After finally serving up mainstream Windows 10 Mobile customers with the long-awaited Anniversary Update on Tuesday, Microsoft is now dishing out a new preview build to Windows Insider participants for both desktop and mobile platforms. Listed as Build 14905, this release of Windows 10 provides absolutely nothing new in the features department for desktop participants outside a short list of fixes and improvements. The new build for Windows 10 Mobile, however, is a different story.
The lovely Windows Insider program boss Dona Sarkar said on Wednesday that Build 14905 for Windows 10 Mobile features a “newly refined sound set,” meaning the team is pushing for a higher quality sound library on Windows 10 mobile devices that’s “more beautiful and harmonious” than previous builds. This upgrade will bring Windows 10 Mobile in tune with the sound library provided on PCs and tablets for a more familiar experience on phones. These new sound effects can be sampled under Settings > Personalization > Sounds.
The new build for Windows 10 Mobile also provides a short list of fixes and improvements. For starters, the team resolved an issue that prevented music from resuming once a call had ended. Strangely enough, this issue also included the Maps app providing audible turn-by-turn directions during music playback. Honestly, playing music, focusing on turn-by-turn instructions, and talking on the phone at the same time would be rather distracting while on the road.
As for other fixed issues, the new build resolves a problem related to videos not halting in Windows Phone 8 apps when a call is received. A bug causing the Lock Screen clock to not update after a time zone change was squashed along with a “Show my caller ID” problem that caused contacts to see the user as a blocked caller ID. Missed call notifications are now more actionable, too, Sarkar said.
On the PC front, Build 14905 brings support for the CTRL + O keyboard shortcut to Microsoft Edge, which places a focus on the address bar. The built-in browser also had an issue stemming from opening a new tab, which generated a large blank space between the address bar and web content once the address bar moved back to the top.
Outside the improvements to Microsoft Edge, the latest build fixes a problem with Sketchpad and Screen Sketch that crashed both apps when the ruler was visible and the user tried to change ink color twice in a row. Narrator Scan mode for table navigation now supports keyboard shortcuts for moving to the beginning or the end of a table.
As previously reported, Windows Insiders won’t see anything new in preview builds for a while given that the team is fine-tuning OneCore, the foundation (or heart) of Windows 10 that’s used across multiple form factors, including PC and mobile. Because of this work, Insiders may see additional bugs and other annoying issues instead of new features. Participants worried that the Fast Ring could cause instability problems during Microsoft’s structural improvements are suggests to migrate over to the Slow or Release Preview rings for now.
Finally, in addition to releasing Build 14905, Sarkar also revealed the winner of the Windows Insider program T-shirt design contest. The winning design was submitted by U.S-based E. Bautista, which will be used on T-shirts sold by Microsoft via its online store. Nope, no free T-shirts for Insiders.
