Windows Phone 8.1 Features

Sir Oxman · 15-04-2014 11:11pm

liamog wrote: »

The 1520 is the best phone I've ever had, I've not had the change to play with the 1320 at all. It's fast and has a beautiful screen.

It didn't take me long to get used to the size, I have trouble going back to smaller screens now. My wife's 1020 seems tiny by comparison.

Oh when you have the 1520, no need to play with the 1320!
I'd love one and will get one or it's successor.
I have a Note3 as well and it feels small and dinky in comparison- I have no problem with the 6" screen and love it. I coul;dn't go back to anything less than the Note3 size.

Back on topic, WP8.1 has just made the whole experience 100% better - love it.
Pity no Cortana in the EU yet, I can't be arsed changing region and languages and losing the store right now.

kaizersoze · 16-04-2014 1:26am

Love the new layout and added features on my ATIV S. I have an S5 on pre order but this is making me reconsider.

The only thing I'm not impressed with is that it seems to have ruined my battery life

. Was only ever at ~35% last thing at night. I had to put it on charge today at 2 o'clock.
I have Cortana running which I think may be the culprit. I'll get rid of it tomorrow and see. I don't think it'll be much loss.

_Kaiser_ · 16-04-2014 9:10am

So, my thoughts a few days later...

- Still loving the Notification Centre but more importantly notifications now actually work whereas previously they were patchy with things like Whatsapp.
Also the ability to turn off banner notifications is great as they all show in the Centre anyway.

- Haven't bothered getting Cortana as messing up store access would be a pain, plus I think it'll be just a fad really like the rest of those voice apps - they don't recognize your accent/voice most of the time (and I wouldn't have a strong accent), and checking they've gotten it right (eg: sending a text) is more time consuming than doing the "old-fashioned" way

- "Not-Swype" or whatever they're calling it (:)) works great

- Not sure how the battery life is faring yet as I've had a busy few days anyway plus all the playing with the options can't be helping. We'll see in a week or two how things are

All in all though, well worth the update and it's corrected/added pretty much everything that I might have missed from my previous Androids

Mr Freeze · 16-04-2014 9:22am

Would I be right in saying that notifications from Games and the Games App are gone?

I used to have them on my glance, for AlphaJax moves, its gone now, and I can't see to add it back in.

gman2k · 16-04-2014 9:54am

Cortana needs GPS on at all times to work, so that would be eating the battery also.

kaizersoze · 16-04-2014 10:12am

gman2k wrote: »

Cortana needs GPS on at all times to work, so that would be eating the battery also.

Yeah. I always had GPS, and everything else, on before the update anyway. Maybe Cortana is using it more. I'll get rid of it and see.

long_b · 16-04-2014 10:40am

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

- Haven't bothered getting Cortana as messing up store access would be a pain,

I've Cortana on and the Store still works fine for me and I'm getting notifications that apps have updated.

I think there were issues yesterday around the Store in general ?

KingOfFairview · 16-04-2014 11:36am

Sir Oxman wrote: »

You mean the notcification icon at the top left? AFAIK you can't
It goes when you first swipe down but the notifications stay on swipe down until you tap them or clear all.

No, I mean the notifications within the centre

The_Gatsby · 16-04-2014 11:58am

Is Cortana still only available with the US region set?

Mr Freeze · 16-04-2014 12:08pm

LIGHTNING wrote: »

My alarm hasn't worked since the update and I have been late for work the last two days :pac:

My alarm worked fine, didn't have to reset them after the update, didn't even look at them.

gman2k · 16-04-2014 12:13pm

I'm using Cortana to set alarms now, works great!

g0g · 16-04-2014 12:16pm

Am I right in saying that silencing the phone now takes longer, or am I missing a trick?
From locked screen:

Previously - press power button, press volume slider, press silent.

Now - press power button, press volume slider, press drop-down, tap Ringer + Notifications, tape Media + Apps.

liamog · 16-04-2014 12:17pm

KingOfFairview wrote: »

No, I mean the notifications within the centre

I think the point is that the notifications are cleared when you check them. I wouldn't want to be seeing them once I looked at them.

Sir Oxman · 16-04-2014 6:22pm

KingOfFairview wrote: »

No, I mean the notifications within the centre

They stay in the centre on my phone unless I clear,all or tap them

KingOfFairview · 16-04-2014 7:05pm

Sir Oxman wrote: »

They stay in the centre on my phone unless I clear,all or tap them

Hm, they vanish once I open it. Lumia 925.

liamog · 16-04-2014 8:43pm

Its dependant on the app.

I was watching the build videos for apps that deep link the notification will only clear when you click it or swipe the whole set away.

If the app isn't aware of deep linking they had to mask them all clear as otherwise the user maybe confused s to why some stay and some won't.

unkel · 18-04-2014 6:52pm

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

- "Not-Swype" or whatever they're calling it (:)) works great

It does work great. I wasn't familiar with this functionality (never had an android phone), but it works flawlessly!

awec · 20-04-2014 1:10am

The keyboard is all kinds of awesome.

unkel · 20-04-2014 8:12pm

Did you see the auto-emojis?

