Windows 10 for phones preview: First look

What's new in Windows 10 for Phones

Windows 10 is said to bring a vast number of new features, but not all of those were announced during the Windows 10 press event. Fewer still are presented in the Technical Preview at this early stage, so keep in mind that things will only get better as we move forward. Microsoft has issued a short change log, which says what novelties made it to the first Windows 10 public release and what's still in development.

Here is the official change list:

• Full-size Background Image for Start: We believe phones should be intensely personal - so we've added another option to customize the start screen with a full-size background image.
• More Quick Actions in Action Center: We've increased the number of quick actions available to you. Windows Phone 8.1 has four programmable quick actions - but with Windows 10 you also get an expanded view that can now have up to three rows.
• Interactive Notifications: Notifications are now interactive, allowing you to take action directly like dismissing an alarm, or seeing images for maps. For example, for text messages, when the toast pops, you can quickly reply inline via text or voice.
• Significantly enhanced speech-to-text capability: You can talk to virtually any data field you choose. Your words show up as you speak them - and punctuation appears automatically. This feature is smart enough to understand when to use 'two' - the number - instead of 'too' as in 'also'.
• More powerful Photos app: From your very first launch, Photos will show the aggregated set of all your local photos and all your OneDrive photos.

In addition to these features, we can also confirm the new Settings menu is onboard the Technical Preview plus some of the system apps have been refreshed with new UI. The keyboard has been enhanced with new gestures, too.

What didn't make the cut? The new Messaging app is still missing - it is supposed to handle all kind of instant messaging such as Skype. Most of the Photos app is still under construction and the new Album view is yet to come. Plus, the major Office overhaul is left for another Preview.

There is still lot to see though in this new version, so let's cut to the chase. We begin our interface inspection right after the jump.