Windows 10 Mobile 'Fast' Insiders get huge OS update: Redstone build 14322

Published by at

Another week/fortnight, another big new build of Windows 10 on the Redstone (14322) branch, this is available for any Windows 10 Mobile Insiders, including those using any of the Windows 10-compatible hardware models. Details below, there's lots that's new in the UI *and* under the hood - plus analysis over the coming weeks in editorial features, no doubt!

The new build available now is 14322.xxx, here's the gen from the Microsoft announcement (and apologies for the longish quote):

Improvements to Action Center & Notifications

Visual changes to Action Center: Individual app notifications in Action Center no longer show the app icon repeated for each notification and will only be seen in the header that groups together all the notifications specific for that app. This change allows for more space in Action Center to show more content.

Visual changes to Notifications: We’re making Action Center richer with support for notifications with more flexible layouts similar to the richness of Live Tiles. Notifications with images will now display larger than they did previously. Notifications can have “hero image” for content that is an even bigger image size to make content in notifications pop even more.

Cortana notifications in Action Center: We have also added new insights from Cortana to ensure you are not missing anything important, such as a meeting conflict or anything she needs to remind you about.

Notification prioritization in Action Center: You can manage the notification settings for individual apps by going to Settings > System > Notifications & actions and prioritize which app notifications are more important to you. You can prioritize its notifications to be in one of 3 levels: Normal, High, or Top. You can also adjust how many notifications are visible per app. The default is now 3 per app. If an app has more than 3 notifications, just click or tap to expand and see all notifications for that app. This feature is also available on PC starting with Build 14316.

Customize your Quick Actions in Action CenterYou can add, remove and re-arrange the Quick Actions that show up in Action Center. To customize your Quick Actions, just go to the Settings > System > Notifications & actions. In this settings page, you will see a replica of your Quick Actions as it appears in Action Center, and with a simple press and hold you can move the Quick Actions to the place where you want them to be. Then to add or remove a Quick Action, there is a link below the grid that will allow you to turn on or off the available Quick Actions.

Cortana Improvements

More ways to create Cortana RemindersWe are making it easier and quicker to set a reminder in Cortana with 2 new exciting ways to create reminders. You can now create a Photo Reminder by taking a picture of something you want to be reminded about, like that beer you just tried and want to pick up next time you’re at the store. You can also now set reminders on content from UWP apps that utilize the share contract in Windows, like Microsoft Edge and the News app, so you don’t forget to read that article your friend sent you. You can share an article from the News app to Cortana and have her remind you to read it at a later time. This even works with photos from your collection in the Photos app! Give it a try.

Updates to the Settings app

Icons for individual settings pages: All pages in the Settings app now have individual icons associated with them. These individual icons will also be shown when you pin a settings page to Start. And we have also added a dropdown flyout with page suggestions that will appear as you type into the Settings search box. These changes are designed to make it easier to find the settings you are looking for.

Navigation bar settings page and vibration setting: We created a page for the navigation bar at Settings > Personalization > Navigation bar. You can now use this page to configure preferences for vibration and double tap the navigation bar to turn off the screen.

Glance screen settings have moved: As part of our work to make settings more discoverable and user friendly, we’ve simplified the Glance settings options and moved the page out of the Extras section in the Settings app. These settings can now be found via Settings > Personalization > Glance screen. With this change, Glance settings no longer need to be downloaded or updated from the Store.

Updated Battery Settings and Battery Saving ExperienceJust like what was seen in last week’s PC build, there is now a single entry point for all battery related settings in the Settings app – including Battery Saver. This also includes the updated the Detailed Battery Use page so you can now manage the per-app background settings inline without going to a second page. You can also adjust the percentage in which Battery Saver turns on (which is at 20% by default) – something we had with Windows Phone 8.1 that Insiders wanted to see us re-implement as we merged Battery Sense into the Settings app for both PC and mobile.

Updated Windows Update SettingsYou can now also set the time in which you are most active on your phone just like on your PC by adjusting active hours under Settings > Update & security > Windows Update. Windows Update will avoid automatically installing updates during your active hours on your device.

Updated emoji

This build brings our new emoji to your phone. As part of this work, the emoji section of the keyboard has been slightly reorganized to better align with the newly available emoji. It’s now arranged as follows: Favorites, Smileys and Animals, People, Celebrations and Objects, Food and Plants, Transportation and Places, Symbols, and ASCII emoticons.

