Microsoft Drops A New Windows 10 Build, Bringing The Love To Lots More Phones

Aspiration’s Growth Shows The Appetite For More Financial ServicesIt’s New Build Day for Microsoft kids, as the Redmond software shop dropped new code that will bring Windows 10 to a host of smartphones that were previously not able to handle to the beta operating system.
The build, number 10051, brings a host of new features to Windows 10 for phones, including refreshed core applications and the Project Spartan browser that has already cropped up for PCs running Windows 10.
Also in the mix is a new “universal” Maps application. Microsoft is working to bring all of computing under a single roof. That makes the Maps app important: Here is Microsoft showing off how apps will scale from small to large across various screen sizes.
According to the company, the new app “includes the best maps, aerial imagery, rich local search data, and voice-guided navigation experiences from both Bing Maps and HERE maps, integrated together for the first time into a single app for Windows.”
Below is a list of supported phones:
Lumia 1020
Lumia 1320
Lumia 1520
Lumia 520
Lumia 525
Lumia 526
Lumia 530
Lumia 530 Dual Sim
Lumia 535
Lumia 620
Lumia 625
Lumia 630
Lumia 630 Dual Sim
Lumia 635
Lumia 636
Lumia 638
Lumia 720
Lumia 730
Lumia 730 Dual SIM
Lumia 735
Lumia 810
Lumia 820
Lumia 822
Lumia 830
Lumia 920
Lumia 925
Lumia 928
Microsoft Lumia 430
Microsoft Lumia 435
Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM
Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM DTV
Microsoft Lumia 532
Microsoft Lumia 532 Dual SIM
Microsoft Lumia 640 Dual SIM
Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM
If you want the new build, make sure that you are on the fast release ring. Otherwise, you will have to sit tight.
The development pace of Windows 10 remains rapid. It’s been notable to watch the enthusiasm gap between the current Windows 10 release cycle, and what took place with Windows 8. That’s to say that people seem to care more this time around.
An example of this is my new Twitter nemesis, Gabe Aul from the Windows 10 team, who regularly racks up oodles of favorites for his oracular drippings concerning when new code might, or might not, land:

Riveting. You can check shots of the new build here.

By: Unknown On 01:18

Continue Reading

Microsoft Releases Preview Of Its New Browser ‘Project Spartan’ In Fresh Windows 10 Build

The Next Billion-Dollar Market Opportunity Is Mobile EnterpriseMicrosoft wasn’t kidding when it promised to ship Windows 10 builds more quickly. Today, less than two weeks after its last iteration, the company has kicked out a new build that contains an important new feature: Project Spartan.
The new build’s number is 10047 10049, up a total of 68 from the preceding release.
If you are currently on the “fast ring” of the Windows Insider program, say hello to the new code. For the rest of you on the more conservative build cycles, wait for the dust to settle. You can, of course, change your ring setting and get the new tools more quickly. (Note: This is not the upcoming build that will support a host more Windows Phone handsets. This build is nearly all about Project Spartan.)
Project Spartan, the current, public codename of Microsoft’s new browser, will replace its venerable predecessor not all at once, but in steps. This fact has caused some confusion.
What can Project Spartan do? It comes with Cortana, the company’s digital assistant that lives in both current builds of Windows Phone and Windows 10. By bringing it to the browser, Microsoft makes progress on what appears to be an implicit goal to ensure that Cortana lands on every screen where the company vends a platform. (Xbox, gear up.)
Microsoft highlighted pen capabilities, simple reading views, and a rendering engine built for the modern Web as points in the browser’s favor during a call.
This is the first public release of Project Spartan. So what we will see is a preview of Microsoft’s browser vision. Project Spartan remains an incomplete product, the company said in a call. That’s hardly a sin for beta software, of course, but it will be a decent data point to stress-test Project Spartan regardless — how far along and stable is this new vision?
According to a separate blog post from the company, 10047 10049 contains a number of bug fixes, and known issues. That’s par for Windows 10 course.
Build, Microsoft’s developer conference, is next month, meaning that Microsoft might eventually hit pause on new builds to store up new bits and tiddles to show off at the event. Today, however, was not such a case.
Update: Microsoft switched to a newer, shinier build — 10049 — after it had provided TechCrunch with pre-release reference materials that noted the release as build 10047. Post has been amended with correct numbers, and passive-aggressive strikethrough text.

