14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook’s new acquisition, WhatsApp was on fire in the last couple of days. The company launched a few important updates for the beta version of WhatsApp for Windows Phone and informed users of its plans regarding the voice calling service that was supposed to arrive in Q2 2014.
WhatsApp officials reiterate the fact that they prefer to focus on making the application better in terms of performance rather than adding new features that might not work as intended, every time they go out with official statements.
The developer has beta programs for all versions of WhatsApp, which are updated pretty often with lots of bug fixes and tweaks, but also some new features from time to time.
However, these updates don’t make it to the stable version of WhatsApp too fast. Obviously, we can’t blame developers for wanting to test new features thoroughly before they implement them into the public release.
Unfortunately, the Windows Phone version of WhatsApp is far from being perfect and it would be nice if more bug fixes and performance improvements were delivered more often.
Today’s update for WhatsApp is very welcome especially that it contains some performance enhancements, but it also adds a few nifty features that are supposed to bring the Windows Phone version closer to its counterparts from other platforms.
WhatsApp for Windows Phone users can now crop and rotate photos
According to developers, WhatsApp users should notice the application opens faster after applying the new update. In addition, users will now be able to take advantage of individual chat backgrounds.
Basically, you can now set a different background for each chat or group in WhatsApp. But this is not all, as WhatsApp’s engineers also added better support for phones with high-resolution screens. This means that we should see more text on the display, so we won’t need to scroll too many times to read a message.
Another major change included in this update is the addition of the Share Location feature. WhatsApp users will now be able to drop and drag a pin on the map in order to precisely share their location with their friends.
Furthermore, the update also brings the ability to crop and rotate photos, as well as the option to archive chats and groups. Last but not least, you can now add captions to photos and videos.
Those who don’t have the application installed on their phone yet can now download WhatsApp Messenger for Windows Phone 2.11.586.0 for free via Windows Phone Store. The application should be fully compatible with all devices powered by Windows Phone 7.5 and up.
Update: Some Nokia Lumia 930 owners report the update renders WhatsApp Messenger useless on their smartphones. It looks like there was an issue from developer's part, but an update has already been released that should fix it. It will bump the app to version 2.11.587.0.