Microsoft Sends First Windows 10 Mobile Redstone Build To Insiders

Microsoft is showing some love to its Windows 10 Mobile operating system as we close out the week, and it comes in the form of a new Development Branch.  Soon after releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14267 for PCs, Microsoft has sent the same build number for Windows 10 Mobile to testers.

So what exactly does this mean? Well, it’s the first Redstone release to grace Windows 10 Mobile — for those keeping score, Redstone is the next major update to the Windows 10 platform. Besides moving Windows Insiders over to a new Development Branch with Build 14267, Microsoft has also made a few changes to the how updates will be distributed to testers.

First, from this point forward, Windows Insiders that have Lumia 550, Lumia 650, Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL and Xiaomi Mi4 smartphones will be the first to receive the latest builds of Windows 10 Mobile. Secondly, Microsoft’s Gabe Aul reiterated that it will provide Windows Insiders on the Fast ring with more frequent builds that “may include more bugs and other issues that could be slightly more painful to live with.”

With that out of the way, what new things will Windows Insiders see in Build 14267? Microsoft has made some updates to the Cortana personal digital assistant that makes music discovery easier, and has made change sto allow Word Flow to work in the the Edge address bar. The folks in Redmond have also made is easier to open InPrivate tabs from within Edge.

“We’ve moved the button to create a new InPrivate tab to appear right next to the new tab button,” explains Aul. “The next time you need a private tab in Microsoft Edge, you’ll find it right in your tabs view. Try it out on your phone and let us know what you think.”

Other improvements that you’ll notice in this build include vastly improved download prompts within Edge, and Message + Skype enhancements, like the ability to attach photos within the Skype app while in the composer view.

Microsoft only lists one known issue with this build of Windows 10 Mobile, which relates to Visual Voicemail notifications. However, some Lumia 550 owners are experiencing a pretty devastating side effect as a result of the update — namely, they can no longer charge their device. Considering that a hard reset fails if your power meter drops below 50 percent, Lumia 550 testers are understandably frustrated by this bug.

@B3KGRY By "not charging" do you mean: no charger icon? doesn't charge even if plugged in for a long time? or draining as fast as charge?

— Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) February 20, 2016

Users are experiencing the problem whether the Lumia 550 is plugged into a wall or via a PC USB port. Luckily, Aul has been made well aware of the issue and is on the case, so expect to see another Fast ring update soon to address the problem.