14 DAY TRIAL // Later this year, Redmond-based software giant Microsoft should make official a new flavor of the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system, and it seems that it is currently in the latest stages of testing with it.
The new platform iteration is expected to arrive on devices as Windows Phone 8.1 GDR1, which will follow the naming scheme that Microsoft used for the WP8 updates.
Apparently, the company has already started dogfooding the new OS iteration to its employees, which suggests that it is actually close to the final testing stage, as Neowin notes in a recent article.
No specific info on when the new platform update might arrive on devices has been provided as of now, yet previous reports on the matter suggested that we might see Microsoft pushing it out before the end of the summer.
The one thing that remains to be seen is whether the update will arrive on devices with the “GDR” (General Distribution Release) name attached to it, just as it happened with Windows Phone 8 last year.
Apparently, Microsoft is referring to the new software version using this term internally, but chances are that it will change its name when making it available to users out there.
Of course, no official confirmation on the matter has been provided as of now, but chances are that Microsoft will unveil some details on the matter soon, most probably after the Windows Phone 8.1 OS iteration starts arriving on existing devices.
For those out of the loop, we should note that the company unveiled the platform back in April, and that it also made it available for download as a Developer Preview starting the middle of the month.
At the time, the software giant announced that all Windows Phone 8 handsets out there would receive the update to WP8.1, but did not provide specific details on when that should happen.
However, some of the latest rumors on the matter suggested that Microsoft would be ready to make the platform upgrade available for users before the end of this month.
The first smartphones to run under Windows Phone 8.1 right out of the box are already available for purchase, including the Nokia Lumia 630 and Lumia 635, with Nokia Lumia 930 expected to arrive on shelves in a matter of weeks.
All in all, should the report on Windows Phone 8.1 GDR1 reaching final stages of testing be accurate, we might see the new platform release getting updated only weeks after its initial release. Hopefully, more on this will emerge soon, so stay tuned.