Windows 10 - Build 9926 - First Impressions
Yesterday I loaded the latest build of Windows 10 Tech Preview - 9926 onto both a traditional desktop and a Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet.
The desktop is an HP Pavilion E9280t with Core i7, 8GB RAM and 256Gb SSD. It was configured for dual-boot Win 8.1 / Win 10 and had the previous 9879 build. The install was easy and painless via the Update & Recovery section of Settings and took about 30 minutes. So nothing exciting here - I'll combine general comments after my comments on the tablet install.
The Venue 8 Pro is a 5300 series model with Atom 7730, 2Gb RAM and 64GB onboard storage + a 64GB SD card running Win 8.1. I had to do a bit of storage cleanup prior to upgrading. I downloaded the ISO to the SD card and made sure there was at least 16GB of primary storage available prior to upgrading.
One nice feature was the ability to simple mount the ISO as a DVD and then run setup in Administrator Mode. This was a nice option versus having to burn the ISO to a USB.
One note of warning from several of the tech sites is that if you have a 16GB or 32GB primary storage device - you may not be able to use the upgrade feature of Tech Preview.
The upgrade itself went very well - I used the upgrade feature of Win10 since I did not want to have to reinstall apps like Office 2013, iTunes, etc as well as Windows Store apps. After the final reboot - all apps and settings were preserved. I started with 21Gb free prior to the upgrade and ended up with 15Gb free.
MS provided a "Rollback" capability at boot and as with earlier Windows upgrade process left Win 8.1 intact in a windows.old folder - ergo the 6GB of lost space.
A quick check in device manager showed all devices working - so no problems there as well. While some had report issues with WiFi, etc - I had none.
However MS did make some unique assumptions during the install. For example they did a default magnification of 125% for the desktop on the Venue. So at first I thought my screen resolution was off - but then realized the issue was just then the icons were larger.
Now let's talk about actually using this build.
One of the big changes right off the bat is a new Start Menu. Like previous builds MS has allowed the combination of traditional app icons as well as MSN Live tiles for apps like news/sports/weather/etc. But unlike previous builds the Start menu has a base "size" when you click on Start and then an Expanded size if you click on a new icon in the upper right corner that expands the menu to full screen. Personally I think this approach has much less appeal that previous builds that allow you adjust the menu size vertically or horizontally according you your wishes and not just small or large. There is a published registry hack out there that allows you to return to the re-sizable mode - but I ask the question why should I have to do a reg hack for that.
I still have the same concern regarding moving the live tiles to a start menu. The one feature I love about Live tiles is that you can take a quick glance and get headlines, weather financials, sports, etc. By moving them to them start menu you run into a conundrum - make the tiles large enough to get Live content and you run out menu space quickly - conversely make them small enough to fit and you loose live updates.
Overall the 9926 build is still oriented towards desktops and to be honest I miss the Windows 8.1 start screen on the tablet. Also I noticed that settings I performed on my desktop - sync'd to my tablet. For example I checked auto-hide for the taskbar on my desktop and it became activated on the tablet. Also on the tablet the "Don't show Start after I sign in" is actually grayed out. I may actually have to create a different MS account for my Desktop so that my tablet doesn't think it's a desktop. The whole thing is kind of weird.
In their press annoucements - MS appears to be using 8" screen size as the dividing line between a more touch oriented experience versus a keyboard/mouse experience. I went ahead with 9926 on the 8" Venue Pro - but will probably try the Small Tablet release on it a well. Hopefully MS will allow that.
MS introduced a new Settings app in 9926. It's kind of like an updated version of control panel but not. Not all of the control panel functions are available in this new settings app. MS needs to make a decision here - one or the other. - its just confusing.
One of the big new features in 9926 is the addition of Cortana. If you're a Windows Phone user like I am - it kind of makes sense. But at the same time - most Desktops don't have built in microphones so the voice search is effectively off and on the tablet - It has a hard time with voice recognition - which honestly has been my same experience with the Phone. In addition Cortana provides redundant content to the Live tiles such as headlines, weather, etc. In the end - to me it's kind of gimmicky.
The next big addition for 9926 was the new xBox app. If your a gamer - this makes sense. One of the big bets with Windows 10 is universal OS and apps in theory meaning you can install/run xBox apps on your PC. In addition there is the ability to stream a game from your xBox to your PC. I own an xBox 360 and was able to login and see my gamer profile, etc - I have not tried to stream a game yet.
The final big add for 9926 was an early version of Touch Mode OneNote. Again one of the big promises for Windows 10 is the ability to have a consistent experience across phones, tablets, desktops and TVs. I was able to sync my in the cloud OneNote content with the new app. But is also replicated all the starter notebooks for all other instances of One Note I have around and that's about 6 - so I ended up with a bunch of extra content I just didn't need.
From a performance standpoint - 9926 runs fine on my desktop but is sluggish on my tablet. Also - 9926 is very sensitive to landscape/portrait mode switching. When coming out of standby it can get confused and not completely repaint the landscape or portrait mode and cut the keyboard off - so you can't login. You can toggle the standby button to fix, but I would have expected a better experience - Windows 8.1 handled that fine.
MS made some ambitious announcements at it's Jan 21 press conference on Windows 10. Based on what I've experienced on my desktop and tablet - they have their work cut out for them over the next 8 - 9 months. There is a combination of feature and content overlap and a lot of rough edges that will need to be addressed. To be honest I think MS is going to have a really hard time meeting their "late summer" (read that as September) release date for all platforms.
