Windows 10 for Phones Technical Preview is here, but only for some devices. It’s a sad thing because folks with high-end Windows Phone 8.1 handsets will not be able to take part in the testing phase until further notice.
Luckily, a Lumia 830 was on hand to give the technical preview a test spin. What can we say; Windows 10 for Phones in its current form is fine, but still needs a lot of work because many changes shown at the Microsoft conference did not appear in the current update.
The very first thing users will notice is the revamp start screen, though this time around the improvements are minor. The parallax scroll effect on the background wallpaper is now gone, as Microsoft has added a full wallpaper.
Microsoft also went on to add some new live tile sizes. Folks can now create huge square tiles or vertical live tiles. The previous options are still available to those who prefer the old way of doing things. Still, the addition of such large tiles do not make sense for devices such as the Lumia 1520, so maybe Microsoft should omit the large tile option for small screen devices.
Microsoft made sure to allow newly installed apps to be situated at the top of the list. This should make it easier to locate that app you installed hours ago but never got around launching.
The addition of more Quick Actions is very welcoming, but most of all, we are in love with the addition of actionable notifications. It means when the user receives a text or Skype message, they can just press the notification at the top to bring up an option to reply without opening the app.
This feature is already available on iOS and Android, so it is good to see it now coming to Windows 10 for Phones.
Speech to text has always been an option, but this time around, the feature is available in every app with a text field. Not very accurate, but it works that’s more important right now. On the matter of the keyboard, the design is flatter, and the space key is wider. There’s also a knob that allows for better selection of text.
Windows 10 for Phones Technical Preview is fine but not yet where we’d like it to be. Bugs are never ending so not ready as a daily driver, and the new Office apps and Spartan web browser are missing.
Via: Inferse.com.
