GoKawiilRobert Triggs / Android Authority
Die-hard Windows Phone 8.1 fans have been hard at work recently. First, there was an update to the alternative app marketplace, 8Marketplace. Shortly after, a third-party app unofficially brought Telegram support to the platform. We’ve also seen updates to a few other apps recently, bringing Bluesky support and more.
The renewed interest certainly got my attention. While I never used the Windows Phone platform as my daily driver beyond a brief period around 2014, when I bought a secondhand Lumia 1020, I did really enjoy it. I even had a Windows 10 Mobile-powered Lumia 650 I used as a secondary device. While I liked the Lumia 650’s Windows 10 Mobile experience, I felt like Windows Phone 8.1 was a better platform overall, and so I was excited to see the OS getting new love in 2026.
This led me to dust off my Lumia 1020. It had been at least two years since I last turned it on, and even then, it was only for around ten minutes to see if it still powered on. If I’m honest, I hadn’t really used the phone in any meaningful way in nearly a decade. While the battery still holds a charge and the phone booted up just fine, the battery life is unsurprisingly severely degraded. Still, beyond that, the phone works about the same as always.
Do you miss Windows Phone, or glad to see it gone? 83 votes I miss it and think it could have evolved into a great platform. 73 % I miss having more options, but don't necessarily miss Windows Phone itself. 18 % No, I'm glad Windows Phone is dead. 8 % Other (Let us know in the comments) 0 %
Using Windows Phone in 2026 — or at least trying to
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
I was able to get onto Wi-Fi with no issue, though Internet Explorer barely works with most of today’s websites, and I ran into many issues there. I ended up installing the 8Marketplace app, where I found a few custom social media apps and a few older, working legacy apps like TuneIn Radio. Overall, it was a fun, nostalgic romp that was undone by the same enemy that has always haunted the platform: a lack of app support.
There’s no way to use Windows Phone 8.1 as a primary platform in the US in 2026 due to the lack of key apps, lack of security fixes, and the fact that I can’t even get it to play nicely with any of the big three networks with the US Mobile SIM I installed. Windows Phone is simply too old, lacks many modern LTE standards, and has no 5G support.
I might not have gotten a usable platform experience here, but playing around with the Lumia 1020 still taught me something. I miss Windows Phone more than I thought.
... continue reading