By: Unknown On 05:35

Continue Reading

Your Windows 10 Password Will Be Your Face

Rhapsody’s New Cards Offer Streaming Music Right In TwitterMicrosoft announced this morning two components of Windows 10, its next operating system, that will help users log into both hardware and digital services.
Windows Hello will allow users with machines that have the required hardware to log into their computing device using their face, eyes, or fingerprint. Not all machines will run Windows Hello. Microsoft noted in a blog post that computers that already sport fingerprint scanners will be supported, and that it is “excited to announce” that computers built by partners that incorporate existing Intel technology — its RealSense camera — will support the iris and face-based sign-in features.
Interestingly, Microsoft claims that Hello contains “enterprise-grade security.” So, not only will you be able to log into your Windows 10 machine with the equivalent of a quick selfie1, Microsoft thinks that you’ll be safer for having done so. I have yet to test the technology, but presuming that it works well, it will be a popular tool.
Next up is Passport, a new set of programming tools that allow Windows 10 to “authenticate” to various digital services such as applications that a user is who they claim. And as Windows 10 is vouching for your person, no password has to trade hands, which keeps a user’s passwords more secure. Passport proves a user’s identity either through a device-based PIN or Windows Hello.
You will be able to log into Windows 10 by staring at your computer, which will also unlock a number of online services and applications. Fewer passwords? I’ll take it.

By: Unknown On 10:24

Continue Reading

Microsoft Hints At Faster Windows 10 Build Releases

Apple Shares Shift In Wake Of New Product AnnouncementsMicrosoft’s Gabe Aul hinted today at faster releases of new builds of the company’s Windows 10 operating system.
The company’s public testing program has attracted more than 2 million users to date. However, according to Aul, there are “lots of questions” regarding when a new build will be released. Given that Microsoft is more than willing to drop new code in between keynote releases, like its original enterprise preview, and its coming developer preview, the question matters.
According to Aul, there are several internal rings that employ even less-baked software than is released to Microsoft’s self-selected testing community. Here’s his diagram:

There are more internal tiers than external, unsurprisingly.
According to Aul, Microsoft may have been “too conservative about pushing builds to the Fast ring for Windows Insiders.” Perhaps. Aul’s group, according to the executive, has had “serious conversations last week […] about a ‘Ludicrous Speed’ ring,” which he then asserts is “no joke.”
I highlight the above not strictly for its Windows 10 impact, but also to underline how Windows might be constructed in the future. If Microsoft wants to move faster with builds now, it might move faster in the future. That makes the current Windows 10 pace perhaps slower than what we will see next.
Anyhoo, summing the above, Microsoft is doubling down on its plan to get new operating system code into the market more quickly than before.

By: Unknown On 00:34

Continue Reading

Here’s Why Your Windows Phone Might Not Be Able To Run Windows 10 — Yet

Got a tip? Let us know.MenuSearchNewsChannelsStartupsMobileGadgetsEnterpriseSocialEuropeAsiaTrendingTinderNSAAndroidGoogleMicrosoftAppleTwitterFacebookAll TopicsAll GalleriesTCTVShowsTCTV NewsBuilt in BrooklynCrunchWeekFly Or DieGadgetsIncubatedInside JobsTC CribsAll ShowsAll VideosEventsTechSupport EventsDisruptCrunchiesMeetupsInternational City EventsHackathonHardware BattlefieldIncludeNews AboutGoogle I/O 2014CESSXSWWWDC 2014

By: Unknown On 03:17

Continue Reading

Hands On With The Windows 10 Technical Preview For Phones

drizzled)0
SHARESNext StoryiOS Apps Can Now Be Twice As Big
FacebookLinkedInWindows 10 Technical Preview For Phones Demo
Windows 10 is coming this year, and a Technical Preview came out today. The Preview is limited in terms of devices it can run on, and in terms of features it offers, but it’s a start, and a first look at the next generation of Microsoft’s mobile OS. I loaded it onto a Lumia 830 to see what it brings to the table, and limited though it may be, it already does a lot to improve the overall experience, once you get past the lack of polish that comes with any pre-release software.
The main new features in this build are an overhauled Action Center, which provides access to two more rows of quick access settings with an expanded view, as well as notifications that you can interact with directly. Dismissing an alarm from a notification is easy, even if you don’t catch it on the main screen, and you can also reply to inbound messages directly. Settings has been completely redefined, and organizes a lot of information in a way that’s more dense but also much easier to parse. At first it was a big change, given how much it differs from navigation in the rest of the OS, but it’s an intelligent redesign that ultimately makes sense, once you think through where certain settings should be located.
Other new additions here include the Photos app, which now pulls in images from your OneDrive cloud storage. I’ve stored some pictures there from a long, long time ago as you can see, and these now show up right alongside my locally stored photos and screenshots taken on the 830 itself, as well as more recently cloud-based images. It’s a smart way to keep everything together, but right now it’s pretty basic, with more advanced organization and sharing features like Albums (which you can create along with family and friends) and Folders coming in a later build.

By: Unknown On 00:37

Continue Reading

Windows 10 Technical Preview For Phones Now Available

Microsoft has decided to make my job just a bit harder by naming all variants of Windows 10 clumsily, but if you have a phone that runs Windows Phone 8.1 and you want to try out the next generation,

By: Unknown On 10:59

Continue Reading