Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 bringing Cortana to new markets

Microsoft will soon be rolling out the next release of Windows Phone, the succinctly titled Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1, and it bring with several new features.

One of the major changes is not a new feature but an update to the existing one. Cortana, which was introduced in 8.1 and is Microsoft's voice assistant, will now be available in markets outside the US, namely China and the UK in beta form, along with Canada, India, and Australia in alpha form.
For China, Microsoft has made several modifications to Cortana. Nicknamed 'Xiao Na', Cortana will have an alternative form with different visual appearance, animations, and sounds. It will support Mandarin in voice, text, and speech. There will also be additional information tuned for the Chinese audience, such as air quality info in weather cards, information about driving restrictions, and the ability to track local TV shows and celebrities. Cortana can also look up English words in Bing Dictionary.
In the UK, Cortana will have a different voice than in the UK as we reported before, with British pronunciation and spelling. Bing will provide local information on sports teams, the London Stock Exchange, commuter conditions, etc.
In the US, Cortana will be updated to support more natural language scenarios, snooze times for notifications, and several improvements to her personality for improved conversations.
Other than Cortana, Update 1 will have other features as well, such as folder support on the Start screen, performance improvements to the Xbox Music app, live tile for the Store app to show app suggestions, ability to mark multiple text messages for deletion or forwarding, Apps Corner to select a handful of apps and limit the device to only those apps or to make the device boot straight into a particular app, which can be useful for businesses.
Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 will be rolling out next week to those on the developer preview. For those on stable 8.1 update, it will be available in the coming months.

Comments

Post a Comment

Kindly Comment Only related to Post

Popular posts from this blog

iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone 8 now rule DxOMark's rankings with best smartphone cameras ever tested

Image
With sales of the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus starting today, DxOMark has published comprehensive reviews of both handsets' cameras. Lo and behold, they have jumped straight to the first two spots in the DxOMark rankings, leaving the HTC U11 and Google Pixel in the dust. The Pixel used to be the king of DxO until the U11 got the same score of 90. Now though, the iPhone 8 Plus' camera becomes the best that the lab has ever tested, with a score of 94. The iPhone 8's shooter isn't far behind, ranked No.2 with its 92 points. The iPhone 8 Plus shines in picture taking, with a record-breaking Photo score of 96, while for recording videos it gets a score of 89 - tied with the HTC U11 and slightly below the Pixel's 91. The iPhone 8 Plus has "outstanding image quality" and "an industry-leading Portrait mode". It is at the top of the charts in nearly every category, while its advanced software means it does "an amazing job" ...
Read more

Microsoft has laid Windows Vista to rest

Image
Today, Microsoft is “sunsetting” Windows Vista. That means it will no longer be supported with security updates from Microsoft. So if you find yourself with a machine running Windows Vista, you should look at upgrading to a newer version of Windows in order to stay secure. Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP, Windows Vista In the early 2000s, Windows pumped three major consumer operating systems: In early 2000 came Windows 2000, later that year, Windows released a Windows Millenium update which was filled with glitches and bugs, including a way to bypass the password screen by hitting a few keys. Then came Microsoft’s saving grace: Windows XP. Windows XP then became a very popular operating system getting its third service pack in 2008. Back-tracking a couple of years to 2006, Windows Vista is released to the public. Windows Vista was abundant with glitches, bugs, and the overall performance of the OS was quite awful on hardware available at the time: when d...
Read more

Google confirms that it's launching two flagship Android Wear smartwatches in early 2017

Image
Two reports from a few months ago claimed that Google was working on two high-end smartwatches of its own, which were supposed to debut alongside the Android Wear 2.0 release this year. But then the new version of the company's wearable OS got delayed until 2017, and so we assumed the launch of the watches was postponed for that reason. It turns out that's exactly what happened. Today Jeff Chang, Google's product manager of Android Wear, has confirmed that the company is developing two flagship smartwatches which will be on the market in the first quarter of next year (so before March 31). These will be the first devices to launch running Android Wear 2.0, but then throughout 2017 we'll reportedly see more watches powered by the new OS version, from other partners. Some of those may even present their wearables at CES in January, while others will wait for Baselworld in March. Google's watches will not be Pixel-branded as you may have expected...
Read more

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7.0 LTE

Tablet with support for GSM voice communication, SMS, and MMS Also known as Samsung SM-T235 General 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 4G Network LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600 SIM Yes Announced Exp. announcement 2014, Q2 Status Rumored . Exp. release 2014, Q2 Body Dimensions 187 x 106 x 8.9 mm (7.36 x 4.17 x 0.35 in) Weight 320 g (11.29 oz) Display Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 800 x 1280 pixels, 7.0 inches (~216 ppi pixel density) Multitouch Yes   - TouchWiz UX UI Sound Alert types Vibration, Polyphonic(64), MP3 ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes Memory Card slot microSD, up to 64 GB Internal 8/16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM Data GPRS Yes EDGE Yes Speed HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot Blue...
Read more

HTC Desire 501

Image
General 2G Network GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900 3G Network HSDPA 900 / 2100 SIM Yes Announced 2013, November Status Coming soon Body Dimensions 128.5 x 66.7 x 9.8 mm (5.06 x 2.63 x 0.39 in) Weight 130 g (4.59 oz) Display Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches (~217 ppi pixel density) Multitouch Yes Sound Alert types Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes Memory Card slot microSD, up to 32 GB Internal 8 GB, 1 GB RAM Data GPRS Yes EDGE Yes Speed HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, DLNA Bluetooth Yes, v4.0 with A2DP NFC Yes USB Yes, microUSB v2.0 Camera Primary 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash Features Geo-tagging, face and smile detection, simultaneous HD video and image recording Video Yes Secondary Yes, 2.1 MP Features OS Android OS...
Read more

Samsung explains the new tech behind the Galaxy S5 Super AMOLED display

Image
While much fuss has been made out of the Galaxy S5 display – the company’s 1080p Super AMOLED diamond matrix having been around since the Galaxy S4, after all – it turns out that Samsung has put quite a bit of work into making its latest panel the best ever. The company has posted some interesting demos of the new capabilities baked into the Galaxy S5 display, including local contrast enhancement for bright conditions, Adapt Display tech for different lighting, and different color realization modes for display photos. Local contrast enhancement allows the display itself to analyze and segment the display under different lighting conditions, meaning that it can change both the illumination and contrast level, including the ability to dim the display even further to avoid eye strain from excessive brightness in dark conditions. Adapt Display on the S5 means that the display will automatically change according to surrounding lighting conditions, including color ran...
Read more