An itch has finally been scratched for Windows Insiders as the Insider testing program gets a new Fast Ring build.
Tweets on social media have been fast and furious over the last few weeks as Insiders have been on the lookout for a new Windows 10 Mobile build and asking our Ring Master Gabe Aul multiple times a day the question New build today?
Well those questions were answered today with a resounding yes.
As I discussed earlier this week in my State of Windows 10 Mobile article, this build and future builds are all about smashing bugs and building in further stability to the core operating system.
In today's announcement Microsoft confirmed this was the planned approach:
"I expect the builds to be out more frequently again as we go forward from here. Our major focus on Windows 10 Mobile right now is on improvements to core quality."
Microsoft has solved a lot of issues in this new build:
- General improvement in overall stability and performance.
- You can now set the Lock screen and background image from within the Photos app.
- We fixed an issue where apps installed on SD cards weren’t working after a reboot.
- We have improved Latvian and Chinese inputs.
- We have made improvements to the Kid’s Corner tile layout.
- We have improved reliability of Data Sense notifications.
- Modified Shape Writing algorithm to be less aggressive in suggesting contact names over common words.
- Resolved an issue where Camera would not launch when the phone was locked.
- We fixed an issue where notifications for incoming text messages weren’t appearing.
- We fixed an issue where the touch screen wouldn’t be responsive after ending a phone call on some devices.
- And we fixed an issue where folder tiles have obviously overlapping text.
On the other hand this is a preview version of the OS so there are some specific issues and warnings about this release that testers need to be aware of:
- Mobile hotspot doesn’t work in this build. When sharing the Internet from your phone using Mobile Hotspot, devices will fail to get a valid IP address from your phone and will show no internet access.
- Two-factor authentication for your MSA with a phone number doesn’t work in this build. If you reset your phone and go through the first run experience, you won’t be able to input more than 2 characters for validating phone or text authentication. If you have a secondary email for two-factor authentication – you can choose that. As a workaround, add secondary email for two-factor authentication.
- Some phones might spend a long time in the post update migration experience – just let the phone sit and it should complete this migration.
- Apps that use background audio such as Groove, Podcast, Pandora, etc. will crash when launching after receiving an app update from the Store. Rebooting the device will resolve this issue.
- Some phones with a large number of tiles pinned to the Start screen may get stuck in a state where the device shows “Loading…”; the device will need to be reset or rolled back to Windows Phone 8.1 using Windows Phone Recovery Tool.
- Some apps may fail to update through the Store with the error code 0x80073cf9; uninstalling the application and reinstalling it will resolve this issue.
- The Movies & TV app will not work in this build (video playback is currently broken).
I specifically emphasized the Two Factor Authentication note because that is critical - especially if you reset your device after the upgrade. The use of a secondary email address for that is a great recommendation from Microsoft and keeps you from having to disable 2FA to validate yourself on the new build.
Let us know how you experience with Windows 10 Mobile 10512 goes in the comments below.
