Windows Phone 8.1 Features

g0g

Seems to be a lot of rumour information online as to features we'll be getting with WP8.1 whenever it's released. Granted I know the below aren't all definite by any means, but there are some things in there I really like the look of! From what I've read it sounds like most current WP8 handsets will be able to upgrade to it at some point.

Social notifications will now show up in Action Center by swiping from the top of the screen
Sharing secured WI-Fi Networks with contacts if they have Wi-Fi Sense. They don’t get to see the shared password though
Operators can now control Data Sense limits remotely
Operators can also install certain applications once a SIM card is detected
Along with normal updates, there are now “important” updates.
Options to always download emails and pictures within them
Encrypted and signed e-mail support
Change default SMS app. You can also change which SMS app will show notifications.
Enterprise enrolled phones can have their passwords changed and remotely locked
“Write, when I swipe through letters”. That should be self-explanatory
Geofence monitoring support. Geofence is a boundary around a place of interest to you. Location services can monitor geofences to tell your apps when you’re entering and leaving them. This would be really good for IFTTT
Office Lens support. Will scan in documents and screens
The phone will have to update to the latest version before you can restore it to factory settings
Option to update store apps automatically
Option to update store apps when only on Wi-Fi
App Suggestions by location
Manual Update checks
Password protected Office document support
Trusted app list for NFC that will remove the need for asking whether you want to open a particular app.
In-call speech commands. You’ll be able to say “Call XXXXXX”.
Double-Tap to unlock your phone (Feature from Lumia devices on Amber Update and newer)
Quiet Hours
Double Tap to Power Off
Notification if charger isn’t of adequate power
Screenshot button combination is now Power + Volume Up
Chkdsk for SD Cards essentially
Apps on SD Cards are only allowed from ONE originating phone. If it detects that apps from another phone are installed on the SD Card, then it will ask to delete those first
Voice Narrator for Accessibility
The Search button will be the new way to open Speech instead of the Start button (Since the newer phones will have the start button on screen)
New Email sync options with accordance to usage patterns (i.e. If you get a lot of mail on particular days and if you don’t check mail every day).
Change the size and amount of tiles on your start screen.
Wallet supports tickets and membership cards
App Syncing
Backups now include application data (ABOUT TIME)
Screen Reader functionality (Maybe Text-To-Speech for apps?)
Screen Recording functionality
Inner Circle of contacts. Up to 40 contacts can be in the inner circle.
You can favorite photos by tapping a heart icon
Virtual SmartCard support

sawdoubters

if its like windows computer 8 and 8.1 little will change

theothernt

sawdoubters wrote: »

if its like windows computer 8 and 8.1 little will change

It's not, did you even read the list of new features?!

There are a ton of new user and developer features in WP 8.1.

daveyboynire

Some nice feature there, sadly its still months off

Fingleberries

daveyboynire wrote: »

Some nice feature there, sadly its still months off

April second is the date that's being bandied about online (at the Microsoft \\build event). That's not too far away.

wheresmybeaver

They might release it earlier on the developer program in much the same way that many people were using gdr3 months before the final rollout.

the only thing that disappoints me about this update is the scaling back of the Facebook integration. I still find the official app is pretty ****e, so I've always used the integrated Facebook features (like pinning people to start and seeing their updates etc). Similarly i really liked how i could see all my Facebook photo albums in the Photos hub, i used that a lot. I'll now have to load the terrible and slow Facebook app instead?

gman2k

Is Cortana being rolled out with 8.1?

liamog

Nothing is likely to be confirmed until Build, but it certainly looks like it will be.

theothernt

gman2k wrote: »

Is Cortana being rolled out with 8.1?

Yes, there a few features that have not leaked as they're not in the developer preview

KingOfFairview

Any idea how this is being rolled out? I'm on Meteor, when might I get it?

PaulieC

KingOfFairview wrote: »

Any idea how this is being rolled out? I'm on Meteor, when might I get it?

well you'd have to wait for it to be announced. Then released. Then rolled out. I reckon you'd be lucky to see anything before July

Fingleberries

PaulieC wrote: »

well you'd have to wait for it to be announced. Then released. Then rolled out. I reckon you'd be lucky to see anything before July

Or, if you wait until the end of April then Microsoft will probably announce a preview program at \\Build, similar to the recent GDR3 one.

