Windows Phone 8.1 Preview Available

[imthewalrus]

 

Microsoft has finally released the Windows Phone 8.1 developer preview bringing some big features such as Cortana as well as a new notification centre and skinned tiles for the start screen.
The update was intended for developers but you don’t have to be a developer to download. However you may void the warranty of the phone from your provider and windows is not responsible for any data loss from your phone, also you can not revert this update. People that live outside the US are still unable to access store and use Cortana without changing proxy settings. If you cant wait to get your hands on this here is a guide to download it:



- Go Here: appstudio.windowsphone.com/?stay=1

- Click on start a new project tab on the top left section of the page.

- Register to the Windows Phone APP studio app following the instructions on the page.

- Go to your phone and download the developer preview app.

- Go to detect updates, it should download the developer settings into your phone. Wait for it to install them.

- Now your phone should detect the update again through the software update option.

- Enjoy!

 

 

 

Attached are some pictures of me playing around with some new features. 

[legopc]

AWSOME thanks but i do think the first website is down 

[imthewalrus]

AWSOME thanks but i do think the first website is down 

 

The website is down due to high traffic, if you refresh using chrome and led it load for like 5 minutes it should let you do it.

[WereCat]

Awesome, thanks! Hopefully I will get it to work before I have to go to work because that web page is stressed a lot 

 

I think that it is impossible to make this work because everytime I login the page will not load ...

 

 

OK... so you have to know that this update may void your warranty if you have phone from OEM or Operator. Also it is not possible to revert this update!!

[The_Evenger]

i really want to, i really want to.

but ill wait to see what happens

[imthewalrus]

Awesome, thanks! Hopefully I will get it to work before I have to go to work because that web page is stressed a lot 

 

I think that it is impossible to make this work because everytime I login the page will not load ...

 

 

OK... so you have to know that this update may void your warranty if you have phone from OEM or Operator. Also it is not possible to revert this update!!

 

 

Yeah, fortunately my phone is way passed the warranty day so I dont really mind if it stopped working, as I plan on getting a new one soon. 

 

i really want to, i really want to.

but ill wait to see what happens

 

Mine is still installing, I will probably be uploading some pictures later this afternoon!

[WereCat]

So I received update and after playing with it a little bit I can say that most of things @LinusTech complained about were resolved.

 

I will just say which things havent changed he found annoying, and things that I found that do not work now, everything else was changed and enhanced (it is still beta though):

 

Options menu is still mess ... you cant navigate in it without reading every option setting independantly.

I havent noticed any change in skype so far (maybe not avaible in beta).

You still cant grab scroll bar with finger and move it.. you can only scroll by sliding finger over and over.

While multitasking you still have to wait untill the tab you want will stop moving and center into screen in order to confirm that you want to open it.

Cant get Cortana to work (maybe not avaible in beta).

I cant access store.. getting error that I cant establish connection (maybe ahs to do something with beta.. but COME ON!).

Word Flow is avaible only on english keyboard right now.

I have to install new HERE Drive app but I cant do it because store is not working right now.

 

 

Looks like everything else was resolved so far. System feels more fluid than before, IE improved decently enough. Notofications are all on one place now .. AWESOME! More squares on main screen (6 total in a row .. small ones instead of 4). You can bring quick menu with settings and notifications from top of the screen if you slide from top of the screen downside like on Android. You can add background on your squares. A lot more setting were added, like VPN, NFS, ability to tell phone that from certain hour I cant accept calls so it will automaticaly hang up incomming call, drive mode (manages calls, sms, ...), etc, WordFlow works great. 

I played with it really shortly so I will probably find more features and bugs. This is just quick summary. Tested on Lumia 920.

[samuel]

does anyone have cortana working?

[MellowCream]

does anyone have cortana working?

You need to be in the USA.

[The_Evenger]

well, looks like i will half to wait on this update untill my computer is working properly (it never seems to be working)

[imthewalrus]

Cortana works for me however it isn't as talkative as Siri but that's because it is probably still in. Beta

[Skanic]

does anyone have cortana working?

It is but you need to download US english and set your location to USA.

[Vaub]

Awesome update... not a .1 but a full WP9 / WP8.5 for me

 

For those who want Cortana, change language to English (US). You can keep your regional data and ask Cortana for Celcius & cie.

That being said, you won't be able to buy an app in those settings unless you have an american adress.

 

 

Word Flow is avaible only on english keyboard right now.

 

It's working for me (French canadian keyboard). Maybe it's still not available for certain language =/

[WereCat]

Awesome update... not a .1 but a full WP9 / WP8.5 for me

 

For those who want Cortana, change language to English (US). You can keep your regional data and ask Cortana for Celcius & cie.

That being said, you won't be able to buy an app in those settings unless you have an american adress.

