I recently updated my windows version to windows phone 8.1 on my lumia 1020. Since the update ’cyan’ will be rolling out in the coming weeks on all devices having atleast WP8. So here is a review. From here on windows phone will be written as WP. The following are my thoughts regarding the update.
Whats new with the update you may ask.
1) HOME SCREEN
2) PEOPLE HUB
3) LOCK SCREEN
4) NOTIFICATION AREA
5) WORD FLOW KEYBOARD
6) FILE MANAGER
7) VOICE CONTROL(cortana)
HOME SCREEN
Since the WP 8.1 update the home screen looks sophisticated. Being allowed 3 or 6 columns of tiles really spices things up. Now we can actually have a background on the home menu behind clear tiles instead of the boring colored tiles that were present in WP 8. Also the background is not completely static but moves slightly as you swipe through the tiles. Mind you this background does not carry over to the apps menu, The apps menu design is the same as the previous version. The Live Tiles are very useful and show all the apps show their notifications on the respective live tiles. They are very convenient,
PEOPLE HUB
The People Hub feature was there in WP 8 also is a great tool. When you open it for the first time, most users, including myself thought that it was just the phone contacts app. It’s only when you start to swipe through it that you find out quite how useful it is. You have a long list of contacts and you can link them with their Facebook, Twitter, Skype and LinkedIn profiles. In case you have different numbers or accounts for a same person, you can link them into a single profile. So if you have one entry for your friend’s email address, another one for his SMS number and then his Facebook profile, you can join them together. Also you can create a new group, add members and then when you load up your the group it will show all of their details from whichever social networks you choose and show the latest updates. You don’t have to log onto individual social networking platforms. All of that can be done from the peoples hub.
LOCK SCREEN
With WP 8.1, microsoft had launched the live lock screen as an optional download from the app store. With this lock scree you could control some functions of the phone, like turning music on or off etc even when the phone was locked. Unfortunately this was a beta version and is causing a lot of problems to users including screen lag and other minor bugs. Please don’t download it now. Wait for the proper version to be released.
NOTIFICATION AREA
The drop down notification area was available on every major OS from before, and it was a real shock when I found out that WP8 did not have it. Luckily MS have introduced it with the WP8.1 Update. In the notification area, you get quick access wifi, bluetooth, flight mode, rotation lock and setting. One thing I found missing was they did not add a quick button for Mobile date/GPRS. You still have to go to settings and turn on GPRS. Hopefully they will introduce it in the coming updates.
WORD FLOW KEYBOARD
Another major update is the keyboard. I dont know who at microsoft looked at wordflow keyboard and thought, " Nah, we dont need that". This was a major miss on the WP8 and considering the fact that it has been around for almost 3 or 4 years, a rather surprising omission. The new keyboard in Windows Phone 8.1 is ridiculously fast, it’s a Swype style of keyboard where you trace a line between the letters you want and using some fancy word prediction, you can now type so much faster than ever before. Very handy for those whatsapp junkies.
FILE MANAGER
Aah, I feel this was the most important update that they brought out. On the previous windows phones, if you recieved or downloaded a file which the windows os did not support, that file would vanish into the phone memory. That was a very annoying problem. If you downloaded say a 30 MB file, and windows did not recognize that file type, you could not access the file location to delete it and 30 MB of your internal memory would have been lost. Same goes for temporary files. There was an option to clear temporary files in phone memory, but no matter how many time you tried, it would not clear completely. My phone usaually shows around 300 to 400 MB of temporary files and on pressing delete temp files, it would only clear about 100 or 120 MB . The rest would remain there. These problems have now been taken care with the addition of the file manager called AERIZE explorer.
VOICE CONTROL
Microsoft has introduced a new voice assistant called cortana, a name taken from their hit game series HALO. I am delighted to say that cortana is way better than apple SIRI and has a lot more personality. Whats more is that cortana gets better at responding to your voice and commands the more you interact with it.You can access cortana by pressing the search button on the lower right corner, which was previously occupied by bing search. By pressing another icon in cortana, you can access your remind me, quiet hours, inner circle, places, music search and setting .You can enter your name and she will call you by your name. In your interest you can add whatever you are interested in and cortana will show you everything in regards to it. So if you add, say Indian cricket team, you will be shown videos, score, match timings etc. Remind me is your basic to do list. With quiet hours, you can set the hours in which you do not want to be disturbed. So cortana will block everything including calls, SMS etc. Not to worry about missing important calls as you can set cortana to allow a call if the same person keeps calling you. So if I select allow call after 2 tries, then cortana will automatically allow that call if the person calls me a third time. Also you can add people to your inner circle and their calls and other notifications wont be blocked during quiet hours.Cortana is fun to interact with. If you ask her to sing a song, she will sing. Or command her to tell a joke, and she responds with a joke.You feel like you are talking to a real person.Ask for Directions to a particular place, for example say the nearest petrol pump, and cortana opens the default navigation app and show you the way to nearest pump. Mind you, there are some minor niggles with cortana but I wont blame them as it is still in the beta testing and will get better in the coming months.
Verdict:
I’ve admired Windows Phone for some time now, but the 8.1 update marks the first time that the OS feels as good as IOS or ANDROID. There are no features lacking and I can now use Windows Phone without feeling like I’m giving up something I’d otherwise enjoy on an iPhone or Android device. The WP8.1 is currently available on high end phones, but everything including the base model lumia 520 will get it as an OTA update by the end of august, but don’t hold your breath as Microsoft are notorious for their product launch delays. Keep your fingers crossed.