Microsoft Rolls Out Windows 10 Technical Preview For Phones, Few Devices Supported

Microsoft held a big Windows 10 event at the end of January. We were told at the time that a preview of Windows 10 would made available for phones some time in February, and true to its word, Microsoft today delivered.

The Windows 10 Technical Preview can be installed by first downloading the Windows Insider app from the Windows Phone store. Since this is still a very early build of Windows 10, not all functionality is available at this time. In fact, Microsoft has posted a pretty extensive list of features that are excluded from this build. The messaging app is missing dual-SIM support, search, message drafts, sharing voice notes and ringtones, spam filter, viewing all group recipients, reminders and quiet hours through Cortana, multiple attachments, and GSM support. In addition, Cortana is English-only for now, the Rooms features is MIA, and the Phone app doesn’t support dual SIMs.

windows10

We must also bring the bad news that device support for this initial public build of Windows 10 is pretty slim. Only the following devices are currently supported:

  • Lumia 630
  • Lumia 635
  • Lumia 636
  • Lumia 638
  • Lumia 730
  • Lumia 830

That has to be disappointing news for eager Lumia 520 owners, who currently represent nearly 30 percent of current Windows Phone users around the globe. In addition, owners of “flagship” devices like the Lumia 1520 have also unfortunately been left out of the loop.

But rest assured that the Lumia 520 will receive the final build of Windows 10 (and perhaps some preview builds along the way) -- despite the Lumia 520 only having 512MB of RAM, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore confirmed that its best-selling device will be supported. And speaking of Belfiore, you can check out his walkthrough of the new features in Windows 10 via the video below: