PC_Advisor_Issue_264_July_2017

Reviews
If you have ‘Hey
Cortana’ enabled,
you can play DJ
across the room in
the Creators Update
Cortana will also help you
keep your commitments. If you’ve
allowed it to read your Office 365
documents, don’t be surprised to
see it reminding you to live up to
promises you’ve previously made.
Incidentally, Microsoft and Dolby
have promised a Dolby Atmos
app (with in-app purchases) that
Dolby confirmed isn’t live yet. A
second option, Windows Sonic
for Headphones, offers a virtual
7.1 surround experience that’s a
marked improvement over the
vanilla audio that Windows offers
– assuming you don’t have a PC
with audio improvements already
included, of course.
The other improvements
you’ll care about
Though Microsoft unified the
Creators Update around content
creation and creativity, a number
of piecemeal improvements
made their way in, as well. An
abbreviated list follows:
• Windows 10 CU includes a
night-light feature that begins
red-shifting your display’s
colour as the sun goes down,
gently reminding your body
that it’s time to go to sleep. It
helped eliminate my wind-down
period before we went to bed.
• Ads for features such as OneDrive
and Tips in Windows Explorer
will drive some people absolutely
crazy. Remember, though, that
there are millions of users for
whom the new features will
require some hand-holding.
• If you love macros and shortcuts,
you’re in luck: new touchpad
settings allow you to craft your
own gestures.
• If you have a precision touchpad
(the Home > Devices >Touchpad
Setting will tell you) you’ll be
able to configure your own
touch gestures.
• PowerShell, a powerful yet slightly
intimidating command interface, is
now built into File Explorer.
• For those who need it, Windows’
Narrator assistive technologies
have significantly improved,
with Braille support, a better
Scan Mode, and assistance in
resetting a PC.
• Keep exploring and you could find
even more obscure but useful
features, as we did, some of which
just might become your favourites.
What’s missing
If the Windows 10 Creators Update
had worked out as Microsoft had
promised, we all would be taking 3D
selfies, importing them to Windows,
and then sharing them among our
closest friends and coworkers via
Office presentations and mixedreality
headsets.
Microsoft sold us that vision
as part of the Creators Update
launch last autumn. But somewhere
between then and the Creators
Update roll-out, key pieces went
missing. Microsoft previously said
that its My People experience would
be left for the ‘Redstone 3’ update
in the autumn. The company didn’t
warn us, however, that we wouldn’t
see the Windows Capture app,
which creates 3D objects simply
by tapping your smartphone. If
there’s a way to share 3D objects
within the HoloTour app within the
HoloLens, we haven’t seen it. And,
of course, neither the HoloLens nor
the third-party mixed-reality devices
are commercially available yet.
The ironic thing about the
Windows 10 Creators Update is that,
even lacking all that, it’s arguably
the most significant update since
the launch of Windows 10. Those
features that made it into the
shipping code, including game
streaming, e-reading, Game Mode,
Beam streaming, Game Mode, and
dozens more, collectively elevate
the Creators Update.
Capture 3D, 3D
PowerPoint, HoloTour
Over the past few weeks, we found
ourselves obsessing over one
simple statement. The very first
feature that Microsoft introduced
at its reveal of the Creators Update
last autumn was this concept of
3D content. Microsoft’s Megan
Saunders walked on stage and
declared that, in the Creators
Update, “3D is for everyone”.
“If we truly want to make 3D
for everyone,” she said, ”then
we need to make 3D creation
as simple as taking a photo or
a video on your phone.”
July 2017 www.pcadvisor.co.uk/reviews 25