Windows Phone 8.1 Feature-List Revealed, Includes Quiet Hours, Office Lens And More

The Windows Phone 8.1 SDK is the Magician's Hat that keeps on revealing new things. We already know about background images for the Start screen, this afternoon, developers Jeremy Sinclair (@sinclairinator) and Jesse Leskinen (@jessenic) have put together a new bullet lists with lots of new features. Their info comes from MUI strings direct from the SDK, so they are subject to change upon final release.

What’s interesting about this list is the sheer number of little things that we had suspected, but not yet confirmed in Windows Phone 8.1.
It should be clear that 8.1 is, in many ways, a complete overhaul of the OS from top to bottom, not just a few big features. That’s important because what you’re about to read below demonstrates just how busy the dev team has been to build upon the groundwork laid down with Windows Phone 8, back in late 2012.

Windows Phone 8.1 new feature changes (subject to change upon RTM):

• Sharing secured 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
• “Write, when I swipe through letters”. That should be self-explanatory
• 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
• 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 Update checks
• 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)
• Quiet Hours
• Double Tap to Power Off
• Notification if charger isn’t of adequate power
• Screenshot button combination is now Power + Volume Up
• 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 (Since the newer phones will have the start button on screen)
• 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

We should caution that not everything listed in the SDK will make it to the final build of Windows Phone 8.1, but at the very least, you get an idea of what Microsoft is attempting. Likewise, how these features will exactly work is yet to be seen.

Quiet Hours refers to a set period of time where a user won't be bothered by Notifications. The Windows Phone version is expected to reflect the current layout in Windows 8.1.

Other additions like downloading of email images automatically, auto-app updates, disabling NFC confirmations, are just little things that helps those using Windows Phone 8.1 much more fluid.

Interestingly enough, it looks like Nokia is putting back into Windows Phone with the inclusion of double-tap to wake into the OS. There is also reportedly now double-tap to power off, which should be an interesting flipside to the current implementation.

Office Lens support sounds like a HandyScan feature where you can take a photo of a document and import it into Office, leveraging both Lens and built in Office features. Combined with the robust Enterprise and VPN pack, that should give Windows Phone an edge for business.

“Write, when I swipe through letters” appears to be a reference to the new swipe keyboard option in 8.1. It’s an augmentation of the stock keyboard where users can drag their finger to type, giving users an optional method of input.

Microsoft seems to be delivering a massive update this spring, appeasing many people who lamented that Windows Phone was too feature limited or didn’t allow customization.

From a historical perspective, this update looks more like Windows Phone 7.5 Mango, with its famous 500-new bundled features.

via wpcentral