Friday, April 25, 2014

How to update to your Windows Phone 8 to Windows Phone 8.1

Windows Phone 8.1 brings tons of new interesting features. I believe there are lot of news out there where you can find what new features there are. Some features I like so far:


  1. Background picture to Tile.
    With this new feature, start screen will be even more interesting, alive and more personal than ever before compare to any other mobile OS out there.
  2. Action Centre
    Well, in a glance, this looks exactly like Android. Pull down from the top, and you will be able to see all notifications plus few buttons for quick settings. This link summarizes comparison to Android notification centre: http://www.zdnet.com/windows-phone-8-1-action-center-provides-a-balanced-alert-system-7000028553/
  3. Battery Sense
    Well, this feature is already available in Android since long time ago, and I missed it so much in WP. And now they have made it official. My gripe with phone like Lumia 920 is the battery life. Sometimes it is so poor and you do not know who drinks the juice so fast. Now, I can see which apps that I can uninstall because it is not efficient in handling power.
  4. Cortana
    Well, I have to set the settings to US to enable this feature. It is basically Siri or Google Now. It is nice to have this new addition to Windows Phone. Hopefully, it will come to Singapore soon.
If you want to try out Windows Phone, below are the steps. But, please be aware that you will not be able to roll back (officially, although some said Nokia Restore Software will be able to roll back), and breaks your warranty. So, just install it on your own risk or spare Windows Phone.


  • Sign up to be a Windows Phone developer at appstudio.windowsphone.com for free using the Microsoft account associated with your phone.
  • Run the app and sign in with your Microsoft account.
  • Check for updates (Settings > Phone update > Check for updates) and download/install any that are available. You’ll have an update to download and install before Windows Phone 8.1 shows up if you’re downloading the Preview for Developers program for the first time.