I have to say that I've been trying to avoid news of WP8.1, but some of the Cortana stuff is really interesting.

Fingleberries

Cortana seems to be the final name for Microsoft's Siri-like service.

Cortana pops up in Bing personalization settings: If you go to Bing on your PC, and change the settings to US, then you can see Personalization settings and the ability to reset your Cortana information.

Hopefully this doesn't mean that Cortana will be a US-Only feature (although, I wouldn't be surprised considering some of the stuff MS do on Xbox and Windows Phone that are already US-Only).

Fingleberries

Fingleberries wrote: »

Cortana seems to be the final name for Microsoft's Siri-like service.

Cortana pops up in Bing personalization settings: If you go to Bing on your PC, and change the settings to US, then you can see Personalization settings and the ability to reset your Cortana information.

Hopefully this doesn't mean that Cortana will be a US-Only feature (although, I wouldn't be surprised considering some of the stuff MS do on Xbox and Windows Phone that are already US-Only).

Yup. US-Only beta at first before going to other markets ... I presume you can use the same workaround as Xbox One (Switch Phone Locale to English US (and get annoyed with spell check putting in 'Z's where they don't belong )

beauf

I'd assume not all phones get all the features. Which is what happened with the previous updates.

liamog

It tends to be that all phones get the MS features, if it's the Lumia Black features then yes they are more hardware dependant

Fingleberries

liamog wrote: »

It tends to be that all phones get the MS features, if it's the Lumia Black features then yes they are more hardware dependant

Really good article on the developer preview for Windows Phone 8.1
http://m.wpcentral.com/how-sign-windows-phone-81-preview-developers

Martina82

What's going to become of my XP OS?

theothernt

Fingleberries wrote: »

Really good article on the developer preview for Windows Phone 8.1
http://m.wpcentral.com/how-sign-windows-phone-81-preview-developers

So, Nokia will have some Lumia specific features, like always, but 8.1 will be the same for all devices. There might be a couple of exceptions - camera burst mode, I don't think the 520. Same with the screen sharing/mirroring - it's CPU/chipset dependant.

There'll be more details in a few days when MS release the 8.1 preview for WP8 devices

kaizersoze

8.1 early next week (14th) for those on the developer preview.....

http://www.techienews.co.uk/979480/confirmed-windows-phone-8-1-developer-preview-coming-next-week/

gman2k

kaizersoze wrote: »

8.1 early next week (14th) for those on the developer preview.....

http://www.techienews.co.uk/979480/confirmed-windows-phone-8-1-developer-preview-coming-next-week/

http://www.techienews.co.uk/979427/getting-windows-phone-8-1-developer-preview-now-final-version-day-released-microsoft/

How to get 8.1 on your phone !!!

KingOfFairview

In my preview app 'done' is greyed out whether or not the box is ticked. Any ideas?

g0g

It's available for download on the preview thingy now for anyone who's eager!

Fingleberries

Downloading updates ... 0%

stevenmu

KingOfFairview wrote:

In my preview app 'done' is greyed out whether or not the box is ticked. Any ideas?

Have you enrolled as a developer first?

PaulieC

Almost Done...exciting times, if you're a geek

stevenmu

That pre-8.1 update is taking forever to install

joujoujou

Installing now...

Takes ages, indeed.

_Kaiser_

Running it on a 1320 and 520 here.

1320 is already through the pre-update (its on wireless) but the 520 isn't too far behind on 3G

1320 now searching for the real thing Hope it's worth it but everything I've read looks good.

bruce wayne

downloaded and installing on 920 as we speak ;0)

Fingleberries

stevenmu wrote: »

That pre-8.1 update is taking forever to install

phew. I thought I'd done something wrong because it was stuck "installing updates" with no progress bar for ages after the reboot (Lumia 920)

My guess is that a lot of us will be 'moving' to the US later today, eh?

joujoujou

It's pre-update alright.

