Even though we've had regular Windows 10 Mobile OS releases (whether production or on the various Insider rings), there are some problems that are down at the device driver level and microcode levels - and these require what's usually referred to as 'firmware' updates. These are far less regular, but potentially much more significant, since they affect how you interact with your phone's hardware day to day - think touch, imaging, RF performance. And Microsoft has just announced that a big firmware update for the Lumia 950 and 950 XL flagships is rolling out. So why isn't this momentous news in AAWP's 'left' column? Because the update hasn't hit any of our devices yet, so all we can do is report what Microsoft says - there's nothing to physically test! Rest assured that I'll report back in various ways as appropriate in the coming weeks.

From Microsoft:

We are starting to rollout a new firmware update today for Lumia 950/950 XL: 01078.00053.16236.35xxx. Key improvements in this release include:

• Wi-Fi connectivity improvements, including fixes for Wi-Fi connection dropping randomly and Wi-Fi scan occasionally not returning any results.
• Support for double tap to wake enabled.
• Bluetooth connectivity improvements.
• Stability and reliability improvements.
• Camera improvements, including improved image and video quality, improved Auto-focus and fix for a problem that was causing slow motion capture to skip frames for some users.
• Cellular connectivity improvements, including fix for a problem that caused occasional network loss for some users.
• Audio quality improvements, including fix for a problem that caused voice call audio to get scrambled for some users.

The availability of the update may depend on your phone model, region or network service provider. Starting today, the update should become available for the first batch of phones and the remaining ones are expected to receive the update gradually.

Windows 10 is updating continuously, so make sure you follow all the update notifications that appear on your phone. To check for updates, you can also tap Settings > Update & security > Phone update > Check for updates.

Whoa - there are some major improvements there, at least potentially. Wi-fi issues have plagued some people, so these fixes are great to see. Double tap to wake (DTTW) has been much requested, especially as it was present in many older 8.1 Lumias. Plus you can bet your life that I'll be doing back to back testing of the camera and video improvements - if there's anything that's visually noticeable then I'll follow up with an article in the usual way.

With the Lumia 950 and 950 XL now at much lower prices and with all the OS, app and (now) firmware updates, the phones are almost different beasts than they were at launch seven months ago.