Windows 10 Mobile Build 14322 - a Major Update
Today - Microsoft released Windows 10 Mobile Build 14322 to Fast Ring Insiders.
Only one of my Nokia Lumia devices qualifies to get Redstone / Anniversary builds - a Lumia 735. The download and installation both went smoothly.
There is a huge list of bug fixes in 14322. You can look at the official list here https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/04/14/announcing-windows-10-mobile-insider-preview-build-14322/
Build 14322 includes the largest number of new features I've seen so far for Windows 10 Mobile on the Redstone branch.
I'll touch on a few of them...
First was a big change and flexibility for both notifications and quick actions. Notifications are now consolidated to not show a source icon next to each and grouped. Notifications are also now expanded and can include photos and can also be prioritized so that the most important ones show first.
Quick actions are now customizable in both what is included and in what order they appear.
Next the Lock screen was enhanced to A) provide Media Controls - so you can do things like pause, play, etc from the lock screen and B) a camera button has been included - so now you can press and hold to straight from Lock to camera. As a dad who likes to grab various pictures of events with my kids - the camera button really speeds access
Some of additional changes include Tab improvements for Edge, New Settings icons, enhanced emoji's, battery settings and on an on.
While so far my Lumia 735 has been able to install and run Redstone builds - you can see just like with the PC branch that MS is starting to focus more and more features for "Windows 10" hardware.
For example...
One of the coolest inclusions has to be support for USB Ethernet Adapters for Continuum supported phones. While limited to devices like the 950/950XL via the Microsoft Display Dock - the ability to support a direct Ethernet connection can be great. While not specifically called out there are new USB type C Ethernet adapters from folks like Belkin that may be supported.
While not as slick as HPs approach with the Elite X3 and Desk Dock with a built in Ethernet connection - this new feature is still a nice to have if your going to leverage Continuum to extend your phone to a traditional monitor / keyboard and mouse. I suspect that when MS releases their new line of phones - we'll see a new dock that is very similar to HPs.
It's very clear that MS has this vision of Mobile where your phone becomes your primary compute device and you simply use Continuum to support larger format displays and/or keyboards, etc only when you need them.
And with partners like HP along with new companies like Nex with their NexDock there is a pretty big bet on Continuum being a feature that will drive customers to Windows Mobile.
I've written about NexDock previously and the phone as primary device model. The question is will this capability be enough to offset the lack of apps that Windows Mobile still suffers from.
I can certainly see some corporate customers having an interest since many buy both a laptop and a phone for remote/traveling employees. So the ability to potentially reduce that asset purchase by half is compelling.
But for this model to really work, MS needs to put more work into Office for Mobile so that folks can really deal with corporate content. In fact you have to argue today that the iOS versions of Office are better than their Windows 10 Mobile counterparts.
Additionally MS needs to figure out a method for allowing Windows 10 Mobile to support enterprise features like Azure Active Directory and accessing corporate file shares.
Bottom line - build 14322 is starting to turn it's focus towards Windows 10 devices. We've already seen a large portion of the current install base stop their support with Build 10586.xxx and I believe that the remaining legacy devices will be have their support stopped once Redstone 1 is delivered. After that all of the new capabilities that will follow will be for "Windows 10" hardware platforms only.
Only one of my Nokia Lumia devices qualifies to get Redstone / Anniversary builds - a Lumia 735. The download and installation both went smoothly.
There is a huge list of bug fixes in 14322. You can look at the official list here https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2016/04/14/announcing-windows-10-mobile-insider-preview-build-14322/
I'll touch on a few of them...
First was a big change and flexibility for both notifications and quick actions. Notifications are now consolidated to not show a source icon next to each and grouped. Notifications are also now expanded and can include photos and can also be prioritized so that the most important ones show first.
Quick actions are now customizable in both what is included and in what order they appear.
Next the Lock screen was enhanced to A) provide Media Controls - so you can do things like pause, play, etc from the lock screen and B) a camera button has been included - so now you can press and hold to straight from Lock to camera. As a dad who likes to grab various pictures of events with my kids - the camera button really speeds access
Some of additional changes include Tab improvements for Edge, New Settings icons, enhanced emoji's, battery settings and on an on.
While so far my Lumia 735 has been able to install and run Redstone builds - you can see just like with the PC branch that MS is starting to focus more and more features for "Windows 10" hardware.
For example...
While not as slick as HPs approach with the Elite X3 and Desk Dock with a built in Ethernet connection - this new feature is still a nice to have if your going to leverage Continuum to extend your phone to a traditional monitor / keyboard and mouse. I suspect that when MS releases their new line of phones - we'll see a new dock that is very similar to HPs.
It's very clear that MS has this vision of Mobile where your phone becomes your primary compute device and you simply use Continuum to support larger format displays and/or keyboards, etc only when you need them.
And with partners like HP along with new companies like Nex with their NexDock there is a pretty big bet on Continuum being a feature that will drive customers to Windows Mobile.
I've written about NexDock previously and the phone as primary device model. The question is will this capability be enough to offset the lack of apps that Windows Mobile still suffers from.
I can certainly see some corporate customers having an interest since many buy both a laptop and a phone for remote/traveling employees. So the ability to potentially reduce that asset purchase by half is compelling.
But for this model to really work, MS needs to put more work into Office for Mobile so that folks can really deal with corporate content. In fact you have to argue today that the iOS versions of Office are better than their Windows 10 Mobile counterparts.
Additionally MS needs to figure out a method for allowing Windows 10 Mobile to support enterprise features like Azure Active Directory and accessing corporate file shares.
Bottom line - build 14322 is starting to turn it's focus towards Windows 10 devices. We've already seen a large portion of the current install base stop their support with Build 10586.xxx and I believe that the remaining legacy devices will be have their support stopped once Redstone 1 is delivered. After that all of the new capabilities that will follow will be for "Windows 10" hardware platforms only.
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