As was expected today, Microsoft has released a new build of Windows 10 Mobile to Windows Insiders who are participating in the Fast Ring. Build 10080 is the first build to support a non-Lumia device, the HTC M8 for Windows Phone which is great to see in addition to the support for the Lumia 930, Lumia ICON and Lumia 640 XL. As expected, there are a lot of new features and apps to test out in this build as well as a good list of known issues. I’ll remind everyone that this is beta software and there will be issues so proceed with caution. I personally am still not running Windows 10 Mobile on my daily phone and after playing with this build for a little bit on my Lumia 635 and Lumia 1320, it will remain that way.
According to the Windows Blog, there are several new apps and features for you to try out in this build.
Windows Store Beta for phones: This build brings a first look at the new Windows Store in Windows 10 for phones. You will see it designated as Store (Beta). The Store Beta has a new visual design and if you’ve been using the Store Beta on PC, it should feel familiar since it’s the built using the new Universal Windows Platform code. As a beta, there are a couple of known issues to be aware of with this Store app. Both the app selection and markets where the Store Beta is available are limited in this release. You can browse and search, as well as download apps. You can pay for those apps and games with options such as international credit card, gift cards and PayPal. However, carrier billing is not enabled yet. At Build, we announced that all Windows 10 devices (not just phones), will be able to support carrier billing. That means that the growing number of carrier billing connections we have today may be used by Windows 10 customers to purchase all Store content. We’re also adding music, movies and TV shows into the Store for you to purchase and access across all your devices. Movies & TV page is functional. Music is not available in this build but will be coming soon. And just like on PC, the current Windows Store remains available in this build.
Universal Office apps: Now that the Store Beta is included in this build, you can download the Word, Excel, PowerPointand OneNote Preview apps. For more information on the Universal Office apps – read this blog post from the Office Blog. We know that you’ve been waiting to try these apps on your phones, so we’re very excited for them to be available for you now.
Xbox app: The Xbox app for Windows 10 is also now available for phones in the Store Beta (version 4.4.230). With the Xbox app on your phone – you can access your activity feed, achievements, friends list, activity alerts, messages, watch Game DVR clips, and connect to your Xbox One. For more information, see this post on Xbox Wire.
Music Preview app: Access your music collection and play all your music – including songs you have added to OneDrive. The new experience for Now Playing makes it easy to swipe between songs and it looks great. We’ve got more improvements coming in future app updates that will be delivered through the Store Beta including a Live Tile showing what’s currently playing, pinning favorites to your Start screen, exploring the full catalog and listening to Radio with an Xbox Music Pass, support for Kids Corner, the ability to shop for music in the Store Beta, and more. Download the Music Preview app here.
Video Preview app: Browse and play video files (including MKV files!) on your device. Try out filtering and sorting your collection and adding a folder of videos to include in your collection. You can also browse and play movies and TV shows you’ve purchased and rented from Xbox Video. Try starting a purchased video on your PC or Xbox and pick up playback right where you left off on your phone. In a future app update, we’ll be adding the ability to download movies and TV shows for offline playback, new device management so you can manage your offline downloads on the devices you care about, improved search results, movie reviews and cast info, and more! Download the Video Preview app here.
Check out the new Camera app: We want your feedback on the new Camera app for Windows 10! Make the Camera app your default camera app by going to Settings > System > Photos & Camera (or pin it to your Start screen) and let us know what you think. Note that high-end Lumia devices (1520, 1020, 930, 830, 640, and 640XL) have some features not supported by the new Camera app. For these devices, the new app will work but to get the full functionality from your device you will need to use the Lumia Camera app. In coming weeks we’ll have updated versions of Camera apps with the superset of all features.
A few fixes: We have fixed a few things in this build. Tapping on an e-mail notification now launches you into that e-mail message instead of the calendar. Incoming calls should play a ringing sound now.
Likewise, there is a long list of known issues with Build 10080 that you need to be aware of if you are considering installing it.
Here are some known issues
- We’re aware of several migration issues after upgrading to this build.
- After upgrading, you may see duplicate tiles for apps like Search and Phone under All Apps.
- “Pending” may show under some apps after upgrade and those apps are unresponsive. Restarting the phone will clear the pending flag and the apps should work.
- All data and settings for apps installed on a SD card do not get migrated and you cannot launch these apps or install them again. Workaround is to uninstall then reinstall these apps.
- The old email app will still show up after upgrade in All Apps list with “Error” text displayed and cannot be removed. This app also shows up banged out on the Start screen if it was pinned previously. It can simply be unpinned to remove.
- When upgrading from Windows Phone 8.1 to this build, even if you have your cellular data connection turned on, it will get turned off during upgrade. Go to Settings > Network & wireless > Cellular and SIM to turn it back on.
- VERY IMPORTANT: there is a condition in which you may never receive MMS messages. Usually when someone sends you a MMS message and your phone’s cellular data connection is turned off, you will receive a “Get message” link in the text thread from the sender, allowing you to download the message once you turn your cellular data back on. There is a bug in which this link is not received in this case and the MMS message is completely lost. To ensure MMS messages are not lost, be sure to turn cellular data on (via Settings > Network & wireless > Cellular & SIM > Data connection). This issue will occur any time your cellular data connection is turned off in this build.
- If you are in a region where Cortana is enabled (US, China, UK, France, Italy, Germany, or Spain) and you have changed the default shipping language on your phone – please ensure that your region, language, and speech settings are restored to their default values before initiating the update. This is required in order to avoid a bug that will cause Cortana/Search to repeatedly crash.
- After upgrade, uninstalling an app may not remove it from the All Apps list. Usually restarting your device resolves this issue.
- Playback of movies and TV may fail with error 0x8004c029 in the Video Preview app. If it does, go here to learn more about how to fix it.
- After upgrading, the Twitter app may crash on launch. If you uninstall and reinstall the app, it should work.
- Auto-update for apps is not enabled in this build for apps installed via Store Beta. You will have to manually check for updates.
- After upgrading from Build 10052, the Insider Hub still does not launch. However, if you upgrade from Windows Phone 8.1 the Insider Hub should now launch.
Again, make sure you read through the issues list before you install. If any of these are show stoppers, don’t install it. I still highly recommend not installing it on your daily driver.
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