So this past friday. Microsoft finally released the technical preview for their new phone operating Windows 10 which will be part of the entire windows 10 ecosystem. Now so far, I will put this bluntly. THIS IS VERY MUCH AN ALPHA BUILD. There are bugs and glitches a plenty in this release but I know a lot of it is being worked on.

WHAT I ENJOYED

-Outlook & Calendar Apps

Now probably the biggest change is the outlook app, which is basically the new mail app. If you remember when Microsoft bought Acompli which created a amazing email app. This team has basically overhauled the email app for windows phone and will become the new standard. I absolutely love this new email app. If you currently have an iphone or an android phone then you can actually download the new beta’s of the outlook app. Being able to just quickly swipe left to read or swipe right to delete just make life way easier.

Also if you remember a while back, Microsoft bought the team behind the sunrise calendar app. And as you can guess this is now the new standard for the outlook calendar apps. Once again, Microsoft made a great purchase and a great addition by overhauling the calendar completely cause if anyone needs a very good calendar app its me.

-The Notification Center Gets Updated

I like the notification in Windows 8.1…but I never loved it, I hated that when I got multiple texts from the same person, it wouldn’t stack them together but would put them them all as separate items but now it actually stacks some of the items together which I highly like. Also something that I very much like, is they have cut down on the size of the notification controls at the top. Now they are smaller and leaves more for the notification center. Also with the addition of the expand option, they give you the full options and not having to go back and forth is a great thing.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

-A Few Questionable Icons

Some of the icons have been more streamlined but being more into graphic design as of late, I couldn’t help but feel that some of the UX design features were very questionable. Like putting in the messenging app, the call button so close to the actual attachment symbol.  Also some of the symbols and icons for the apps especially the new ones appear to be too large or off center.

-Why is everything so small

Another weird thing I have noticed with this new build, is everything appears to be super small. Like the text I had to increase cause it was just so dark and hard to read even for me. You can make the font size bigger via the accessibility options.

-The People Hub…Not Quite There Yet

The Accent color will fill in the background of each individual persons contact card. Now the accent color can be turned off but it is just very…it makes it already tough to read. especially if you have a lighter accent color against the white. I would say keep it light or dark mode like the original set. Also everything is so small still, the font and different in titles and items in the emails, phone and other section categories is just tough to tell the difference.

Overall this is still very much a alpha build. There is a lot missing, such as the office apps, skype integration with the messaging app, a complete photos app. There is still a lot to do, plus also fixing the many crashes, and weird glitches that I have run into. Such as….

Screenshot Grabbing Multiple Times Causes Crashes
Camera App Crashes A lot…
Weird Lag When Scrolling
6 Apps Open causes extreme slowness

These are just a few things that keep happening. But as you can guess all this is already getting relayed to Microsoft and their insider program. Currently I am on a Lumia 920. So this could be a reason for all the slowness but we shall see what happens in the future updates. If you have a secondary phone, you can definitely preview it. BUT DO NOT INSTALL ON YOUR MAIN PHONE. at least not yet. You will have to wait till it is more ready for full public release.

 BECOME AN INSIDER

IF YOU ARE WONDERING WHERE THE SCREENSHOTS ARE. CURRENTLY THE PHONE ISN’T CAPTURING MY SCREENSHOTS SO THOSE WILL COME LATER.