Microsoft Edge Improvements:

Better copy/paste: We’ve made a couple of improvements to copy and paste on the phone. When you are typing into an edit box on a web page, you will now be able to use the paste button above the keyboard. Also, if you select text on a web page the copy button will appear immediately near the selection.

Better tab behavior: Microsoft Edge keeps your tabs under control when you use it with apps on your phone. If you tap on a link in an app that opens a new tab in Microsoft Edge, pressing the back button when you’re done will close that tab, then take you back to the app. Your tabs list stays lean and relevant, by smartly closing tabs you’re done with.

USB Ethernet Support with Continuum (Mobile)

Continuum-capable phones now include support for most USB Ethernet adapters. If you connect a USB Ethernet adapter your Lumia 950 or Lumia 950 XL via the Microsoft Display Dock for example – you will have network connectivity through an attached Ethernet cable. A few notes on this feature:

  • You may see an error message the first time you connect. There is nothing wrong with your adapter, and the message will be eliminated in a future update.
  • Not all adapters are supported yet – more will be added in a future update.
  • In this update, you will not see a visual indicator that you are connected, so if you want to double-check that it’s working you can turn off Wi-Fi and cellular data.
  • Windows 10 Mobile supports proxy configuration for Wi-Fi and VPN connections. Proxy support for LAN connections will be available in a future update.

Improved experience while on Lock screen

Camera button on the Lock screenWhen your phone is locked, the back button on the navigation bar is now replaced with a camera button. Press and hold this button to launch the Camera app from the Lock screen.

Media controls show on top of the Lock screenWe’ve heard a lot of feedback on this so we’re really excited to get this out to Insiders. While you are listening to music, you will now be able to control the music you are listening to right from the Lock screen! If you turn on your phone’s screen, the media controls will now be shown embedded right on top of the Lock screen.

Known issues for Mobile

  • Language and speech packs are unable to be downloaded and will show errors due to a backend issue.
  • We’re investigating a crash with the Camera app when going into your camera roll.
  • There is an issue in which you may see duplicate apps under All apps showing as pending despite being installed and usable on your phone. You may also see some apps stuck in the Store.
  • You may see square boxes in certain apps when using some of the new emoji – we’re still getting support for the new emoji added throughout the systems, this will be resolved in a future build.
  • In some cases, users might get in a state where neither space or enter are working on the keyboard. If that happens, pressing and holding one of the apps in the All apps list until a context menu appears may resolve the issue. If this doesn’t work, you will need to reboot.

Our editorial devices on Redstone are all updating happily.

Initial comments from me:

  • Faster, smoother all round
  • Applications are indeed stuck in the Store and on the Apps screen (see bold text above)
  • Some important third party apps crash on opening (this could be a showstopper for some - see the comment thread below)
  • Glance now shows the lockscreen picture (e.g. Bing) - woohoo! Looks REALLY impressive, it's still a league ahead of where Samsung, LG and others have got to with Glance IMHO.
  • Fonts used aren't always scaled perfectly on my Lumia 950 XL. Some fiddling in Settings/System/Display might be needed
  • Netflix now works properly without the movies stopping when I adjust the volume - phew!

Customizing Quick Actions Medis controls on Lock screen

Two of the major new features demoed in animation form: rearranging and disabling Action Center toggles and shortcuts - and the new lockscreen functionality, as detailed above.

There are some biggies in the list above, for me at any rate. Media controls placed directly on the lockscreen is huge - and mimics what happens on Android (though the Redstone implementation comes and goes - it's early days!) Plus I'll be customising the heck out of my Action Center, since I don't use several of the standard tiles. The Edge tab issues I've had when opening pages from other apps will hopefully be a thing of the past, as will camera flash-to-black when starting the app up.

By the way, notice the wording in the opening paragraph. As per all my recent charts and comments, Redstone builds are NOT available for the non-Win-10-approved phones (e.g. Lumia 920). no matter how many times you install the 'Windows Insider' utility and enthusiastically tap the 'Fast ring' entry.... The highest version of Windows 10, even unsupported, for older handsets is 'Threshold' (the 10586.xxx branch).

PS. Also announced was: "We will soon be enabling a preview of the “Messaging everywhere” feature in Windows 10 that allows you to send and receive text messages from your phone directly from your Windows 10 PC’s. You will see options for this feature in the Messaging app on PC but not on Mobile. A newer Mobile build is required for this experience to fully light up. More to come on this when the experience is live."  So I'll report back on this in the future as and when.

Source / Credit: Microsoft