- On this week's episode of Ask Dan,
we're gonna talk about the future of Surface,
and whether or not it'll ever get a Snapdragon processor.
What's gonna happen to Continuum
now that Windows 10 Mobile is dead,
and whatever happened to iTunes?
Is that still coming to the Windows Store?
Stay tuned.
(fast, drum-driven music)
Is iTunes still coming to the Windows Store?
Okay, earlier this year, at Microsoft's Build Conference,
the company announced with much surprise
that Apple's iTunes app was coming to the Windows Store.
Now no details were really given about the app,
for instance, is it a centennial app,
that is a Win32 desktop bridge,
which is what I assume it is?
Or is this a newly rewritten UWP app,
which I actually doubt?
The only thing we did know was
it was gonna come by the end of the year,
and seeing as we're in December right now,
it's a good question.
Where is this thing?
We did reach out to Microsoft for this question,
and they did tell us yes, it is still on schedule
for end of the year.
There's only a couple weeks left,
but fingers crossed, it should be here before Christmastime.
We never know with these things,
but it is still on track, they did not forget about it,
and it still coming.
Now that Windows 10 Mobile is dead,
what is the future of Continuum?
This is a really good question.
In reference to Windows 10 Mobile,
we used to be able to take that handset
and plug it into a larger display,
use a keyboard and mouse and make a computer out of it.
Now, this idea was never gonna catch on,
there was a lot of limitations to it,
but I think the idea behind it was very neat.
But let's talk about Continuum here.
Continuum is a concept, and it's not really related
to the phone, per se.
What I mean about that is the first instance of Continuum
was actually with Surface Pro.
Remember, Surface Pro, of course, is a PC,
but if you remove the keyboard,
it switches to tablet mode.
That's a common concept today,
but going back, that's what Continuum was initially called.
And the idea here is that Continuum isn't really related
to the specific device.
So the Windows 10 Mobile Continuum may be dead,
but the ideas behind it is still very much alive.
Relating to Seashell specifically, there are actually
different UIs that are coming out.
So there's still a Windows 10 Mobile version,
that's gonna be called Andromeda,
there's also one for desktop called Polaris,
and then there's another one for mixed reality called Aruba.
So these are all different UIs, the difference is,
it's all part of the same OS for once,
and part of the same shell.
That was never the case.
Windows 10 Mobile was basically its own OS
with its own shell,
independent of Windows 10 on PC.
Now one concept I've seen Microsoft considering
is in regards to the PC,
so you have a normal Windows 10 experience,
but when you plug in an Xbox controller,
it launches an Xbox UI, and goes into a gaming mode.
These concepts are all part of Continuum still,
so you need to get away from this idea
that Windows 10 Mobile is Continuum,
and that's the only instance of it.
Continuum is a very broad idea
that Microsoft is working for the future of Windows 10,
and Seashell is going to be its ultimate incantation of it.
Will Microsoft release Snapdragon-based surface devices?
Okay, this week, Microsoft, in conjunction
with Qualcomm in Hawaii, revealed the first device
that's running a Snapdragon 835,
and Windows 10 on Mobile.
Now we've been expecting this for the last year,
and they've finally delivered,
although these devices won't be out until early 2018.
The question, of course, is will Microsoft
make its own Surface device, in any form,
with a Snapdragon processor?
I would say the chances are very high.
Microsoft's been very good with defining these categories.
Now, I want to add a little bit of speculation here,
combined with some inside knowledge
that we have reported on,
which is the first device will be the project Andromeda.
And if you haven't been following,
I wrote an editorial recently about this device,
what we're thinking it's going to be.
Specifically, it is Courier re-envisioned for 2018.
It's going to have dual screens, it folds,
it's gonna be pocketable, it's more like a digital notebook
than a cell phone.
That's really what you have to think about here.
It's a PC that really can be used for note-taking
and creative purposes.
It probably can also make phone calls as well,
but that won't be its primary objective.
Now we are hearing that will be running Snapdragon,
possibly the 845 processor, and I would not expect it
to be running 835, as this may not come out
until later into 2018.
Now I suppose Microsoft could also do a Surface 3 device,
that is a 10-inch Surface,
running a Snapdragon processor,
and that would be kind of a cool thing to have as well,
but we're not hearing anything about that.
Nonetheless, Microsoft and the Surface team
operate in secret, so who knows
what they're working on?
But I would expect Andromeda, whatever it will be called
when it comes out later in 2018,
to be the first Surface device
running a Snapdragon processor.
So that does it for this episode,
remember if you have a question,
use #AskDanWindows on Twitter,
or go to our forums at Windows Central
and you can ask me a question there.
If you like this video, give us a thumbs up,
and don't forget to subscribe.
Thanks for watching, take care everybody.
This is where that Continuum idea approaches,
so the...
(bleep) I feel like I'm meandering again.
Might have to do this over again.
I'm talking about a lot of, like,
high-level concepts.
You wanna pause it?
- [Offscreen] Yeah - Okay.