Student will get Windows 11 operating on a Windows Phone

The Windows 11 preview solely acquired launched earlier this week, however a pupil has already managed to get Microsoft’s newest working system operating on a Windows Phone. Engineering pupil Gustave Monce has created a short video demonstrating Windows 11 operating on a Lumia 950 XL, one of many first units to ship with Windows 10 Mobile. It was additionally considered one of Microsoft’s final Windows-powered telephones earlier than the corporate ended help for its cell OS.

Windows 11 adapts surprisingly nicely for the 5.7-inch show, however the identical can’t be mentioned for the pace of animations. While Windows 11 is usable on the Lumia 950 XL, it doesn’t appear to be one thing you’d need to pull out of your pocket on daily basis. But that’s not likely the purpose. This is the newest achievement in a five-year interest of tinkering with getting full variations of Windows operating on Windows Phone units.

“It all started really 5 years ago, when Windows 10 Mobile was near obsolescence,” says Monce, chatting with The Verge. Monce teamed up with Bingxing Wang, a fellow engineer, to convey the thought of operating full Windows on these telephones to life.

“As time went on and we started talking about it, discussion groups formed and in turn we had a community of people interested in running full Windows 10 on Lumia 950s,” explains Monce. “We’re now basically a team of about 15 people, and we’ve made a lot of progress.”

The staff has ported and reverse-engineered drivers to get Windows 11 operating on a Windows Phone and even written their very own ones, too. “I wouldn’t say we were quite fast to do it, we took four years to get to the current state, but it’s actually impressive we got here with not much documentation on hand,” says Monce. “Because of all that work for Windows 10 and the work we previously did to support Windows 10X, Windows 11 was a natural path forward, and really didn’t take much to get going.”

Monce and the staff have built a dedicated site for their project, and it consists of instruments, guides, and documentation on bringing Windows 10 and Windows 11 to those outdated Windows Phones. Not every little thing works completely, with the cameras failing to perform, a success to battery life, and calls / SMS often breaking on account of Microsoft’s OS adjustments. It’s extra of a enjoyable mission to see simply how far engineers and builders can push the units that Microsoft has deserted.

It’s additionally a mission that jogs my memory of the age-defying HTC HD2 smartphone. Developers and engineers saved HTC’s legendary Windows Mobile machine going for a strong decade, with customized Android ROMs, mods, and even a port of Windows Phone 8 for the machine. The Lumia 950 sequence is sort of 5 years outdated, and the truth that a staff of individuals has ported Windows 11 to it’s proof that there’s life within the outdated cellphone but.