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Unless you’ve been living under an analog rock with no Internet connection, you’ve probably noticed all the brouhaha surrounding the launch of Windows 10. Microsoft opened up the new platform to a public beta with the Technical Preview, soaking in all the feedback from the community before issuing this first “final” build. That’s all great news, but the digital lifestyle today is no longer bound to a desktop computer sitting in a corner office. It’s out in the world, including the land down under. It’s mobile and free.

Microsoft took care of the “free” part of that equation by providing a free upgrade to Windows 10 for anyone with a legitimate copy of Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, but where does that leave us with our increasingly “on the go” lifestyle? What about our smartphones and our tablets?

Let’s start with smartphones. Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 were offered by a variety of manufacturers for a time, but the current reality is that you’re looking almost entirely at the Microsoft Lumia line. This followed Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s mobile devices unit. The good news is that the mobile world operates a little differently from the desktop world and software upgrades have traditionally always been free; we don’t anticipate Windows 10 will be any different.

In fact, the first wave of Lumia handsets in line to get Windows 10 have already been announced. The assumption is that this will expand to more devices and the first generation of new smartphones shipping with Windows 10 out of the box should follow very soon. That’s good news for fans in markets like Australia too, as this should be a global launch. Microsoft has not yet announced a specific date for when the mobile version of Windows 10 will be ready, but it should be before the end of the year.

The short answer to whether you can get Windows 10 on your mobile today? No, you can’t. That said, just like the full desktop version of Windows 10, there’s a Technical Preview of Windows 10 for Mobile being offered if you want to get ahead of the curve.

In terms of tablet devices, Microsoft is taking a different approach with Windows 10 than it did when Windows 8 first made its debut. There’s no separate Windows RT this time around. In essence, the version of Windows 10 you’ve got on your home computer is the same version of Windows 10 you’ll get on your tablet. This includes the increasingly popular Microsoft Surface line, as well as offerings from other hardware partners.

Windows 10 has also been designed to be flexible and adaptable. There is still a tablet mode with bigger icons and a more touch-friendly interface for when you’re rocking your productivity and media consumption on the road. At the same time, Continuum lets you transition to a more traditional desktop environment on the same tablet when you’ve got the keyboard and mouse going. It’s the best of both worlds.

What this means is that while you’ll still need to hang in there before you can officially get Windows 10 on your smartphone, you can enjoy Windows 10 on your existing Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 tablet today. Windows 10 is available now at Harvey Norman for any folks who want a new Windows 10 tablet in Australia.

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