and then made it past the hung Windows Logo and started into factory startup mode.
One of the "features" that Windows Phone has is the ability to perform a backup of your phone to OneDrive. That way, if you need to perform a factory reset you can point to a backup and in theory recover your phone to the state it was as of that backup.. Sounds great right...
Well it's not. And here's why..
Unfortunately MS makes the critical mistake of not treating Phones and PCs the same. If you have performed a scratch install of Windows 10 on a PC - that's what you get. period. You then need to go to the store or web site whatever and install apps.
With phones however, MS feels this ridiculous need to load certain apps based on the phones model and original OS, not Windows 10. So in my case, after walking through initial factory settings and selecting my backup, the phone began loading dozens (28 to be exact) apps, that were not on my phone and in theory not included with the backup. Many of these were older Windows 8.1 apps, many of which MS has sold or discontinued.
And that process of waiting for all of these unwanted apps to load and then update takes hours. Even over WiFi. It is absolutely uncalled for and MS should know better. Or maybe they don't....
So after about 4 hours on Monday evening of recovering my phone, I noticed a couple of things. 1) the BT stack was crashing. It would just go away, you couldn't turn on or off and would have to reboot. 2) Battery Life was horrible, just a couple of hours and the battery would almost fully drain. 3) some apps were acting horribly and finally 4) WiFi was in constant communication - which is probably the cause of item 2.
So I lived with it for a day, and then on Tuesday made the decision to perform a Phone Reset from Settings and this time NOT attempting to recover from a backup. While the phone when through the same un-requested loading of apps at least it appeared to running normally. But this was another 4 - 5 hours exercise of Reset, Initial Startup, Waiting for all the unwanted apps to install, deleting them, install all my new apps, etc.
And then on Wednesday the 14342.1003 build was released late in the day and I updated. It performed as normally expected.
My point with all of this ranting is that MS just doesn't get it. I'm testing Windows 10, not 8.1 - so give me a base Windows 10 image and let me determine what apps to install. And in fact why don't you make sure you include the same set of apps that you do with the PC builds. Idiots...
I'll take it a step further and state that just like MS releases ISOs for PCs, they need to release clean base builds of Windows 10 Mobile via the Phone Recovery tool along with any firmware updates and allow me to get a clean flash of the damn phone. You say my device is supported for Redstone, then let me build from a solid base.
So why does my experience matter ?
Today according to AdDuplex - about 10.4% of all Windows Phones are running Windows 10. Of that only 23% are from new phone purchases, the remaining 77% are upgrades to supported devices. Of the Windows 10 users only 17% are running Insider Builds, the rest are running the 10586 based Production release build that is beginning to make their way through the various telco providers. That's not a very good uptake rate.
This means two things to me. First - it's obvious that Windows 10 based phones aren't selling. Second - if MS wants to retain any of it's existing market base it needs the Windows 10 upgrade to have some real value to those devices it's has decided to support.
So maybe I'm just being too cynical but if MS can't properly support Windows 10 Mobile upgrades and recovery, then maybe it is best that they just get out of the phone business. It's pretty obvious that MS really doesn't care about their legacy customer base.
On May 16, MS released the 14342.1000 version of Windows 10 Mobile to the Fast Ring. As usual I downloaded and installed the build...
And that's when the trouble started. In my case and as experienced by many others, post the "spinning gears" portion of the update, the phone hung at the Windows Logo during boot up.
The issue was obviously significant enough that A) a notice was published in the Feedback Hub of this being a known issue and B) Build 14342.1003 was released two days later to correct the issue.
But the problem I have is not so much that a particular build had an issue - these are "test" builds - but it was the recovery experience that was absolutely horrible and took multiple attempts to return the device to some level of stability.
And that's why I say that Windows 10 Mobile will fail.
So here's a little more on my experience and I think you'll understand my statement.
Okay - so the build hung. So now it was a question of recovery. Since the actual flash piece of the update completed, meaning the OS had actually updated, the approach to recovery was to use the built in recovery capability at the hardware level. That recovery approach utilizes a specialized sequence of power/volume keys to enter recovery mode - which effectively re-flashes the phone. It also erases all apps/data, so basically a "factory" reset.
That part worked great. The Phone re-flashed and then made it past the hung Windows Logo and started into factory startup mode.
One of the "features" that Windows Phone has is the ability to perform a backup of your phone to OneDrive. That way, if you need to perform a factory reset you can point to a backup and in theory recover your phone to the state it was as of that backup.. Sounds great right...
Well it's not. And here's why..
Unfortunately MS makes the critical mistake of not treating Phones and PCs the same. If you have performed a scratch install of Windows 10 on a PC - that's what you get. period. You then need to go to the store or web site whatever and install apps.
With phones however, MS feels this ridiculous need to load certain apps based on the phones model and original OS, not Windows 10. So in my case, after walking through initial factory settings and selecting my backup, the phone began loading dozens (28 to be exact) apps, that were not on my phone and in theory not included with the backup. Many of these were older Windows 8.1 apps, many of which MS has sold or discontinued.
And that process of waiting for all of these unwanted apps to load and then update takes hours. Even over WiFi. It is absolutely uncalled for and MS should know better. Or maybe they don't....
So after about 4 hours on Monday evening of recovering my phone, I noticed a couple of things. 1) the BT stack was crashing. It would just go away, you couldn't turn on or off and would have to reboot. 2) Battery Life was horrible, just a couple of hours and the battery would almost fully drain. 3) some apps were acting horribly and finally 4) WiFi was in constant communication - which is probably the cause of item 2.
So I lived with it for a day, and then on Tuesday made the decision to perform a Phone Reset from Settings and this time NOT attempting to recover from a backup. While the phone when through the same un-requested loading of apps at least it appeared to running normally. But this was another 4 - 5 hours exercise of Reset, Initial Startup, Waiting for all the unwanted apps to install, deleting them, install all my new apps, etc.
And then on Wednesday the 14342.1003 build was released late in the day and I updated. It performed as normally expected.
My point with all of this ranting is that MS just doesn't get it. I'm testing Windows 10, not 8.1 - so give me a base Windows 10 image and let me determine what apps to install. And in fact why don't you make sure you include the same set of apps that you do with the PC builds. Idiots...
I'll take it a step further and state that just like MS releases ISOs for PCs, they need to release clean base builds of Windows 10 Mobile via the Phone Recovery tool along with any firmware updates and allow me to get a clean flash of the damn phone. You say my device is supported for Redstone, then let me build from a solid base.
So why does my experience matter ?
Today according to AdDuplex - about 10.4% of all Windows Phones are running Windows 10. Of that only 23% are from new phone purchases, the remaining 77% are upgrades to supported devices. Of the Windows 10 users only 17% are running Insider Builds, the rest are running the 10586 based Production release build that is beginning to make their way through the various telco providers. That's not a very good uptake rate.
This means two things to me. First - it's obvious that Windows 10 based phones aren't selling. Second - if MS wants to retain any of it's existing market base it needs the Windows 10 upgrade to have some real value to those devices it's has decided to support.
So maybe I'm just being too cynical but if MS can't properly support Windows 10 Mobile upgrades and recovery, then maybe it is best that they just get out of the phone business. It's pretty obvious that MS really doesn't care about their legacy customer base.
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