"Windows Phone 8.1 Rumors Emerge"

psudotechzealot

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According to Paul Thurrott (An senior technical analyst for Windows IT Pro & writer for the SuperSite for Windows, Windows IT Pro UPDATE, & WinInfo Daily UPDATE) and his "single source".

Windows Phone 8.1, codenamed "Blue," will address some issues with the current release of the OS and will include some surprising changes.

With regards to Windows Phone 8.1 specifics, there's been a lot of news floating around about possible feature additions, including the long-awaited notification center. But I'd like to focus on a few things I'd not heard about before. These include:

Universal binaries. Microsoft is currently pushing the notion of universal binaries that would let developers create a single app that can run both on Windows RT and Windows Phone. This is opt-in because of size issues, apparently, but could eventually become a requirement. Where Windows Phone 8 has 33 percent "API unity" with Windows RT, Windows Phone 8.1 will hit 77 percent.

Multitasking. Microsoft has supposedly flagged multitasking as Windows Phone's biggest technical issue. GDR3 will fix some issues?it will let users manually close apps, for example?but notifications and background processes are a mess and quite inefficient. These issues will apparently be addressed by 8.1.

Bigger screens. Where GDR3 is widely expected to support 5- to 6-inch screens, 8.1 will supposedly support 7- to 10-inch screens as well. This obviously infringes on Windows RT/8.x tablets, so it's not clear what the thinking is there.

No more Back button. Aping the iPhone navigation model, Microsoft will apparently remove the Back button from the Windows Phone hardware specification with 8.1. The Back button just doesn't make sense, I was told: Users navigate away from an app by pressing the Start button and then open a new app, just like they do on iPhone. And the "back stack" is ill-understood by users: Most don't realize what they're doing when they repeatedly hit the Back button.

Low-cost/volume vs. High-cost/luxury. With the Lumia 520 and 620, Windows Phone has found its niche in the low end of the market. This has helped sales, but Microsoft has always wanted to position Windows Phone as a high-end system like iPhone, which is where the money is. Obviously, they're not going to walk away from market share gains, but low-end phones have technical limitations that harm the platform's forward progress. And this is what sank Windows PC sales when the netbook arrived. The push to 1080p screens and bigger devices will determine whether Windows Phone can break out of this mold.

http://winsupersite.com/windows-pho...rge?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
 

montsa007

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Apr 10, 2013
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No more Back button. Aping the iPhone navigation model, Microsoft will apparently remove the Back button from the Windows Phone hardware specification with 8.1. The Back button just doesn't make sense, I was told: Users navigate away from an app by pressing the Start button and then open a new app, just like they do on iPhone. And the "back stack" is ill-understood by users: Most don't realize what they're doing when they repeatedly hit the Back button.

Seems I do not fall in that crowd, I always religiously use the back button on any OS as I do not like keeping apps running in background.

Also seeing that rumor, I wonder what is the future of the current lineup with back buttons?
 

jedpatrickdatu

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I'm worried about the last point. I hope they do not become like Apple who caters only to the rich. I like Windows Phone but as a citizen of a developing country, I might not be able to use it at all.They should be more like Nokia who makes great devices for everyone.
 

kc77

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Aug 15, 2013
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I use the back button all the time. I guess I'm one of those outcasts. Haha.
 

anon5997296

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Microsoft going Apple way.. Shame. Microsoft is hell of a giant and doesn't need to copy..

Sent from my ST25i using WPCentral Forums mobile app
 

jenni122701

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Aug 6, 2013
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I am constantly using the back button. I rarely use the windows button. Guess I'm in the minority too.
 

hs k

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Sep 22, 2013
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I'm worried about the last point. I hope they do not become like Apple who caters only to the rich. I like Windows Phone but as a citizen of a developing country, I might not be able to use it at all.They should be more like Nokia who makes great devices for everyone.

This. Everyone vote this guy onto the Microsoft Board of Directors and probably on the R&D Division too.
 

hs k

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Lets mae a headcount, we 3 do it that way, many more do. I suspect people coming from Android do it that way.

Make it around a 100 or so. I've seen all the guys in our college owning WPs using them like crazy. (Around 120 of us own WPs in our college)
 

montsa007

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Apr 10, 2013
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Make it around a 100 or so. I've seen all the guys in our college owning WPs using them like crazy. (Around 120 of us own WPs in our college)

Hmm, its not about wp8, its about using the back key instead of the windows key to exit an app.
 

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