This week on Ask Dan, we’re going to talk about the Microsoft Band 2, Project Astoria
and iris scanners on Windows phones.
Stay tuned!
“Will Microsoft Band 2 be available in other countries?”
So the first release of Microsoft Band was obviously limited to just the United States.
The reason for this is Microsoft Band 1 is basically a test device.
They didn’t know exactly how well it’s going to be received, so they limited its
availability.
Now, Microsoft Band 2 is going to be very different.
They have much more confidence in this.
They’ve taken all the feedback from the first release and put it into the second one.
In other words, there’s not going to be that flat display anymore.
I assume it’s going to be curved because there’s very limited options there.
But as far as other things, it’s going to run Windows 10 IOT.
It’s going to have much more APIs.
We should see a huge improvement also in its design.
Now, as far as its release to other countries, yes, it’s going to go to other countries,
specifically all the surface countries.
So if your country sells Service Pro 3 right now, then you’ll also get the Microsoft
Band 2.
And that’s not official.
Microsoft has not said this.
It’s just what I’ve heard, but my sources on this are pretty good.
So I expect a much bigger rollout for Microsoft Band 2 and it should go to many more countries
on its first release.
“Do you think Microsoft mobile is abandoning super high megapixel devices like Lumia 1020?”
So, the Lumia 1020 was an awesome device.
It obviously built off of the Nokia 808 and brought it to Windows Phone.
It did do a lot for press and media coverage.
However, I don’t think the 1020 necessarily sold a lot of numbers.
Moreover, it’s more of a niche device.
I get it!
I love the 1020.
It’s one of my favorite phones.
However, Microsoft seems to be going back to its roots right now and focusing on just
a pure flagship device.
So what from what I’ve heard, there actually is no 1030 or 1040 type device in the pipeline
right now.
That doesn’t mean they’ve abandoned it completely.
It just means it’s not on the short term list.
I think if Windows phone catches back on and they’ll have to diversify, they’ll look
back at doing a 1030 or 1040 type phone.
However, I figured, also, their OEM picked that up.
There’s also this bigger question of, “Do we really need that sort of device right now?”
I’m not so sure.
Clearly, the iPhone and Samsung devices are doing pretty well with 16 and 20 megapixel
cameras, so I’m not sure if we need a 45 megapixel or 50 megapixel type device at this
time.
“Do you think there’s anything in the rumor that the next phones will include a
retina scanner?”
There are obviously been a lot of talks or rumors about an iris scanner coming to windows
phone.
And the reason for that is because of Windows Hello, the new authentication system for logging
you into Windows.
So you have a real RealSense camera on a laptop or a computer and it scan your face and basically
unlock a computer.
It works very well too.
I’ve used it and it’s pretty amazing.
So when it comes to the iris scanner, it’s supposed to be on the phone.
As you hold your phone up, it unlocks the device.
It sounds really cool, but is it a reality?
Yes, it is.
It is coming to the Lumia 940 and 940XL.
And by the way, I don’t know if that’s their real names.
Right now, they’re still referred to as Cityman and Talkman.
Now, having said that, I could tell you that also that out the gate, those devices won’t
have that feature enabled.
The reason for that is they still need a software update.
They’ll probably come a month or two after its release.
It’s a bit of a shame.
And obviously, that could change before those devices are released, but that’s what I’m
hearing right now.
But yeah, it’s supposed to be there and it’s supposed to unlock your devices in
less than a second.
Obviously, it remains to be seen how well it works, but with infrared cameras and the
ability to use low light, it should be pretty effective.
But until we actually see it in action, it’s definitely hard to say.
However, I can note that Microsoft is very confident in the technology.
I don’t think they’d be putting it to their flagship unless they thought it actually
worked.
I’m actually very excited about seeing it, but we have to wait a few more months.
“What do you think about Project Astoria and do you think Snapchat will give it a try?”
So what is Project Astoria?
It was an app that Microsoft had built and it’s part of their universal Windows platform
bridge.
So, there’s also Project Islandwood.
Astoria allows developers to port their apps from Android.
Islandwood allow iOS apps to be ported to Windows.
So these tools should allow more apps to come to the Windows platform.
However, they’re still in beta testing, so you need to enroll with Microsoft and test
out these apps.
Now, in theory, it should be pretty easy.
There still needs to be some changes for the ports to work, but the idea here is we’re
going to see more apps flood into the marketplace.
Of course, Candy Crush Saga is one of the most popular ones.
That came from iOS.
And that now is on Windows 8 as a universal app too.
So how well will these be received?
I don’t know.
But I have heard of one developer already giving up on their Windows phone version,
the native app to go with a port.
That may sound bad.
But remember, this developer may have been getting ready to just give up on Windows phone
period, in which case, we’d have no app at all.
With this project, however, we should see more developers bring their stuff over.
I’m still not 100% convinced that it’s going to work.
It remains to be seen and how easy the tools actually work for developers.
But I don’t see what other choice Microsoft has here.
They really did do everything they could with the universal app platform and all these tools
to allow developers to bring their apps over.
Now, this is very different from what Blackberry did, which is just running basically an Android
app into an encapsulated system in Blackberry.
It’s a very limited system.
It doesn’t work on square screens and there are a lot of limitations.
This is a lot more direct.
And all I need to do is take a look at Candy Crush Saga to see how flawless and smooth
these games can actually run.
But there are limitations.
Games will be able to port over more easy because they have their own unique user interface
whereas Android apps are going to be a little bit more complicated.
But this is one reason why you’re seeing that universal hamburger menu everywhere as
it’s very similar to Android and it’s easier for developers to bring that over as
opposed to, say, using a unique Windows phone UI.
“Why doesn’t Microsoft release the same phones to all carriers?
They would get much bigger customer base and more money?”
This is a complicated question.
If you look at Nokia’s old strategy, they were much more available to carriers in terms
of releasing new devices like the Lumia 928 and Verizon (also, the Lumia Icon, which later
became the Lumia 930).
Microsoft’s strategy is going to be very different.
They are basically releasing just one or two devices for all carriers.
They won’t be this customization.
So one thing I could tell you about Cityman and Talkman is they’re going to have a universal
radio.
This is part of the 808 and 810 chipset, so it’s not very unique to, say, Windows phone.
But this will allow Microsoft to sell these phones directly without a contract through
their stores (and that includes U.S. people as well if you’re on TMobile or AT&%.
Obviously, Verizon gets a little tricky with their CDMA for voice calls as well as Sprint).
The idea here should be pretty clear.
When you only have one or two devices, it basically stands out.
I think these devices will stand on their own.
They’re very unique, they look awesome and I’ve heard nothing but good things about
them.
So with Microsoft selling them direct, it should hopefully boost that market share a
little bit.
However, if you look at the Google Nexus program, I don’t think it’s necessarily a huge
success in terms of lots of people buying them.
And this also defers on market.
In Europe, a lot more people buy phones off contract than, say, in the United States.
It’s slowly changing here, but people still go through carriers.
So that raises the question, “In the United States, what carriers are you going to get
the 940 and 940XL?”
I think this is still up in the air and talks are still going on.
I heard AT&T is definitely onboard.
I’m not so sure about the other carriers.
However, I have also heard that all the carriers will be getting a flagship phone.
So until these details get sorted out, it’s going to be a little bit uncertain.
But I do feel confident.
If you really want these phones, Microsoft will sell them to you direct and you should
be able to throw your sim card in there and still get those LTE speeds that you want in
demand.
So that does it for this week’s episode.
Remember, if you have a question, just use #askdanwindows on Twitter.
Maybe we’ll use your question for next week’s episode.
Take care.