Microsoft slams Siri again in two new Cortana-themed Valentine's Day videos

After taking a few months off, Microsoft is going after Apple's Siri digital assistant once again with two new videos posted on its Lumia YouTube channel. Both of them have a Valentine's Day theme and show people who have "broken up" with Siri in favor of their new love, Microsoft's Cortana.

One clip shows a man and other focuses on a woman, but both have the same story thread. They are unhappy with Siri's features but prefer Cortana's way of reminding them of events, keeping track of their schedules and even like Cortana's way of entertaining them with songs and jokes.

The new videos also promote the Lumia 635, which can not only be bought for less than $50 at the moment, but can also run the current Windows 10 phone preview.

Windows Central

The impressive Calculator in Windows 10 for phones will convert all the things

One of the less glamorous, yet still essential, new apps in the Windows 10 Preview for phones is the Calculator. It's one of those apps we just assume will be there when we need it, but with Windows 10 it's becoming immensely more useful. Gone is the simplistic Calculator of old from Windows Phone 8.1, and in comes a new, feature packed version with scientific calculators and conversions galore.

A closer look at the keyboard on Windows 10 Preview for phones

We've been busy playing with Windows 10 preview for phone in the past few hours. Only a few devices are currently supported, so many eager fans still have to wait. One of the new things in the preview that I wanted to check out was the keyboard. It includes a precision pointing stick, voice dictation, and a new shortcut to emoticons. Want to see the new keyboard in action? Watch our hands-on video.

The virtual stick seems to only appear in some apps. For example, it is not available when I use the Twitter app. It takes time to get used to and I'm still not sure if it makes things easier. You'll mostly need it to replace letters in the middle of some words. Tap and hold the nub and then drag it towards up, down, left, or right.

Another new feature is the microphone icon on top of the keyboard. It lets you do voice dictation. Your words show up as you speak them and punctuation appears automatically. It works really well as you can see in the video.

What's also different is the number button. When you tap and hold the number button, a shortcut to emoticons appears. Nothing happens on the Windows Phone 8.1 keyboard when you tap and hold this button, but you can swipe from the number button to quickly enter numbers or symbols. It's one of my 7 keyboard tips that will make you type faster on Windows Phone, but it seems this shortcut could go missing on Windows 10 for phones. I was going to send my suggestion in the Windows Feedback app, but it looks like someone already beat me to it. Feel free to do the same if you agree

Image, Video & News Courtesy Windows Central

Here's how to go back to Windows Phone 8.1 after checking out the Windows 10 phone preview

If you decide to take the dive and install today's Windows 10 phone preview, chances are you'll encounter some bugs along the way. If things get a little too hairy for you, Microsoft has a nifty recovery tool available that will roll your device back to Windows Phone 8.1.

Should you need it, you can grab the Windows Phone Recovery Tool from the source link below. The toolwill erase your device when rolling back, but it will also offer you the option of restoring from a back-up while setting the phone up again.

If you're mulling over installing the preview and find yourself waffling back and forth, be sure to check out some tips and things to consider before installing.

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central Microsoft

How to install Windows 10 Preview to your Lumia Windows Phone

Microsoft today released the Windows 10 Preview for a subset of Lumia Windows Phones. Many questions abound about the update, as some phones are getting it, and others are not. Our AT&T Lumia 830, fresh out of the box with build 14157 of the Windows Phone 8.1.1 OS is getting the update while our Lumia 830 (UK, with Developer Preview) is not.

Here is how to try and get the update for your Windows Phone, assuming your phone meets the requirements.

This is why higher-end Lumia phones can't currently run the Windows 10 Preview

Microsoft's Gabriel Aul has offered a technical explanation on why the just launched Windows 10 for phones preview cannot currently be used on higher-end Lumia smartphones, such as the Lumia 930, theLumia Icon and the Lumia 1520.

At the moment, only six low-to-mid end Lumia smartphones can run the first public preview of Windows 10 for phones. Aul stated:

"The majority of Lumia phones, from our most advanced to the most affordable, can be upgraded to Windows 10. That said, for this technical preview, we need to start with a small subset of devices in order to isolate OS issues from hardware or board support package issues so we can stabilize the platform. This is a normal part of the engineering process, but you would not have seen it in the past because we haven't done a public preview before—so those builds were Microsoft only. (In the first 4-6 months of development, our team would typically focus on only one specific device—then we'd broaden.)"

But why can't the smartphones with higher end hardware specs run Windows 10 for phones right now? Aul says:

"We have a feature that will be coming soon called "partition stitching" which will allow us to adjust the OS partition dynamically to create room for the install process to be able to update the OS in-place. Until this comes in, we needed devices which were configured by mobile operators with sufficiently sized OS partitions to allow the in-place upgrade, and many of the bigger phones have very tight OS partitions. Note that this doesn't mean that Windows 10 will take more disk space than Windows Phone 8.1, it's just a function of the upgrade process at this point. Once the partition stitching feature is completed, many more devices will be supported."

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central 

Get a first look at Windows 10 for Phones with Microsoft's Joe Belfiore

While you're waiting on downloading the Windows 10 Technical Preview to your phone, or waiting to see what others say, how about this. Microsoft's Joe Belfiore has released a much anticipated first look video of how it all looks for us to enjoy.

We'll be back with more as and when we've got our own installs complete. But for now, enjoy the video and sound off in the comments below with anything you particularly like!

Image & News Courtesy Windows Central