Thanks to a partnership with Qualcomm, Microsoft will be able to bring all Windows programs to mobile devices as well. Further push towards Surface Phone?
Microsoft, from the beginning, had promised that Windows 10 would be the operating system for all devices. Difficult task, but not impossible. The main problem was to make compatible the applications developed for PC with the SoC for smartphones.
Microsoft’s announcement – during the recent WinHEC event in Shenzhen (China) – confirms its plans: computer programs will be compatible with Qualcomm’s ARM processor, practically on board of all, or almost all, portable devices currently in circulation. This is no small statement. It’s not, in fact, just touch-friendly universal Windows applications, but real productivity programs. Meaning, to be clear, the full version of Office, Photoshop CC and all Windows games. And according to Microsoft developers, no major changes to the programs will be needed to make them work.
Windows 10 for all
Although Microsoft and Qualcomm use an emulation process, the video on this page shows Windows 10 running unerringly on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 with 4 GB of RAM from about a year ago, i.e., on a smartphone with features typical of models from early 2016.
(taken from YouTube)
Microsoft is, of course, still working on its Universal Windows Platform (UWP), i.e., the universal platform for developing Windows apps compatible with different hardware platforms. But the result will be that, in general, apps for UWP will be more power-efficient, touch-featured and more scalable than those designed for x86, i.e., developed for Intel’s family of microprocessors. The use of x86 applications will, therefore, require the use of a docking station and a lot of battery “effort”.
Under the surface is Windows 10
Microsoft’s vision of a version of Windows for all types of hardware, very slowly, is therefore taking shape. If you think of a device like the HP Elite x3, then, it’s not that hard to imagine future Windows 10 devices in the guise of smartphones that function like a laptop or desktop when you need to work “in earnest.” Microsoft says that – from now on – it will call these devices with an ARM “engine” on board “cellular PCs.” Will the rumored Surface Phone be the first of this new generation of devices?
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