| Windows Phone 8.1 changelog + video walkabout. (developing) Posted: 11 Feb 2014 07:32 PM PST Just in case you were under a rock for the last two days, Windows Phone 8.1 SDK was released to select developers and as such eventually its features were almost fully leaked except for those features Microsoft choose to hold close to their chest Instead of searching all over our site to get your screen shots and other little details, we decided to summarize all 50+ feature additions in one article to make it easy for you to understand what changed and what will that mean for you. Video walkabout in Windows Phone 8.1:
Telephony 
- Separate Volume for Ringer + Notifications and Media + Apps, its accessed upon clicking the arrow that shows up upon volume down/up actions.
- Ringtone options to vibrate during a ringtone or not.
- Ringtone options to vibrate in silent mode or not.
- Quick shortcut for sounds setting, changed Silent mode button location, its text based now.
Messaging 
- As part of the new back up system, SMS back up offers you a choice for how many messages your phone should retain in a set period of time. (just like emails.)
- Ability to use 3rd party SMS apps, it is still unclear if its going to be open to all developers or to select ones.
- Facebook Chat is now removed from messaging options.
Internet Explorer 
 
- Internet Explorer no longer uses tab browsing, uses separate instances in the multitasking view instead.(Nokia N9 style, its a nice way to prevent loss of data in the other open pages if a single page crashed).
- Internet Explorer 11 improved with WebGL and Normal mapping support; Its good news for video playback and HTML5 3d games, as it allows hardware acceleration.
- Internet Explorer 11 gets an improvement in HTML5 score at 372 previously at 332, mostly for video playback capabilities.
- Internet Explorer 11 now support HTML5 Video playback for YouTube videos from within the page, it also uses a new streaming interface with Seek, mute and minimize. (More good news Youtube Closed Captions will be supported)
- Internet Explorer gives the option to save or open recognized files using a tool called File Picker. (It was a pain trying to download an mp3 podcast!)
Radios, Connectivity & protocols: 
  
- Quick settings access (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth) by doing a quick swipe from the top of the screen.
- Cellular and SIM options AKA Nokia’s version of Access Point are now one, the Data connection is now a slide button instead of a list (I really don’t know what it was a list in the first place).
- 2g, 3g and 4g settings are nowhere to be found in the Cellular+ SIM settings page.
- Bluetooth 4.0 LE support for non Lumia Windows Phones. [Still waiting on further details hopefully some editing option in the dialer]
- NFC has extensive tap to pay options, sadly it doesn’t seem to cross over to picture sharing, Tap to share (NFC) is still a must for that.
- GeoFencing monitoring. A geofence [As described in the option menu] is the boundary around a place of interest to you. Location services can monitor geofences to tell your apps when you’re entering or leaving them.
(Endless possibilities Navigation, fitness tracking apps, basically an open Google Now protocol) - Wi-Fi Direct, a Wi-Fi standard allowing direct peer-to-peer connections over Wi-Fi without an access point. ( Faster data transfers, hopefully easier sharing to other Windows Phones and Windows PCs, possibly opens the door for sharing to Android through 3rd party apps)
- Better developers access to Background tasks: Bluetooth signal strength, Chat message notification, Device connection change, Device use trigger, Gatt characteristic notification, Location, Push notification, Rfcomm connection, System event, Timer.
- Project my screen both wired and wireless. [Still unclear if its Nokia Beamer style wireless connection or otherwise.]
- Native DLNA broadcasting support.
- VPN support. [Basically Blackberries only merit over Windows Phones in business was VPN support!]
- USB connections can ask for your prompt before going to mass storage, ability to enable or disable warnings about low powered USB chargers.
Media capturing: 
- Burst mode button, keep holding it and it’ll keep bursting shots.
- Redesigned Lenses icon its now an actual lens instead of arrows.
- Sadly as we saw in the video no changes to the lenses arrangement, we could only hope some sort of arrangement kicks in once you have enough lenses just like how lettered navigation through apps activates over 25+ apps.
- Nokia Camera-like preview of last photo taken using a circle with a small thumbnail.
Media viewing:  
- Improved Audio/video transcoding, Hardware accelerated
- Media editing: audio and video; Audio effects, video effects; Slow motion video.
- Stereoscopic 3d support.
- Xbox Music and Xbox Video as standalone apps instead of the Music + Video Hub (allowing more updates to be pushed)
- Changes to photo gallery, Facebook folders are removed, OneDrive is probably more of a link to the app.
Changes to Photo gallery upload picker. - Changes to photo gallery settings regarding what shows up in the Photos Live Tile.
- Native DLNA support.
APPS : - Bing News and the whole Windows Phone 8.1 suit of apps will be joining WP8.1 too .
- Music+Videos are now separate.
- New Podcast app.
- Improved Data Sense.
- Improved Phone Storage settings.
- Battery power sense.
- Slightly redesigned Xbox Game Hub.
- Auto-updates for apps. (just like Windows 8.1)
- Bing smart search. (similar search system as Windows 8.1) [ I'm hopeful it'll be able to search through settings too.]
