“We're still experimenting,” the company says

Feb 18, 2015 10:48 GMT  ·  By

Windows 10 for phones preview comes with two new live tile sizes for a number of supported apps, but it appears that not all of them will actually be available in the final version of the operating system.

Microsoft says that all these preview builds are being used for experiments, so in case you don't like the new vertical tile or the square and gigantic one, there's no reason to worry because they might not be part of Windows 10 for phones.

Truth is, the square big live tile makes little sense, especially because it takes up too much space on a screen smaller than 5 inches, so it would be really hard for users to fit additional live tiles near it. On a Lumia 1520, for instance, both the vertical tile and the new square one look really good, so maybe Microsoft will find a way to offer the new sizes only on a number of devices.

Tile transparency also coming

Microsoft is also working on making the Start screen a bit more eye-candy, so future Windows 10 for phones preview builds would also come with transparency for the live tiles in a way that would make them a bit more visually appealing.

At this point, live tiles do have a translucency effect, but they're clearly a bit “more” solid than in Windows Phone 8.1, so the wallpaper can barely be seen in some setups.

That's what Microsoft is working to fix in future updates, and the company has already confirmed that bringing transparency on Windows 10 is a thing that needs to be done. Right now, people are also asking for features to manually adjust transparency level, but it remains to be seen if Microsoft indeed wants to offer such options.

The next Windows 10 for phones preview is expected to launch in March, as the company wants to roll out a fresh build each month.

Windows 10 for phones live tiles (3 Images)

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