Swype "police" and see what happens

liamog · 20-04-2014 9:08pm

It works really well as a correction option on already typed words

awec · 20-04-2014 9:42pm

unkel wrote: »

Did you see the auto-emojis?

Swype "police" and see what happens

Yea there are loads of them, "home" etc too.

kaizersoze · 21-04-2014 1:11am

Anyone else notice a timing problem with the camera and flash since installing 8.1?
My flash goes off immediately after the picture is taken:pac:, which makes it kind off useless.:D

Samsung ATIV S

theothernt · 21-04-2014 1:41am

kaizersoze wrote: »

Anyone else notice a timing problem with the camera and flash since installing 8.1?
My flash goes off immediately after the picture is taken:pac:, which makes it kind off useless.:D

Samsung ATIV S

If you had a minute, you could report the bug to...

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home?forum=winphoneosissues

mik_da_man · 25-04-2014 9:18pm

How long do the carriers tend to take to release the updates?
eMobile in my specific case..

liamog · 26-04-2014 2:02am

This particular update will be a while yet before its released by your carrier. The current rumour is that it will be announced on May 31st with the rollout taking 2-3 months from then.

_Kaiser_ · 26-04-2014 12:42pm

mik_da_man wrote: »

How long do the carriers tend to take to release the updates?
eMobile in my specific case..

Debranding and flashing them with generic firmware (I've found stock UK firmware best) isn't too hard though. Note that this does NOT unlock the phone.
Benefits are that updates are pushed a lot faster if you don't want to go through the Dev Program, plus it gets rid of any carrier splash screens and bloatware.

[DISCLAIMER]
The following link is provided for information only. I take no responsibility for any problems, faults or warranty impacts that doing this may cause.
This information is freely available but you follow it entirely at your OWN RISK. It WILL (most likely) invalidate your warranty.
[/DISCLAIMER]

XDA>How to download/flash all WP8 Lumia stock ROM

liamog · 26-04-2014 1:16pm

Kaiser2000 wrote: »

Debranding and flashing them with generic firmware (I've found stock UK firmware best) isn't too hard though. Note that this does NOT unlock the phone.
Benefits are that updates are pushed a lot faster if you don't want to go through the Dev Program, plus it gets rid of any carrier splash screens and bloatware.

[DISCLAIMER]
The following link is provided for information only. I take no responsibility for any problems, faults or warranty impacts that doing this may cause.
This information is freely available but you follow it entirely at your OWN RISK. It WILL (most likely) invalidate your warranty.
[/DISCLAIMER]

XDA>How to download/flash all WP8 Lumia stock ROM

There's a potential risk with this due to some radio optimisations that are performed by carriers.

As to removing carrier bloat ware, windows phone requires carrier ware to be un installable.

If your the kind of person who posts on a board to ask when the update is available then I'd strongly discourage you from performing the flashing of the firmware yourself.

It is probably safe to do in 99% of times but recovering a bricked device is more complicated and as mentioned will likely leave you without your warranty, especially if you tell them what you were doing.

ChewyLuey · 30-04-2014 1:58pm

Hi All

Can anyone confirm if making the necessary regional changes to enable Cortana causes issues with Store (or any other issues apart from the obvious keyboard US spelling etc) as earlier reported or was that just a coincidence that it happened during general problems with the Store for some early adopers in mid April ?

Thanks

Coconut Joe · 30-04-2014 3:00pm

ChewyLuey wrote: »

Hi All

Can anyone confirm if making the necessary regional changes to enable Cortana causes issues with Store (or any other issues apart from the obvious keyboard US spelling etc) as earlier reported or was that just a coincidence that it happened during general problems with the Store for some early adopers in mid April ?

Thanks

Store is fine with free apps, but I'd guess you'll need to switch back to Ireland for paid apps (just to buy, they should run fine regardless of regional settings) - similar situation to Xbox One.

ChewyLuey · 30-04-2014 3:03pm

Sounds promising, thanks Joe :-)

Fingleberries · 30-04-2014 4:08pm

I can confirm that from my phone too. I can even keep the regional format to English (Ireland) or Irish (Ireland) for Date, time and currency settings in most places.

But I see the new Calendar like to create appointments in the US format (mm/dd/yyyy).

Settings:
Language: English (United States)
Region: United States ... Regional Format: Irish (Ireland)

Works for me - Cortana is pretty handy at picking up the Irish accent, but loses some parts if words run together or are too quick.

The Store works perfectly for Free Apps, but not for paid apps.

liamog · 30-04-2014 4:18pm

If you link to a PayPal account you may even get away with paid apps.

If that doesn't work then the other option is to buy Xbox Gift cards from the US and add the credit to you MS account. Its convoluted but will get you the credit.

