If you thought that it is an April Fools’ Day prank from Microsoft after reading the headline of this posts, well…you are right. However, the MS-DOS Mobile for Lumia is not fake either because it is fully interactive app that is so identical to the original MS-DOS that one might thought that it is the real deal.
First and foremost, you are required to use actual MS-DOS commands in it. Although most of the “programs” in MS-Dos Mobile are just links to apps within Lumia device, some of them do work on their own. One example is the camera program which allows users to snap photos in VGA (640 x 480 resolution) using ASCII, B&W, and CGA filter.
There is also a game in it but it requires some patience to get it running (or not) and users will also encounter Cortana along the way. In addition to that, users are also able to access a simplified version of Microsoft Windows 3.1 through MS-DOS Mobile. Almost all of the “programs” shown in it are the same programs that users can access through command prompt with the exception of Media Player.
All in all, the MS-DOS Mobile is quite an elaborate piece of April Fools’ material. As computing have changed a lot since MS-DOS last ruled the world, it is an excellent throwback for many of us that utilizes the command-based operating system. By the way, you can’t reformat your Lumia phone via MS-DOS Mobile. We know; we’ve tried.
Do give MS-DOS Mobile a go if you own a Lumia smartphones, available for free through Windows Phone App Store.
