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Microsoft issues new bug-fix-focused Windows 10 Mobile test build

Microsoft has released to testers its third public preview of Windows 10 Mobile for Windows Phones.
Written by Mary Jo Foley, Senior Contributing Editor

Microsoft has rolled out yet another new test build of its Windows 10 Mobile release -- one that is focused almost entirely on quashing bugs.

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The new Windows 10 Mobile build, 10052, is a follow-up to the last Windows 10 Mobile release (build 10051) which Microsoft made available on April 10.

The build released today, April 21, to Windows Insiders works only on select Lumia Windows Phone devices, as has been the case with the previous two builds.

The April 21 build does work on Lumia 520 devices. Microsoft temporarily had pulled build availability of the Windows 10 Mobile preview for Lumia 520, 525 and 526 devices following user reports of problems, including, in some cases, bricked phones, when attempting to roll back to Windows Phone 8.1 using the Windows Phone Recovery Tool.

The April 21 build seemingly still does not work on flagship Lumia Icon (929) or Lumia 930 devices, due to screen size/scaling issues. It also still doesn't yet support Windows Phones from any of Microsoft's phone OEMs.

Today's build includes fixes to a number of Windows 10 Mobile issues, including various data connection, MMS settings, and Camera Viewfinder issues.

The Windows 10 Mobile build Microsoft released a couple of weeks ago included a number of new features, including Microsoft's "Spartan" browser and new test builds of Outlook Mail, Calendar, Phone, Maps, Messaging and People apps. Even for a "preview," that test build was very unfinished and hard to use, a number of testers said.

The Office team said last week that it would release test builds of the Universal versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote (along with the already released universal Outlook) for Windows 10 phones before the end of April.

Last week, company officials said they weren't sure if they'd release the test versions of these apps as part of a new Windows 10 Mobile preview, or if they'd make them available separately through the Windows 10 Store.

AMD's CEO Lisa Su revealed last week that Microsoft is planning to launch Windows 10 in late July 2015. From what I've heard, this launch will include not just Windows 10 for PCs, laptops and tablets, but also Windows 10 Mobile for phones. Some, if not all, new devices supporting Windows 10 could lag the launch by a number of months.

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