The Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14951 has just been thrown in the Fast ring, and it is ready to rumble with key updates and fixes for both desktop and Windows mobile devices.
The new Insider Preview build, which was made available to testers last Oct. 19, has so far attracted attention for its camera app tweaks, particularly the so-called living images. Observers note that this could possibly be Microsoft's answer to the iPhone Live Photos.
"With living images, extend your still captures with a snippet of video," Dona Sarkar, head of the Windows Insider program, said in an official statement. "These are created automatically whenever your shots feature motion — just navigate to Settings and turn on Capture living images."
Living images seems to be exclusive to Surface Book, Surface Pro 4, Surface Pro 3 and Surface 3.
Microsoft has also included several important camera features such as the ability to tinker with the camera setting within the app itself. It also underwent UI changes as demonstrated by higher contrast for the new capture button and by the way users can use the spacebar to capture images on desktop computers. Overall, the improvements have been geared toward simplifying the camera interface and making the app's operation faster.
The camera improvements are also complemented by updates to the Photos app. This mainly involves its Windows Ink support through the dedicated Draw button. Here, a user can add scribbles, drawings and annotations to captured images. What is even cooler is that the process can be captured as a video. The Windows Ink drawing app, for its part, got a new Stencils feature, which introduces a protractor tool that functions as a protractor and a compass rolled into one.
The release of the Windows 10 Preview build is primarily aimed to test new features and gauge testers' response. Those that are not received well are either eliminated or improved. Bugs and problems are also promptly fixed. Features that earned positive response are retained and often refined further. This can be illustrated in the way advanced customization for precision touchpad gestures was launched in the previous build. This feature seems to have pleased testers, so Microsoft built upon it further by adding the ability to tie touchpad gestures to keyboard shortcuts.
The Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14951 is expected to precede a major update, which Microsoft is rumored to discuss during a Windows event on Oct. 26. The update itself is believed to rollout by March next year.
