Step into the past with the best history podcasts of the present
History is an endlessly fascinating and illuminating topic that can tell us a great deal about where we came from, how we got where we are today, and even what might happen next. Too many people are turned off it by the limited scope of school history classes, but in enthusiastic and knowledgeable hands, history can be wonderfully entertaining.
In this roundup we have deep dives into popular events and characters, the past divided into digestible chunks, passionate explorations, academic vigor, and more than a touch of comedy and drama. Sit back, relax, and take a trip through the ages with the best history podcasts.
Before you begin, make sure you have one of the best podcast apps for your phone.
Revolutions
This sweeping podcast covers various revolutions that have occurred around the world. It starts with King Charles and the English civil wars of the 17th century, and then goes on to cover the complex French and American revolutions, and more. Mike Duncan mixes some anecdotes and interesting facts into his research and has a gentle narration style that makes for easy listening. If you enjoy this, then you’ll also want to seek out Duncan’s earlier podcast series, The History of Rome.
Available via:
iTunes
The Memory Palace
With a focus on interesting nuggets of American history, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more professionally produced historical podcast. The supremely talented Nate DiMeo weaves together soundscapes with engagingly concise narration to tell a wide range of intriguing tales from the past. These elegantly constructed historical snapshots are usually around 10 minutes long, sometimes longer, sometime shorter; they can be humorous or tragic, but they’re always enthralling.
Available via:
iTunes
Something True
If you love the bizarre forgotten tales of history, then this witty, sardonic podcast series should delight you. Duncan Fyfe researches and writes entertaining scripts, while Alex Ashby recites them with dramatic flair. Each episode explores a single story starting with U.S. president, Warren G. Harding’s famous dog and ending with a monstrous Victorian pie. The episodes are short, at between 10 and 15 minutes, and there aren’t enough of them.
Available via:
iTunes
Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
If you find historians a bit too dry, then you might want to give this podcast a try. Thanks to its accessible nature, entertaining style, and the enthusiasm of the host, it’s one of the most successful history podcasts around. Carlin covers all sorts of topics, does a fair bit of research, and stirs up some interesting arguments. If you’re looking for a deep dive into topics over several hours, then Carlin’s series should please you. He’s a very entertaining storyteller.
Available via:
iTunes
Witness
Served up in easily digestible 10-minute chunks, this BBC podcast series brings us voices from the past, as people who were actually present at various major historical events talk about their experiences. It offers unique, first-hand insight into everything from submarine warfare in the First World War to the invention of the iPhone.
Available via:
iTunes
Lore
With the tagline “Sometimes truth is more frightening than fiction” this podcast transforms the darker corners of history into engaging, creepy campfire tales. Hosted by author Aaron Mahnke, the meticulously researched show mines folklore, superstition, and urban legends to uncover the roots of supernatural history and find the real-life inspirations. Amazon has turned this podcast into a TV show.
Available via:
iTunes
A History of the World in 100 Objects
This 100-part BBC series was narrated by the erudite Neil MacGregor when he was director of the British Museum and it focuses on a single object in each episode. The objects span two million years of human history, from an ancient Egyptian mummy to a Chinese bronze bell to pieces of eight, all the way through to a solar-powered lamp and charger.
Available via:
iTunes
Revisionist History
Master storyteller Malcolm Gladwell revisits events, people, and ideas from modern history that he feels “deserve a second chance.” He draws on a wide range of source material, including audio files and documents, and the opinions of experts and journalists, to weave together a fresh perspective on an eclectic mix of topics that range from secret Pentagon projects to Toyota’s self-accelerating car scandal. This isn’t objective analysis; Gladwell always puts his opinion across, but whether you agree with him or not, the stories are beautifully told.
Available via:
iTunes
Medieval Death Trip
If you ever study history and feast your eyes on primary sources, then you’ll know that many of them reveal fascinating insights about the times in which they were written. Contrary to popular belief, they’re not always dry, but can be witty, illuminating, and downright weird. Patrick Lane combines portions of source material with historical interpretations to pick out interesting characters and events from medieval times and explore them in an enjoyable, rambling manner.
