Microsoft has released the latest Insider preview build 16179 for the Windows 10 Redstone 3 update for PCs, and build 15205 for mobile devices.
For PCs, power throttling seems to be the biggest feature on this build, at least from an end-user perspective, where users can gain up to 11 percent more battery life on their device using the Power Slider utility on Windows 10 Redstone 3. However, this requires upgraded hardware, specifically the 6th generation Skylake or Kaby Lake processors from Intel.
For developers, it is the Revert VM feature that brings automatic checkpoints to roll back to, in order to undo mistakes in the virtual machine. The checkpoint, however, will be the last time the virtual machine was started.
There seems to be a bit of a conflict with the build number on which the power throttling feature actually appears, however. On April 18, Bill Karagounis, Director of Program Management, Windows Insider Program and OS Fundamentals specifically said:
“In this latest Insider Preview build (Build 16176), we leveraged modern silicon capabilities to run background work in a power-efficient manner, thereby enhancing battery life significantly while still giving users access to powerful multitasking capabilities of Windows.”
He also mentioned it in a tweet right after the blog post was published:
Battery life is something that EVERYONE cares about. Highlighting a new piece of Windows that saves you electrons https://t.co/uKotrsM2Ye
— Bill Karagounis (@Billkar44) April 18, 2017
But in the original blog post announcing Build 16176 on April 14, Dona Sarkar, Software Engineer, Windows and Devices Group, makes no mention of the power throttling feature.
And then, on April 20, when Build 16179 was announced, as usual, by Dona Sarkar, the power throttling feature makes its appearance.
We’ll chalk it down to a decision by Karagounis to not mention Build 16179 until Sarkar announced it two days later. It’s not really a big deal, but it highlights the fact that because of the velocity of builds that are being created for Windows 10 Redstone 3 – they now have a firm deadline of September 2017 to release the final version – some things can go a little haywire. Ideally, they shouldn’t, but they sometimes do.
The Real Meat and Potatoes of Windows 10 Redstone 3
That said, we should start seeing some significant features on the UI side very soon, since Project NEON is likely to make some meaningful contributions to the Windows 10 Redstone 3 update.
But what we’re really looking for is the build where Windows 10 Redstone 3 will get x86 emulation for ARM processors. That will be the starting point for Microsoft to develop the internal capabilities of Surface Phone – that elusive device that promises to bring a new kind of mobility to smart device users.
MUST-READ: Surface Phone is Not a Smartphone, and It is a Vital Concept to Understand
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