The dust hasn"t even settled yet on the Windows 10 Creators Update - which was released to early adopters that want to manually install it on Wednesday, and won"t be available over Windows Update until next Tuesday - but Microsoft has released the first Redstone 3 build for PCs to the Fast ring.
If you"re unfamiliar, Redstone 3 is the next feature update to Windows 10, and it"s slated to arrive later this year. If the current rumors are true, it should be quite a significant update, bringing an all-new design language which is currently referred to as Project NEON. NEON will bring more transparency to the design of the OS, including transparent Live Tiles on PC Start Menus, something that phones have had for some time.
Another big feature to expect in Redstone 3 is full x86 app emulation on Qualcomm"s ARM processors. This will allow you to run apps like Photoshop on power-efficient Snapdragon 835 machines, which will also include cellular connectivity.
We can also expect a number of Continuum improvements, which should make the experience more PC-like. This was originally slated for Redstone 2, but got pushed back. This might also have something to do with Cshell, which is an adaptive UI that would scale across phones, PCs, and other form factors.
Unfortunately, today"s build doesn"t contain any of those new features. Just like any of the first Insider builds that came right after a major update, 16170 contains mainly under the hood changes to OneCore, which is "necessary to make sure OneCore is optimally structured for teams to start checking in code."
We"re certainly expecting to hear more about what"s coming in Redstone 3 at Microsoft"s Build 2017 developer conference, which is to be held from May 10 - 12. Neowin will be there, so we"ll keep you updated.