So, after a full 24 hours with 10166 on a 1020, some thoughts (skipped the last build due to its messaging and gmail bugs, so unsure how much of the following is specific to this build or the previous one):
* First off, I did this update the same way I've done all updates. Update to the most recent WP build, then hard reset the phone, and don't restore from backup. I've found in previous builds that if I don't do this, that there are a ton of issues that pop up.
* This process took about 3 hours. As long as that sounds, it was far shorter than what it took on 10136, which was quite possibly the most epicly long update process for a phone...ever. The biggest difference was the Store app being far smoother/less buggy this time around.
* The startup process is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay faster than in 10136. Interestingly, the issue where you reboot the phone, and it takes an inordinate amount of time in the "off" position before actually starting to boot up again, still seems to exist. If I hadn't already witnessed this with 10136, I'd have been thinking the phone was just turned off, and not actually rebooting.
* One small hiccup in the setup process, when it's supposed to move from the gear icon to the data migration screen, the phone appeared to turn off (it didn't). Display stayed off, etc. I had to hold the power button down until the power off slider showed up, then I swiped it up instead of down, and the display finally came to life and showed the data migration screen. Happened both in the upgrade and after the hard reset.
* Smoother/faster than previous builds (again, skipped the previous build). Still not as smooth/fast as 8.1. Unlike some, I never really had any issues with "Resuming" on 8.1, but it's been noticeable in WP 10-including this build. When it gets bad, it's usually a sign I need to reboot the phone, as it is usually accompanied by other issues, such as trying to pin an app to the Start menu, and nothing occurring. This has been an issue in every build, and it's less so an issue in 10166, but still present. It's especially bad shortly after the installation, and seems to become far more sparse the more time passes from install. The day after, I haven't seen it at all in the four hours I've been at work.
* Still lacking all the various methods of customizing sounds/notifications we had in 8.1 (and are available on every other platform). Interestingly, this is the first build where I am unable to assign a custom silent ring tone (I like to use a silent ringtone as the default, and then assign custom ringtones to individuals, as a workaround for the very basic sound control WP has traditionally had).
* The outlook mail app has definitely seen some polish in the UI text elements, in that they actually fit where they belong, etc.
* Outlook mail still is a bit buggy. Have had a few occurrences where I'd try to switch accounts and it'd just return to the current email account instead. Only seems to "fix" itself if I close the app and re-open or reboot the phone.
* Outlook mail accounts that are pinned to the Start screen now show the number of unread emails. This is HUGE for me. Slowly regaining functionality of the WP 8.1 app. Still can't customize notification sounds. Default notification sound is still incredibly soft.
* Outlook mail accounts' live tiles will also show you a brief blurb of your new emails. Another huge improvement. I still really detest the outlook icon as a live tile (it's way too busy/complicated vs the simple envelope of WP 8.1), but the live tile having actual functionality finally is great.
* The horrendous sound quality of notifications, ringtones, and calls I had in build 10136 seems to have largely been fixed. They're the same sounds, but not all warbly/staticy like they were for me on 10136. The 1020 isn't great with sound to begin with (I'm not 100% sure, but it seems like there are vibrations inside the phone that cause the poor sound, especially around the camera location).
* Even with 'Show more tiles' turned off, it still gave me the expanded Start screen.
* Cortana is a bit schizophrenic. Sometimes it'll open the way it's always opened, where it shows you your cards, etc. Other times, when opening Cortana, it'll jump straight to the keyboard prompt to do a search. Seems pretty random on which way it'll open. And, this is by opening Cortana by tapping on the Cortana app, so it's not a case of opening it by different methods.
* Photos, and more importantly, the way other apps hook into photos, is still a huge hot mess. If you're trying to set a photo as your Start background, you have no choice but to view them as "Collections", which is grouped by date. If you have 10k photos...despite knowing exactly what folder the photo you want is saved in, you're still forced to scroll through these dumb collections. It's just a huge nightmare. The photos app does let you switch between collections and back to the more sane folder based view, so hopefully that functionality will eventually become available when another service is hooking into the photos app. It can't possibly stay the way it is, as I can't imagine anyone could look at how it currently works and thinks it to be acceptable.
* Onedrive works. It wouldn't show me any of my files in 10136.
* White Balance on my 1020 seems to have taken a step backward with both the Camera app and Lumia Camera app. It's always been a little too yellow, but was correctable in 8.1 with the Lumia Camera app by sliding to the right on White Balance. Now, there really isn't a satisfactory White Balance setting. It's either the aforementioned too yellow, or way, way too cold.
* Still really missing the Nokia glance background lockscreen, which hasn't worked with any of the WP 10 builds.
* The Maps app is lacking in that it won't show you your Collections. So, if you've been creating them on the desktop, they aren't accessible on the WP app. Here maps continues to be the best in terms of features and UI, but is sorely lacking in non-address search terms (laughably bad, imo). It seems clear by the desktop version of Maps that Microsoft is trying to incorporate elements of Here into Maps, and this is all still in beta, so I'm hoping the WP Maps app still has a lot of UI changes coming down the pipe to match up with the desktop version. I'm definitely liking the direction the desktop (well, more accurately, browser) version is going, and it is obviously taking queues from Here maps. The mobile app just doesn't appear to be making any of those much needed changes. Yet. The only reason I'm even a little worried is that it wasn't very long ago (a month?) that Microsoft claimed the mobile Maps app was getting totally revamped (and urged us to try it out), but compared to the desktop (which actually does look like a real revamp), I'm still not really seeing it.
* The Maps app's live tile now shows your current location. Which is kind of neat. If there's a setting to turn that behavior off, I haven't found it.
* My Google Music app was working in 10136, but stopped working in this build (GMusic). Not a biggie, as I don't actually use my phone to listen to music all that often. But, it hadn't worked on any builds until 10136, and so it's a little disheartening to see it return to it's previous states where it appears to just hang on caching/downloading music streams.
* I've never really seen the battery issues other people have, and I always take them with a huge grain of salt, with all the variables that go into battery drain. All I'll say on this issue is that my battery drains no differently than when I use 8.1. And, like virtually every phone I've ever used (I think the only time I was ever even remotely happy with a phone's battery life was in the era of flip phones), I always wish the battery could last longer.
* When you turn your phone off (which, outside of this update/testing process, I pretty much never do), you get a nice message about not missing whatever upcoming events exist on your calendar.
* Still wish they'd give us a color wheel for the "colors" selection under personalization.
Overall, while not quite WP 8.1 smooth/fast, it's close enough to be a daily driver with minimal frustrations. The lack of sound/notification customization is still sorely lacking, but otherwise it's finally approaching the usability of 8.1 (the Outlook mail app took great strides since 10136). As my understanding is that it's still going to be a few months before it sees release, it seems likely sounds/notifications will see improvements to at least return to the level of functionality of 8.1, so while it's annoying to not see it yet, I'm confident we'll see it in a future build.
I've never lasted more than three days with any of the previous builds (most, less than a day), as they've been too slow/aggravating/feature-sparse, but I could genuinely see myself remaining on this build for the long term (ie: until the next build is released). That's a first, and hopefully a sign of what's to come with future builds.
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