Andromeda is by far Microsoft’s most anticipated project. Microsoft is silently working on it for almost 2 years now. Although Microsoft is building this device behind closed doors, details do emerge somehow.
Yesterday, Microsoft released Windows 10 Build 17704 to Windows Insiders in the Fast Ring. With all the new features and enhancements, this build also carries a gargantuan set of new APIs. In fact, this build has by far the longest API changelog in any Windows 10 build since Windows 10 1709.
In layman terms, an API is a set of instruction that enables developers to craft their applications to make use of its functions.
Speaking of the new APIs itself, this build has revealed lots of APIs related to “hinge-states”:
So far we’ve learned that Andromeda is a dual screen foldable hinged device. The changelog has tons of API terms that align perfectly with such a device type. To bring things in perspective, the changelog gives us an idea of “HingeState” which includes Closed, Concave, Flat, Convex, Full. We also see several event handlers such as “TwoPanelHingedDevicePosturePreviewReadingChangedEventArgs” which has something to do with the two displays.
In the previous Redstone 5 builds, a new UWP control called “TwoPaneView” was also introduced.
So there you have it! After all the rumors and leaks so far, Andromeda components are finally making it into Windows 10 Insider builds. But there’s more. Andromeda is just one of the many CShell composers that include Polaris, Aruba, and Oasis as well. In the comings months, we may also see several other traces that would give us an idea about other CShell composers as well.
Why are we seeing this so early on?
We’ve earlier reported that Microsoft would be announcing Andromeda this year and Windows 10 Redstone 5 which is due this fall as well. So Microsoft is indeed testing the new APIs and controls that are designed to power such a dual-screen hinged device. So it’s all happening after all and it’s here to stay.
View Comments (5)
It's here to stay? Until it flops and those APIs are removed, just like the mobile APIs were.
I guess its ok to be pessimist in this case, judging how consumers have been burnt before.
Sure, out of all the named products I personally use Surface and Win 10 and let me tell you this. Surface Pro 4 had to be sent back within 1st year and I got a refurbished one back, whos sides are peeling now and Im out of warranty. Windows 10 is in a perpetual state of beta, with the last 2 major feature updates completely destroying the touch experience on SP4 and overall making me feel that instead of a superb machine for 2k euro I have a cheap tablet - everything lags, it turns off randomly, pen forgets it connected half the time. And its on i7 + 16 GB RAM device. I can only imagine the horror of using a cheaper Surface... So, in conclusion, there is no hope left.
Just relax and sleep to cool off your anger.
Usually APIs don't get published before the actual product. Usually a product is unveiled, a public interest is analyzed and that leads to a set of limited APIs.
So that may mean either of the two things: Microsoft is 100% sure the product is a new category they're going to very firmly stand behind so the question of adding or not adding APIs before the release is irrelevant. OR They're beta-testing APIs in Insider builds and that's where they're going to remain, Insider builds functioning as trash bins in this case where every crazy idea gets dumped just because somebody was working on it for 5 minutes total.