Windows Insiders who are testing Windows 10 Mobile got a unicorn late Friday night as Microsoft made a rare Friday build available of the soon to be released update to the companies mobile operating system.
Windows 10 Build 10586.29 was pushed out to testers and, according to Gabe Aul, it is the first Cumulative Update for the mobile version of Windows 10 and is intended to improve the upgrade experience from Windows Phone 8.1 based on user feedback.
I installed the update on a Nokia Lumia 830 and a Microsoft Lumia 640 without any issues but the install experience felt just like past updates as the devices progressed through download, install, spinning gears and migrating data.
Based on that process, Cumulative Updates on Windows 10 Mobile are still build based updates instead of just patches like they are on Windows 10 desktop/tablet devices.
This update addresses the following areas:
- You will see additional improvements in upgrade experience, including devices with limited free space, map rendering on update, and RCS enabled device settings.
- Improved application backwards compatibility for Windows Phone 8.1 Silverlight applications.
- Edge performance and stability has been improved. Auto-completion has been updated to allow user to more easily edit the end of the URL in the address bar.
- Additional Bluetooth stability improvements.
- We have resolve issues on switching the active cellular connectivity profile on Dual SIM devices.
- Data profiles are now correctly restored in the out of box experience that would prevent some devices from sending or receiving MMS messages.
Users of the LG Lancet, Microsoft Lumia 550, 950 and 950 XL will gain access to Windows Insider builds early next week as those devices get provisioned to join the program and get added to the Windows Device Recovery Tool.
Just by the fact that Microsoft is taking specific aim at the upgrade process from Windows Phone 8.1 with this updated build of Windows 10 Mobile it is a good indicator that this may also be the public build that will be made available soon.
Microsoft has previously committed to releasing Windows 10 Mobile in December and pushing this update out to Insiders allows the company to collect data about its reliability towards its ultimate release.
It is also a strong possibility they want to add the Lumia 550, 950 and 950 XL to the Insider program to collect data on their performance with this latest build and use that telemetry as they make the GO/NO GO decision about finally pushing Windows 10 Mobile to the general public.
