Windows Phone 8.1 Released To Developers
As we previously reported, Microsoft released Windows Phone 8.1 today, the first major update to its mobile Operating System Windows Phone 8. Since it is just a 0.1 increment, you may believe it is a small update. That would be a mistake. As we already reported several times, the Windows Phone 8.1 update introduces Cortana, an intelligent personal assistant named after the artificial intelligence from the video game series Halo. Cortana replaces Bing as the default search engine, but it also uses Bing and Foursquare to achieve the contextual awareness of Google Now or Apple’s Siri. It will also try to learn more about the user thanks to the Notebook feature. Unfortunately, for the time being, Cortana seems to be exclusive to the United States, with support for the United Kingdom and China arriving in the second part of the year.
Another useful feature is that you will be able to use a wallpaper for the Start screen, which until now was impossible due to the Windows Phone 8 metro user interface (it did not normally support background images for the Start screen). However, the Windows Phone 8.1 update lets users choose a background image for the Start screen of their Windows Phone 8.1 devices which will then be displayed in the Live Tiles. Besides Cortana and the ability to use a wallpaper for the Start screen, the Windows Phone 8.1 update also includes user interface tweaks, a new notification center, a mobile version of Internet Explorer 11 as the default web browser and many other changes.
The Windows Phone 8.1 update was released today for developers, but thanks to Microsoft’s developer preview program for Windows Phone, everyone will be able to install it. Most carriers from all over the world will probably start pushing the update soon, but if you can’t wait, all you need to do is follow this link, sign in with your Microsoft Account and create a new project. After that, your Windows Phone 8 smartphone will be able to download the update. While the developer preview program for Windows Phone is designed for Windows Phone app developers, everyone can access it.
Please not that the above mentioned procedure, while offering you access to the Windows Phone 8.1 update, will also voif your smartphone warranty, which can be restored after your carrier officially releases the Windows Phone 8.1 update. You also won’t be able to roll out to Windows Phone 8 if you are using the above listed method to update your Windows Phone 8 smartphone. Last but not least, the above mentioned procedure will only update the mobile Operating System (device maker customizations won’t be updated). You will also not be able to use custom lock screen features that shown by Microsoft this month. All in all, this is a big (from all points of view) update, and if you don’t want to wait until your carrier will start pushing it, than you can easily get it yourself. We would like to hear what you think about the Windows Phone 8.1 update, so leave a comment in the dedicated section below.
