Hands-On Microsoft's Canceled Andromeda OS

Windows Central got their hands on a pre-release build of Microsoft's canceled Andromeda OS running on a Lumia 950. As noted in the article, "Andromeda OS was never intended to ship on the Lumia 950, or any Windows phone on the market at that time." They're using a 950 because Microsoft used them to help develop Andromeda OS internally. Also worth mentioning is the fact that Andromeda OS is no longer in development. Android is the OS that will be powering future Microsoft devices, such as the future Surface Duo devices. Here's an excerpt from the report: Microsoft decided to do something rather unique with Andromeda OS, and build out OS experience around a journaling/inking experience. On the lockscreen, the user is able to begin taking notes directly onto the lockscreen UI just by putting pen to screen. You don't have to initiate a special mode, or enter an app first, just take your Surface Pen and begin writing, and the lockscreen will store that ink for you to see every time you unlock your device. [...] Unlocking the device would take you to your home screen, which on Andromeda OS is another inking canvas. This canvas is called the Journal (though this later became the Microsoft Whiteboard app) which acted as a digital notebook with the ability to take notes with a pen, add sticky notes, insert images and 3D objects, and more. The Journal experience would always be running in the background, with your phone apps running above it.

Andromeda OS was also gesture based. The on-screen Start and Cortana buttons would disappear when opening an app to provide a full-screen experience, so to access those areas, you'd swipe in from the left for Start, and from the right for Cortana, which is also where your notifications were stored. Yes, Cortana and your Notifications were one of the same on Andromeda OS, with Cortana becoming your "manager" of notifications missed or stored for dealing with later. A swipe down from the top would reveal the Control Center, which is feature that's now shipping on Windows 11, but started life here on Andromeda OS. Feature-wise, it's exactly the same, with the ability to control things like Wi-Fi, brightness, volume, and music playback. It also features Fluent Design acrylic blur effects, as do many other parts of the UI, even in this unfinished state.

[...] There was also an experimental "Radial UX Menu" mode, where instead of gestures swiping in things like Start and Cortana, swiping would present you with a UI full of circular buttons for things like Start, switching apps, and more. This may have been an alternative to on-screen navigation, as not everyone was familiar with full gesture navigation at the time just yet. Or, it could have been an alternative method of navigation for when you were using a pen. Who knows. One thing we're not able to show you is the Continuum mode that Microsoft was also working on for Andromeda OS, as unfortunately it appears to be broken in the build we have. That said, we do know what it was going to be like. Essentially, Microsoft was building out Continuum to be a true desktop experience, with windowed app experiences, the ability to store icons on the desktop, and more. If you'd prefer to see Andromeda OS in action instead of read about it, you can watch Windows Central's video here.

I liked Windows Mobile

[hatchet]

UI is very similar to Mobile windows. I liked it and it's not the reason Windows phones failed. There was some lack of apps, but we could live with it (I honestly still don't use them).
The real problem why I abandoned it are the bugs. Goddamn awful bugs. Imagine getting a call and sometimes (1 in 20 calls) screen would just stay black and phone was totally unresponsive for 10-15 seconds.
And whole OS was littered with stuff that just didn't work.

This was also described by ex-MS employee. They had a tight schedule for implementing new features and adding apps and they had to focus on that instead of fixing bugs.

Re:

[tigersha]

Agree. Windows Phone was a very cool UI. UI Design has to quite an extent gotten stuck in the late 1980s. Windows Mobile had a lot of interesting ideas to break that mould. For one, the UI does not use a hub and spoke model where you have to go back to the home screen to get anything useful done, linking between apps was very much integrated in the experience.

Microsoft always had an attitude that Form vs Function is a Zero Sum Game, which means their UI sucked graphically while cramming in too many complica

Re:

[junglee_iitk]

Nadella is of a techy origin. He doesn't see the non-techy problems. Instead, he sees a branch that people know and Microsoft can be profitable if it just provides technical solutions to people who want it.

Since Satya was leading cloud business, under his command Azure has become the major force in Microsoft and major backbone behind Windows, Office and Gaming. This is why we can now enjoy Microsoft is now able to do some justice to gaming while Windows has become (kind-of) free and Office is also now on cl

FIXED: Re:I liked Windows Mobile

[junglee_iitk]

Damn, I overwrote several sentences. Here is what I really wanted to saw:

Nadella is of a techy origin. He doesn't see the non-techy problems. Instead, he sees a brand of Microsoft that people know, and that the company can be profitable if it just provides technical solutions to people who want it.

Since Satya was leading cloud business, under his command Azure has become the major force in Microsoft and major backbone behind Windows, Office and Gaming. This is why we can now enjoy new Age of Empires. Micros

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Imagine getting a call and sometimes (1 in 20 calls) screen would just stay black and phone was totally unresponsive for 10-15 seconds.

I don't have to imagine, I had a much earlier windows [CE] phone, an HTC Raphael 110. I forget what they were actually called but they were a slide-out keyboard phone. The hardware was a good match for the software, as both were shit. The keyboard had a problem with the cable falling out that HTC could have fixed with literally a piece of tape, but never did. Their refurbs had the same problem. The OS was even worse, though, and did that same kind of stuff. Windows of ANY version, including loosely associat

They nuked Andromeda?

[arglebargle_xiv]

How very Nietzschean of them.

Poor Top down design

[Canberra1]

Never tell the users/market what they will be getting. OK OK, Apple also did that, and Google did not, waited for market share -but over time, does now. While Huawei and LG, also decided locked bootloaders was the way, even though their future was well, luma, It is getting to the stage where the next Raspberry Pi Pico, could shoehorn the electronics, if drivers were available. Once handsets can be VM'ed and emulated, then serious work on poisoning advertising and leads can begin.

OS or UI?

[kubajz]

Of all places, I would expect Slashdot to differentiate between OS and UI features. I was hoping to hear about Andromeda OS but got an overview of a UI experience - something that Microsoft cud likely still biild on top of Android, should they want to.

Microsoft moving to Google products

[schwit1]

They dumped their own products for Chromium Browser and Android. What goes next, Bing?

Just like a traditional notepad

[Kernel Kurtz]

On the lockscreen, the user is able to begin taking notes directly onto the lockscreen UI just by putting pen to screen. You don't have to initiate a special mode, or enter an app first, just take your Surface Pen and begin writing, and the lockscreen will store that ink for you to see every time you unlock your device.

My Galaxy Notes (3, 8, and now 20) all allow me to take notes on the black screen on the locked phone. It is very handy, just pop out the pen and write.