Available via:
iTunes
Dan Snow’s History Hit
You’ll find explorations of all sorts of historical topics in this podcast and fascinating interviews with a laundry list of expert historians. Snow is enthusiastic and elicits a lot of insight from his guests. This podcast tackles the span of history from ancient times through to modern breaking news events, each episode is packed with information, and it often poses interesting questions and then attempts to answer them.
Available via:
iTunes
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Square’s Cash App payment application now allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin
Despite rising and falling more than a Titanic-branded yo-yo, Bitcoin is still a tempting place to invest your money. While a market with such intense volatility may not be ideal for long-term gains, anyone who has an eye on making a quick buck buying and selling in rapid succession may find a place to invest. But the problems with Bitcoin always begin with getting started. We have our own guide on how to get started, but now, getting started in the mysterious world of cryptocurrency may be getting easier, thanks to an announcement from Twitter founder and Square CEO, Jack Dorsey.
Instant buying (and selling, if you don’t want to hodl) of Bitcoin is now available to most Cash App customers. We support Bitcoin because we see it as a long-term path towards greater financial access for all. This is a small step.
We also made this! https://t.co/z3u0liDNk4
— jack (@jack) January 31, 2018
Square’s service Cash App (available on the iOS App Store and on the Google Play Store) allows users to send money to friends and family quickly and easily, and that sort of seamless experience should appeal to users looking to get into the cryptocurrency space, where time is money, and a late transaction can mean the difference between a profit and loss. In Square’s own words:
“Cash App is already the easiest way to send and receive money with friends and family. We’ve made it just as easy to buy and sell BTC straight from your Cash App balance. Unlike other apps, most of our buys and sells happen in seconds. You can even spend your proceeds from a free Visa debit card.”
Cash App’s Bitcoin page also contains a handy history of the cryptocurrency, as well as an explanation of what Bitcoin is and how it’s gathered via mining. According to Jack’s Tweet, the Bitcoin buying and selling should be available to most Cash App users now, so if you’re excited to get trading BTC, make sure your Cash App is updated and you should be good to go. As Square itself points out, like most investments Bitcoin is not without its risks, and users should never invest more than they’re prepared to lose. Square has put together a handy FAQ and post on risks for those who want to make sure they’re forewarned.
Bitcoin has had a troublesome few months recently. After prices hit record highs back in December, prices began to drop in January, and many insist that the bubble is bursting, and Bitcoin will decline and never recover to its previous heights. Still, opinion is heavily divided, and if you see a future for your finances in Bitcoin, then Cash App makes it easier than ever to get involved.
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Square’s Cash App payment application now allows users to buy and sell Bitcoin
Despite rising and falling more than a Titanic-branded yo-yo, Bitcoin is still a tempting place to invest your money. While a market with such intense volatility may not be ideal for long-term gains, anyone who has an eye on making a quick buck buying and selling in rapid succession may find a place to invest. But the problems with Bitcoin always begin with getting started. We have our own guide on how to get started, but now, getting started in the mysterious world of cryptocurrency may be getting easier, thanks to an announcement from Twitter founder and Square CEO, Jack Dorsey.
Instant buying (and selling, if you don’t want to hodl) of Bitcoin is now available to most Cash App customers. We support Bitcoin because we see it as a long-term path towards greater financial access for all. This is a small step.
We also made this! https://t.co/z3u0liDNk4
— jack (@jack) January 31, 2018
Square’s service Cash App (available on the iOS App Store and on the Google Play Store) allows users to send money to friends and family quickly and easily, and that sort of seamless experience should appeal to users looking to get into the cryptocurrency space, where time is money, and a late transaction can mean the difference between a profit and loss. In Square’s own words:
“Cash App is already the easiest way to send and receive money with friends and family. We’ve made it just as easy to buy and sell BTC straight from your Cash App balance. Unlike other apps, most of our buys and sells happen in seconds. You can even spend your proceeds from a free Visa debit card.”
Cash App’s Bitcoin page also contains a handy history of the cryptocurrency, as well as an explanation of what Bitcoin is and how it’s gathered via mining. According to Jack’s Tweet, the Bitcoin buying and selling should be available to most Cash App users now, so if you’re excited to get trading BTC, make sure your Cash App is updated and you should be good to go. As Square itself points out, like most investments Bitcoin is not without its risks, and users should never invest more than they’re prepared to lose. Square has put together a handy FAQ and post on risks for those who want to make sure they’re forewarned.
