Windows 10
Microsoft has unveiled a raft of exciting features for its new operating system – and it’s shaping up to be the best version of Windows yet
- MICROSOFT HAS REVEALED some of the latest features in Windows 10, showing for the first time how its new operating system will work across PCs, tablets and mobiles. Speaking at the Windows 10 Briefing in Redmond, Microsoft vice-president Joe Belfiore took to the stage to demonstrate Windows 10 in front of a live audience.
START AGAIN
As we noted in our Windows 10 Technical Preview feature in Shopper 323, the big news is the return of the Start menu in Desktop mode. Compared to the Technical Preview, the Start menu has had a bit of an overhaul.
In the Technical Preview, you could switch between a Windows 7-style Start menu and a Windows 8-style Start screen depending on whether you were on a PC, laptop or tablet. In the latest version, the Start menu still has live tiles on the right and a list of apps on the left, but the Start menu can now expand to fill most of the desktop. The expanded mode is better suited to touchscreen devices, and it’s good to see a unified Start menu design.
On desktop and laptops, an updated Action Centre has replaced the Charms Bar. Similar to the notification bars on iOS and Android phones, this shows notifications from various apps, such as social media updates, Skype calls, recently installed apps and your calendar. Notifications are expandable, so you can see images attached to messages, for example, or interact with them.
The Action Centre also has expandable icons that provide shortcuts to features such Microsoft has unveiled a raft of exciting features for its new operating system – and it’s shaping up to be the best version of Windows yet as airplane mode, Wi-Fi, brightness, tablet mode, VPN settings and screen rotation.
In previous builds, the computer’s settings were still split between the traditional Control Panel and the PC Settings app, as present in Windows 8.1, which is needlessly confusing. However, Belfiore announced that Windows 10’s Settings menu will now combine the two menus into a single UI, which should please fans of both Windows 8 and Windows 7.
CONTINUUM
Belfiore also revealed more about Windows 10’s Continuum feature. This is designed to make Windows 10 work seamlessly on hybrid laptop/tablet devices such as the Surface Pro 3, which will switch from desktop to tablet mode when you undock it from its keyboard. When Belfiore removed the Surface Pro from its keyboard, a small pop-up appeared asking if Windows should switch to tablet mode.
Once tablet mode was enabled, all the windows on the desktop went full screen. To switch windows, you can swipe from the left and select the window you want to look at. Tapping the Start button will automatically bring up the full-screen Start menu interface, giving you greater access to all your live tiles.
It works the same in reverse. Once you’ve finished using your device in tablet mode, reattaching the keyboard will prompt another request to transform back to desktop mode, and all your windows will reappear as they were before you switched to tablet mode.
Standalone tablets will also use this tablet interface, and you’ll also be able to run two apps simultaneously in split-screen mode. Tablets will also have access to the traditional desktop mode, so you can plug in a keyboard and mouse and use it like a normal PC.
CORTANA COMES TO PC
Cortana, Microsoft’s personal digital assistant, will be present in Windows 10 PCs. Previously confined to Windows Phones, where it took the form of a Siri-style voice-activated helper, Cortana works in a similar way on your desktop. You’ll find Cortana in the Search box in the taskbar, and you can speak to it directly to ask questions and search the web via Bing, as well as type in commands manually.
As with the mobile version, the PC version will have its own notebook containing all the information you want Cortana to know about you, but you can change this at any time. When you open the notebook, you’ll see news headlines that are relevant to your interests, such as stock market updates, the weather forecast or appointments in your calendar.
Cortana has a few PC-exclusive functions, such as being able to play music or search through storage locations including your local hard disk and OneDrive for documents, images and files. You’ll also be able to search for specific groups of files, too, such as ‘photos from December’. Your search results will be separated into apps, settings, photos, videos, music and email tabs, as well as a general files tab that shows everything.
Cortana can filter results to give you the most relevant result. When Belfiore typed in Skype, for example, Cortana’s first result was the Skype app installed on the PC, but there was also a link to the Skype website and a handful of different web searches that might help if you were having trouble setting Skype up or making a call. In other cases, Cortana might provide settings options instead.
Cortana can even send quick emails for you via voice control. You’ll need to add your own verbal punctuation, but it certainly worked very well during Belfiore’s live demo.
