Windows 10 Mobile Insider preview build 10149 released with improvements to Cortana, UX and more

Microsoft has released another Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview build, 10149 on Fast ring recently.

For those who were on build 10080 and did not roll-back to Windows Phone 8.1 (to get build 10136) will be upgraded to the new build straightaway. It carries the same issue noted in build 10136, wherein after upgrading the lock screen appears frozen without date and time for 10 minutes, it shows up eventually, allowing you to unlock the phone.

Like always, in this latest version also Microsoft has added a number of notable changes, such as Microsoft Edge branding. It has an address bar at the bottom of the screen, while the option for viewing websites on mobile as well as desktop has been included.

Upgrading to the new build, there are a lot of UX improvements and refinements. Microsoft has addressed a bug where Live tiles pinned to Start appear blurry. With more refinement made to icons and visuals, this OS has become more responsive now.

The Notebook in Microsoft's personal digital assistant, Cortana, is in the final stage, which bundles Profile and Settings experience. It is now possible to set up Quiet Hours and Notebook and send email with Cortana.

Based on the feedback from Windows Insiders, Microsoft has added a Flashback quick action, allowing users to quickly turn the phone's flash into a flashlight.

The Photo app has received an update (via the Windows Store Beat) that includes general performance and reliability improvements, and new capabilities such as animated GIFs, which works only on phones with 1GB RAM or higher.

Other key elements in this build are the automatic camera upload via OneDrive app and latest updates for apps.

Along with all these refinements, the new build fixes the following bugs:

These have been fixed

• Issue first reported with Build 10051 where Call + SMS filtering would not work after upgrade.

• The issues where the text notifications weren't appearing for incoming messages.

• The "Podcast app wouldn't work" issue.

• The issues relating to the apps having trouble installing or updating via the Store Beta.

• Issue where the navigation bar could not be hidden.

There are still a few other aspects Microsoft needs to take care of, the fixes for which we might get to see in the future release.

Known issues

• The Install button doesn't respond after Build 10149 is downloaded, so ensure the battery is charged at least 40% and press it again.

• You might get an 80091007 error while trying to upgrade from Build 10136. The company promises to release a fix for this. But if you want the new build, use Windows Phone Recovery Tool to roll back to Windows Phone 8.1 and then upgrade to Build 10149.

• The Insider Hub is removed in this build but will be available in future Insider Preview builds.

• There is workaround if the PIN keypad won't be shown after swiping up to unlock. Just swipe down to get to Action Center and try opening a notification or, Settings to invoke the PIN keypad to unlock the phone.

• In some rare situation you would be unable to unlock the phone after entering PIN and it keeps letting you type even though you entered pin correctly. Just leave the phone for one to two hours before trying to unlock again.

• If you have set up a Gmail account, the Messaging app might have issues and both incoming and outgoing messages might not work. In such a situation, reboot your phone.

• There is a known issue where apps or games are installed as trial versions even though you have purchased them.

• The colours in some apps may appear off, for instance the title bar in the Outlook Mail app is orange.

• There might be some cases where notifications in Action Center appear blank.