Microsoft has released the fourth Windows 10 Mobile Preview Build (10136) with few changes – Cortana improvements, Photos and Camera, easier use of big devices with one hand and as expected, few user interface tweaks.
Much like double-tapping on the Home button on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus that allows you use your device with one hand, Microsoft has also made it easier to use bigger devices on Windows 10 Mobile. When you press and hold the “Start” button, the screen slides down so you could reach items at the top of the screen. To slide back you just tap atop blank screen.
“Cortana is now very close to our final design” says Microsoft. The company’s digital voice assistant has received some user interface changes in the homepage and hamburger menu. It has also enabled
check-in to flight tracking/alerts with weather and currency details.
The Lumia Camera Beta app on the Lumia 640, 640XL, 930, Icon, and 1520 is now the Windows 10 Mobile Camera app. The new Photos app now supports double-tap to zoom on a photo and easy scrolling to older photos via the Months tag.
NB: This build comes with a bug warning from Microsoft: “we are only offering it to phones that are running Windows Phone 8.1 and opted in to the Windows Insider Fast ring. What this means is that testers running the previous build offered to the Fast ring (10080) who want to get this build will need to go back to Windows Phone 8.1 via the Windows Phone Recovery Tool first.
According to Microsoft, Because of a migration bug affecting upgrades from 10080 to this build so we are not supporting that upgrade path. We know this is a little bit painful but we didn’t want to make you wait any longer to get a new build and decided not to hold for those migration issues to be fixed.
Some of you previously had to go through 2 “hops” to get to the latest build on your phone. We’ve made this better and you will be able to upgrade directly to the latest build in a single hop regardless of which Windows Phone 8.1 build you’re starting from.
The company also warns those that’ll still choose to make the jump to this build, it is SUPER IMPORTANT TO READ THIS: At the end of the upgrade the Lock screen will appear frozen without the date and time for up to 10 minutes. Please be patient and let it sit– eventually the date and time will appear and it will allow you to unlock your phone.
There is a post-upgrade migration status screen missing, which normally would show you that it was making progress. If you get impatient and restart or mess with locking/unlocking your phone, you’ll wind up in a funky state – so just relax and let it do its thing.
Photo Credit: YouTube image
