Windows Phone 8.1 Coming with Cortana Voice Assistant

Published on April 7, 2014 By Island Dog In Personal Computing

Lots of news came out of BUILD 2014 last week, and one of the best was the official announcement of Windows Phone 8.1. It wasn’t a secret that it was coming, but it was great to see the announcement, feature demonstrations, and the introduction of the Cortana digital voice assistant.

Other highlighted features include:

Use photos as the Start screen background
High density option for Start screen
Overhaul of the app store
Wi-fi sense
Wordflow virtual keyboard
Notification Center
Week view in Calendar

They also announced some new phone models and hardware partnerships for Windows Phone. Windows Phone 8.1 will be rolling out to devices over the next few months, and the Developer preview is supposedly coming soon so people can get a hold of it sooner.

Comments

starkers

on Apr 07, 2014

Yes, Cortana Voice, I am so looking forward to that addition to my phone... spoken reminders and updates are going to be a blessing because I sometimes forget to check my calendar. I will be able to key in doctors appointments, among other important events, and my phone will remind me in advance so I do not miss them.

I like the idea of the app store being overhauled. I thought for a while that it could be more intuitive and better organised. Hopefully the overhaul will make it more fluid and user friendly. Given my experience with Android, and instantly disliking the iPhone, the Windows Phone platform is the best there is and later in the year I hope to upgrade to the Lumia 1520 to take advantage of the larger screen.

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