Windows Phone 8.1 Thread

[JustGeorge]

They've changed the way it works so it's like Windows 8.  You still tap and hold but now you get a cursor with a circle under it.  You can drag that circle around to move your cursor to the right location.

That circle is way too small and doesn't have enough contact surface. Its a struggle to save humanity everytime I have to use it.

[Osiris]

Great update I would say the only disappointing things so far have been the games mixed in with the app list - not a fan although extremely minor criticism anyway - and Miracast support seems limited to the 1520 despite the fact that the 920 and 1020 apparently have the ability in their chipsets.

[HawkMan]

Great update I would say the only disappointing things so far have been the games mixed in with the app list - not a fan although extremely minor criticism anyway - and Miracast support seems limited to the 1520 despite the fact that the 920 and 1020 apparently have the ability in their chipsets.

Sometimes you need support beyond chipset.like before when not all smartphones had BT support or GPS but they all had the same chip with GPS built in, but even custom firmware could activate it because there was no antenna. So it might be something else they need besides the actual chipset or there's resource issues or something.

[Osiris]

Sometimes you need support beyond chipset.like before when not all smartphones had BT support or GPS but they all had the same chip with GPS built in, but even custom firmware could activate it because there was no antenna. So it might be something else they need besides the actual chipset or there's resource issues or something.

 

You might be right but I also don't think you can rule out artificial limits at times, look at the surface 2 it has nvidias directstylus technology on the chipset there but from the reddit ama around launch time MS has ruled out making use of it.  So its there they just aren't using the products full features likely because the stylus is one of the points of differentiation between the surface and the pro.

 

also when did post count disappear from the left hand side user details

[gohpep]

Also, muting takes a bit more work now. It used to be there when you hit the volume button. Now you have to expand the volumes dropdown and tap on the ringer icon to mute.

 

Oh no one more tap! /s :p

 

But I do agree, they can add the ringer icon to the left side again.

[ATLien_0]

sorry if i hit a nerve here - but is there any chance that the standard animation gets changed? i mean that "book page turning flying in/out" animation. im really not a fan of animations. not in powerpoint and definately not in a smartphone that i use constantly. its a big no-go for me. how can you like that? animation overkill imo.

its long ago i had a windows phone but how is google integration going? mail/contacts/calendar - how well does that work now with 8.1?

They have updated the animations in 8.1, but as far as I can tell no way to turn them off. 

Google integration for mail/contacts/calendar works just fine at least for me. I've got all that synced up nicely now and with multiple accounts. What hasn't changed is official Google apps for youtube/maps/G+. Though supposedly the api is in the works now

[Dot Matrix]

You can disable notifications in the Action Center from being shown on the lock screen.

 

However, the toggles will still be available.

Ahhh. Somehow, I missed that toggle. Thank you! (y)

[protocol7]

When Nokia start pushing out the next firmware, will I still have to wait for my carrier or will I now get it day one from running 8.1?

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

When Nokia start pushing out the next firmware, will I still have to wait for my carrier or will I now get it day one from running 8.1?

 

If it is anything like last time then you will have to wait for your carrier to release the update. The Nokia Updates for the phones are specific to each device as they will have updates for each one be it specific firmware updates or other changes. It took about 3 months from when we got the Dev Preview till the official release came out for GDR 3

[protocol7]

Hopefully with 8.1 being a pretty major release rather than an update they won't keep us waiting so long.

[Stoffel]

Hopefully with 8.1 being a pretty major release rather than an update they won't keep us waiting so long.

 

I really think it's out of MS hands. They hand it over to the carriers and then they decide when it gets released after extensive testing

[jakem1]

Hopefully with 8.1 being a pretty major release rather than an update they won't keep us waiting so long.

 

Here's some extra information from WPCentral:

 

 

General availability of Windows Phone 8.1

We?ve heard from a few sources that Windows Phone 8.1 general availability will begin May 31, which is when we expect to see the rollout of the official update commence. It will, however, be the usual weeks to months before carriers approve the update and begin pushing it out. Because of that, we're likely to see official OEM 8.1 updates with new firmware throughout June, July and August.