Bitcoin has had a troublesome few months recently. After prices hit record highs back in December, prices began to drop in January, and many insist that the bubble is bursting, and Bitcoin will decline and never recover to its previous heights. Still, opinion is heavily divided, and if you see a future for your finances in Bitcoin, then Cash App makes it easier than ever to get involved.
Editors’ Recommendations
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A 4G-capable Nokia 3310 smartphone may be showcased at MWC 2018
To a certain generation, the Nokia 3310 was the mobile phone to end all mobiles. Pre-dating the smartphone revolution, the Nokia 3310 gained legendary status for its long battery life, fondly remembered Snake game, and near-legendary toughness. It’s clear to most that much of that is rose-tinted nostalgia, but that didn’t stop the world from reacting with excitement when it was revealed last year that the 3310 would be getting a tribute in the form of the Nokia 3310 (2017).
With a slight twist on the original looks, the new model retained the long battery life, toughness, and compact feel of the earlier 3310 — but also brought some old gripes that we’d forgotten about in the post-iPhone age.
One of these was the lack of 4G access, with the Nokia 3310 being restricted to 2G connections, and the later Nokia 3310 3G U.S. model only having access to (surprise, surprise) 3G. Well, that may not be a problem much longer, as China has gotten a 4G-capable version of the Nokia 3310.
The Nokia 3310 4G (creative naming sense) has much the same exterior and hardware as its predecessors, but the software has been tweaked by HMD Global, and the earlier Java-based software we saw on the Nokia 3310 has been taken out and replaced with a forked version of Android called YunOS, developed by Chinese giant Alibaba. Alongside the additional support for 4G connections, users can also expect VoLTE HD calls and the ability to use the Nokia 3310 4G as a wireless hot spot.
There are a few downsides to the upgraded phone. First, upgrading the connection to 4G has a significant impact on the battery life, dropping the talk time you can expect from the device. The original Nokia 3310 managed 15 hours of talk time on a 2G connection, the 3G variant dropped that to 6.5 hours, and the Nokia 3310 4G is expected to have a talk time of only 5 hours. Still, the 3G model’s standby time clocked in at 27 days, so the 4G model should still stand up well as a backup phone for most.
The second issue is supply. At this moment, the phone has only been confirmed for China, with China Mobile picking it up. However, there’s hope that we’ll be seeing a global version of the Nokia 3310 4G at MWC 2018, which begins February 26. You can keep an eye on all the MWC news in our MWC war room.
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LG bootloop legal saga ends with offer to customers of cash or a rebate
LG’s bootloop legal troubles may have finally come to a conclusion, with LG agreeing to make amends to device owners who were affected by the notorious bug that rendered many devices inoperable.
The infamous bootloop befell many of LG’s premium handsets, with devices becoming stuck in a never-ending cycle that initiated on a reboot and continuous loop through the start-up process, hence the name “bootloop.” There were reports that owners of multiple LG-built phones had been affected by the bug, with the LG G4, G5, V10, and V20 being among the group of flagship phones that were susceptible to the bug. The LG-made Google Nexus 5X was also liable to catching the bootloop-sniffles, and getting caught in a bootloop would often mean the end of your device, as there seemed to be no way to fix it as the part that was needed to fix the phone had been previously discontinued and could not be sourced.
Despite LG offering to refund owners who brought certain complaints, the continued issue obviously didn’t sit well with consumers, who weren’t fans of using their multiple-hundred dollar phone as a paperweight, and a class action lawsuit was filed in March 2017 on behalf of affected LG G4 and V10 owners. This was later amended the following April to also include the G5, V20, and Nexus 5X.
That lawsuit has finally ended with a generous settlement for anyone who signed up to be a part of the action, with LG agreeing to pay out either $425 in cash, or a $700 rebate toward the cost of a new LG device. The rebate is obviously more generous, but despite the lack of the bootloop in more recent LG phones, you have to wonder how many of the affected consumers will be able to trust an LG-built device again, even if the latest models are pretty good.
Only consumers who joined the lawsuit before it was settled will be able to claim the refund or rebate, and will be contacted before February 12. If you’re experiencing a bootloop on any of the affected phones and didn’t join the lawsuit, then you may be out of luck — though it’s possible that LG may extend a similar deal if you contact support with details.