Lumia 520 from o2.

liamog

I've the update done, working on Cortana, I've change the region to English US, now I just need to get the English US Speech pack installed.

gman2k

My ATIV was on GDR3, and an update came available over the weekend - but it was 8.0.10521.155
Another update came available just a few minutes ago, which I'm in the middle of doing, so I'm hoping that it's 8.1:pac::pac:
(Yes I signed up as a dev over the weekend!)
edit
That second update has just completed - it was the pre 8.1 update.....
Now searching for 8.1 itself!

KingOfFairview

stevenmu wrote: »

Have you enrolled as a developer first?

Seems to be working anyway, thanks

Fingleberries

Public Service announcement:

If everyone else on the internet could please stop downloading the Windows Phone 8.1 preview, it'll download quicker for me

_Kaiser_

Final stages on both phones here.. FYI: 8.1 itself will take 20-30 mins to download/install

Also worth plugging in the charger before you begin. Now to play with the new options

Review is already up too:
http://www.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-81-review

Fingleberries

Fingleberries wrote: »

Public Service announcement:

If everyone else on the internet could please stop downloading the Windows Phone 8.1 preview, it'll download quicker for me

Thanks all. That really helped. At 96% now

g0g

Good to see the extra row of tiles option on the 920, although it's a bit "squinty" to read now!

_Kaiser_

First impressions..

- I'm very much liking the notification centre

- I recommend going through the settings. By default for example Wi-Fi sense will send your email/phone details to public networks. I rather have that off myself

- Theme sync is pretty cool. Not sure about the transparent tiles/background though

I like the new fonts that are being used. Seems neater

long_b

Our day in the sun has arrived!
Rejoice WP users!!

g0g

Phone also seems very stuttery initially but I'm hoping that's because all my apps seem to be reinstalling in the background when I go to the list.

SO many new features though from reading that article - looking forward to exploring more this evening!

unkel

8.1 is only a preview and only available if you have the developer app installed, LIGHTNING

A lot of new features in 8.1, looking good! :cool:

Czarcasm

Will this update method only work for non-branded phones, or can I sign up for the dev preview now and the update will become available on my carrier branded phone and overwrite it?

Or is that just hoping for too much?

kaizersoze

Installing 8.0.10532.166 now. I presume that's the pre 8.1 update.

_Kaiser_

g0g wrote: »

Phone also seems very stuttery initially but I'm hoping that's because all my apps seem to be reinstalling in the background when I go to the list.

I'd say so.. it's running fine here on my 1320 and 520 post-install.

_Kaiser_

kaizersoze wrote: »

Installing 8.0.10532.166 now. I presume that's the pre 8.1 update.

If it only took 2/3 minutes to download and the same to install then yes - I think it actually says it in the blurb that no-one reads (including me! I saw it on a screenshot) that it's to prep for 8.1

The full update is much bigger and you'll want to allow 20-30 mins for it with a charger on dstandby just in case.

PaulieC

Cortana - how and what ? I have my regional setting set to US, but no sign of her

_Kaiser_

PaulieC wrote: »

Cortana - how and what ? I have my regional setting set to US, but no sign of her

Language and region to English US? I haven't bothered myself but from what I read on WPCentral that's how people are working around it.

gman2k

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Did you get your ATIV from the Amazon.de site like a load of us? I cant seem to get the update, are you using the developer preview technique?

Yeah, German ATIV, and running 8.1 now via the dev app route.
As per prev posts, one update over GDR3, then the pre 8.1 update, then onto 8.1 itself.
Seems like there is lots of differences straightaway wherever you look.
Tabs on the internet explorer is going to get used to.
Extra icons on the start screen is nice, icons on the top of the phone now stay on is handy!
Lots of exploring to do!

_Puma_

Quick question, do you need Windows 8 to get the Developer preview programme set up? After a read of the review many of the features I missed from android are here. Independent media volume, Swiftkey/Swype clone, Action centre buttons(Although I have been using the Shortcuts workaround), Cortona(More interested in the notebook feature than voice command, hopefully something similar to stumbleupon), ability to turn off notification banners(If you are in an active whatsapp group you know how annoying it can be)

Still don't see a fully featured Timer application. The Countdown timer I got from the store does not activate unless phone is unlocked. Really weird that there is none integrated seeing how they have been in every phone I've owned since the Nokia 3210. No Action button for Data network also seems like a weird omission.

All in all looks good! Any ideas when to expect this with the Cyan update from Nokia for the 920?