Windows 10 Insider build 18932 is part
of Microsoft's 20H1 release,
due in in early
2020
New Windows 10
feature build improves notifications, eye
tracking and Your Phone app
Windows 10 Insider
build 18932 is part of Microsoft's 20H1 release,
due in in early 2020.
Microsoft said
Wednesday that a new Insider build will improve
the way eye tracking works, and allow users to
tweak how they receive notifications within
Windows. In the same vein, an updated Your Phone
app will allow Windows users to interact with
notifications they receive on Android phones.
Most users will see
the greatest benefit from the updated
Notifications, found within the Action Center
within the lower right-hand corner of your
Windows screen. Microsoft also overhauled the
Eye Control UI, which uses eye tracking to help
those who can't use a mouse or a trackpad to
navigate Windows.
Windows Insider build 18932 is part of what
you might call Microsoft's "feature release" of
Windows 10, also known as 20H1. To test them
out, your Windows 10 PC will need to be on the
Fast Ring of the Windows Insider program,
accessible from the Windows 10 Settings >
Update & Security menu. Microsoft recently
revealed plans for what might be called an "improvement
release" of Windows, also known as 19H2.
Similar to a service pack, 19H2 can be tested
out via the Slow Ring of the Insider program.
A nest of
notifications
Notifications slide
in and out from the Action Center. Sometimes
they go unnoticed, and sometimes they're
distracting. Focus Assist, already within the
May 2019 Update of Windows 10, allows you to
suppress all notifications except for the
important ones. Now, there's even more control:
when a notification slides out, you can click
the gear icon (assuming you're fast enough) and
have a choice: either turn off all notifications
for that app, or open the notifications settings
menu for that app for further control.
Microsoft
You'll find a number
of new controls within the Notifications
settings...
The notifications
section within the settings (Settings >
System > Notifications and Settings) now
includes two controls: a toggle that allows
notifications to play sounds, and a way to more
easily find a particular app through a "most
recent" drop-down list.
This particular
settings menu also includes a "Notifications
Visualizer," which allows you you to see the
results of your decisions in a mockup of the
page before it goes live. There are a lot
of different controls and options, good for
some, but possibly overkill for many.
...including the
ability to preview changes.
Your Phone includes
Android notifications
In the last few days,
Microsoft has signaled that Android
notifications would be coming to Your Phone, the
app that connects your Android phone to Windows.
(Your Phone is also available for iPhones, but
due to Apple's controls, the functionality is
extremely limited.) Notification support
within Your Phone simply means you'll be able to
click on and interact with notifications that
show up in Your Phone with your keyboard and
mouse.
Microsoft
Your Phone now
supports Android notifications.
Unfortunately, Your
Phone is still hamstrung by the need to support
specific phones, as well as the new Insider
Build. If you don't have a PC with a Bluetooth
radio that supports the low-energy peripheral
mode, you'll need to dig into the Device Manager
and the properties of your Bluetooth radio to
figure this out, you're out of luck.
(Microsoft's Surface Go does, but other PCs,
such as the Microsoft Surface Book 2, do not.)
You'll also need a supported phone:
Samsung Galaxy S10e,
S10, S10+, S9, S9+, S8, S8+
Samsung
Galaxy A8, A8+
Samsung Galaxy Note 9,
Note 8
OnePlus 6, 6T
Eye Control gets more
control
Microsoft's Eye
Control is generally thought of as an assistive
technology, though it can be used as a
productivity tool, too. You'll need an
eye-tracking peripheral like the
Tobii Eye Tracker 4C, or else a laptop with
eye-tracking integrated directly inside.
There's a new UI
governing Eye Control.
The three new
improvements include the ability to "drag and
drop" an object via your eyes, so that the
precise controls now include the ability to move
an object via your eyes. Secondly, Microsoft has
improved the "pause" feature to completely hide
the Eye Tracker UI, allowing a user to watch a
full-screen video without UI interference.
Finally, the ability to click a button is not
just confined to eye tracking; there's an option
to use a physical switch as well.
Microsoft also added
a redesigned settings menu to provide an
overview of the available controls and added
more fine-grained controls to Narrator and the
Magnifier UI.
