14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has already confirmed that no new features and phones running Windows 10 Mobile would be released, but somewhere deep down, there’s still love for Windows phones.
So occasionally, the company quietly rolls out bug fixes and performance improvements for Windows 10 Mobile devices, though the chances are that only a few users are still around to enjoy them.
More recently, the software giant quietly fixed an annoying bug affecting the fingerprint reader of the Alcatel IDOL 4 Pro, the device that has often been referred to as “the superphone.”
As it turns out, the most recent Patch Tuesday rollout, which included an update for Windows 10 Mobile as well, brought a patch addressing a fingerprint scanner issue that prevented users from logging in with an enrolled fingerprint unless the finger was perfectly positioned on the sensor.
No change in Windows 10 Mobile commitment
Starting with the February patch, Alcatel Windows phones no longer experience the issue, which could be an indication that it wasn’t a problem on Alcatel’s side, which the company would have had to repair with a firmware update, but a glitch in Windows Hello. This means Microsoft’s recent patches improve the Windows Hello experience, though the fingerprint scanning process is still far from being flawless.
As the cited source mentions, Windows Hello is still painfully slow and it still takes at least a couple of seconds to authenticate. But on the other hand, the fingerprint should now be recognized even if the finger is not correctly misaligned or only part of the fingerprint is scanned.
Of course, this doesn’t mean Microsoft is once again committed to Windows phones, but at least the company fixes these annoying bugs that could more or less drive people to Android and iOS. A new mobile device could launch in the fall of 2018 with a new form factor and running Windows 10 ARM, but Windows 10 Mobile as we know it is pretty much dead.