X

New Windows 10 Mobile preview includes universal Office apps

Microsoft is rolling out to testers the promised new versions of the core, touch-first Office apps to try out.

Mary Jo Foley
Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 30 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008). She also is the cohost of the "Windows Weekly" podcast on the TWiT network.
Mary Jo Foley
2 min read

Microsoft is rebranding its mobile operating system. It's reviving the Windows Mobile name, putting an end to Windows Phone. Microsoft/Screenshot by CNET

Microsoft on Thursday is making available another Windows 10 Mobile preview build for phones to Windows Insider testers.

The new build, 10080, works on more Windows Phones -- including Lumia Icon, Lumia 930 and Lumia 640/640XL devices -- as well as the first non-Lumia phone supported by the preview, the HTC One (M8) for Windows. These devices haven't been able to run Windows 10 Mobile test builds so far because of screen scaling issues, according to company officials.

Microsoft is rebranding its mobile operating system. The company announced Wednesday that it's reviving the Windows Mobile name, putting an end to Windows Phone. Officials have said the Windows 10 Mobile release won't be available at the same time as Windows 10 for PCs, laptops and larger tablets. It will still be available later this year for existing Windows 8.1 and new Windows Phones, but not in late summer, which is the target for the Windows 10 Desktop releases.

Microsoft also is making available simultaneously with the new Windows 10 Mobile build the promised test build of Office Universal apps for Windows Phones. These apps will be downloadable via the Windows Store Beta in the new Windows 10 Mobile build released today.

"Office Universal" refers to the new versions of the core, touch-first Office apps -- Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote -- that Microsoft is building to run on Windows 10 Desktop and Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft made a first test build of these apps for people running Windows 10 Desktop on PCs, laptops and tablets in February. Versions of these apps for Windows Phone testers were originally expected by the end of April.

These Office universal apps will be replacing the Office Mobile hub apps that are currently built into Windows Phones.

What else is new in Windows 10 Mobile test build? According to Microsoft's blog post, there's a new look for the coming Windows Store; an Xbox app for Windows 10 phones; and the new Camera app for Windows 10 phones. The build also includes a few fixes, plus more than a few "known issues."

Microsoft has released two test builds so far of Windows 10 Mobile for Windows Phones. The latest release was on April 10. That build was the first to include the new Microsoft browser formerly codenamed "Spartan," and now known officially as Edge.

This story originally posted as "Microsoft delivers another Windows 10 Mobile preview build for phones" on ZDNet.