Update: With both keynotes over with, that's a wrap on all the major announcements from this year's Build. So, we've added the Day Two highlights below. Sadly, we've had to cross the last remaining predictions – new hardware just wasn't in the cards, it seems. Check it all out below!
We all know that Windows 10 is supposedly dropping in late July of this year, but when exactly? And we all know that Microsoft is working on another Surface Pro – well, at least we think we know – but what has Microsoft done to prepare it to compete against the new MacBook and would-be iPad Pro?
Sadly, Microsoft neglected to answer either of those questions at Build 2015, the company's fifth annual conference that's all about Windows, from the Moscone Center in San Francisco. It looks like we'll have to wait for another special event to see the company's latest hardware and find out just when Windows 10 will land on our devices.
Between the first operating system update to excite this editor in years, a super rad-looking head-mounted display tech in HoloLens and a much-desired update to the first Surface device to at least start to get it right, this was no doubt the most-hyped Build yet. And with good reason. (And that's even without Xbox One, which wasn't discussed much.)
With that, of course, came some serious expectations – or, at the very least, hopes – for what Microsoft had to show us. In addition to our now mostly-stricken predictions (and one obvious rumor) for Build 2015, we've added the highlights from the second day of Build 2015 below.
Build 2015 Day Two: Surface will ... surface another day
The second and last Build 2015 came and went with neither a single hardware announcement nor a release date for Windows 10. However, some super interesting news and some time with Microsoft Edge, the new Windows 10 browser, kept us sated.
Microsoft made the best (or the worst) website ever
Using its Machine Learning platform and face recognition tools, Microsoft crafted a website that it thinks can tell how old you are with just one photo. The site, called How-old.net, didn't exactly report back stellar results. Harrison Ford may look 57, Microsoft, but you forgot his time inside the carbonite!
Final Fantasy gets a dose of hyper-realism from DirectX 12
Possibly the most exciting thing to come out of Microsoft's second and last Build 2015 keynote was a super gorgeous graphics tech demo by Final Fantasy maker Square Enix. Using the company's latest gaming graphics API, DirectX 12, the company made what might be the most advanced graphics to date – this is definitely worth a look.
Microsoft Edge gets put through its paces
While not all of the stuff shown off on stage was available during our latest run-in with the Windows 10 browser, now known as Microsoft Edge, there was still plenty to sink our teeth into. We toyed around with the Inking and sharing features within Edge, but ultimately realized there's plenty more work to do.
Build 2015 Day One: Spartan gets a name
Microsoft Edge is the name of the Windows 10 browser
Finally, it gets a name. Microsoft outed what its spanking new browser is called: Microsoft Edge. Replete with a new logo spoofing the original Internet Explorer symbol, Edge will be the default browser for Windows 10 devices. The browser will bake Cortana, Microsoft's voice assistant, right into its interface for easier voice search and other tasks.
iOS and Android apps will work on Windows 10
With some work, of course. While on stage at the conference, Microsoft EVP of Operating Systems announced that developers will be able to tweak iOS and Android apps to work on Windows 10. This has the potential to blow the Windows app marketplace wide open.
Windows 10 for phones puts a PC in your pocket
Microsoft isn't done showing off what Windows 10 can do. The latest? Windows 10 on phones supports the same agnostic, adaptable approach to computing found on the desktop known as Continuum. In short, through a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse coupled with an HDMI cord connected to a screen, your Windows phone can allow you to work in an almost identical way to how you would on a PC.
Now, check out what we predicted (or hoped) would come out of Build 2015. Spoilers: we were proven wrong. A lot.
- Everything we know about Windows 10 for phones
