As we’re steadily nearing the release of Windows 10 Creators Update and Microsoft is churning out preview builds to Insiders speedily. The latest preview build, numbered 15031, has been rolled out to Fast Ring insiders a complete week post the previous build‘s release. While the features are currently being finalised for an official release, the company has still managed to add new features to their operating system.
The highlight of today’s Insider release is the addition of an unexpected feature — picture-in-picture mode, a little something which has been available on mobile for quite some time. Though the company has introduced the usual functionality for this feature, it’s being given a rather fancy name of ‘Compact Overlay’.
For those unfamiliar with PIP support, this feature allows users to run certain programs in a small window pinned atop other applications running in the background. It, thus, enables you to continue with your standard operations, without having to switch between or keeping windows open in the background. Picture-in-picture mode is most helpful when dealing with video content, that’s playing via YouTube or Netflix.
The said functionality is currently only being extended to developers building Universal Windows apps and it will be relatively easy to adapt their existing programs to be compatible with this feature. Windows 10 is starting off with updates for Movies & TV app and Skype Preview app to show off compact overlay. Talking about the same, Dona Sarkar, Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group at Microsoft says,
Some tasks don’t require the user’s full attention but is perfect to leave at the corner of the screen so we’re introducing a new compact overlay mode for UWA app developers.
In addition, the Redmond giant has finally detailed the Dynamic Lock feature which was spotted in a previous build released in January. It further adds to the security features already available in Window 10’s arsenal. As for functionality, this enables you to pair your Bluetooth phone with the PC/laptop to instruct Windows 10 to automatically lock your PC when the phone isn’t found near it. This proximity-based feature first turns off the display and then locks the PC in 30 seconds.
To enable Dynamic Lock, you’ll be required to navigate to Settings > Accounts > Sign-in options and toggle the “Dynamic Lock” button the other way. But, you need to make sure that your phone is connected to the PC via Bluetooth before attempting to enable this feature. This is one of the better security features being added atop Windows Hello, but this build also brings along a bug preventing PCs from successfully pairing devices via Bluetooth.
This preview build also improves on full-screen support for the Windows Game Bar, which has recently bagged a major update. Windows 10 now includes both the performance-favoring Game Mode and native live streaming options to Microsoft-owned Twitch-competitor Beam. Now, this build brings full-screen support for additional 52 game titles, including Borderlands 2, Call of Duty Black Ops III, Civilization VI, and many others.
Microsoft’s Insider team has also made several improvements and squashed bugs that’ve sneaked their way into the operating system. The complete list of all known bug fixes and known issues can be found in the official blog post. Also, we’re nearing the release of Windows 10 Creators Update, which is scheduled for April 2017.
