BackWindows Phone 8.1: inching closer?
Microsoft recently unveiled the first significant update of its Windows Phone 8 operating system. Will the new features sway iOS and Android supporters?
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It might not have captured the public’s imagination to the extent some imagined, but Microsoft has not yet given up on its Windows Phone 8 operating system (OS). The Redmond, US, giant has made perhaps its most radical overhaul of the OS with its Windows Phone 8.1 update, which is expected to be rolled out to all Windows Phone 8 devices in the coming days, introducing a sackful of new features for the user, apart from the usual bug fixes and performance enhancements. Although the update has not been released officially, we managed to get our hands on a device running the Windows Phone 8.1—some of its features could definitely make it a worthy competitor to the Android and iOS:
u Start Screen Personalisation: going beyond black and white, adding tiles
While many people have loved the fluidity of the Windows Phone interface, the fact that one cannot customize it too much in terms of appearance (you can change the colour and size of tiles and the colour of the background) has been an irritant. With the Windows Phone 8.1, users can place an image or a photograph on the background of the Start screen that will be visible through the tiles. You also have the option now to add an extra column of tiles on your Start screen, allowing you to place more of your favourite apps on the initial screen of your device. This puts it on the same level as the iOS, which also lets you place wallpapers behind the app icons on its device. But neither is anywhere near the customization options provided by Android, which lets you change everything from icons to wallpapers to keyboards and has widgets too.
Our take: Android still rules the roost in this department.
u Action Center: et tu, WP!
One of the biggest complaints users have had about the Windows Phone is that unlike Android and iOS, it had no notifications area and instead tried to deliver updates about new mails, social networks and the like on the tiles on its home screen. That has been fixed in the Windows Phone 8.1, so you can pull down the Action Center from the top of the display, see notifications, and tinker around with settings like brightness, Wi-Fi connectivity and Bluetooth.
Once again, in terms of implementation, it is closer to the iOS, and not as versatile as Android, but most consumers should be more than content with what it offers—after all, not everyone wants notifications to keep raining down on them or tweaks settings all the time.
Our take: It’s not as powerful as Android, but is more than adequate for most users.
u Word Flow: swipe to type
The art of typing by swiping your finger across letters instead of hitting each one has led to people composing mails, messages and documents much faster on Android devices. Well, this feature is now available on the Windows Phone 8.1 via Word Flow, and will be especially welcomed by those who like to use their phones with one hand. Of course, the predictive ability of the keyboard (guessing the next word you are about to type) remains as good as ever, so after a while you can actually type an entire message by pressing just the Enter key.
Which makes the swipe implementation better than the one on KitKat Android devices. iOS users, of course, do not have too many options in this regard, although their keyboard remains one of the best tap-and-type keyboards on a phone.
Our take: You only get better on-screen typing on a BlackBerry 10 device. Definitely better than iOS and Android.
u Save to card: yes, even apps
Microsoft might have brought in expandable memory with its Windows Phone 8 range of Lumia devices, but there was a catch—you could not install applications on these memory cards. And given the fact that some of the applications were really on the hefty side (especially the games), users often ran out of storage space on their devices. Well, on the Windows Phone 8.1, users will often have the option to save apps on expandable memory cards, which should leave them with much more space on their devices. Die-hard iOS fans are unlikely to be impressed by this—iOS devices have no expandable memory option—but this brings the Windows Phone pretty much on a par with Android in this department.
Our take: It may not be a killer feature for iOS fans, but brings the Windows Phone level with Android.
u Camera: faster roll and burst mode
They might not have had the specifications of the Androids, but one department where most Windows Phone devices are believed to beat the competition is in photography. That said, Microsoft has decided to not rest on its laurels and has added a number of new features for phone photographers in the 8.1 update.
The Camera Roll, where all your pictures are stored, works faster and all your pictures are arranged automatically by date and location. There are also better image-editing options and finally, a burst mode that lets you take pictures in quick succession by simply holding down the camera button. This is one department where the Windows Phone is well ahead of the rather plain default camera applications on the iOS and Android. On the flip side, both iOS and Android have some very powerful third-party applications for photography, but if one is not the downloading type, then the Windows Phone 8.1 maintains the OS’ photography edge over its rivals.
Our take: It’s easily the best stock camera application we have seen on any mobile device in terms of features. The iOS retains the advantage of being simpler and faster, though.
u Cortana: speak, and you will be heard
We might have left it for the last, but there is no doubt that of all the features of the Windows Phone 8.1 that were highlighted, Cortana was the one that grabbed the most attention. And no, it was not just because it was named after a character in the iconic Halo game series.
Cortana brings voice control of the Siri or Google now kind to Windows Phone devices. In essence, this means that you can speak to your phone whenever you want to know something— you can ask for the weather, for directions, for news headlines, social network updates, and so on. It will also learn your habits and even come up with the occasional witty response. A massive catch is that this feature is initially available only in the US, which already puts it well behind both Siri and Google now, which work in India, although Siri still has accent issues.
Our take: It’s impressive if the demonstrations are anything to go by, but Google now remains the best for a person with an Indian accent seeking information, and none can quite carry on a conversation as Siri does.
Time to switch to Windows Phone 8.1?
So does the Windows Phone 8.1 do enough to stand alongside the likes of iOS and Android? Well, based on what we have seen, it certainly does. Not only is it a smooth performer, but the fact that it will be available for all (yes, all) Windows Phone 8 devices across different price segments definitely gives it the edge over Android, whose updates are notoriously slow to roll out to existing devices. Of course, it still is not in the same league as the “same day, all devices" update system of the iOS.
Most significantly, however, the app gap is closing, with Windows Phone getting the likes of Instagram and Kindle as well as some high-class Xbox game titles. It is too early to predict whether the Windows Phone 8.1 will change the mobile fortunes of Microsoft but at the very least, it has made the Windows Phone a real contender in the smartphone OS wars.
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