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Owl Car Cam brings 24-hour outside and inside monitoring to your vehicle
If you’ve ever noticed an unexplained dent or ding on your car, the Owl Car Cam may be able to help you track down the culprit. This new always-connected camera that monitors your vehicle from both the inside and out, can notify you of any safety event, such as a break-in or crash.
Using LTE connectivity, the Owl Car Cam can instantly remotely send video of events to the Owl Cam app on your phone. Although the camera is always recording, it only retains and uploads video that is triggered by a safety event or through a voice-activated feature that allows you to capture and tag memorable moments, like a meteor streaking across the sky or an in-car sing-along during a road trip. You can also set the camera to record live continuously, if you wish. Videos are stored locally — up to 24 hours of footage — which is then recorded over when it hits the limit. With LTE service, you can connect to the camera to see a live view or play back recorded footage. LTE service is not required to use the camera, but you lose some functionality.
Besides monitoring your vehicle for theft and accidents, you can also capture interesting moments from the road, simply by using a voice command.
The Owl Car Cam also has several interesting features to guard against break-ins. Since the camera is paired to your phone, it knows when an authorized driver is approaching your car. If someone attempts to break into it, two LED floodlights are activated and you’re immediately notified via the app. You’ll be able to watch a live-feed of inside the vehicle and use a built-in intercom to let the intruder know that you’ve contacted authorities.
The Owl Car Cam has lights that turn on to help you locate your vehicle or in case of a break-in.
Because the camera is continuously capturing more to the story than a single-lens dashcam, it could help you prove your case during an insurance claim. And if you’re pulled over, Owl says the camera keeps “everyone on their best behavior and to make sure you have what you need to tell your side of the story.”
When developing the Owl Car Cam, CEO Andy Hodge, who previously led development teams at Apple (iPod), Microsoft (HoloLens), and Dropcam, told Digital Trends that user privacy was a key concern. As such, the camera features an interesting privacy feature that restricts video access to the associated driver. For example, if you share a vehicle with your significant other, you will only be able to access video recorded when you’re behind the wheel.
As for specs, the device uses two 4-megapixel, 120-degree cameras, one on either side — a 1440p camera on the front (outside), and a lower-resolution 720p camera on the back (inside). The idea here is that it’s more important to get a higher quality image of what happens outside the car. However, resolution dumbs down to 480p when you’re in 24-hour live-recording mode. Video frame rate is 30 frames per second, but it uses the HEVC codec; newer iPhones running the latest version of iOS will support this codec, but you might have issues with playback on older phones or computers.
The display is a small 2.4-inch, touch-capable LCD. In addition to various sensors to detect movement, the Owl Car Cam has GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, as well as the aforementioned LTE radio. The device is lightweight and fits in your palm. It has a mono speaker, but it captures audio in stereo. The whole thing runs on a 2.4GHz, 8-core processor with 3GB of onboard memory.
Limited compatibility
There are some limitations to the Owl Car Cam. You’ll need to make sure your vehicle has an OBD port under the steering column, since this port is used to power the device. If your car was manufactured after 1996, you’ll likely be in the clear.
More limiting, however, is the Owl Car Cam’s compatibility with smartphones. Currently the camera only works with iPhones running iOS 11 or higher. When we talked with Hodge earlier this month, he mentioned that the company hopes to have an Android app available in the future, but did not provide an estimate for its release.
First impressions
We had an opportunity to see the Owl Car Cam in action earlier this month and were impressed. We spent about an hour with the camera on a busy New York City street and were able to witness it automatically capture several different events. Both the camera and app worked perfectly and the video quality was excellent. In many ways it’s similar to a camera you would use to monitor your home.
While the Owl Car Cam is primarily meant to act as a security device, or evidence to prove you’re not at fault during an accident or traffic violation, we like the social sharing abilities. The Owl Car Cam allows you to capture and tag any short event in the vehicle with your voice; this event is then transferred to the Owl Cam app where you can easily share it on any social media platform. There is a fun aspect to this camera: With its inside and outside recording, you can not only capture the outdoor scenery during a drive, but also the reaction from the people inside the car. We think the Owl Car Cam could benefit drivers for car-hailing services like Uber and Lyft.
