The Top 7 New Features in Windows 10 for Phones

If you've been paying attention to the tech news, you've heard about the great new features Windows 10 brings to desktop PCs: The Start Menu's return, virtual desktops, Cortana, holograms, Continuum, the Action Center, the New Photo app. But Windows 10 brings some pretty sweet new capabilities to smartphones, too.

The new phone capabilities in Windows 10 may not be making tons headlines, but users of the critically acclaimed yet under-adopted phone OS are getting some pretty darn important and useful new capabilities with Windows 10. Sure, they're not as sexy or radical as those listed above, but if you've ever wanted to enter text with your voice or see more quick actions from the pulldown at the top of the screen, they may be even more important for your everyday life than those headline-grabbing capabilities.

Perhaps the most significant thing that Windows 10 will bring to phone users isn't exactly a feature, but rather the combination of the phone and desktop operating systems into one. Sort of. Of course, the phone version will always need different interface input methods than the desktop version, and things like notifications and the Action Center, while they'll exist in both form factors, will differ. But the combination is real. Especially welcome will be the phone's ability to run Universal apps designed for both desktop and phone. Fluid transitions between desktop and phone for Office productivity apps and Skype communications will also be benefits.

Windows 10 Technical Preview has up to this point been available for a very small subset of Windows Phone models, but Microsoft's Operating Systems Group General Manager Gabe Aul noted in a Windows Blog post that the number of phones models you can install the preview on will grow to over 30 in the next code update. They're all Lumia phones, though: Sorry HTC M8 Windows Phone users.

Page through our slideshow, linked from the main image above and below, to see what's in store for Windows 10 phone users, and read our Hands On With Windows 10 for Phones for even more background. And don’t forget to check out our Windows 10 hub page.

Enhanced Notifications

Windows 10 on phones will allow users to reply to messages right from the notification, or dismiss an alarm. But you don't get iOS's choice between banners and alerts, the latter of which stay on-screen until you act on them. So if a message comes on Skype while you're away from your phone, you won't see the notification unless you swipe down the action center. Alarms do stay on-screen, however, until you snooze or dismiss them.

More Quick Actions

You know, those swipe-down choices like lock rotation and airplane mode? Windows Phone 8.1 only allowed four of these quick actions, but Windows 10 lets you have three rows of four, thanks to the new Expand arrow. The feature still lacks some options found in iOS's equivalent Control Center, such as a flashlight, calculator, and music playing controls.

Project Spartan Web Browser

Microsoft is finally ditching the long-disparaged Internet Explorer browser (even though for recent versions the view is unwarranted, as it's fast and standards-compliant). The new browser, codenamed Project Spartan, will offer tools such as a reading view and on-screen handwriting markup to point stuff out to colleagues when sharing webpages. The browser will be even faster and more compliant with modern Web standards, according to Microsoft.

Speak Anywhere There's a Keyboard

Users of Apple's iPhone have been able to tap a microphone icon from the on-screen keyboard for ages. With Windows 8.1 you could do this but just for messaging, email, and Cortana searching. With Windows 10, anywhere there's a keyboard, as in iOS, there will be a microphone button for entering text with your voice.

Xbox and Office Apps

Microsoft Office will come free with Windows 10 phones, and will be a universal app for desktop, tablets, and phones. The apps will offer real-time collaboration and touch-first input. Windows Phones already integrate with the Xbox One via the Xbox SmartGlass app, but a new Xbox app for Windows 10 will offer game streaming, multiplayer gaming among different device types, and interactions with gamer friends.

New Photos App

A new Photos app will be part of Windows 10 for phones, but it's not complete in the current Technical Preview. The new app will group your photos by Collections—automatic date-grouped sets; Albums, which you'll be able to share with family and friends; and Folders, similar to folder organization on PCs. The app also will feature an auto-fix tool, but the phone preview version of Windows 10 is behind the desktop one at this point, only offering crop and rotation

Cleaner Settings

The new Setting app in Windows 10 on phones will have a more organized appearance, with the new line-drawing style graphics. Settings are sorted into a main page of ten option groups that helpfully fits on one screen. Before, you had to page down through over 40 options.

About Our Expert

Michael Muchmore

Contributor

My Experience

I've been testing PC and mobile software for more than 20 years, focusing on photo and video editing, operating systems, and web browsers. Prior to my current role, I covered software and apps for ExtremeTech and headed up PCMag’s enterprise software team. I’ve attended trade shows for Microsoft, Google, and Apple and written about all of them and their products.

I still get a kick out of seeing what's new in video and photo editing software, and how operating systems change over time. I was privileged to byline the cover story of the last print issue of PC Magazine, the Windows 7 review, and I’ve witnessed every Microsoft misstep and win, up to the latest Windows 11.

I’m an avid bird photographer and traveler—I’ve been to 40 countries, many with great birds! Because I’m also a classical music fan and former performer, I’ve reviewed streaming services that emphasize classical music.

Technology I Use

For everyday work, I use a good-old Dell tower with 16GB of RAM, a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, and an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti GPU that runs on Windows 11. I pair it with a 4K Lenovo ThinkVision P27u-10 monitor and a Logitech MX Vertical mouse. For offsite work, I use a 2024 Microsoft Surface Laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor. Camera-wise, I moved to mirrorless from a Canon EOS 80D with a Canon 70-300mm IS USM lens. I now have a Canon EOS R7 with a 100-400mm lens, but I miss my DSLR for several reasons.

In order of usage, the software I turn to most frequently is the Edge web browser, Slack, Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft 365, Firefox, Brave, and WhatsApp. I use the Windows Phone link app to see everything on my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra phone, which has excellent telephoto capability.

For fitness monitoring, I have a Fitbit Charge 6 and use an Anker Smart Scale P1. I’m also a streaming fan, so I subscribe to both Amazon Music Unlimited (especially for its Dolby Atmos content) and Qobuz (for its high-res sound quality and classical catalog). I recently added a Vizio 5.1 Soundbar SE, which sounds surprisingly good given its low price. To holler commands instead of using a remote control, I have the Amazon Fire TV Cube in the living room, which lets me verbally tell the TV what I want to watch. It hooks up to an LG B4 OLED TV. I have a Sonos One speaker in my kitchen that also ties in with Alexa, as does the Echo Dot 2 With Clock in my bedroom. For serious listening, I have B&W 601 speakers plugged into a Conrad-Johnson Sonographe amp and preamp, with a Cambridge Audio AXN10 streamer as source. For reading, I also have a Nook GlowLight 3.

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