Microsoft pushed Windows 10 Mobile Build 14376 quickly after Build 14371 and Build 14372 to Insiders in Fast ring. You can read the official changelog and known issues by clicking here. Time for our evaluation and hands-on demo of the build 14376. We have also shared our Impressions of the build including performance, multitasking, gaming, navigation demo, bugs & Installation experience.

Build 14376 Installation Experience:

The Installation experience has been mixed for us in case of the Build 14376. On two of our devices it took around 40-45 minutes for the build to get downloaded, installed, data migrated and the devices getting up and running. But on one device it was throwing errors while trying to download and finally after getting plugged-in it installed the Build successfully. In case it takes too much time try a soft reset or plug-in the phone and it may work finally. You can refer to our common issues and errors fixing guide for more.

 You will be usually notified for a restart when the download has completed in background. It may require up to 1 GB of free storage. So, check the storage before you upgrade and you can check our tutorial on how to prepare for upgrade to Windows 10 Mobile.

Build 14376 Hands-on Impressions (Performance, Multitasking, Gaming, Battery Life & more):

Here is what we could notice while evaluating the build

  • The Build 14376 runs very smoothly with the exception of the Store app that still can be moody at times
  • It packs many fixes and improvements over last build 14372. It feels to be fast and responsive during normal daily smartphone tasks like start-screen navigation, apps list scrolling, opening and closing of settings, handling calls, texts, Mails and more.
  • Mobile Data and WiFi connections work very well on our devices
  • Native apps like Microsoft Edge, Maps, Camera, Outlook Mail & Calendar etc work fine. Sharing works flawlessly.
  • Microsoft Edge has kept improving with every build. It loads pages faster and zooming, panning etc work appreciably well.
  • Video streaming and playing also works fine without any issue like flickering faced on very early builds and we have demoed it too.
  • Gaming also works fine and with Build 14376 we can see UWP games (optimized for Windows 10 Mobile) resuming really fast from background. The older games which are  not optimized for Windows 10 Mobile like Traffic Rider lag while resuming
  • Multitasking for apps works impressively and apps resume really fast from background. Apps don’t crash in background while multitasking
  • Battery Life seems good so far during our hands-on usage of the Build. On our devices the battery discharge rate has been low and steady.

Major Bug & Issues:

  • Microsoft needs to work with developers to get the Windows 10 Mobile optimized version of the games in the store, as optimization seems to be the culprit while multitasking with older games. Windows 10 UWP games resume instantly from background.
  • Bluetooth functionality needs a UI and connectivity overhaul.
  • Store still has some glitches and can crash rarely
  • Installation Experience has gone south from ultra-smooth in last many builds to mixed in case of Build 14376

So, Build 14376 really seems to be a solid build so far. In terms of performance, multitasking and overall polish it seems very close to earning a daily driver status for itself. We also want to make it clear that it is our hands-on experience with the build and your experience may vary and may be better or worse than ours.

We must mention that we haven’t done hard reset on our devices but we recommend if you are facing lots of issues. You can read our guide to fix commonly known Windows 10 Mobile upgrade, installation and usability issues.