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    Updated home screen arrives in Windows 10 for phones build 10070

    WP10

    Windows 10 for phones has been trailing behind the desktop, especially in relation to new features. Now arrives a new leaked version that shows an update to home screen. Build 10070 shows a massive reduction in the spacing between tiles to make more use of the available real estate. This seemingly subtle change has some very big ramifications.

    The reduction in spacing pixels between tiles is so severe that it actually allows for another tile horizontally and plenty more vertically. If you’re anything more than a casual Windows Phone user, you’ll be familiar with the sprawling list of applications you want quick access to, but have to enter scroll city to retrieve. There are tile groups of course, but these dramatically reduce the usefulness of tiles if they’re unable to surface information at their smallest size.

    The screenshot comes to us from user djtonka on the WindowsMania.pl forum. It is strange how sparse the top row of icons is. No carrier icon, or even missing sim card icon in the top left and the time is slightly higher than the correct alignment would suggest it should be and certainly differs from the current build 10052 which was released just a few days ago. It is also strange that the overly large cortana circles are on a tile with the label Search instead of Cortana, but hey if this is the preview build, things are in flux.

    Due to the very limited functionality this version managed to only provide a screenshot of the startup screen

    Another forum user Alvinek posted a comparison between the new build (left and the currently available build (right). The change is clearly the right direction for Microsoft to move putting functionality over the option to see more of the background image between tiles. The updated home screen may be offered as an option on some devices given the touch points on a smaller devices may shrink to a point that is problematic. On larger screens, higher dpi displays, this makes far better use of the available area and frankly makes the icon grid of other platforms look sparse and wasteful.

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    techau
    techauhttp://techAU.com.au
    This post is authored by techAU staffers. Used rarely and sparingly when the source decided to keep their identity secret, or a guest author who isn't seeking credit.

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