Windows 10 news recap: Preview for phones released, no new desktop build yet, and more

Ron

Windows 10 news recap: Preview for phones released, no new desktop build yet, and more

The biggest news of the week was the release of Windows 10 for phones preview. After what seemed like an eternity, Microsoft finally pushed the big red button unleashing the Windows 10 preview for phones on Thursday, February 12th. The preview was made available on Lumia 630, Lumia 635, Lumia 636, Lumia 638, Lumia 730 and Lumia 830. If you have yet to download it, head over here.

Some users of high end Lumia phones may be frustrated that the Windows 10 Technical Preview is not available on the Lumia 930, 1520, and Icon. Microsoft has released a blog post explaining the know issues within the Windows 10 Technical Preview and a brief section of it explains why some higher end phones aren’t receiving the preview. You can head over here to read why. Be careful attempting to side load Windows 10 onto unsupported devices, you may brick your phone.

Microsoft has also published a list of known bugs and issues with Windows 10 for phones, which you can read here. If you installed Windows 10 for phones and are experiecing major issues, you can head over here to read how to revert back to Windows Phone 8.1.

With a new Start Screen and a heavily updated design language, Windows Phone certainly feels like it has been scrapped away and rebuilt from the ground up with Windows 10. Some new features in the first build of the Windows 10 for phones preview includes some new tile sizes, actionable notifications, new universal apps, a new file explorer, a Cortana makeover, the Spartan rendering engine and more. Check out the video below to see some of the new features in action.

We learned this past week that Transparent Live tiles will soon make their way to Windows 10 for phones, along with the Insider Hub app. Microsoft also plans to roll out monthly updates to Windows 10 for mobile, so you can test out the latest features and improvements.

This past week, we also offers a closer look at the new keyboard, the new Calculator app, the new File Explorer, and the new Actionable Notifications feature.

On the desktop side of things, a new build for Windows 10 is expected later this month. A new rumor also suggests that Windows 10, Microsoft newest operating system that blurs the line between desktop, tablet, and phones, is expected to reach RTM in June of 2015. 

Stay tuned for yet another exciting news week!