Windows 10 Mobile to be Missing at Tomorrow’s Event

Users won’t be able to download a version of Windows 10 Mobile directly to their Windows Phones following tomorrow’s Windows 10 Media Briefing, but there’ll still be plenty of surprises and things to get excited about, according to reports.

AllAboutMicrosoft is reporting that Microsoft won’t be letting users download a copy of the Windows 10 Mobile operating system directly to their Lumia smartphones and more following tomorrow’s Windows 10 Media Briefing. Sources the outlet spoke with say Microsoft now plans to let users try Windows 10 Mobile for themselves sometime in February.

That being said, Microsoft still has plans to introduce Windows 10 Mobile to the world at tomorrow’s briefing, if today’s reports are to be believed. Presumably, we’ll get a look at how Windows 10 Mobile looks and what personalization options will be available when it does arrive. We should get a tour of Windows 10 Mobile’s refreshed interface too. That last one is very big, Windows 10 Mobile hasn’t been shown to the public yet and we have no idea what it actually looks like. It could have more of Windows 8.1’s color options and settings. It’s also possible that it could be just as flat and stark as past versions of Widows Phone were.

Reportedly, there’ll be a lot of talk about OneCore. That’s what Microsoft is calling its refreshed strategy for uniting its different operating systems. A lot of people envision there being one version of Windows for everything Microsoft makes for users at home. If today’s comments about OneCore are to be believe, Windows 10 won’t be identical and running on every device. Instead, they’ll be different versions all be tied together by one set of underlying code. It’s this code that’s called OneCore and it’s the key to Microsoft letting developers create apps that run on Windows notebooks, tablets, phones, desktops and the Xbox One.

Windows 10 Mobile will run on phones and tablets, whether they have an ARM processor like the iPad, or an Intel processor like most low-end Windows tablets produced by Microsoft’s partners. In that respect, it’ll take over for Windows RT, that’s the software that powers Microsoft’s Surface 2 iPad rival.

Users may not get their hands on Windows 10 Mobile following tomorrow’s event, but they may see some other surprises. According to the sources that spoke with AllAboutMicrosoft, users can expect Microsoft to show off some other goodies that we haven’t seen before.

Reportedly, there’s a gaming “helmet” in the works to compete with Facebook’s Oculus Rift VR headset and Samsung’s Galaxy Gear VR. Allegedly, we could get a look at that tomorrow. Also on the slate of things to show off is a Gemnini. That’s what Microsoft has codenamed a new version of Microsoft Office built specifically for Windows devices with touch in mind. Releasing that version of Microsoft Office is key to Microsoft ditching that Desktop area on Windows tablets running Windows 10 Mobile. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like users will get their hands on that until February, just like Windows 10 Mobile.

Even if Windows 10 Mobile isn’t ready for users to download yet, Microsoft can’t afford to not show it at the Windows 10 Media Briefing. What we’ve seen of Windows 10 so far has just been the features for desktop and notebook users in businesses. To climb out of the dumps in the mobile market, Microsoft needs to deliver something consumers are interested in and right now all of the real competition is in wearables, tablets and smartphones.

Microsoft has confirmed that every smartphone running Windows Phone 8.1 will be eligible for an update to Windows 10 Mobile when it’s released.