14 DAY TRIAL // The project supposed to bring Windows RT on Windows phones is advancing pretty nicely, with the developer doing all the work now managing to install Store apps on the device.
Microsoft has already announced that no new features and phones running Windows 10 Mobile would be released, and this means that the platform and the devices already on the market are in maintenance mode, with security patches to be shipped until mid-2019.
Since Windows phones no longer have a future, projects like this one could help devices stick around for a little longer, though it goes without saying that doing this without Microsoft being involved takes more time and could hit bugs that are super-difficult to address.
Twitter user @imbushuo has already managed to install Windows RT on a Lumia 640 XL, and after successfully fixing bugs that prevent features like video playing in the browser, he now reached another important milestone.
Cellular support won’t be possible
The Lumia 640 XL running Windows RT can install apps from the Microsoft Store (called Windows Store in Windows RT), and by the looks of things, it can run them pretty smoothly. The Windows RT multitasking support that allows two apps to run side by side in the same window also seems to work nicely, judging from the photos that you can also see in the gallery below.
While many believe that installing Windows RT on a Windows phone can breathe life into the device, that won’t happen because there are limitations that projects like these can’t deal with.
The developer explains that cellular support can’t be offered by installing Windows RT on a Windows phone because “Windows and Windows Phone shares a different RIL stack, unless you develop a set of tools that deal with AT commands, you will not get cellular connectivity on Windows RT on Lumias.”
And yet, for the sake of experimenting with such projects, installing Windows RT on a Lumia is something that keeps Windows phones out of the shelf for a little longer.
