Microsoft Devices has announced that the “Lumia Windows Phone 8” smartphone family in the UAE will receive the new Windows Phone 8.1 update on all Lumia devices in the coming weeks.

“With this latest upgrade, our customers will receive an unbeatable smartphone experience with Windows Phone 8.1 and signature Lumia design and experiences”, said Vithesh Reddy, general manager lower Gulf, Microsoft Mobile Devices.

Key Windows 8.1 Features

The home screen has a third column of customised Live Tiles, plus a feature introduced with Windows 8.1 which will allow consumers to use a photo as a background image on the Start screen. The People Hub will also get better, and will be the one-stop shop to the address book and social networks, the company said.

Action Center will make it easier to customize settings and app notifications as well as change settings such as Wi-Fi and Flight mode, it said.

With Wi-Fi Sense automatically connecting the device to free Wi-Fi hotspots around the world, it will even take care of putting in personal details automatically, a statement said.

Word Flow works by gliding a finger over the letters on the screen to frame words. It will also correct words as consumer’s swipe across the keyboard and predict most frequently used expressions.

The Windows 8.1 update will also improve the Nokia Camera, Creative Studio and Storyteller apps. Nokia Camera will get a simplified user interface with one-tap access to edit and share pictures. Full-resolution zooming, re-framing and Creative Studio 6 (CS6) will also be available directly from the renewed camera roll, it said.

Among the built-in tools: Office for Windows Phone will allow consumers to see, edit, save and share Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents and OneNote notebooks on the go; Outlook, Skype and OneDrive to communicate and collaborate seamlessly.

Microsoft’s “Screen Share” technology will allow Lumia 1520 users to project content to connected screens like a smart TV or projector, said a statement. -TradeArabia News Service