Windows Phone 8.1

Yesterday Microsoft opened the developer preview of Windows Phone 8.1, although almost anyone can download it. As it could not be less, today in Xataka Windows we bring you the detailed analysis of its characteristics.

Windows Phone 8.1 doesn't feel like a minor update. The leap is very big, and it is undoubtedly at the level of its competitors, iOS and Android. There's still some work to be done, of course, but Microsoft has done a great job with this new version.

Windows Phone 8.1 video at a glance

Before we dive into the analysis, let's take a look at what's new in Windows Phone 8.1 in video.

Action Center, the notification bar finally arrives

The Action Center must be one of the most requested features by Windows Phone users. The notification bar finally arrives to the system, and with some additional features.

Notifications are grouped by application along with a timestamp. Surprisingly, Microsoft has not thought about fitting the text of the notifications to the width of the screen, as you can see in the image. If you receive a long or multi-line notification, you won't be able to read it. We understand this happening in toast notifications that have limited vertical space, but it doesn't make sense here.

By moving to the right, we can dismiss the notifications of each application. We can't dismiss notifications separately, though I don't think that's a problem. If we have many notifications, we have a button to clear them all at once.

From the settings menu we can configure which applications appear in the Action Center, in addition to being able to configure separately if we want them to emit sound , vibrate or just show toast notifications (the banners at the top of the screen). Don't panic if you don't see all your apps: they'll show up when they send a notification for the first time.

But Action Center it's not just notifications Above we have a button to go to settings directly and four shortcuts to system settings. In the notification center settings we can choose which ones to show. Options are airplane mode, Bluetooth, brightness, camera, internet sharing, GPS, screen sharing, quiet hours, rotation lock, VPN, and WiFi.

The behavior of the WiFi button is curious to say the least. When it is disabled, pressing it will activate the WiFi network and connect automatically. But if we press again, instead of deactivating it takes us to the configuration screen.

We also miss, as you said in the comments, a quick access to activate or deactivate the data. Airplane mode can replace it, but it's still an awkward fix.

Finally, the notification center also shows additional information from our operator, the battery percentage and the date when we display it.

The bottom line is that the Action Center has yet to boil. It's a good idea but it has some flaws that mar it. Hopefully in future updates it will improve.

The new home screen, almost perfect

If the notification center has left me somewhat cold, the home screen has more than made up for those impressions. There were two things to solve: how to make a screen more alive and how to get it to show more information.It wasn't easy to do, but Microsoft has done it pretty well.

The first thing they have achieved with the possibility of making the tiles transparent and putting an image below. From a design point of view, it's not trivial: you have to find some way to make the tiles still stand out and the text can be read, regardless of the image the user chooses.

And the truth is that it works very well. Obviously there are images that look better than others, but in no case do they look bad. The phone detects when there are very light images to darken them slightly and keep reading everything.

On the other hand, there is the third row of tiles , which can now be activated by any user. The downside is that the tiles are smaller, and in some cases more than one person who doesn't have good eyesight won't be able to see some text, especially on phones with smaller screens.

It didn't convince me at first, but once I get used to it it's really good. I can put more large tiles, which show more information, without taking up too much space on the screen. And despite having more large tiles I have to scroll less than when I had two columns. I would recommend you to try it, because that extra column can be well worth it.

Wifi Sense, useful and dangerous in equal measure

Windows Phone 8.1 brings improvements to WiFi networks with WiFi Sense. On the one hand, it has useful characteristics, and on the other, things that I would directly classify as dangerous.

For example, the possibility of automatically activating WiFi when a certain amount of time passes, or when I'm close to my favorite places is very interesting. It can also be very useful to share our networks with certain contacts without them seeing the password: easier and faster than repeating a sequence of characters and putting it in the mobile of each person you invite to your home and wants WiFi.

But on the other hand there is a dangerous feature, and I honestly don't understand how Microsoft has been able to not only include it but also activate it by default. I'm talking about the option to automatically connect to open WiFi networks by accepting any terms that may exist without asking. This deserves a big NO, like that, in all caps.

Automatically connect to open WiFi networks? No, thanks.

Why is it dangerous to connect to the WiFi networks you are on? The answer is simple. Anyone can open a WiFi network and spy on all your unencrypted traffic. In fact, anyone with a computer and minimal knowledge can see what you send over the network, since it is not encrypted (it would be if you connected to a secure WEP/WPA network).

If it is already risky to connect to an open WiFi network (if you do, be careful), doing it automatically would be the technical equivalent of eating everything offered to you by strangers on the Internet. street.If you have upgraded to Windows Phone 8.1, we strongly recommend turn this feature off

A new keyboard to write without lifting your finger

I must admit that one of the things I missed the most about Android was the Swype keyboard. It was truly a marvel to be able to write just by sliding your finger. Luckily, Windows Phone 8.1 brings this feature to your keyboard, and it's pretty cool.

The new swype keyboard is fast and accurate. In addition, it has a rather curious but not especially useful addition: it also suggests emoticons as you type.

I only see two small bugs. The first is that to type the first letter in uppercase you have to press the Shift button and then slide and type. In Swype, if I remember correctly, it was enough to start swiping from the shift button.And the second is that I miss deleting directly word by word and not letter by letter by holding down the back button.

