Windows Phone
Image Courtesy: Xiaomi

Yesterday, developer Heathcliff released Windows Phone Internals 2.3 and with this tool, users can unlock the bootloader of Lumia Windows Phones from both Microsoft and Nokia. Bootloader unlocked Windows Phone opens a new door to customization, installation of custom ROMs and unsupported versions of Windows 10 Mobile.

Windows Phone Internals 2.3 might bring the Project Astoria back which allowed the installation of Android apps on Microsoft’s mobile devices, though don’t get your hopes too high on Android apps on Windows 10 Mobile as the project is still in early phase of development. It’s likely that we’ll see more Android on Lumia phones project than ever before.

Windows Phone Internals developer Heathcliff explains that they are exploring ways to install Android apps on Lumia phone, a team of developer aims to bring back the Project Astoria. Developer Heathcliff is however not interested in installation of Android ROMs on Lumia. Instead of installing Android on Lumia, it’s a lot easier to purchase an Android phone from the Microsoft Store, he said.

While the developers are trying hard to bring Project Astoria back, no release date has been given and we don’t know as to how long it’ll take to make this project happen again.

Microsoft unveiled Project Astoria back in 2015, allowing developers to use Android app’s code to make Windows apps for phones. The project also allowed installation of Android apps APK on Windows phones.

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“We received a lot of feedback that having two Bridge technologies to bring code from mobile operating systems to Windows was unnecessary, and the choice between them could be confusing. We have carefully considered this feedback and decided that we would focus our efforts on the Windows Bridge for iOS and make it the single Bridge option for bringing mobile code to all Windows 10 devices, including Xbox and PCs. For those developers who spent time investigating the Android Bridge, we strongly encourage you to take a look at the iOS Bridge and Xamarin as great solutions,” the company said.

About The Author

Mayank Parmar

Mayank Parmar is an entrepreneur who founded Windows Latest. He is the Editor-in-Chief and has written on various topics in his seven years of career, but he is mostly known for his well-researched work on Microsoft's Windows. His articles and research works have been referred to by CNN, Business Insiders, Forbes, Fortune, CBS Interactive, Microsoft and many others over the years.