November is finally here - and for fans of Microsoft"s mobile devices, it"s been a long time coming. This month, the company will launch its first Windows 10 Mobile handsets - the two flagships that it unveiled last month, the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL - and it"s expected to begin rolling out the new OS as an update to existing handsets before the year"s end.
As its launch grows ever closer, Microsoft has been increasing the rate at which it delivers new preview builds. Last week - just nine days after releasing build 10572 - it rolled out Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview build 10581 to the Fast ring.
As Microsoft itself was quick to point out, 10581 doesn"t include much - if anything - for those eager to get their hands on some new features. But with its latest release, the company has been working hard to improve the quality of its user experience, and to eliminate some of its lingering bugs and flaws.
Significantly, the new preview included a fix for a particularly irritating bug, which prevented users from upgrading directly to the latest release. Those who wished to install new builds had been forced to first downgrade to Windows Phone 8.1 - but this problem has now been resolved, allowing users to upgrade directly to 10581.
And that"s not all - build 10581 brings fixes for a range of other problems too, but of course, it still has its share of known issues, including some annoyances for those using microSD storage on their devices.
This is still pre-launch software, of course, so if you"re expecting perfection at this stage, you might want to adjust those expectations to more realistic levels. But as Microsoft has clearly been focusing upon improving reliability and adding more polish throughout the OS in its latest release, we"re keen to hear what you think of its progress.
So what do you think of Windows 10 Mobile build 10581 so far? Is the OS coming together nicely ahead of its launch, or has your experience of the new build been less than positive? Have you found that the preview doesn"t work as well as you"d hoped, or is the new build actually closer to perfection than you were expecting? And have you encountered any issues - big or small - that weren"t documented in Microsoft"s release notes?
Be sure to share your thoughts with us below - and let us know on which devices you"ve installed the new preview too!