More synchronization and backups

We couldn't miss a review of the backup copies of Windows Phone 8.1 In addition to the automatic uploading of images and videos that we already had , we can now save our home screen layout, passwords, settings, app content and messages to OneDrive, all automatically and ready to restore if we have a problem.

We also have the option to synchronize our settings with other Windows devices: passwords, application settings, Internet Explorer settings and Finally, accent colors. So if you change the color on your phone, it will also change on your computer in a few seconds.

Battery, data and storage sensors

Windows Phone 8.1 expands on the sensors we already had. The sensor data is available to all users regardless of operator. There are no more relevant news in this application.

The battery sensor is new: in addition to telling us how much battery we have left and allowing us to activate saving mode when we are low, it will say which apps are consuming the most, separating what they consume while running and in the background.

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This sensor also replaces the settings for background applications: this is where we can activate or deactivate this possibility, with the option to allow them to run in the background even with Battery Saver mode>"

Finally, the storage manager doesn't change much from previous versions either. It keeps telling us how we have occupied the space on our phone: the novelty is that it will now allow us to transfer applications to the SD card (if we have it, of course).

Improvements in Internet Explorer: video, synchronization and reading mode

Microsoft has not forgotten about Internet Explorer, which comes with a number of new features. The most interesting is the reading mode: by clicking the book icon in the address bar we will enter a mode without distractions, with only the text of the article we are reading.

Internet Explorer 11 also finally brings password, tab, and history synchronization to the desktop version. So you can resume browsing on your mobile as soon as you get to your computer or tablet, a real joy.

Highlighting optimizations to save data, with four levels: off, standard (compression of some images), high (aggressive compression of images, blocking ads and downloading only parts of web pages) and automatic (select the level dynamically based on the data you have left).

Other minor features that are still interesting are the ability to view video embedded in the page without having to jump to the dedicated player, an incognito mode (InPrivate) and the remove six tab limit.

Xbox Music, Video and Podcasts

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Windows Phone Music app is now Xbox Music, which includes FM radio and easier access to sections of your music. Now playing>"

Microsoft still doesn't give music on Windows Phone the attention it deserves

Overall, the music app is still very limited, with mediocre performance (slow to start up, slow to show the list of artists, in switching songs...) We have lost many features since Windows Phone 7 - even the button to mark a song as a favorite has disappeared, although the truth is that it did nothing either - to only gain synchronization with the cloud.There is a lot to improve here and Microsoft should take this aspect seriously.

The video application, now separated from the music application, does receive a little more care. We can buy, rent and watch our favorite series directly from the phone, and everything is synchronized with the cloud and other Microsoft devices.

And finally, podcasts are back in Windows Phone 8.1, for all users. We can subscribe to our favorite podcasts and download them automatically, or if we want we can also watch them in streaming directly.

Calendar, shop and images

There are three default applications that also bring news. The first, and perhaps the most needed, is Calendar A weekly view finally arrives and the daily view allows us to switch between days by scrolling to the sides. The monthly view also improves a lot: clicking on a day expands to show us the events we have.

The Windows Phone Store also gets a redesign, with easier access to the list of apps and a sleeker overall design . As for new features we have the automatic update of applications and the personalized recommendations, which I have found quite useful.

Lastly, the application of images has also changed slightly. The feed with the photos published by our contacts disappears, the default view becomes that of our latest images and, most irritating of all, sharing options disappear. To give two examples, there is no longer the option to share with Twitter or upload directly to OneDrive from the gallery.

The list does not end here

Windows Phone 8.1 has many more new features and it is impossible to cover them all In addition to what we already saw in the Build, we have the list with all the news, so extensive that we had to separate it into two articles.Of course, it is possible that we have missed something relevant, so if you detect it, do not hesitate to say so in the comments.

Hey, wait. What about Cortana? Did you think we were going to pass up a review of Windows Phone 8.1 without talking about Cortana? Well, you think well, but not because we think it is unimportant: quite the contrary. The new personal assistant from Microsoft is the most important novelty in this version, and despite the fact that it only works in English, we have dedicated a separate analysis to it that you will see throughout today.

Windows Phone 8.1, conclusions

In the few hours I've been able to tinker with Windows Phone 8.1, it felt like a big step forward. It continues with the same philosophy as always, maintaining a balance between features that we could call banal (for example, the tile wallpaper) that make the phone much more pleasant and personal, and more fundamental improvements such as Cortana. or the new Action Center.

Performance, as always, is magnificent, and in the absence of more extensive tests it does not seem that the battery is very affected except by Cortana, who is a real power hog when you use her. Except for a few things to fix, this update is really good.

Microsoft puts Windows Phone 8.1 on a par with its rivals

How does Windows Phone 8.1 stack up against its rivals iOS and Android? It cannot be said that it has overtaken these systems, but it certainly has enough inertia to achieve it. At the level of features, Windows Phone is equal, at least from my point of view, with the rest of mobile systems.

But Windows Phone also has a lot more potential with Cortana and third-party integration. Microsoft's assistant can quickly surpass Google Now and Siri if developers harness the power of Cortana in their own apps.

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In addition, we have a vision of a Microsoft>"

In short, Windows Phone 8.1 shows that Microsoft is doing very well in the mobile world. Who knows, it may be able to end up compensating for its late arrival on the market. You what do you think of this update?