14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone 8.1, the latest flavor of Microsoft’s mobile operating system, was made official in April with a variety of new features and enhancements packed inside, including the option to customize the lock screen.
Of course, the platform comes to devices with a series of other great features as well, such as Cortana, the digital personal assistant, and many others more, yet only a few details have been shared so far on the aforementioned screen customization capability.
To be more precise, Microsoft revealed in April that a Lockscreen app would be released for the owners of devices running under the Windows Phone 8.1 OS version, but hasn’t provided specific info on when that might happen ever since.
However, Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore has finally decided to share some additional details on the matter, and confirmed that users would be able to enjoy the capabilities of this software in the near future.
According to him, the mobile app will be released in a beta flavor soon, most probably in about a week, and will be available for devices that feature at least 1GB of RAM.
Belfiore also revealed that a new feature was added to the application, but did not provide specific details on it.
Lockscreen app- sorry for being quiet. The beta (English, 1gb+) is ALMOST here, perhaps a week. We hit a few snags & added a feature.
— joebelfiore (@joebelfiore) July 18, 2014
One thing that is certain at the moment is that Microsoft appears determined to provide owners of Windows Phone 8.1 with appealing customization capabilities.
The lock screen is only one aspect of the device that will allow users to enjoy a personalized experience on their devices.
As a refresher, Windows Phone 8.1 was also announced with Start Screen backgrounds, so that users could put their own photos on the display behind the Tiles, which are transparent.
Cortana, the digital assistant included in the operating system comes with a great deal of customizations as well. In fact, it has been designed to learn a great deal of things about the user, so that it would provide users with the most personalized experience possible.
What remains to be seen is when exactly the aforementioned Lockscreen app will arrive on devices, and what exactly it will have to provide users with in terms of features.
The software is expected to land only with support for Windows Phone 8.1 devices but, considering the fact that all Windows Phone 8 handsets will soon be upgraded to the newer OS iteration, all compatible smartphones will receive it sooner rather than later.
Considering the fact that the app could make an official appearance in about a week, more info on it should emerge very soon, so keep an eye on this space for additional details on it.