Ahead of Microsoft’s January press event, where the company will unveil Windows 10 consumer features, The Verge has gotten its hands on a new Windows 10 build that includes some of the new operating system’s unannounced new features. Among them, Windows 10 build 9901 includes the Cortana voice-based virtual assistant that’s also available in Windows Phone 8.1 and which was demoed on Windows 10 in a video recently but also a new Xbox application and other visual changes.
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Cortana support is “the biggest new feature since the recent technical preview,” the publication notes, revealing that the virtual assistant is now available at the top of the search interface in Windows 10, responding both to text and voice commands.
The new Xbox app “appears to be a gateway to the entire Xbox ecosystem,” offering users access to plenty of features, including the Store, achievements, friends lists and activity feeds.
Other changes in build 9901 include a new calculator app, new animations to the TaskView switcher, and a new settings app that’s similar to the Control Panel.
Finally, the Windows Store app in Windows 10 has also been updated, and now includes apps, games, music, movies and TV show, as it looks like Microsoft is interested in letting users access all its digital content offerings from a single location.
An image showing the Cortana assistant follows below, with more screenshots from this new build available at the source link.