ChewyLuey · 30-04-2014 4:19pm

I take it you could always just switch the regions back if you urgently (well after a restart or two) needed a particular paid app ?

liamog · 30-04-2014 4:27pm

ChewyLuey wrote: »

I take it you could always just switch the regions back if you urgently (well after a restart or two) needed a particular paid app ?

That will also work.

wheresmybeaver · 02-05-2014 7:53am

Don't know if it's been mentioned yet but the 8.1 update now allows you to charge app purchases to your O2 bill (post pay). You can select it as an alternative in your wallet. So maybe if you change region you can at least still bill your O2 account instead of a credit card or paypal.

stevenmu · 02-05-2014 10:58am

I really like the updated IE, it seems much better at rendering more complex sites, and is definitely faster at it. I like that they've added a "Find in page" feature as well which is really useful. And I love that the hardware back button acts more like a proper browser back button.

I really like Cortana too, the alarms and location based reminders in particular are really useful.

The only thing I don't like about the update is that the games hub sometimes takes an age to update.

LIGHTNING wrote: »

1) Battery life on my Samsung has taken a massive nosedive (despite turning off location,wifi and others)

I've found battery life very inconsistent on my Lumia, some days it's great, other days it's awful. I'm hoping the OEM updates will improve it when they roll out.

beauf · 02-05-2014 11:43am

stevenmu wrote: »

...I'm hoping the OEM updates will improve it when they roll out.

Can you still get them if you've installed the Preview?

AFAIK you can't roll back and it may invalidate you're warranty?

gman2k · 02-05-2014 12:03pm

I recently only found the screen capture feature by accident!

ChewyLuey · 02-05-2014 12:06pm

beauf wrote: »

Can you still get them if you've installed the Preview?

AFAIK you can't roll back and it may invalidate you're warranty?

Yes You should get them whenever they become available

Griffinx · 03-05-2014 10:47am

Battery life on my 920 has disimproved considerably and that's without Corona.

Liking new notifications and swipe keyboard

KingOfFairview · 03-05-2014 11:07am

Since the update, my gmail account is no longer syncing deletions, i.e. when I delete an email on my phone, it remains in my inbox when I look on my desktop. I didn't change any settings. Any idea what might be causing this?

unkel · 03-05-2014 10:05pm

Griffinx wrote: »

Battery life on my 920 has disimproved considerably

+1

KingOfFairview wrote: »

Since the update, my gmail account is no longer syncing deletions, i.e. when I delete an email on my phone, it remains in my inbox when I look on my desktop.

+1

I'm very happy with 8.1 but these are drawbacks for me too.

Yamanoto · 06-05-2014 11:56am

I've also seen the battery life on my 920 take a considerable nosedive.

Liking 8.1 overall - the swype-like keyboard & Podcast app being two improvements I find particularly useful. I'm less fond of the fact they've split the Music + Video hub, leaving both the poorer for it IMO.

chrislad · 06-05-2014 2:02pm

I like it generally bar the removal of Facebook from the messaging app. Getting a lot of white screen and late notifications in the Messenger app on a L820.

Fingleberries · 06-05-2014 3:07pm

Yamanoto wrote: »

I've also seen the battery life on my 920 take a considerable nosedive.

I wonder will this improve when Nokia release their own Firmware Updates (Nokia 'Blue' or whatever it may end up being called), when they add their own hardware specific bits and bobs.

theothernt · 06-05-2014 3:32pm

Fingleberries wrote: »

I wonder will this improve when Nokia release their own Firmware Updates (Nokia 'Blue' or whatever it may end up being called), when they add their own hardware specific bits and bobs.

I don't think the issues are model or driver specific, I think the issues are down to a) bugs in WP8.1 Preview itself and b) some devs are using new features of WP8.1 to update their apps (or live tile) more often than is probably needed.

Does Data Sense or Battery Saver give any clue to what's keeping the phone busy?

youcancallmeal · 06-05-2014 4:11pm

Anyone any idea when it is getting officially released? For some reason I was under the impression that it would be 2/3 weeks after the dev release, silly me. I'm noticing a few minor issues on my 1520 but nothing that is serious enough to make me want to go to WP 8.

KenH · 10-05-2014 3:39pm

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Anyone any idea when it is getting officially released? For some reason I was under the impression that it would be 2/3 weeks after the dev release, silly me. I'm noticing a few minor issues on my 1520 but nothing that is serious enough to make me want to go to WP 8.

Officially released at the end of June.....I think 24th. But there will be phones released with it before then. Also, your specific carrier might not update till much later than that date.

long_b · 10-05-2014 5:25pm

Nice tip on capitalisation in WP - you'll have to ignore the guy's grammar though

http://youtu.be/lJ772Gxmz90

deadduck · 11-05-2014 2:16pm

can't believe they still haven't fixed the email client so you can set it to use different default folders for deleted emails and sent mails (IMAP uses 'Sent' and 'Trash' by default). the windows mail app on win 8.1 can do it! forever having to transfer my sent emails from 'Sent Items' to sent. bloody pain!

Windows Phone 8.1 Features

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