- Single sign-in for apps (like on Windows 8) with Microsoft Account; sign in will persist across devices + apps with permissions prompt.
- Apps can now take Audio/Video from themselves [ I keep trying to explain this, I have few theories, I would love for someone in the know to clear things up.]
Apps management and interaction: - Ability to install apps on SD Cards however developers can choose to opt out in their app’s manifest.
- Filter through installed apps by usage/install date
- Slide down to close apps. [ So far I can confirm this is the case for the multitasking view only ]
- Back button doesn’t terminate the app. (much like Metro apps in Windows 8 and RT.)
- Apps can send ghost notification without alarming you, it’ll be able to change it and delay it. (think fitness apps reminding you of your calorie intake tracking without nagging you)
- Live Tiles that still show already read notifications can now be cleared out by swiping them to the left.
The article is still being written, I can’t believe how many details I need to mention and sort out, I’m off to sleep now the change log will continue to be edited through out the day, enjoy the video though.
Sources : Winbeta WPcentral Theverge @angelwzr and more. ( we respect our sources sorry for initially publishing this without their honorable mentions.) |
| More WP 8.1 Leaks; Closer Look at Separate Volume Controls, Weekly Calender View; No more Accidental Bing Searches (Screenshots) Posted: 11 Feb 2014 12:31 PM PST 
Earlier today we got our first comprehensive look at the new features coming in with WP 8.1, thanks to the developers SDK. Although Microsoft haven’t enabled the Bing functionality, or the voice assistant in this release there’s still plenty of other things to look at. Thanks to @AngelWZR on twitter, here are some more screenshots and details of the upcoming release. Starting with the image above, is the redesigned volume controls we’ve seen before, which give separate controls for the ringer/notifications as well as Media/Apps, a welcome change for those of us who want to lower their gaming volume but not miss out on notifications. Next up is a new feature which disables single presses on the Bing search button while in a fullscreen app (like a game, capturing a video/image etc.); the search button was ridiculously sensitive (not to mention useless) that some users went as far as epoxying it to stop it from going off. With 8.1 when in a fullscreen app users have to double tap the search button to open the bing app, pretty clever. 
It seems Microsoft and Google have worked out their issues, as not only is the Youtube site playing in the browser without any problems, but when setting up a Gmail account you can sign in through the web authentication (OAuth), which should hopefully restore proper Gmail service with push.  Also present is “project my scree” which is the ability to share show your phone’s screen onto a device; similar to how Nokia do in their releases, pretty useful if you need to share a presentation or video on the go.
 A big change for anyone who’s used the calendar on WP is the new weekly view, which brings up any events for this week in large tiles, as well as showing the predicted weather for those days (nice feature); and has done away with the annoying Lorem Ipsum text that confused many. Yay for progress. 
We heard of the “Battery Power Sense” app earlier, and here’s a glimpse of what it will look like, showing you what apps have been using power recently (hopefully with a detailed breakdown of which apps are the most power hungry).  The skydrive in the photo albums is no longer an album of its own, but will instead launch the Skydrive/OneDrive app (no idea why they did that.. unless the Skydrive app is going to be integrated properly into the OS). Here’s a look at the new Podcasting app (hopefully available internationally), as well as the settings for the app; which feature options for autodownload and streaming on the go.      |
| Lumiappdates: Nokia Camera, Viber and Amazing Weather HD Posted: 11 Feb 2014 09:30 AM PST Nokia Camera got an update dated yesterday. Nothing clear on the changes. Hopefully it improves video for 1520. Viber and Amazing Weather HD also saw some updates. 
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| (UPDATED x3 ) WP 8.1 Features Leaked; Full Announcement Expected April 2nd Posted: 11 Feb 2014 05:45 AM PST  As the inevitable release of WP 8.1 comes closer, we’re learning more and more about the upcoming features; the major one of which is the Action Center that was leaked a few days ago. Now as Microsoft have begun sending out developer builds of the SW we have a whole new slew of information to get excited about.
 The new features are:
- VPN Support
- Battery Power Sense (think Data sane, but for battery tracking)
- Ability to change the default messaging app (like the ability to change the camera app).. oh the endless possibilities if this is done right
- OneDrive
- Separate Music and Video hubs
- A new podcast app (hopefully available globally)
- Apps can be installed to SD cards (option to be disabled as well), appears to be called “Storage Sense”, screenshot below.
- Better multitasking (more like windows 8), where the back button freezes apps in the background rather than ending them, meaning that we should be seeing a lot less loading times.
- The new SDK includes “Universal App” support with templates to build Windows Store and Windows Phone Store apps from the same shared HTML and JavaScript code, which is the first step towards RT/Windows 8 and Windows Phone merging together.
