Rumours of a fabled ‘Surface Phone’ have existed for a number of years now. That such a phone was originally being worked upon is beyond doubt: enough circumstantial evidence suggests that it did exist, on paper if nothing else. But sadly it was supposedly cancelled at the time of Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia. Like all good rumours, the story never seems to die. Stories circulated a few weeks ago that the ‘Surface Phone’ was being worked on again, with a release date slated for the second half of 2016. The release of the premium Lumia 950 and 950XL handsets are a welcome addition to the Microsoft stable, but they don’t necessarily have the wow factor that the release of Windows 10 Mobile warranted and needed. New stories about the Surface Phone suggest that it will be just this, albeit not out for at least another 6 months. If rumours are to be believed the phone will come in two flavours: both will share metal bodies, new Intel chips, 4K screens of at least 5″, and cameras with advanced features. What’s more exciting, at least to me, is that one of the handsets is stated to be able to run Win32 applications. In other words, it won’t be reliant on the (often meagre) Windows Phone app store, but will be able to run apps designed for the desktop version of Windows. Of course newer apps based on the universal Windows 10 model will work on desktop and phone alike, but it would imply that the 7 million older apps for Windows desktop would also work. This is great news, if true. I would love a Windows Phone but cannot realistically contemplate getting one until more apps and smartwatches are supported, but the Surface Phone might resolve all of that. We shall undoubtedly know more in time, but would this be enough for our readers to move across to the Windows Mobile platform?
Source: WMPowerUser and NokiaPowerUser.