Softpedia >News >Microsoft >Windows Phone
Softpedia Homepage   

Windows 10 Mobile Gets LED Notification Support, OEMs Need to Add It, Says Microsoft

Support for LED notifications is part of the new OS

Sep 18, 2015 08:18 GMT  ·  By
LED notification light on the BlackBerry Passport
   LED notification light on the BlackBerry Passport

Gabriel Aul, chief of the Windows Insider program, has reiterated today that Windows 10 Mobile is indeed getting support for LED notifications, explaining that this particular feature is already complete.

Since Microsoft has done its job, Aul adds, it’s now up to OEMs to build devices with LEDs and drivers in order to take advantage of the new feature integrated in Windows 10 Mobile. So if you plan to purchase a phone running Windows 10 Mobile and that has a LED light, you might be able to use it to be notified when you get new messages, emails, or missed calls.

Aul hasn’t provided any other details, so it’s still a mystery whether Microsoft itself plans to release devices that come with a LED notification light.

Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL are the first two Windows 10 Mobile devices to be launched by the company, but it’s not yet clear whether they do have a LED light or not. They’re both high-end models, so Microsoft might go for such a feature, although leaked photos do not show any sign of LED.

Phone models with LED hardware support

Plus, there’s no unofficial information about such a thing, and because Microsoft has its very own Glance screen to show missed calls, emails, or texts, there’s almost no need for an LED light.

What’s interesting is that Microsoft already has phones with LED hardware support, including Lumia 730, Lumia 735 and Lumia 930, but Windows Phone was lacking support for this feature. Obviously, everyone’s wondering whether the new operating system would enable LED notifications on their phones, but once again, Microsoft’s very reticent about commenting on this feature, so more information should be provided as we get closer to the public launch of Windows 10 Mobile in October.

It will be interesting to see how Microsoft handles this, especially for the Lumia 930, which does have LED hardware support but instead lacks the uber cool Glance screen.