Windows 10 Mobile coming soon to most Windows Phone devices

Only a small handful of Windows Phone smartphones were able to run the initial test build of Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft will soon unleash the second test build of Windows 10 Mobile which is expected to support a much broader range of Windows Phone devices.

According to a Microsoft blog post the reason the first test build of Windows 10 Mobile was available for such a limited handful of devices had to do with the amount of storage space available in the OS partition. Microsoft has now developed a new technique, however, that enables Windows 10 Mobile to be installed as an in-place upgrade on many more devices.

The new partition stitching feature was developed by Microsoft’s Storage and Filesystems Team to merge OS partitions that are too small with other partitions on affected Windows Phone smartphones. The net result is the creation of a larger OS partition that makes it possible for Windows 10 Mobile to be installed on those devices.

According to the head of Microsoft’s Windows Insider Program, Gabe Aul, the code required for the partition-stitching feature has been successfully tested internally over the last week. Aul is clear that he can’t commit to a specific release date for the build, but there is speculation that the new Windows 10 Mobile build will be available to Windows Insider participants in the next week or so.

The preliminary list of Windows Phone devices that will be eligible for the new Windows 10 Mobile build is extensive. Microsoft cautions that the list is not set in stone. There may be bugs discovered during testing that force Microsoft to remove a device, or a previously discovered bug may be resolved so that a device ends up being added to the list.

That said, here is the preliminary list of devices from Microsoft:

• Lumia 1020

• Lumia 1320

• Lumia 1520

• Lumia 520

• Lumia 525

• Lumia 526

• Lumia 530

• Lumia 530 Dual Sim

• Lumia 535

• Lumia 620

• Lumia 625

• Lumia 630

• Lumia 630 Dual Sim

• Lumia 635

• Lumia 636

• Lumia 638

• Lumia 720

• Lumia 730

• Lumia 730 Dual SIM

• Lumia 735

• Lumia 810

• Lumia 820

• Lumia 822

• Lumia 830

• Lumia 920

• Lumia 925

• Lumia 928

• Lumia ICON

• Microsoft Lumia 430

• Microsoft Lumia 435

• Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM

• Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM DTV

• Microsoft Lumia 532

• Microsoft Lumia 532 Dual SIM

• Microsoft Lumia 640 Dual SIM

• Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM