WP8.1

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Due in the coming months for existing wp8 users. Shipping with the new lumias starting towards the end of the month


Pretty full overview


http://blogs.windows.com/windows_ph...eat-features-coming-in-windows-phone-8-1.aspx


Cortana

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In Windows Phone 8.1, you get to Cortana by either a Live Tile on your Start screen or by pressing the search button on your device. This will take you to Cortana Home. To interact with Cortana, you can either speak or type—if you’re in a meeting, just type and Cortana won’t talk out loud. But if you ask her a spoken question, she’ll answer verbally and even carry on a natural conversation.

When you interact with Cortana for the VERY first time, she will start learning things about you... like your name, how to pronounce it, and ask for some personal interests.

Once she’s learned a bit about you, Cortana’s home populates with information that is curated just for you. You’ll see things like flight information she’s found from your email confirmations, weather, the latest news, and even traffic information once she learns your commute routine, such as from work and home.

Action Centre
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Flow keyboard
The keyboard in Windows Phone is smart enough to learn your writing style and even knows the names of people in your contacts for faster typing. Best of all, our new Word Flow Keyboard lets you glide your fingers over the keys to type INCREDIBLY quickly… a kid was able to BREAK THE OFFICIAL WORLD RECORD previously held by the Swype keyboard on a Samsung Galaxy S4 using Word Flow by 8 seconds!

Lock screen themes

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The Lock screen is the very first thing you – or your friends—see when you grab your phone, and in Windows Phone 8.1 we’re providing a new app that lets you set a wide range of interesting “Lock Screen Themes” which show all kinds of different visuals and animations. Make it yours…

start screen background and third column for all phones

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In 2013, we added a third column on devices for 5-inch screen or larger devices, like the Lumia 1520, to enable more stuff to show up on the screen. People really liked this so we are enabling this on all screen sizes in Windows Phone 8.1. Pin away! We’ve also added the ability to customize your Start background with a favorite picture or one of the options we’ve provided, which will make many of the tiles on your Start screen become clear so you can see the background you selected as you scroll up and down.

new Skype app
The new Skype app for Windows Phone 8.1 brings the best of Skype on a smartphone. It’s integrated with the Phone dialer, so if you’re on a call you can quickly and easily “upgrade” your ordinary phone call to a Skype video call at the tap of a button! And… the new Skype app is designed to work seamlessly with Cortana so you can use Cortana to setup your calls within Skype.

new calendar
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Separate slider for ring volume/media
we’ve improved the phone volume control by including separate sliders for your ringer/notifications and for your apps and media. Just the way you asked for it!

email supports S/MIME
Email now supports S/MIME secure email, and we’ve broadened our support for different account types, now including iCloud.

Business features
With Windows Phone 8.1, we’re making it even easier for IT professionals to manage devices and for professionals to connect to essential business apps and services with features such as customizable MDM enrollment, support for loads more MDM policies, LOB application & certificate management, S/MIME and VPN support. Stay tuned for a detailed blog post later today on the Windows for your Business Blog that covers all the key features for businesses.

combined app store with windows8.1update1
But only if developers update and allow it, they can still charge separately if they choose.

and some other stuff
 
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So we should be able to update next week or so with the dev preview. :)

I am looking forward to the new update. I also like the look of the 930.
 
Looking forward to trying out cortana, looks like a nice combination of siri and google now.
 
Looks a great update to WP and I look forward to eventually getting the update through Vodafone for my Lumia 1020 :p

Will be interesting to see how long it will take to arrive on specific carriers.

Cortana actually looks to be incredibly smart and a possible valued addition to your phone usage.
 
cant fathom why anybody would ever want to talk to their phone. Hands free in the car i guess but other than that just..no.

Like the look of the background scrolling and the lockscreens though. Hmmm maybe i should give windows phone a go as a bit bored of android now.
 
Just heard about this from a manager at work. He said "Android and Apple have just been blown out of the water" - This is the same guy who claimed the 1520 wiped the floor with the Note 3.

There's no making sense of some people.

Nice update to WP, better late with core features than never I suppose.
 
Could say the same about Android, they all have their core abilities that others don't... I miss several things WP has that my current HTC One doesn't.... Not least the integration and fluidity.

Android and iOS have copied a significant amount from WP over the last few years (not least swathes of the UI) as WP has copied swathes of stuff from Android and iOS etc.

I do like the new ability to add a back image to the live tiles although don't see much need for Cortana. I can count on one hand the number of times the GF and I have used Siri on ipads and iPhones...
 
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What have Android and iOS copied from Windows phone? Interested to know because the way it seems to me it's the other way round and we have seen iOS copy many things from Android in their last 2 major releases.

Likewise Google have copied features from homebrew devs and OEM customisations as well.

Generally the ones doing the copying are the ones always late to the game - So can we call it copying or just implementing basic smartphone functions that are expected anyway?

Open to debate :p
 
Well, be interesting to see if they can copy for Devs what MS is now offering, Code once and it works across all platforms.
 
What have Android and iOS copied from Windows phone? Interested to know because the way it seems to me it's the other way round and we have seen iOS copy many things from Android in their last 2 major releases.

Likewise Google have copied features from homebrew devs and OEM customisations as well.

Generally the ones doing the copying are the ones always late to the game - So can we call it copying or just implementing basic smartphone functions that are expected anyway?

Open to debate :p

Well for starters significant portions of the UI and interface. Android from version 4 and iOS taking design ques with iOS7... :p

What have WP copied, the notification centre and...? (Although it could be argued Android copied SPB phone suite software on Windows Mobile from 2008)

Phone and OS development is a mishmash of old and new, influence and occasional actual copying. All the companies do it, even from software that failed (such as the tabs in Android and iOS browsers that use the tile interface of webOS). You choose your OS based on what core features you think best suit you. Most don't care about things like VPN but an integrated people app (which is something WP did first, and is still a lot better than the one on Android, or at least the HTC One) is fairly useful IMO.

Edit and that's before we get into the discussion of what Android "borrowed" from Windows mobile in 2010...:p
 
Except for Cortana(which is nice) the rest is a straight rip off from MIUI but not as nice.
 
Much needed features... Needs to keep improving and growing. Needs to get to 20% market share... Still less than 10% in core markets.
 
I do like how you can select which four things you want for the toggles in the action centre. It also seems very slick, makes me very interested.
 
I do like how you can select which four things you want for the toggles in the action centre. It also seems very slick, makes me very interested.

5 things on phablets, or at least one of the 1520 running wp8.1 has 5. Be interesting what size screen is the switch over. Or maybe just resolution.
 
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