Microsoft has released two new builds to members of the Windows Insider Program. The first, Preview Build 17735, is available to the program's Fast ring members. Preview Build 18214 is for Skip Ahead members--those who are so willing to deal with buggy releases to get a sneak peek at what Microsoft's working on that a Fast ring build just isn't exciting enough. Unfortunately, neither release includes a bunch of whiz-bang features.
Preview Build 17735 is centered entirely on miscellaneous improvements and bug fixes. The new build also continues on its predecessor's work by continuing to refine the Narrator feature that helps the vision impaired navigate Windows 10, with four of the 10 changes devoted to the tool. Other fixes were made to Notepad, sharing tools and the new Flashlight tool in Windows Mixed Reality not activating when its voice command is uttered.
Preview Build 18214 also includes some general improvements, but they're different from those included with Preview Build 17735. Instead, Skip Ahead members should notice improvements to Windows 10's updated scaling logic, different verbiage regarding the Snipping tool and some other fixes.
Of course, both of these builds have their own problems, as is to be expected from pre-release software at this stage of development.
Microsoft also continued to highlight the release of its Your Phone app, which makes it a bit easier for Android and iPhone users to keep their phones in-sync with their PCs, as well as expanded HTTP/2 support and the use of Cubic as Windows 10's default TCP congestion provider. Both of those updates debuted with Preview Build 17730 on August 6; it seems they were included with these release notes just for posterity's sake.
People who sign up for the Windows Insider Program because they want to fool around with new features every week will likely be disappointed by the lack of additions. But that isn't the point of the program. Microsoft is trying to make sure updates to Windows 10 are (mostly) ready for public use before it releases them to millions of systems. Taking a moment to refine existing features is a necessary part of the development process.
