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Jeremy Sinclair

.NET, SharePoint, Windows, & Xamarin Developer who has the ability to constantly brick phones.

More Features To Look Forward To In Windows Phone 8.1

Posted on February 15, 2014 with

Within the past few days, Microsoft has been rolling out the Windows Phone 8.1 SDK to certain individuals. The SDK happened to be leaked also within this time period which led to the discovery of more features. The features that have been shown are really nice, but that’s not the end of it. With the help of my friend @jessenic, we present even more new features to look out for:

Please note: The features listed below were pulled from MUI strings directly from the emulator’s file system. These are subject to change as the current SDK is a preview. We won’t know until the RTM is released.

  • Sharing secure WI-Fi Networks with contacts if they have Wi-Fi Sense. They don’t get to see the shared password though
  • Social notifications will now show up in action center by swiping from the top of the screen
  • Operators can now control data sense limits remotely
  • Operators can also install certain applications once a SIM card is detected
  • Along with normal updates, there are now “important” updates.
  • Options to always download emails and pictures within them
  • Encrypted and signed e-mail support
  • Change default SMS app. You can also change which SMS app will show notifications.
  • Enterprise enrolled phones can have their passwords changed and remotely locked
  • “Type as I swipe through letters”. This means we will be seeing Swype-like functionality.
  • Geofence monitoring support. Geofence is a boundary around a place of interest to you. Location services can monitor geofences to tell your apps when you’re entering and leaving them. This would be really good for IFTTT
  • Office Lens support. Will scan in documents and screens

    “Download the Office Lens which scans whiteboards and documents directly in the camera as a Windows Phone Lens.The Office Lens lets you scan whiteboards, documents, and more with your phone’s camera, then optimizes the images so they’re clear and easy to read in your notes.”

  • The phone will have to update to the latest version before you can restore it to factory settings
  • Option to update store apps automatically
  • Option to update store apps when only on Wi-Fi
  • App Suggestions by location
  • Manual App Update checks
  • Video Calling Support? I don’t know if we will be given choices of which VOIP provider to use. Maybe Skype video calling will be built-in?
  • Password protected Office document support
  • Trusted app list for NFC that will remove the need for asking whether you want to open a particular app.
  • In-call speech commands. You’ll be able to say “Call XXXXXX”.
  • Double-Tap to unlock your phone (Feature from Lumia devices on Amber Update and newer)
  • Lock Notification (Feature from Lumia devices on Amber Update and newer I was thinking of Glance for some reason. This could also mean notifications of apps on the lock screen. We don’t know where these strings are being used in the UI, so this one is a speculation)
  • Quiet Hours  (FINALLY)
  • Double Tap to Power Off
  • Notification if charger isn’t of adequate power
  • Screenshot button combination is now Power + Volume Up (Since the newer phones will have the start button on screen)
  • Chkdsk for SD Cards essentially
  • Apps on SD Cards are only allowed from ONE originating phone. If it detects that apps from another phone are installed on the SD Card, then it will ask to delete those first
  • Voice Narrator for Accessibility
  • The Search button will be the new way to open Speech instead of the Start button
  • New Email sync options with accordance to usage patterns (i.e. If you get a lot of mail on particular days and if you don’t check mail every day).
  • Change the size and amount of tiles on your start screen.
  • Wallet supports tickets and membership cards
  • App Syncing
  • Backups now include application data (ABOUT TIME)
  • Screen Reader functionality (Maybe Text-To-Speech for apps?)
  • Screen Recording functionality
  • Inner Circle of contacts. Up to 40 contacts can be in the inner circle.
  • You can favorite photos by tapping a heart icon
  • Virtual SmartCard support

I’ll update this post with more information as I get it.

A big thanks to @jessenic for providing this!

Feel free to comment and ask for any clarification and we will answer if we know. I’m open to know any changes that need to be made in this post also.