Windows Phone 8.1 – New Life for my Old Nokia 920
If every future 0.1 update will be like this, I don’t dare to imagine what 1.0 update will be like. So far it was a very pleasant experience. In the past updates where more of a roller-coaster: you expected a lot, got some of that, and eventually found that there’s still a lot that was missing. For the first time that I have windows phone an update contained more than I have expected to see.
One thing that has drastically been improved is main screen. Bellow is the transformation I went through. Ironically, I now have more screen real estate than items to put on it :)
| wp_ss_20140419_0002 | wp_ss_20140419_0001 | wp_ss_20140419_0004 | wp_ss_20140419_0008 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Before | After | Background image | Polishing |
A few observations so far:
App Folders is nice, but with so much real estate it is more of a grouping for convenience than an actual need
Notification centre is helpful to cut on wasted time spent navigating around
Cortana integration with phone/web is helpful – I found making reminders by dictating faster than typing those pesky details (remarkably “she” gets it even with my horrable accent)
Quiet Hours is really helpful. It forces me to leave my email/sms/twitter a side after specified hour and no more buzzing during night time
Volume control per functionality (media, bluetooth, headphones, etc.) – I know quite a few that hated windows phone because it lacked this feature. Well, too bad for them, it’s here now
Swipe typing – I’m still not good at it, but now it allows me to type in Russian w/o know the freaking grammer. I’m a champion now. Too bad Hebrew is not supported, could use some help with grammar as well :)
There’s more. Watch Scott Hanselman`s video for other features.