However, since the camera doesn’t record what happens behind the car, you can’t capture situations like a fender bender caused by a car hitting yours from behind, whether you’re on the road or parked. With so many accidents occurring at the rear, obviously, a dashcam like this is limited in capturing those events.
Pricing and availability
Currently you can only purchase the Owl Car Cam on the Owl website. During our interview with Hodge, he mentioned the company would like to offer the product in major retailers later in the year. The Owl Car Cam currently sells for $349, bundled with a year of LTE service and video hosting. The company plans to sell the camera later in the year as a standalone device for $299; monthly service will be available for $10. The LTE service includes 60 minutes of live view or 60 video alerts. Owl has not said what would happen if you go over the limit — whether it just stops recording, records over older footage, or charge a fee for extra storage — but this could be another limiting issue for some users.
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iOS 12 and new MacOS may let Mac users download iPad apps
Apple has pushed back some planned features for upcoming iOS updates in order to allow engineers to work on ensuring iOS 12 is as smooth and bug-free as possible. But one key feature is apparently still in the works for 2018: The ability to run iPad apps on a Mac laptop.
According to Axios, Apple’s focus for iOS 12 is on security and performance updates, thought the company still plans to update its software to allow Macs to run iPad apps in 2018, both as a part of the newest mobile operating system and, presumably, as an update to MacOS. The Mac’s ability to run apps has long been seen as an issue, with the Mac App Store being viewed by many as a “ghost town” stocked with out-of-date apps, with even major apps like Twitter being painfully neglected.
Allowing Macs to access iPad apps would change that pretty much immediately, letting developers create apps for the iPad and Mac simultaneously, and not having to prioritize one over the other — a practice that has thus far led to MacOS getting the short end of the stick.
We’ve seen moves like this before from other companies. Google recently updated ChromeOS devices such as Chromebooks to access and download apps from the Google Play Store, and while the implementation is still a little rocky, taking these steps towards unifying disparate elements of the same empire is generally seen as a good thing for consumers.
This move in itself comes at a good time for Apple. The release of iOS 11 has been a low-key disaster for Apple, with bugs plaguing users from day one. Issues like disappearing notifications, glitches with the keyboard, and Touch ID failures are some of the problems that have arisen from iOS 11, and are issues that people rarely expect from a company like Apple. By choosing to focus on eliminating as many bugs as possible in iOS 12 and polishing it to a near-mirror shine, Apple is showing how seriously its taking the issues that people have had with Apple. It’s also notable that this comes after the Spectre vulnerability, and the major PR disaster that was the revelation that Apple purposefully slowed down older phones — prompting investigations into planned obsolescence.
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iOS 12 and new MacOS may let Mac users download iPad apps
Apple has pushed back some planned features for upcoming iOS updates in order to allow engineers to work on ensuring iOS 12 is as smooth and bug-free as possible. But one key feature is apparently still in the works for 2018: The ability to run iPad apps on a Mac laptop.
According to Axios, Apple’s focus for iOS 12 is on security and performance updates, thought the company still plans to update its software to allow Macs to run iPad apps in 2018, both as a part of the newest mobile operating system and, presumably, as an update to MacOS. The Mac’s ability to run apps has long been seen as an issue, with the Mac App Store being viewed by many as a “ghost town” stocked with out-of-date apps, with even major apps like Twitter being painfully neglected.
Allowing Macs to access iPad apps would change that pretty much immediately, letting developers create apps for the iPad and Mac simultaneously, and not having to prioritize one over the other — a practice that has thus far led to MacOS getting the short end of the stick.
We’ve seen moves like this before from other companies. Google recently updated ChromeOS devices such as Chromebooks to access and download apps from the Google Play Store, and while the implementation is still a little rocky, taking these steps towards unifying disparate elements of the same empire is generally seen as a good thing for consumers.
This move in itself comes at a good time for Apple. The release of iOS 11 has been a low-key disaster for Apple, with bugs plaguing users from day one. Issues like disappearing notifications, glitches with the keyboard, and Touch ID failures are some of the problems that have arisen from iOS 11, and are issues that people rarely expect from a company like Apple. By choosing to focus on eliminating as many bugs as possible in iOS 12 and polishing it to a near-mirror shine, Apple is showing how seriously its taking the issues that people have had with Apple. It’s also notable that this comes after the Spectre vulnerability, and the major PR disaster that was the revelation that Apple purposefully slowed down older phones — prompting investigations into planned obsolescence.
