Windows 8.1 'Blue'
Everything You Need To Know
Last year when Microsoft released Windows 8, it was met with a polarizing response. While some just hated it, others really liked it. But some of the sweeping changes in the operating system were not widely appreciated. Earlier in the year, the company indicated a new update called Windows 8.1, which was rumored earlier as the Windows Blue update. The company had said that it will release the update to the public later in the year and it will hit release preview status by the end of June. Today, the company has detailed most of the upgrades that will be a part of the Windows 8.1 update.
Microsoft is leaving no stone unturned and it is responding to customer feedback to improve Windows 8. The first new feature is the ability to turn the lockscreen into a slide show or a picture frame. The device will pick up pictures from both SkyDrive and locally. Users can also take pictures without unlocking the lockscreen.
The Redmond-based company has added a raft of improvements to the modern UI, so that its usability is heightened. For instance, users can now choose the desktop background as the background for the ‘Start Screen’. This was a much-needed addition for maintaining parity between the modern UI and the desktop.
Like Windows Phone 8, new smaller tiles have also been added to the Start Screen. Selecting groups and rearranging tiles has been simplified and users can now can now move multiple apps or resize them or even uninstall them.
Users can swipe up to view all the installed apps from the modern UI itself. Furthermore, users can filter apps by name, date of installation, most used or category. New apps from the Windows Store are not installed on the Star Screen, but go to the new Apps View screen.
Bing search is now deeply baked in to Windows 8.1. The search charm will now provide global results from Bing and the content will be aggregated from the web, SkyDrive, apps, files or whatever content will be relevant to the query.
All the in-built apps for Windows 8 will receive an upgrade. For instance, the photos app will have some editing features, and the Music app has been completely redesigned allowing the user to pick and play from his/her collection.
Windows 8.1 will also upgrade the Snap Views multitasking feature. This means users can now split the screen between two apps or have up to three apps open per screen or one could have a multiple screen setup with one app running on each screen, while the Start Screen is open on one monitor. Presumably, Microsoft has removed the resolution cap for Snap View, which means PC having resolutions below 1366×768 pixels will also support it in limited capacity.
The Windows Store will also receive a facelift and will show more apps and will be easier to navigate. It will have detailed lists for free apps; new apps, picks and they will also be more detailed and descriptive. The app updates will also install automatically in the background.
On Windows 8.1, users will also have the ability to save directly to SkyDrive. The new SkyDrive will give access to files that are on the cloud, even when the user is offline.
Using SkyDrive, when one will log into a Windows 8.1 device, all the settings and apps will be automatically downloaded, so that switching machines is not that cumbersome. Apple already does something similar with iCloud.
The settings menu in the Modern UI is also now more detailed and will not need to run back to the Control Panel for most tasks. Users can change the screen resolution, power settings, see the model and make of the PC, change the Windows Key, update the OS, or even join a domain from the settings menu.
As we reported earlier, Windows 8.1 will come with Internet Explorer 11. Microsoft touts even better touch performance over IE 10 with faster page load times among other things. It will also now be able to show the address bar all the time, and users can open as many tabs as they like. Like Chrome and Safari, users can also now sync tabs across other Windows 8.1 devices.
While all these updates seem incremental, the biggest changes in Windows 8.1 are related to the usability using a keyboard and mouse, for desktops, something, which Microsoft compromised on when launching Windows 8.
The Start menu, makes a comeback on the Desktop, but it’s a glorified shortcut to the Start Screen. Users can also change what the ‘Hot Corners’ can do. Users can also boot to alternate screens including the Desktop, the Apps view or the Start Screen.
As mentioned above, Windows 8.1 will be available later in the year as a free update via the Windows Store. But before that on June 26, Microsoft will showcase all the new changes at Build and will unveil the Release Preview of the update.
By the looks of it, Windows 8.1 appears like a refinement of Windows 8 and caters to a number of user interface issues consumers faced with Windows 8.
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