Surface Phone rumors include specs, prototype progress on x86-ARM64 emulation

Posted on by Jules Wang

There’s been increased leak and rumor activity on the Microsoft mobile space. From Dell’s Stack computing to the hopes of connecting a huge emulation bridge between x86 apps and ARM64 chips and the slippage of the Surface Phone. The development arc of Windows 10 seems increasingly inclined towards a singular piece of hardware with docks and screens and peripherals for whatever task is at hand.

As much as we’d like to get away from the talk, there’s still the anticipation of when we can get our first taste of this world. Well, according Nokiapoweruser‘s “trusted sources,” things are coming together for some prototypes of the Surface Phone.

What we know about the prototypes is that they are running the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 with support for Quick Charge 4.0. Windows 10 Mobile is present in a 64-bit form on all units as well as similar screens of high pixel density — the measurement and screen resolutions taken from the sources are guesses.

One unit has 6GB of RAM and is said to be capable of running x86 apps only in Continuum and not independently on the device. Another version of the phone is equipped with 4GB of RAM and cannot run x86 apps at all. There is also a “Laptop Accessory” dock and other tidbits in the works as Microsoft is “seriously pursuing the 3-in-1 form factor.”

x86 app emulation on ARM64 chips is in development as part of the feature package for Windows 10 Redstone 3. The Surface Phone is said to be launching with Redstone 3 in “late 2017.”

We should note that prototypes don’t indicate what we’ll see in a final product or products. Microsoft has a berth of lead time to hash out bugs in Redstone 3 and prevent how Windows 10 Mobile launched on the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL. So far, the killer app for Redstone 3 seems to be x86 emulation, so if development is on-track, it’s likely that we’ll see the more capable spec set (6GB of RAM) to serve the feature. But Microsoft could just as easily launch both versions of the phone.

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Windows 10 Redstone 3 may get x86 emulation on ARM64

Posted on by Jules Wang

Could 2017 be the year of the computing singularity? The current plotline is that Google is to merge its mobile Android interface and the desktop-focused Chrome OS into more agile software that can pull some heavy duty on the go.

Dell may or may not be chewing through the gristle of a Windows 10 mini-tablet that comes with an x86 chipset and an ecosystem of docks to bring full-scale tasks everywhere you go.

But Microsoft may end up bridging the divide between x86 performance and ARM capacity with a Windows 10 update, dubbed Redstone 3, enabling emulation.

ZDNet is reporting from its sources that Microsoft could be working with HP to enable x86 emulation on ARM. A repository reference, pulled up by @h0x0d on Twitter, has hit upon a four-letter codename for a such an emulation project. “CHPE” may ultimately stand for “Cobalt HP Emulation”, with “Cobalt” being the name of the project and “HP” potentially being a partner.

This x86-ARM64 emulation endeavor has been in the works since early this year and is being targeted towards phones and perhaps tablet or desktops.

Officials to HP have told Mary Jo Foley that most enterprise customers who use the Elite x3 smartphone, which runs Windows 10 Mobile, usually also utilize a third-party virtual machine or remote desktop solution like Citrix. The need for a more natural, single-source solution may prove to be more friendly for these types.

Emulation development is dependent on the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 release path — we learned today that the MSM8998 part number correlates to the 835.

An estimated time for arrival for CHPE is for fall 2017, the earliest that we’ve heard that a Surface Phone may come along. Combine all those factors with Continuum and we may see a pretty intense competitor in the mobile field.

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