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Windows 10 Preview for Phones Gets Bug-Fix Update

Microsoft on Tuesday released a "minor update" to the latest public build of the Windows 10 technical preview for smartphones.

Build 10052, available now to "fast-ring" Windows Insider members, is aimed at fixing a number of bugs that users have reported experiencing with Build 10051, which was released earlier this month.

"There are no new features in this build, but it should be much more usable day to day with these improvements," wrote Gabe Aul, chief of the Windows Insider program at Microsoft, in a blog post Tuesday announcing the release of build 10052.

Among other bugs, the new build fixes an earlier problem in which the Windows Phone Recovery Tool -- a new feature in the Windows 10 technical preview that lets users roll their devices back to the previous OS version -- did not work on a small number of Lumia phones. Using the Windows Phone Recovery Tool on those devices to roll back to Windows Phone 8.1 resulted in bricked phones, according to users' reports. As a result of the bug, Microsoft temporarily suspended the availability of the Windows 10 technical preview for Lumia 520, 525 and 526 devices last week.

According to Aul, that problem has been resolved with build 10052, and affected users can now resume using the technical preview.

"The issue causing these failures was the way in which the Windows Phone Reset Tool was re-flashing these devices. We've released an update to the Windows Phone Reset Tool that should get those impacted by the issue up and running," he said. "With this issue resolved, we're resuming offering builds today for folks on Lumia 520 devices as well."

Aul's post listed other fixes included in build 10052:

  • "Flight mode can now be enabled.
  • "You can now disable data connections.
  • "We fixed the bug in which your phone’s MMS settings were lost after upgrading from Build 9941.
  • "We fixed the issue in which you couldn't download keyboards for additional languages.
  • "We fixed the issue where the viewfinder in the Camera app gets composed incorrectly on some devices like the Lumia 1020."

The next major build of the Windows 10 technical preview for phones is expected by the end of April. Microsoft said last week that this next build should include the debut of universal Office apps on Windows phones.

About the Author

Gladys Rama (@GladysRama3) is the editor of Redmondmag.com, RCPmag.com and AWSInsider.net, and the editorial director of Converge360.

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