Gadgetory

hi I'm Sarah Metropolis inna and this is a first look at Windows Phone version 8.1 Microsoft adds a whole slew of new features in this update including live tile backgrounds a whole new column of live tiles on the Start screen and of course the star of the show Cortana a voice assistant to rival Siri and Google map right off the bat you see a difference on the Start screen with 8.1 there's an extra column of live tiles so you can fit more of them on the screen you can have one wide tile and one large tile side-by-side or six small tiles in one row you can also set a wallpaper on your home screen which will show up in the live tiles that use your phone's theme such as your settings and the camera the wallpaper Scrolls as you swipe up and down on the Start screen Windows Phone finally gets a notification center and 8.1 it's called Action Center and you swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal it at the top you can toggle on and off common settings including Wi-Fi Bluetooth and brightness and you can even customize those options in the settings menu below that there's all of your notifications grouped by app you can swipe away each apps notifications individually or clear all of them at once the next star feature is gesture typing where you can swipe your finger around on the keyboard to type it's faster than pecking the keys and just about as accurate now for arguably the most interesting addition to 8.1 Cortana like Siri Cortana is a female voice assistant who can help you search the web set reminders and directly call anyone with just a few commands call mom you can enlist her help by tapping the search key on your phone then either type in what you need or tap microphone to speak it you can talk back and forth with Cortana for more complex commands such as creating a new calendar event she's a bit more witty than Siri and Google now and has a good dose of personality what's the meaning of life I've heard from a reliable source that the answer is 42 but still no word on what the question is the operating system also adds a bunch of smaller features including separate volume controls for ringer and notifications and media and apps we get Internet Explorer 11 and Wi-Fi sense what automatically connects you to open public wireless networks Microsoft's latest update to Windows Phone brings the mobile operating system closer to iOS or Android but it still has a ways to go before it's going to lure customers away from either platform for a full look at the new features check out my review on Sina comm I'm Sarah metropolis has been a first look at Windows Phone 8.1