download windows 8.1 software for mobile

Thankfully, third party web access tools like Dabr can help. Twitter is an addiction of mine, but this isn't even useable in the old Internet Explorer here.

Data will be at full 4G speeds (yes, this came in just before the 8.x generation of Lumias), plus calling and messaging are as you'd expect. No applications means that you can't install your favourites - though note that there's a whole side-loading culture now, and I'll investigate that in a totally separate article!Īs you might expect, all the basics of a phone work just fine still. the Store has disappeared on Microsoft's servers, plus you can't sign in to your Microsoft account in any capacity under Windows Phone 8.1. Update complete, the usual action is to head to the Store and update all the built in applications, but wait. 'Out of the box', there's an update waiting - it's 8.1 Lumia Cyan from 2014, downloading and installing! Reported on here, with the changelog over 8.0. Here's how I got on with a 'factory fresh' Lumia 1020: And then you realise that Microsoft's support and Store timetables have left the phones with little way to bootstrap their way into 2021.īut not completely. After all, you might see (in 2020) a classic Lumia 920 or 1020 for £30 on Gumtree or eBay and think 'I used to love this, I'll grab it to have a play'.

January 2020! You'll gain more online access and a working app store.īut for the purposes of this feature I wanted to explore what happened with a factory reset (or newly acquired) Windows Phone 8.1 device.

if you pick up a Lumia 735, 830, 930 or 1520 (to name but four), each of which started on Windows Phone 8.1 but which were deemed worthy of the Windows 10 Mobile upgrade, then I'd suggest you consider forgetting everytihng below and using Microsoft's OTC Updater tool to take these right 'up to date'.

If you reset the phone completely then you won't get any of these back.Īnd good luck to you if you're already stocked up and set up, you may be able to get through 2021 and beyond with things still syncing and generally working, and even beyond. You'll have (potentially) dozens of third party applications installed, plus relatively recent updates of some of Microsoft's properties (OneDrive, OneNote, etc.), most of which still work.

if you're an old-time AAWP reader and you have a Windows Phone 8.1 device, signed into services, stocked up with applications that you like, then don't factory reset it under any circumstances.

Download windows 8.1 software for mobile