14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is working to improve its Cortana personal assistant with new features, and according to user reports, the company has silently introduce a couple of new options in the latest updates.
Users running the very latest version of Windows Phone on their devices in one of the markets supported by Cortana can now ask the personal assistant to flip a coin or roll some dice with voice commands.
As posted on Reddit by Windows Phone users, Cortana now supports the following voice commands:
“Roll a dice” to roll just one dice “Roll the dice” to roll two dice “Flip a coin” for the obvious action
At this point, it appears that these new features of Cortana are available only in the United States, but they're very likely to become available in the United Kingdom very soon as well.
More features coming
Microsoft's executives said on several occasions that Cortana would receive new features on a regular basis, as the personal assistant is set to become a key feature of Windows Phone.
Even though Microsoft isn't actually announcing all of these improvements, they're more like Easter Eggs for those using a Windows Phone, especially because this kind of update isn't quite helping enhance productivity, but they're more focused on the entertaining side of the personal assistant.
More such features are also expected to be implemented in future updates, and other big changes might become available in the coming months, as Microsoft is already working on Windows Phone 10.
Windows Phone 10 Preview coming in early 2015
Microsoft confirmed on September 30 at the public unveiling of Windows 10 Preview that a new version of Windows Phone would be revealed in early 2015.
It appears that Microsoft is planning to adopt the same strategy as for the desktop operating system, so Windows Phone users could get a testing build of the next major release in the very first months of the next year.
The word is that Microsoft is working to merge Windows Phone with Windows RT, so the upcoming OS update could actually bring many new changes and not only in terms of features. Windows Phone 10 Preview could also bring new features for personal digital assistant Cortana, especially because Redmond is already working to launch it on the desktop as part of the Windows 10 rollout.
More to come on all these exciting projects in the coming months, as Microsoft continues development of new features and improvements for its desktops and mobile operating systems.