14 DAY TRIAL // Unveiled earlier this month at BUILD 2014 developer conference, Windows Phone 8.1 has been confirmed to arrive on all compatible devices this “summer.”
Until then, developers or those who own a valid Studio App account will be able to grab the Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview update, which is expected be made available early next week, on April 14-15.
Even though Microsoft was pretty vocal about Windows Phone 8.1 at BUILD 2014, there were some features and applications that weren’t discussed and knowledge about them was scarce.
For example, the way Windows Phone 8.1 handles files download and upload, as well as content sharing were a bit of a mystery, as NokiaPowerUser points out.
However, Microsoft’s day 2 of BUILD 2014 was dedicated to some of the less advertised features, such as those previously mentioned in the article.
From the demo held by Microsoft at the conference we learned that Windows Phone 8.1 filer picker was very easy and intuitive to use. It supports both Open and Save actions and is pretty fast when users try to get a file from the cloud.
But this is not all, as you can easily save files to the cloud. According to Microsoft, the file picker was optimized to work well on affordable Windows Phone devices, so regardless of processor or amount of RAM users should get the same smooth experience.
It is also worth mentioning file picker will be available for Windows Runtime and Windows Phone Silverlight apps.
For example, you will be able to share multiple formats, but apps will also easily share content freely from source to target.
Microsoft also confirmed that it wouldn’t make any distinctions between 1st- and 3rd-party capabilities and that there wouldn’t be any limitations on content type.
Just like the file picker, the content sharing will be fully compatible with all affordable devices, so users will be able to share text, links, office files, HTML and other custom pages, while on the move.
There will be probably more to talk about when the first Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview lands next week, but, from what we’ve seen since the official announcement of the new platform, the future is bright for Windows Phone. Stay tuned for more details.