Microsoft has just rolled out the next build of Windows 10 Technical Preview, featuring the much awaited Cortana and few other features. The Digital Assistant from Microsoft, previously available on Windows Phones has found its way into Windows 10.
The ISO Image of Windows 10 Technical Preview Build 9926 can be downloaded here, and you may follow the Installation steps alone from here (from Step 2).
12 Awesome features from Previous Build of Windows 10 Technical Preview are also probably included in this build, it is recommended you take a look at those feature too.
What’s new in this Build?
Cortana is now on PC
Cortana is a digital assistant from Microsoft and it’s rivals are Google Now from Google and Siri from Apple. The digital assistant is expected to interact with your Windows Phone. I guess I should put my headphone on and start speaking to cortana. Speaking to set reminders or ask about weather, sports, finance and other content from Bing.
“Ok Google”…. what?….. sorry its “Hey Cortana”
Just head on to Cortana settings and enable “Hand Free” , now say “Hey Cortana“and start asking for weather, news and whatever you want.
Continuum
Continuum is a feature that helps you switch smoothly between a PC like Keyboard mode and tablet like touch mode. Attach a keyboard to your tablet, the UI shifts to desktop version keyboard mode with a start menu, and detaching the keyboard will transform the UI to tablet touch mode with start screen and full screen apps. Well, this is awesome isn’t it?
New Start Menu
Well, as we already seen in the previous build, the start menu is changed, maybe we can call it as a mixture of Windows 7 Start Menu and Windows 8 Start Screen. Expect more personalization like transparency, drag and drop, Jump Lists, and the ability to resize the Start menu in the future builds.
New Settings App
I personally hated the Settings app on Windows 8 and 8.1, that seemed weird and unnecessarily minimalistic. And here in Windows 10’s latest build, there comes a news settings app. It’s icon-based and the categories are re-organized. You can also use search within the app to find the setting you want. Search will even find Control Panel pages that aren’t in the Settings app. Well that sounds good.
New Photos App and Maps App
The Photos and Maps are new. The Photos app will show your locally stored photos as well as those from OneDrive. The Photos can be edited and the ability to create album is not yet enable, it may be available in the future builds.
New Windows Store Beta
What? there are two Store apps here?
In this build, there should be two Windows Store Apps. The New Windows Store Beta app is a “grey” tile in the Start menu and the current Windows Store app remains available in the build as a “green” tile.
The New Windows Store Beta App includes a new visual design which will be common across PCs, tablets, phones and the web.
Connecting to wireless audio and video
Clicking on the “Connect” button in the new Action Center, or use the Windows + P keyboard shortcut from anywhere and connect to your audio and video devices that support technologies like Bluetooth am Miracast.
New Xbox App
The Xbox app is new and you can expect a lot more detail about the games you and your friends are playing. The Insider video shows you can stream your xbox game to you pc, but the availability of this feature on this build has to be confirmed yet.
Pick Default Folder when opening File Explorer
Now in this build we can pick a default folder when we click on File Explorer.
What’s on the way
Spartan Browser
We were expecting Microsoft’s Spartan browser to debut in this build, but it is scheduled for upcoming releases. The Spartan browser is the replacement for Modern Metro Styled Internet explorer that shipped with Windows 8 and 8.1, lets wait and watch if Spartan can compete with Chrome or Firefox.
OneDrive-Based Music Locker
According to sources, the OneDrive based music is something like we can put all our music on OneDrive and store it in the cloud, and when we make changes to the playlist or collection they’re automatically reflected on all our devices. Well that’s kind of cool, we need this.