 

http://www.wpcentral.com/microsoft-supposedly-updating-windows-phone-81-preivew

[Dot Matrix]

Here's some extra information from WPCentral:

 

 

http://www.wpcentral.com/microsoft-supposedly-updating-windows-phone-81-preivew

Awesome. More waiting. :/

[jakem1]

Awesome. More waiting. :/

 

As Stoffel said, it's out of Microsoft's hands.They do what they can to get the update out to the OEMs as quickly as possible (including giving them access to early builds) and then it's up to the OEMs to get the firmware updates ready and through the carrier authorisation process.  It's time consuming because there are lots of parties involved.

 

As far as I'm concerned, the dev preview program is a good solution to this problem.  The minority who care get early access to the new OS and are only left to wait for the firmware upgrade which comes a bit later.  The ultimate solution would be for the OEMs to have their own dev preview program but I doubt the carriers would allow that.

 

At the end of the day it could be much worse.  You could be an Android user with no guarantee that you'll ever receive an update.

[Guest]

As Stoffel said, it's out of Microsoft's hands.

 

No, it is not. I'd argue, 99,99% of the code that they include in this and pretty much every other update does not touch anything that depends on a carrier's own implementations, which are in most of the cases non-existing, except for some silly carrier-specific phones, which would only concern the carriers that manufactured / ordered / whatever those phones.

 

The only thing that could interfere with a carrier's everyday compatibility would be a bad firmware driver for the antennas / radios / whatever which are used to connect to that carrier's network. The rest of the code, especially the user-facing code, can easily be deployed to every WP8 device, just like one can easily deploy Windows updates to every Windows device. The carrier-specific firmware could afterwards, after being proven to be 100% compatible, something which I doubt carriers even bother to do as they have proved time and time again that they are way too lazy to press a stupidly silly button to allow Microsoft to distribute a particular update to their users (hello WP7 and Android users), be deployed as a package separated from the main package, in this case the 8.1 version of the OS.

 

There is no logical reason for the non-carrier-specific firmware / antenna and radios drivers to not be distributed to all users on the same day, worldwide. But then again, there is no logical reason for Microsoft to be doing hundreds of stupid things that they're doing at this very moment, but still continue to do them... (in particular, everything Xbox related, everything transactions / Store related, and other account regional locks related crap) but that is a story for another day.

[neo1911]

I have found a bug in IE 11. I have selected the option to prefer desktop version of sites. Still it loads mobile versions. Very frustrating.

Anyone facing this? Lumia 1320 here.

[1337ish]

I have found a bug in IE 11. I have selected the option to prefer desktop version of sites. Still it loads mobile versions. Very frustrating.

Anyone facing this? Lumia 1320 here.

That can be a million things, did the site used to work? quite a few ignore the preference tag.

[Stoffel]

No, it is not. I'd argue, 99,99% of the code that they include in this and pretty much every other update does not touch anything that depends on a carrier's own implementations, which are in most of the cases non-existing, except for some silly carrier-specific phones, which would only concern the carriers that manufactured / ordered / whatever those phones.

 

The only thing that could interfere with a carrier's everyday compatibility would be a bad firmware driver for the antennas / radios / whatever which are used to connect to that carrier's network. The rest of the code, especially the user-facing code, can easily be deployed to every WP8 device, just like one can easily deploy Windows updates to every Windows device. The carrier-specific firmware could afterwards, after being proven to be 100% compatible, something which I doubt carriers even bother to do as they have proved time and time again that they are way too lazy to press a stupidly silly button to allow Microsoft to distribute a particular update to their users (hello WP7 and Android users), be deployed as a package separated from the main package, in this case the 8.1 version of the OS.

 

There is no logical reason for the non-carrier-specific firmware / antenna and radios drivers to not be distributed to all users on the same day, worldwide. But then again, there is no logical reason for Microsoft to be doing hundreds of stupid things that they're doing at this very moment, but still continue to do them... (in particular, everything Xbox related, everything transactions / Store related, and other account regional locks related crap) but that is a story for another day.

 

My understanding is that MS, and Google for that matter, would love to be able to just push these updates to all devices, but it's the carriers that always need to do some more 'testing'.

 

That's why MS has created the developer program, and made it so easy to sign up everybody can do it, so they have a way to get the bits to everybody as soon as they are ready, the firmware and other bits that need more testing get send by the carriers at a later date.

