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Newest Windows 10 Mobile Test Build Includes 2,000 Fixes

After a month-long wait, Microsoft has released a new build of the Windows 10 Mobile technical preview.

Build 10512 became available on Wednesday to Windows Insider testers on the "fast ring," announced Gabe Aul, head of the Windows Insider program and vice president of engineering in Microsoft's Windows and Devices Group, in a blog post.

This new build comes over one month after the last Windows 10 Mobile test build (build 10166) was released. Aul acknowledged the gap in releases in his post, but said that future Windows 10 Mobile test builds should arrive more frequently.

"Thanks for your patience waiting for this one, the team was very focused on our Windows 10 release for PCs and tablets, and we needed to do some prep work for Mobile to move to a new branch. I expect the builds to be out more frequently again as we go forward from here," he wrote.

Build 10512 mostly delivers "improvements to core quality," Aul said, and does not include any major new feature updates. He listed several bug fixes included in build 10512, although he said in a separate Tweet that the complete list of fixes is much longer:

The new build comes with its own set of issues, however. For instance, the mobile hotspot capability does not work, nor does two-factor authentication using a phone number for Microsoft Store accounts.

For the most part, future Windows 10 Mobile test builds will likely be much like this one -- focused on feature refinements and bug fixes, rather than major changes. In an interview with The Verge published in late July, Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Operating Systems Group, was quoted as saying, "The phone is significantly feature complete, but we'll continue to polish and tweak and iterate the things that still need to work."

He added, "We'll put features in right up near the end. But in general, the broad feature set is set."

Microsoft is expected to release Windows 10 Mobile later this fall. A Microsoft South Africa executive was quoted by iafrica.com in an interview as saying that Windows 10 Mobile will launch in the "November timeframe."

About the Author

Gladys Rama (@GladysRama3) is the editorial director of Converge360.

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