Here are the known issues in the new Windows 10 for phones 10051 build

The new Windows 10 for phones 10051 build is being launched today, but not without some known issues. Microsoft provided a list of the problems users might experience when they download and install the build.

The list of issues include problems with apps crashing with phones that have just 512MB of RAM, no text messaging read out over Bluetooth and more. Here's the full list:

• There might be situations in which auto-upload of your Camera Roll to OneDrive may not be working. Please be sure to back up your photos especially if you need to use the Windows Phone Recovery Tool to go back to Windows Phone 8.1.
• The Office Hub has been removed from this build. You won't be able to open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote files in this build. Preview versions of the Universal Office apps will be available in the coming weeks.
• We are redoing how text messages are handled and processed by Cortana so in this build text messages cannot be read out over Bluetooth.
• After upgrade, some apps that have been installed onto a SD memory card will fail to launch. To fix this, uninstall and reinstall the apps.
• About 1% of the time, incoming phone calls may not play a ringing sound.
• Call + SMS filtering will not work after upgrade.
• For people upgrading their phone from Build 9941, there is a bug in which your phone's MMS settings will be lost after upgrade. The new Messaging app doesn't yet have the ability to re-enter these settings. You will need to use the Windows Phone Recovery Tool to go back to Windows Phone 8.1 and then upgrade to this build to get MMS working again.
• Also for people upgrading their phone from Build 9941, the tiles on your Start screen for the Camera and Photos apps may be missing or corrupt. You will have to unpin any corrupt tiles and re-pin the apps to your Start screen.
• On some phones, due to a scaling bug the dismiss button won't be visible when an alarm is triggered. To stop your phone from "alarming "just touch the arrow and swipe up on the notification and off the screen to end the alarm.
• On phones with 512MB of memory, apps can randomly crash due to an issue with memory management.
• Flight mode cannot be enabled.
• Data connections can't be disabled.
• You may need to re-pin the Phone app after upgrade.
• The Insider Hub is now included on Phone but may fail to launch on some phones.

Microsoft says the Windows 10 team is working to fix all of these issues for future builds.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central

More details revealed about Windows 10 for phones preview of Project Spartan browser

The new Windows 10 for phones 10051 preview build includes the first version of Microsoft's "Project Spartan" web browser for smartphones. The company has offered more details on this early public version, including word that they are still taking feedback for possible changes down the road.

The phone version of Project Spartan uses the same new rendering engine that is being used for the PC version of the browser. While this Windows 10 for phone preview still has the olderInternet Explorer 11 browser installed as the default, future versions will have Project Spartan as the only web browser for smartphones.

This build also has early versions of the mobile reading view and reading list features that will be included in Project Spartan. Microsoft added:

"You'll find that this build has our new design for our Windows phone version, with the address bar on top, and a small actions bar at the bottom (a bug in this build means that the actions menu is larger than its intended to be). We've heard your early feedback about the position of the address bar, and we are looking closely at the design. We encourage you to try out, see what you think, and continue to share your feedback with us."

So for those of you who like having the address bar on the bottom of the browser, as IE11 has for Windows Phone 8.1, it sounds like Microsoft could also change the bar's position for Project Spartan if they get enough feedback to support that feature.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central

Here is what is new in Windows 10 Technical Preview 10051 for Phones

Microsoft has now published the changelog of all the big new features and improvements in today's update for the Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones.

Windows 10 for phone Build 10051 contains numerous new improvements. Below we are highlighting the main changes.

• Project Spartan: An early version of Project Spartan is available in this flight. It uses our new rendering engine to give greater interoperability with the modern mobile web, and includes early versions of Reading View and Reading List. For now, Project Spartan is not the default browser, and exists side-by-side with IE11. You can find it in the All Apps list and pin it to your Start Screen from there. Please send feedback on sites and design. For more details on Project Spartan on the phone – see this blog post. Be sure to also check out this blog post from Joe.

Nokia reportedly discussing the possible sale of its HERE maps division

A new story says that Nokia is reportedly "exploring" the idea of selling off its HERE maps division. The company may decide to ditch the maps business in part to concentrate its time on its wireless network division. HERE Maps is already getting some interest from other companies and private-equity firms, according to Bloomberg's unnamed sources.