 

That's pretty much what you are asking for, no?

[Guest]

That's pretty much what you are asking for, no?

 

Kind of, except that the features are available to all users on release day, and driver / firmware updates are released later, if needed at all. I guess MS are stuck in their beautiful "US-only world" where phone = hardware device to use a specific carrier's network or whatever, which is kind of stupid if you look at the stats about where WP is the strongest, and where it is the weakest. It is downright ridiculous for the people in the other parts of the world to wait for carrier approvals and silly things like that when the phones we bought in full retail price are unlocked and work on all carriers.

 

This goes for OEMs as well. When an update on Windows Update is released, we don't wait for our laptop's manufacturer to approve the update or whatever. We just click install, and magic happens. There is no reason for the updating process not to be the same on handheld devices as well.

 

On a personal note, I've been trying to create a simple alarm app that would integrate with Cortana, to see how the experience is. Sigh, the documentation for developing apps for Windows Phone is all over the place. For some things, there is no WP-specific documentation available, have to use WinRT stuff for Windows 8.1 and then hack together things hoping that they would work and that I am not calling any Silverlight 8.1-specific APIs.

 

EDIT: Like for example, for some things the documentation talks about using WinRT patterns and concepts, then when you click on a link, it takes you back to Silverlight-specific things that do not exist in WinRT. Not to mention, compared to the general WinForms / Console / WPF documentation, the WinRT documentation is one sad giant baby face. There are no code examples specific to the particular class or method or whatever it is that you're researching about, you have to download full samples, and then it is basically good luck with figuring out what exactly you were looking for.

[Stoffel]

Kind of, except that the features are available to all users on release day, and driver / firmware updates are released later, if needed at all. I guess MS are stuck in their beautiful "US-only world" where phone = hardware device to use a specific carrier's network or whatever, which is kind of stupid if you look at the stats about where WP is the strongest, and where it is the weakest. It is downright ridiculous for the people in the other parts of the world to wait for carrier approvals and silly things like that when the phones we bought in full retail price are unlocked and work on all carriers.

 

This goes for OEMs as well. When an update on Windows Update is released, we don't wait for our laptop's manufacturer to approve the update or whatever. We just click install, and magic happens. There is no reason for the updating process not to be the same on handheld devices as well.

 

On a personal note, I've been trying to create a simple alarm app that would integrate with Cortana, to see how the experience is. Sigh, the documentation for developing apps for Windows Phone is all over the place. For some things, there is no WP-specific documentation available, have to use WinRT stuff for Windows 8.1 and then hack together things hoping that they would work and that I am not calling any Silverlight 8.1-specific APIs.

 

EDIT: Like for example, for some things the documentation talks about using WinRT patterns and concepts, then when you click on a link, it takes you back to Silverlight-specific things that do not exist in WinRT. Not to mention, compared to the general WinForms / Console / WPF documentation, the WinRT documentation is one sad giant baby face. There are no code examples specific to the particular class or method or whatever it is that you're researching about, you have to download full samples, and then it is basically good luck with figuring out what exactly you were looking for.

 

that is exactly what they are doing, only one extra step, you have to register as a dev, which is free, to get the bits.

Seems fair to me, that way it doesn't get pushed to people who would actually rather wait until it comes in a nice bundle with updated firmware and drivers.

 

But everybody can get the bits right now, if you want to

[Dot Matrix]

Windows Phone 8.1 seems to be creating duplicate folders in my OneDrive. Is this happening to anyone else?

[Mystic Mungis]

I keep getting this weird bug where texts will randomly start a new thread. As you can see I have 2 threads for the same contact.

 

[BajiRav]

Why did they have to separate a address book and the people hub? Everything seamless had become a chore now!

[siah1214]

I'm still annoyed that I see all my FB contacts with phone numbers in my phonebook

Why would I want that?  

Yes, why would you want your friend's phone numbers listed in your phone book?  :rolleyes: The stuff people complain about never ceases to amaze me. 

[Stoffel]

Yes, why would you want your friend's phone numbers listed in your phone book?  :rolleyes: The stuff people complain about never ceases to amaze me. 

 

If I exclude people from FB from my contact list then yes, why are they still showing up in my Phonebook?

Seems like a reasonable question. I don't remember it being this way in WP8.0