Windows 10 Mobile - Build 14356 - Fixes, Fixes, Fixes

Late in the day on June 1, MS released Windows 10 Mobile Build 14356 to Fast Ring Insiders.

 I was relieved to see this build released.  In an earlier post I had called out the previous 14432.xxxx build numbering and the release of the .1000, .1003 and .1004 versions over a 5 day period as the potential that Windows 10 Mobile had shifted Windows 10 Mobile Redstone into "support" mode since it was the same approach taken with the 10586 builds back in November and that 14432 was where Redstone for Mobile was going to stop. 

 I really didn't understand why MS took that approach and then didn't release a 14532 build when the PC version was released.  To be honest I was concerned that based on the recent announcement with discontinuation of the Lumia line and brand along with the release of Lumia resources that MS was going to pause or potentially even halt further development. 

 14356 contains a couple of new Cortana features, but is primarily focused on nearly 30 fixes that range from battery drain issues, to Start Menu, SD storage, and so forth.  In addition some 10 apps updated via the Store post Update including Feedback Hub, Camera, People and well as the 4 main MSN apps - News, Money, Weather and Sports.  So as with the PC edition, builds now will focus on fixes and stability running up to branch completion in July.

 I updated my Lumia 735 and the update downloaded and installed smoothly, a great improvement over the 14432 mess.  

 I initially ran into some Store issues post install - but a reboot cleared the problem.  

 There are still a few apps having issues - for example, FitBit still does recognize a tracker and cannot sync correctly and Yammer does not properly initiate when MS MFA is enabled.  I still believe these issues are app specific simply because the apps have not yet been updated for Windows 10 Mobile or have been converted to UWP apps.

 I am also not 100% that 14536 has addressed all of the battery drain issues since I noticed that I drained almost 40% of battery is just 3 hours.  Now those hours were pretty active, but not excessively so.  

 It is interesting to experience the difference now between the Redstone and Threshold branches of Windows 10 mobile.  I recently updated 2 Lumia 635s to 10586.338 and when navigating around the two versions it becomes apparent very quickly how much has changed with Redstone.  It is certainly a better overall experience than 10586 and it is a shame than so many older devices will never see it.

 I am still of the belief that once the Redstone 1 branch completes in July that there will be an additional fragmentation as many of the current portfolio of legacy devices won't be supported going forward.  

 Bottom line is that yea - an updated build was released and it contains a number of fixes.  And while the experience of Windows 10 mobile has improved with Redstone - it will not save Windows 10 mobile.  



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