Microsoft releases Windows Phone 8.1

Microsoft has released Windows Phone 8.1 as an update for existing devices. Anyone who has registered as a developer will be able to download and install the update from Monday. The update contains many new features.

Joe Belfiore, Windows Phone team leader at Microsoft, has announced that the OS is available. For the update, users need the Preview for Developers app and the device must be ‘developer unlocked’, for which users must install the SDK and unlock the device via an application in the SDK. Registering as a developer through Microsoft App Studio is free.

The app on the phone arranges that the update will arrive automatically in the way that updates normally come in. The update bypasses hardware manufacturer tests and can therefore be pushed directly to all devices.

Windows Phone 8.1 brings many new features, including an Action Center with toggles for quickly turning frequently used functions on and off and a repository of notifications. Notifications also now have a separate volume, separate from those in games and apps. The start screen can also contain more live tiles on smaller screens, although the text on the more compact devices in particular can become too small to be read easily. The keyboard also has a function to swipe from letter to letter, such as Swype. In addition, Microsoft has built in its answer to Siri and Google Now: speech assistant Cortana. However, it only works in English.

The updates for devices of users without a developer device come from manufacturers and providers and will probably follow this summer. The Lumia 930 with Windows Phone 8.1 will be released next month.