It's been a long wait since the last Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview was released - but it finally came to an end today as Microsoft rolled out build 10549 to the Fast ring. The new build brings a range of improvements - for those that go to the effort of installing it, anyway.
Unfortunately, the last-minute discovery of a critical bug before its release means that there's no direct upgrade path from the last build, 10536.1004, to the new one. Those who wish to install the new build must first downgrade to Windows Phone 8.1 and upgrade from there - and that's not the only issue that users should expect to encounter.
In a blog post announcing availability of the new build, Microsoft's Gabe Aul explained the known issues in the build:
- After upgrade, you might be missing a few apps. If you experience this, the workaround is to reset your phone.
- After rebooting your phone, you won’t see notifications, such as new messages, until you unlock your phone for the first time. After that, you should see notifications for new messages just fine. This bug is fixed in a later build.
- You will be unable to make calls with Skype for Business, WhatsApp and other apps after upgrading to this build. The workaround is to uninstall and reinstall these apps from the Store.
Thankfully, that's a pretty short list - but one or two of those issues may well be considered show-stoppers for those considering testing the OS on their primary device. As ever, that's not recommended, given that this is still preview software.
However, to Microsoft's credit, the list of issues that it has fixed in build 10549 is a good deal longer:
- The Windows Camera app no longer crashes when certain applications launch it to capture a picture.
- We fixed an issue where the touch keyboard would get dismissed every time you sent a message, which made sending 2+ texts in quick succession difficult.
- We fixed an issue where swiping away a notification was causing the notification icon to appear top of your screen.
- Screenshots were not being properly saved resulting in many top social messenger apps such as WeChat, WhatsApp, LINE, WeiBo, and QQ unable to find saved screenshots. This has been fixed.
- We fixed an issue where you couldn’t cannot launch apps saved on SD cards after reinserting your SD card.
- Pinch to zoom should work properly in the Maps app now.
- We fixed an issue where trying to set a custom ring or text tone for a contact shows a black screen for 10 seconds, then does nothing.
- We have added back vibrate-only alarms.
- We have fixed call-blocking.
If you install Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview build 10549 on your device, be sure to let us know how it goes in the comments below.
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