Genuine-looking screenshots of Windows 10 for phones build 12521 showed up online on a Polish web site last night and highlighted many new features of the operating system that had previously not been seen. The UI looks considerably more polished than the current build used by Windows Insiders, bringing across the new rounded toggle buttons used in Windows 10 on the desktop.
Windows 10 for phones 12521
Windows Mania
One of the images shows the new notification manager in the settings app. Although not significantly changed currently from that present in Windows Phone 8.1, under some of the apps it is clearly visible that “LED” is enabled. This clearly confirms some rumours from the unveiling of Windows Phone 8.2 with the Lumia 640 that the OS will gain notification support.
The Lumia 735’s hidden notification LED can be seen as a faint cut-out to the left of the speaker
WMPowerUser
This was confirmed just hours later when WMPowerUser reported that the recently-launched Lumia 735 actually has a hidden notification LED built into the top flex assembly with the audio jack and vibration motor. Seen close-up, it is obvious that there is a small cut-out in the top of the screen assembly for the light to shine through.
Although currently unusable, it is expected that the device will be able to utilize the hiding LED from when it gets its Windows 10 update later this year. Future Lumia devices, including the new flagships coming this summer to replace the aging 930 and 1520, are also expected to include notification LEDs.
Notification LEDs continue to draw controversy from mobile phone users. Loved by many and hated by many others, they do make it easy to see at a glance when you’ve missed something but can become distracting in certain situations.
Microsoft has actually overcome this issue with Windows Phone with the Glance screen. This acts like a notification LED in effect, showing key information faintly on the screen while charging, after locking the display or by waving at the phone.
This is only available on some Lumias though and a notification LED is likely to be easier to implement in lower-end devices. It will be interesting to see how Microsoft incorporates the LED into its software design.
It is believed that the user will be able to choose the LED colour for each specific app but how it will complement the Glance screen is unknown. Hopefully, the LED will also be subject to the quiet hours feature currently built into the OS so that it shuts itself off at night, alleviating some of the most major gripes against phones with notification LEDs.
