Microsoft launches Windows 10 phone preview

Some four months after it unveiled the first build of the Windows 10 Technical Preview, Microsoft has now kicked off the early access program for its smartphone OS, known as  Windows 10 Technical Preview, The Register reports.

The naming is in keeping with Redmond's insistence that Windows 10 will be a single operating systemfor all screens great and small – even though in reality, users will see significant UI variations between different classes of devices.

"Since we're building Windows 10 to be the same core platform for PCs, tablets and phones, it should be no surprise that participating in the program for phones will work pretty much the same way it has been working for PCs," Microsoft's Gabe Aul blogged on Thursday.

That means you'll need to join the Windows Insiderprogram to participate, which you may recall involves agreeing to both its Terms of Use and a fairly lengthy privacy policy.

The idea is that Preview users will be helping Microsoft refine its OS, so by signing up for the program you'll be agreeing to ship all sorts of information back to Redmond. In the case of the phone OS, this includes "phone call and SMS data," although Microsoft says it doesn't collect "numeric sequences such as phone numbers."

The Preview will also collect what Microsoft calls "Experience Data," which includes such information as how long it takes you to complete tasks with the OS and ... well, "information about all aspects of the Program software and services, such as device performance, user interface interactions, and feature and application usage, including third party applications." So don't say you didn't know.