This article is more than 1 year old

You rang? Windows 10 gets ever cosier with Android, unleashes Calls on Insiders

Plus: New build brings Cortana resizing to all. Hurrah!

Microsoft squeezed out a fresh build of Windows 10 last night, and finally released the much-anticipated Calls feature to eager Windows Insiders.

Announced on-stage at Samsung's Unpacked event and shown off at the Microsoft's Surface shindig last week, the feature (Android only, naturally) allows a Your Phone user to make and receive calls using their Windows 10 system rather than having to, you know, actually pick up the phone to do the same.

You'll need Android 7.0 or above and a PC equipped with Bluetooth to make the function work, as well at least Windows 10 19H1. And, of course, you need to be one of the brave souls in Microsoft's Insider Program.

You may also have to pair your phone and PC again to get the thing running too. Heck, this is still preview stuff after all.

Assuming you manage to get it working, calls can be made from a PC via a dialler or contact list, answered or declined with a text or a dump to voicemail. Users can also seamlessly transfer calls between PC and phone.

It's another handy feature for the increasingly essential (for Windows 10 users equipped with compatible Android handsets at least) Your Phone app, although Mac users would be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about. It has, after all, been possible to make phone calls on an iPhone via a Mac for years.

And you don't even need to faff around with Bluetooth to make it work.

As for Build 18999 itself, there were few new features other than the ability to move and resize the window for Microsoft's unloved assistant, Cortana, being rolled out to all Fast Ring Insiders. You lucky, lucky people.

The list of fixes included much around accessibility and a tweak to stop SearchFilterHost.exe hogging the CPU when in battery saver mode. The gang also dealt with a deadlock in the Network and Sharing Center Control Panel that could stop it from loading and fixed an issue that was impacting VPN connection reliability.

And there's some good news for the, er, dozen or so people still using Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) headsets. The issue that saw certain apps (such as 3D viewer) treated as protected content within WMR has been fixed, so you can record once again. Another bug fix also allows you to stop recording when capturing a repro video for the Feedback Hub.

The only known issue that remains is older games with anti-cheat code not being compatible with recent versions of Windows 10.

Windows 10 20H1 is expected to be released in the first half of 2020. ®

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