Review: why Windows 10 no longer feels like Windows 8

At first glance, the Start menu in build 9926 looks much like that of previous builds, divided into application icons to the left and tiles to the right. However, rather than expanding sideways as you pin tiles and apps, the menu now keeps a consistent width and scrolls up and down – a far more manageable arrangement.

Search behaviour, on the other hand, has become a bit muddled. You can still hit the Windows key and type to locate applications, documents or online resources – but to reflect the idea that all searches now go through Cortana, your results now pop up from the search field and sit awkwardly over the top of the Start menu.

For a neater experience, you can press Windows+S to access the search box directly, but we preferred the way Start and search used to work seamlessly together; we suspect Microsoft will keep working on this ahead of the final release.

Windows 10 on a tablet

One final update to the Start menu is a new toggle button that expands the tile-based interface into full-screen mode. This view replaces the old Start screen, so rather than switching between two different launchers, you can now focus on just one that scales up and down to suit either desktop or tablet use. It's an eminently sensible way to accommodate different usages: the only question is why Windows 8 didn't do this in the first place.

[Related: Photos - the best of Windows 10 features]

The other big change for tablet users is the removal of the Charms bar. Frankly, we won't miss it: it was always an awkward concept, and when we have Cortana for searches, and quick access to settings via the notifications sidebar, the swipe-in interface is no longer needed. Similarly, Modern apps – as Windows 10 still calls them – offer a streamlined set of controls in windowed mode, with an easily proddable button on hand to switch to full-screen view at any time.

Unfortunately, the accommodation for search in tablet mode appears to have gone backwards. The onscreen keyboard squeezes the narrow search box into such a cramped space in the top left corner that it restricts both the number of visible results and makes them fiddly to select. Once more, we hope this is something Microsoft plans to work on.

Smartphones and Xbox

Windows 10 isn't just about PCs and tablets. It's coming for smartphones, too, with an updated front-end to match the look and feel of the desktop OS, and support for the new universal app framework, which allows Modern-style apps to run on both phone and desktop devices. We haven't had a chance to try out the phone OS, but, as with the desktop platform, Microsoft plans to make a preview build available to those using compatible handsets, suggesting that the final release might be offered as an upgrade for current Windows Phone 8.1 users.

Interestingly, Windows 10 also integrates with the Xbox One console: a bundled app lets you access your Xbox friends list, activity list, achievements and so forth, and in the final release it will also be possible to stream games from the console to any Windows 10 device. The Xbox console itself, meanwhile, will be able to run universal apps – part of a clever joined-up strategy to attract developers to the Windows Store by growing the potential market.

Next: Cortana and the verdict