It adds:

The Finnish company, which is working with a financial adviser, may decide against a sale if it can't get a price it deems sufficient, the people said. HERE reported full-year sales of 970 million euros and an operating loss of 1.24 billion euros, including a goodwill impairment of 1.21 billion euros, according to the annual report. In January, Nokia projected rising sales for its maps and patents divisions for 2015.

Nokia launched HERE Maps for Windows Phone devices in February 2013, followed a year later byan app for Windows 8.1 devices.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central

Thinking of installing the Windows 10 preview on your phone? Read this first

The latest build of the Windows 10 preview for phones will open up the list of supported devices massively, and as such there's a lot more Windows Phone users that might be thinking about installing it.

Whether you're wondering if you should, how you go about it or even just want to know a little more on what we've seen so far, we've got you covered with everything you need.

Check out the links below for everything you need to know so far on the Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones.

• Should you install the Windows 10 Technical Preview on your phone?
• How to download and install the Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones
• Windows 10 for phones video walkthrough
• Windows 10 for phones - everything you need to know
• List of supported phones for Windows 10 preview
• News Courtesy : Windows Central

Next Windows 10 for phones build will expand to a massive number of devices

In a new blog post from Microsoft this evening, the company says the next build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones will hit a lot more devices.

In addition to a massively expanded list of supported devices, the blog post notes that Microsoft is looking to increase the frequency at which Windows 10 builds will be released for phones.

The increase in frequency for Windows 10 releases for phones follows a similar path that Microsoft recently laid out for desktop builds. On the topic of the rollout to more phones, the blog post reiterates that the previous limited rollout was due to a partition size issue:

"As I wrote in the accompanying blog post, the reason for this is that we had to select from the set of phones that had sufficient system partition sizes configured by the manufacturer. This was necessary for us to be able to in-place upgrade the phones. I also talked about a feature we were working on called "partition stitching" that would allow us to re-size the system partition dynamically, allowing us to do the upgrade on a larger set of phones."

And Microsoft isn't joking about that larger number of phones. Without further ado, here's the full list of phones that are expected to be eligible for the next build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones:

• Lumia 1020
• Lumia 1320
• Lumia 1520
• Lumia 520
• Lumia 525
• Lumia 526
• Lumia 530
• Lumia 530 Dual Sim
• Lumia 535
• Lumia 620
• Lumia 625
• Lumia 630
• Lumia 630 Dual Sim
• Lumia 635
• Lumia 636
• Lumia 638
• Lumia 720
• Lumia 730
• Lumia 730 Dual SIM
• Lumia 735
• Lumia 810
• Lumia 820
• Lumia 822
• Lumia 830
• Lumia 920
• Lumia 925
• Lumia 928
• Lumia ICON
• Microsoft Lumia 430
• Microsoft Lumia 435
• Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM
• Microsoft Lumia 435 Dual SIM DTV
• Microsoft Lumia 532
• Microsoft Lumia 532 Dual SIM
• Microsoft Lumia 640 Dual SIM
• Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM

The blog post doesn't detail when the build will be available, but it does note that Microsoft likely has at least one more week of testing to go. In any event, this is great news for those that have been patiently awaiting another build, let alone the massive increase in supported devices.

Update: For those wondering why the Lumia 930 is not yet on the list, there is a bug causing the "wrong scaling factor is applied to UX, causing everything to be teeeeeeny tiny" according Microsoft's Gabriel Aul. The bug may be fixed by the time the next release is out, but for now, that is why it is missing.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central

More Lumia Denim updates reported in Australia, the Philippines and more

Microsoft continues to roll out the Lumia Denim over-the-air update worldwide. We have received reports from a number of Windows Central readers that Denim has made its way to more Lumia smartphones in Australia, the Philippines and other countries.

Specifically, we have received many tips in the past couple of days from the Philippines that theirLumia 1520 smartphones can now download Denim. The Lumia 1320 on Vodafone in Australia is also apparently getting the same update, as is the Lumia 830 RM-985 in parts of Latin America.

However, Microsoft's Windows Phone software update support page does not list these phones as receiving the Denim update yet. Based on the number of tips we have received from our readers, it's more than possible that Microsoft simply has not updated the page to reflect the over-the-air download.

We will continue to keep an eye out on Denim's continued rollout, especially in the US and Canada, where only a handful of Lumia smartphones have received the update.

Do you need some assistance in getting your Windows Phone OS updated? If so, we got you covered with our how-to article on that very subject.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central