14 DAY TRIAL // Soon, owners of Windows Phone 8 Lumia devices out there should start receiving a new major update on their smartphones, one that will provide them with all the benefits of the Windows Phone 8.1 OS upgrade, as well as with some other enhancements.
Dubbed Nokia Cyan, the update will arrive on handsets that are powered by the Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview as well, and will deliver the aforementioned improvements to them too.
Basically, in addition to the OS itself, the software upgrade will include new features and tweaks coming from Nokia, which are meant to improve the performance of Lumia handsets, while also making the Windows Phone 8.1 platform work better on these devices.
This is not the first update of the kind that Nokia releases for its Lumia phones, and the owners of these handsets should already be accustomed to that.
In fact, other mobile phone makers out there also release custom firmware updates for their users alongside official OS upgrades, and Nokia Cyan will be such a refresh for Lumia smartphones.
While the Windows Phone 8.1 platform will deliver a great deal of enhancements to all Windows Phone 8 users out there, Nokia Cyan will be available exclusively for Lumia smartphones, and will double these OS improvements with some tweaks and app updates of its own.
According to WPCentral, the new firmware iteration will come with Bluetooth 4.0 LE on all Lumias, as well as with Color Profile, which includes three new presets (Standard, Vivid and Cool) in addition to Advanced.
Following the update, users will see that Dolby Headphone is called Dolby Virtual Surround, and that a Dolby dialog enhancer was included in settings too. Moreover, the equalizer now works through the speaker (but not through Bluetooth devices).
Nokia Cyan is also expected to include a Brightness Profile, along with Motion data on certain phones (such as Lumia 630, Lumia 635, Lumia 930, Lumia Icon, and Lumia 1520), and double tap to wake for Nokia Lumia Icon on Verizon.
Another new feature that said firmware update will come with is Living Images, which is available only for a few phones right now, and which is said to be accompanied by USB Settings (present on WP 8.1 Developer Preview, but hidden from user access).
On top of that, the upcoming firmware flavor will also deliver Miracast support under Settings > Project my screen, along with new Camera algorithms on some Lumia phones, such as Lumia Icon, Lumia 1520 and Lumia 930.
As mentioned above, Nokia Cyan is also said to improve the performance capabilities of Lumia phones, something that has been observed on handsets that arrive on shelves with the new firmware loaded on top right from the start.
The software update has long been rumored to arrive on smartphones sometime this month, but Microsoft hasn't provided an official availability date for it as of now. However, Lumia 925 has already started to receive it on various markets, and the full rollout could be very close too.