- New Camera UI
- Swipe down to close apps
- Improved Youtube player in browser
- navigation bar color options
- Geofencing API for location-based reminders
- Background tasks: Bluetooth signal strength, Chat message notification, Device connection change, Device use trigger, Gatt characteristic notification, Location, Push notification, Rfcomm connection, System event, Timer
- Auto updates for Apps
- File Picker
- Deeper Twitter and Facebook integration
- Select multiple live tiles
The developers have also noted that access to the Bing search area is currently restricted, hinting that it’s due for a proper overhaul (fingers crossed for universal search), there was also no sign of the virtual assistant “Cortana”, but we’re confident that it’s coming and Microsoft are just keeping that one close the chest. The full reveal is expected to be at the Microsoft Build conference on April 2nd, so not much longer now.   Update: 
Some other changes that are included in the build: - A new camera UI as seen in the screengrab with the top bar for lenses, flash, front / rear camera selection, while the bottom app bar switches between a single photos, video, and a burst mode new
- Revamped Youtube player in browser, where videos can actually play in the webpage (without going into full screen)
- Close apps in the multitasking view by swiping down
Update x2: Courtesy of Reddit we now have a screenshot of the Battery Sense, as well as the “swiping down to close” in action, both very welcome features. We’ve also heard that the full announcement of WP 8.1 will be on April 2nd, at the Microsoft Build conference so expect to see the rest of the OS debuted there (including the refined Bing search, Cortana and more). Update x3: Other features also include: - navigation bar color options
- Geofencing API for location-based reminders
- Background tasks: Bluetooth signal strength, Chat message notification, Device connection change, Device use trigger, Gatt characteristic notification, Location, Push notification, Rfcomm connection, System event, Timer
- Auto updates for Apps
- File Picker
- Deeper Twitter and Facebook integration
- Select multiple live tiles
 
Via TheVerge, WPC, Source Reddit (gone now) |
| Microsoft Investors wants Nadella to scrap Xbox, Bing and Surface? Posted: 10 Feb 2014 11:53 PM PST 
The above suggestion was once attributed to Elop as his supposed plans should he become CEO. Despite Nadella being the new CEO, these suggestions chime in all over again according to the Washington Post. Two influential Microsoft shareholders have been pushing the Redmond software giant to abandon what they view as non-essential product lines so that Microsoft can focus on its core strength: selling enterprise software to businesses. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/02/05/investors-want-microsofts-new-ceo-to-kill-xbox-bing-and-surface/
But doing so goes against the new direction of ‘Devices and Services’ company. Though Nadella did say, under his tenure, MS would be ‘Mobile and Cloud first’, there’s nothing to stop Xbox, Bing and Surface being part of mobile and cloud. Since November, there’s been whispers that MS should ditch the consumer segment all together and focus on business. A former MS employee tells Washington Post that if a product doesn’t sell, it doesn’t make it into marketing. Perhaps why Windows Phones weren’t a part of Microsoft’s Superbowl ad? :p “Marketing at Microsoft is mostly about sales,” the former employee said. “And sales is largely about products. So if your product doesn’t sell, it doesn’t make it into marketing.”
Microsoft apparently has very specific ideas on what products are. Innovation may never see the light of day if it doesn’t fit into current offerings. But that’s the kind of thing Nadella needs to stop and he has previously said the New Microsoft will ruthlessly remove obstacles to innovation. Xbox One seems to be making some positive sales in this next gen wars, despite the massive uphill struggle in the poor xbox one launch. Bing, I can’t say much about bing but the bellow comment does. As for Surface? There’s potential there to make it into a hit device. Especially now with Nokia devices and services in the mix. I’d love to have an 8 inch full Windows 8.1 Pro, like the Dell Venue 8 pro or the new Lenovo tab. That’s just around the perfect size to be light and portable but have a big enough screen to be productive. And something like the Dell is very competitively priced. The potential is all there for MS to be successful; the biggest obstacle is Microsoft’s internal clunkiness. This was previously the top comment on Reddit at the time I came across the post. Microsoft is a tech company. The day it stops stretching into related areas is the day it begins to spin down into irrelevancy. To investors, there are 2 types of companies: growth and income. Growth companies are pushing things forward, reinvesting profits in massive R+D to grow and capture market share. Income companies are mature companies with large market shares who should focus on their strengths to maximize profit. This model mostly works in classical manufacturing companies, but for tech it’s crap. IBM is a case study of a technology company that squandered opportunity for the sake of acting like an Income company. Since MS has massive market dominance in Office and OS, these rent-seekers want the focus there. But that same focus would make Microsoft irrelevant within a generation. They need to be in Bing, Surface, Xbox, etc to have in-house knowledge of how these things work and should ideally interact with their now established products. Folks seem to take issue with my charactrization of IBM. Yes, IBM has been/is enormously successful. But there’s no denying that they missed the boat on personal computing, despite having all the pieces in the palm of their hand. Imagine an IBM where Microsoft is a division, and you’ll see what I see that leads me to say IBM squandered an opportunity, in order to protect/focus on their cash-cow centralized computing model, which is still a cash-cow today. It’s exactly the advice Microsoft is being given around spinning off Bing etc… focus on the money makers and dump the rest. But think of what might have been for IBM… If that makes no sense, perhaps catch up on the history of the PC.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_personal_computers
Microsoft has the resources to have the luxury to not simply focus only on the cash cow. They must, as the comment above from Reddit, continue growing beyond their comfort zones. Via: Reddit |
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