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Instagram Stories now has an option to add photo-free text with Type Mode
Instagram is a photo-focused platform but it is now offering a way to share photo-free, at least inside Stories, anyway. On Thursday, February 1, Instagram launched Type Mode inside Stories, which allows users to add text on colored backgrounds to a Story. The official announcement comes a week after the feature was spotted in testing.
Type Mode is located in that bottom scroll menu inside Stories alongside options like live, normal, and Boomerang. Rather than a record button to take a photo, tapping the usual shutter button in Type mode brings up the keyboard for users to type whatever is on their mind. After typing in the note, users can choose from a handful of different formats that will change both the text and the background together. Photo backgrounds are available, along with simple colored backgrounds without an image. Like photos and videos, the text will disappear from Stories after 24 hours.
Adding text to Stories isn’t an entirely new feature. Users can already add text overlays to images. Where the new tool differs is that the tool doesn’t require an image — maybe for those moments in your day that weren’t actually visual or possible to capture on camera, or adding details to another shot in the Story. Some of the Fonts options, however, do include a recolored image in the background.
Late last year, the platform began testing a “regram” or share button. At the same time, the platform also started testing the option to add GIFs to Stories and an option to save Stories — the latter now part of the full version of the app. Another test, confirmed by Instagram, adds a stop-motion effect along with options like Boomerang.
Instagram late last year added an option to add images that are older than 24 hours to a Story, opening up the sharing option to Throwbacks rather than only shots from the last 24 hours. In December, Instagram added the option to archive Stories — leaving the post away from public eyes but allowing users to reminisce through old Stories. While archived Stories are private, a new Highlight Reel allows users to share a handful of favorite Stories to live on their profile beyond the 24-hour limit.
Updated to reflect Instagram’s official launch of the Type Mode following the test.
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Microsoft hints at a modular Windows 10, new mobile device category
One of the industry’s more persistent unicorns is the rumored Surface Phone, a smartphone built by the Surface team that would run full Windows 10 and utilize many of the same design concepts as the rest of the Surface line. If such a device is on its way, or even something similar, then Microsoft will need to optimize Windows 10 to even more granularly support different form factors. New evidence suggests that this is exactly what Microsoft is doing.
According to reliable leaker WalkingCat on Twitter, code in the latest Windows Insider builds indicate that Microsoft is creating a host of different Windows 10 shells for a variety of different devices. These shells would present an optimized user interface depending on the device, all built on the same Windows 10 OneCore OS kernel. Each would be capable of running the same apps and would offer largely the same feature set, but interface elements would be resized and reformatted to support different screen sizes, input options (such as pens), and other differences between devices.
composers pic.twitter.com/aUZxTiOPgR
— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) February 1, 2018
WalkingCat
Looking at the list, we see a number of references to different systems, including Internet of Things (IoT), Surface Hub, and both Andromeda and Polaris. Andromeda is suspected to be a potential shell for dual-hinged devices similar to Microsoft’s Courier concept from a few years ago, and Polaris is thought to be a slimmer, lightweight operating system for the thinnest and lightest laptops, 2-in-1s, and tablets.
my guess: Andromeda is not 'phone', its new category: "HingedDualScreenDevice" https://t.co/80o70ijkpF
— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) February 1, 2018
WalkingCat isn’t convinced that Andromeda is a “phone,” however, indicating in another tweet that it’s more likely that it fits a “HingedDualScreenDevice” category. We’ve seen a number of Microsoft patent applications involving such a device, which would be highly mobile, would utilize a special notetaking app, and would be pen-enabled. Check out the following video for Microsoft’s original Courier concept that’s strongly suggested by recent rumors.
Clearly, Microsoft has plans to implement a modular version of Windows 10 that can adapt to any form factor. Whether or not a “Surface Phone” ever materializes, it’s increasingly likely that some kind of highly mobile device, possibly with cellular calling capabilities, will arrive as part of the Surface line of hardware. If so, then that will represent another category of devices that Microsoft has created, to go along with the increasingly popular 2-in-1 notebook.
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