PROJECT SPARTAN
Windows 10 will have a new universal internet browser that works in a similar fashion across all devices. Currently codenamed Project Spartan, it has a new, streamlined UI and a brand-new rendering engine.
The first big new feature is Note-Taking mode, which lets you draw straight on to web pages with your finger or a stylus if you have a touch device. Alternatively, if your device doesn’t have a touchscreen, you can type comments using your keyboard instead.
Once you’ve marked up a page, the page onscreen is frozen (although links will still be live) and you can then share it with friends or save it. If you don’t want to save the entire page, you can crop and save a segment and save it to OneNote, copy it to the Clipboard, or swipe in from the right and use the browser’s built-in sharing tools to post it quickly to Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, Flipboard and a whole host of different apps.
Spartan also has a Reading Mode, where websites will be transformed into a standardised format that condenses the mainimages and text into a simpler interface that’s easier to read, eliminating adverts and large chunks of white space.
A reading list has also been added into the browser, which will be synced across every Windows 10 device you have. This means you’ll be able to save articles on your PC, for instance, to read later on your phone while you’re on the way home. More importantly, articles saved to the reading list will be available offline, so you don’t have to use any bandwidth to read them. The reading list will also support PDF files, so you can mark them up with notes and annotations and save them offline for when you need them.
Cortana will make an appearance in the Spartan web browser, too. It will provide smart responses when you’re typing words into the address bar, such as weather forecasts if you type in ‘weather’, for example, but it will also be able to perform more complex tasks. For instance, if you’ve asked Cortana to track a flight and then start typing in the name of the airline in the Spartan browser, Cortana will pre-emptively provide you with what it thinks is the correct link to answer your potential search query.
Cortana can also tell you things about certain pages you’re looking at. If it’s learned something about a site, such as a restaurant, a small icon will appear in the top-right of the browser, which can be expanded to show information such as directions from your current location, restaurant reviews, images, reservation details and opening hours. Highlighting certain word swill also prompt Cortana to
do a quick web search for its meaning, so if you’re unsure about a particular ingredient, for example, it will be able to tell you what it is and provide you with extra nutritional information.
WINDOWS 10 GOES MOBILE
On Windows Phones and smaller tablets under 8in, Windows 10 looks a little different. The Start screen is very similar to the current Windows Phone live tile interface, but now your background image will bleed fully across the entire screen, not just certain live tiles.
Pan to the right and you’ll be presented with a revamped apps list. Apps are still listed in alphabetical order, but recently installed apps have been prompted to the top of the screen so you can find them more easily.
Likewise, the pull-down Action Centre that made its debut in Windows Phone 8.1 is now synced to your PC, so you’ll be able to dismiss notifications across all your devices in one action. Belfiore also said that Settings is now a universal app, so it looks exactly the same on phones as it does on your PC, ensuring that you’ll be instantly familiar with where everything is.
Moving to the Messaging app, Belfiore showed how you can now pull the keyboard over to the right side of the screen on larger phones and small tablets so you can type out messages or ‘shape write’ them with one continuous finger movement single-handedly.
Windows 10 for phones will also have voice support, so you can speak your message aloud instead of typing it out by hand.Microsoft’s enhanced voice-recognition software can recognise contacts and Twitter hashtags, and can put punctuation at the end of a sentence automatically. Belfiore confirmed that Skype and other IP messaging services will be integrated into Messaging, so you’ll be able to see when contacts are typing messages before you receive them.
FREE UPGRADE
Microsoft was very careful not to use the words ‘Consumer Preview’ in its January briefing, so you’ll have to wait a little longer before you can try out Windows 10 for yourself. However, it did say that all these new features would be gradually made available to anyone currently on the Windows Insider Programme over the next couple of months. The latest build for Windows Insiders is available now, and the first technical preview for phones will arrive in late February.
There’s good news for anyone currently running Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, too, as Microsoft has promised a free upgrade to Windows 10 for anyone who upgrades in thefirst year after launch. Even better, Microsoft said it will keep that particular device current for its supported lifetime at no additional cost once you’ve upgraded. New features will be delivered when they’re ready rather than in the next major release, and the arrival of universal apps means that, theoretically, developers need build only one version that they can then update simultaneously across all your different devices.
We still don’t know how Windows 10 will work on Xbox One yet, but Microsoft said it will reveal all at this year’s Game Developers Conference in March.
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