 

 

It's working for me (French canadian keyboard). Maybe it's still not available for certain language =/

Well I am from Slovakia and this is really small country so it may not be supported yet.

Does store work for you? I'm still getting connection error when I want to access it.

[samuel]

Store is down on WP8.1 right now. In my country at least. Don't reset your phone trying to fix it. Oh and for those anime online  viewers... a html5 fullscreen video now has the url bar on top of it. Youtube doesn't have this problem.

[Vaub]

Well I am from Slovakia and this is really small country so it may not be supported yet.

Does store work for you? I'm still getting connection error when I want to access it.

 

No problem here so far.

[imthewalrus]

I have updated the first post. Added a warning to people outside the US. Also added some thumbnails. People outside of north america are having great trouble with cortana and the store. 

[The_Evenger]

I gata say, this update pretty much fixed everything that i didn't like, with one acception, the new music "now playing" is worse than the old player. the old player gave me what the next two songs were on the list, and i just liked the look of it better i guess.[if you knew how to get to it(if you tap on the album art in the music app, or the info on what's playing in the drop-down menu, it'll take you to it, something that Linus never picked up on)] but even with a 480x800 screen the 6 small tiles on the home screen looks really good. i would definitely recommend downloading this update, although, it's bata (i think), and some things definitely feel beta.

[WereCat]

I gata say, this update pretty much fixed everything that i didn't like, with one acception, the new music "now playing" is worse than the old player. the old player gave me what the next two songs were on the list, and i just liked the look of it better i guess.[if you knew how to get to it(if you tap on the album art in the music app, or the info on what's playing in the drop-down menu, it'll take you to it, something that Linus never picked up on)] but even with a 480x800 screen the 6 small tiles on the home screen looks really good. i would definitely recommend downloading this update, although, it's bata (i think), and some things definitely feel beta.

How do you feel about batery life? I got feeling that since I updated to 8.1 my batery drains down at least twice as fast. Usualy when I left my Lumia 920 laying around doing nothing while charged 100% the other day I will have still over 90% batery life. Today I got home from work let it charge to 100% and then I left it on the table and after 8 hours I picked it up and batery was 77%. It was not connected on the internet or anything else. All apps were closed.

 

EDIT: Also I was able to browse on mobile connection for 6hours straight without turning off display.. I mean really heavy use. Now I cant last 3 hours. (I am using IE now instead of UC Browser which I was using before, maybe it has to do with it!).

[The_Evenger]

How do you feel about batery life? I got feeling that since I updated to 8.1 my batery drains down at least twice as fast. Usualy when I left my Lumia 920 laying around doing nothing while charged 100% the other day I will have still over 90% batery life. Today I got home from work let it charge to 100% and then I left it on the table and after 8 hours I picked it up and batery was 77%. It was not connected on the internet or anything else. All apps were closed.

 

EDIT: Also I was able to browse on mobile connection for 6hours straight without turning off display.. I mean really heavy use. Now I cant last 3 hours. (I am using IE now instead of UC Browser which I was using before, maybe it has to do with it!).

I'm not having that problem, i have used at least 2 hours of on-screen use, max brightness, and still have 68% left, typical for me (i love the % too! about time.)

[samuel]

Serious bug on Lumia 520: Some of previous working desktop websites with inline HTML5 videos simply freeze or the screen turns  blank (youtube desktop including)... When it's working, I cannot get rid of the URL bar in fullscreen. ( I'm sure it has to do with a specific HTML5 permission .... Maybe Lumia Cyan Update will fix the black screeen bug.....and the WP8.1 GDR the permissions... 

[imthewalrus]

How do you feel about batery life? I got feeling that since I updated to 8.1 my batery drains down at least twice as fast. Usualy when I left my Lumia 920 laying around doing nothing while charged 100% the other day I will have still over 90% batery life. Today I got home from work let it charge to 100% and then I left it on the table and after 8 hours I picked it up and batery was 77%. It was not connected on the internet or anything else. All apps were closed.

 

EDIT: Also I was able to browse on mobile connection for 6hours straight without turning off display.. I mean really heavy use. Now I cant last 3 hours. (I am using IE now instead of UC Browser which I was using before, maybe it has to do with it!).

 

Make sure you dont have the new wifi app on as it does drain my battery faster. 

[mgsstar]

Using it on my HTC 8S and I am enjoying it! But Cortona is not available in my area as I can't change my phone language to English (US).

[Lauen]

Doing it right now, with my Lumia 920, hope it doesn't break the HERE Drive + app, I'm going to drive like.. 800 miles today.

[WereCat]

Doing it right now, with my Lumia 920, hope it doesn't break the HERE Drive + app, I'm going to drive like.. 800 miles today.

It will want to update so if your phone won't connect to store just change your region in phone settings to USA.