The platform's “Do Not Disturb” feature gets detailed again

Apr 5, 2014 08:04 GMT  ·  By

Windows Phone 8.1, the latest mobile platform version from Microsoft, will not arrive on devices with a file manager inside, although this is one of the features that many users have been looking forward to.

The info comes from a Reddit user who claims to be a Microsoft employee, who also said that such a feature could make it in the next major version of the mobile OS, supposedly called Windows Phone 9.

The new platform release was unveiled with a wide range of enhancements packed inside, though it appears that some functionality is still not present inside it.

For example, Cortana, the personal digital assistant in Windows Phone 8.1, which will take over Bing Search, won’t feature barcode scanning capabilities.

Users will still be able to scan barcodes and QR codes using Bing Vision, which comes as a lens in the camera app, but Cortana won’t feature the capability by default. The new Office app on Windows Phone 8.1 will also pack barcode scanning functionality.

Although one of the most important enhancements in Windows Phone 8.1, Cortana is not finalized as of now, and Microsoft themselves announced it as a beta product.

Even so, it features deep Bing integration, and can easily learn a lot about users, as soon as it is provided with access to specific apps, thus being capable of offering more relevant and more personal search result.

Furthermore, it will enable users to interact with their devices at an entirely new level when using voice: Cortana can read messages aloud, can send texts for you, can put appointments in the calendar, launch apps, mute the phone, read notifications aloud, and do much more.

Initially, Cortana will be available only for users in the United States, though it seems that users in other regions will also be able to get it as long as they reset their devices and change location.

However, Cortana is not the only new feature in Windows Phone 8.1, and said Microsoft employee mentioned some other enhancements in the platform as well, such as the new Xbox Music app, which is said to be working great.

The new OS release also comes with smaller fonts and better font-styles when compared to Windows Phone 8. Moreover, it appears that less text will fall off the screen in the platform iteration.

One other feature that said Microsoft engineer discussed was the Do Not Disturb barrier. Apparently, people in a user’s inner circle can get through it by replying ‘knock, knock.’

There are three options available in settings, namely to block the inner circle, let them through if they call three times or reply ‘knock, knock’ and let them through at all times.

Since Windows Phone 8.1 will know when the user is in meetings or sleeping, alerts won’t get through unless someone in the inner circle sees them, or the user replies to one of the messages. Otherwise, the phone will remain quiet for the specified period of time.

The improvements included in Windows Phone 8.1 are highly appealing, though it seems that Microsoft is already working on the next version of the mobile OS, which might arrive sometime in the next 6 to 8 months.

In the meantime, we should be looking out for the arrival of Windows Phone 8.1, something that should happen during summer. The OS still needs some fine touches, and will be ready for deployment only after these are applied and manufacturers have already played with it.