New Windows 10 Eligible Handsets Now Have Access to Redstone Mobile Builds

Last week when Microsoft officially added 18 Windows Phone 8.1 handsets to the pool of devices eligible to receive the Current Branch release of Windows 10 Mobile (Build 10586.164) they also promised that those same handsets would soon be provisioned to receive Fast Ring Insider builds to test new Redstone builds.

That provisioning has apparently occurred because Microsoft's Gabe Aul has shared via Twitter and an updated Windows 10 mobile Build 14291 blog post that those devices can now opt into the Fast Ring for access to those Redstone builds.

"Today we are releasing this build to the list of devices that will be capable of receiving updates as part of the Windows Insider Program except the Lumia 635. We will add the Lumia 635 at a later date. Going forward – these devices can receive new builds from our Development Branch that we release to the Fast and Slow rings. As we stated previously, only devices which are eligible to receive the Windows 10 Mobile upgrade will be able to get preview builds from the Development Branch."

As you can see the Lumia 635 is not on that list but will eventually get those Redstone builds.

All users of the other 17 devices needs to do is install the Windows Insider app and opt into the Fast Ring and then let their device reboot.  After the restart just check for updates to get Build 14291 for that handset.

Luckily users of those 17 handsets do not need to already have Windows 10 Mobile Current Branch installed to gain access to the Redstone builds because many of them are still sitting on Windows Phone 8.1 waiting for carriers to push the build out to them.

Personally, I have a Lumia 640 (Go Phone) and Lumia 830 (AT&T) still waiting on the Current Branch release. The Windows 10 Upgrade Advisor shows both devices as eligible for the upgrade but the update is still not available.

I have had many others report very similar results with their eligible handsets as well.

So do you plan to wait for the Current Branch release for your handset or will you go ahead and jump straight to the Redstone builds?

But, wait...there's probably more so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Google+.