I'm going to stick with these builds for a little while and also try the new Windows 10 phone/small tablet build that will be released next month. So more to come.
The desktop is an HP Pavilion E9280t with Core i7, 8GB RAM and 256Gb SSD. It was configured for dual-boot Win 8.1 / Win 10 and had the previous 9879 build. The install was easy and painless via the Update & Recovery section of Settings and took about 30 minutes. So nothing exciting here - I'll combine general comments after my comments on the tablet install.
The Venue 8 Pro is a 5300 series model with Atom 7730, 2Gb RAM and 64GB onboard storage + a 64GB SD card running Win 8.1. I had to do a bit of storage cleanup prior to upgrading. I downloaded the ISO to the SD card and made sure there was at least 16GB of primary storage available prior to upgrading.
One nice feature was the ability to simple mount the ISO as a DVD and then run setup in Administrator Mode. This was a nice option versus having to burn the ISO to a USB.
One note of warning from several of the tech sites is that if you have a 16GB or 32GB primary storage device - you may not be able to use the upgrade feature of Tech Preview.
The upgrade itself went very well - I used the upgrade feature of Win10 since I did not want to have to reinstall apps like Office 2013, iTunes, etc as well as Windows Store apps. After the final reboot - all apps and settings were preserved. I started with 21Gb free prior to the upgrade and ended up with 15Gb free.
MS provided a "Rollback" capability at boot and as with earlier Windows upgrade process left Win 8.1 intact in a windows.old folder - ergo the 6GB of lost space.
A quick check in device manager showed all devices working - so no problems there as well. While some had report issues with WiFi, etc - I had none.
However MS did make some unique assumptions during the install. For example they did a default magnification of 125% for the desktop on the Venue. So at first I thought my screen resolution was off - but then realized the issue was just then the icons were larger.
Now let's talk about actually using this build.
One of the big changes right off the bat is a new Start Menu. Like previous builds MS has allowed the combination of traditional app icons as well as MSN Live tiles for apps like news/sports/weather/etc. But unlike previous builds the Start menu has a base "size" when you click on Start and then an Expanded size if you click on a new icon in the upper right corner that expands the menu to full screen. Personally I think this approach has much less appeal that previous builds that allow you adjust the menu size vertically or horizontally according you your wishes and not just small or large. There is a published registry hack out there that allows you to return to the re-sizable mode - but I ask the question why should I have to do a reg hack for that.
I still have the same concern regarding moving the live tiles to a start menu. The one feature I love about Live tiles is that you can take a quick glance and get headlines, weather financials, sports, etc. By moving them to them start menu you run into a conundrum - make the tiles large enough to get Live content and you run out menu space quickly - conversely make them small enough to fit and you loose live updates.
Overall the 9926 build is still oriented towards desktops and to be honest I miss the Windows 8.1 start screen on the tablet. Also I noticed that settings I performed on my desktop - sync'd to my tablet. For example I checked auto-hide for the taskbar on my desktop and it became activated on the tablet. Also on the tablet the "Don't show Start after I sign in" is actually grayed out. I may actually have to create a different MS account for my Desktop so that my tablet doesn't think it's a desktop. The whole thing is kind of weird.
In their press annoucements - MS appears to be using 8" screen size as the dividing line between a more touch oriented experience versus a keyboard/mouse experience. I went ahead with 9926 on the 8" Venue Pro - but will probably try the Small Tablet release on it a well. Hopefully MS will allow that.
MS introduced a new Settings app in 9926. It's kind of like an updated version of control panel but not. Not all of the control panel functions are available in this new settings app. MS needs to make a decision here - one or the other. - its just confusing.
One of the big new features in 9926 is the addition of Cortana. If you're a Windows Phone user like I am - it kind of makes sense. But at the same time - most Desktops don't have built in microphones so the voice search is effectively off and on the tablet - It has a hard time with voice recognition - which honestly has been my same experience with the Phone. In addition Cortana provides redundant content to the Live tiles such as headlines, weather, etc. In the end - to me it's kind of gimmicky.
The next big addition for 9926 was the new xBox app. If your a gamer - this makes sense. One of the big bets with Windows 10 is universal OS and apps in theory meaning you can install/run xBox apps on your PC. In addition there is the ability to stream a game from your xBox to your PC. I own an xBox 360 and was able to login and see my gamer profile, etc - I have not tried to stream a game yet.
The final big add for 9926 was an early version of Touch Mode OneNote. Again one of the big promises for Windows 10 is the ability to have a consistent experience across phones, tablets, desktops and TVs. I was able to sync my in the cloud OneNote content with the new app. But is also replicated all the starter notebooks for all other instances of One Note I have around and that's about 6 - so I ended up with a bunch of extra content I just didn't need.
From a performance standpoint - 9926 runs fine on my desktop but is sluggish on my tablet. Also - 9926 is very sensitive to landscape/portrait mode switching. When coming out of standby it can get confused and not completely repaint the landscape or portrait mode and cut the keyboard off - so you can't login. You can toggle the standby button to fix, but I would have expected a better experience - Windows 8.1 handled that fine.
MS made some ambitious announcements at it's Jan 21 press conference on Windows 10. Based on what I've experienced on my desktop and tablet - they have their work cut out for them over the next 8 - 9 months. There is a combination of feature and content overlap and a lot of rough edges that will need to be addressed. To be honest I think MS is going to have a really hard time meeting their "late summer" (read that as September) release date for all platforms.
I'm going to stick with these builds for a little while and also try the new Windows 10 phone/small tablet build that will be released next month. So more to come.
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