Windows Phone 8.1 Update - All the info right here!

[Chris_K]

Good news... We have some details on the software update everyone's waiting to get for their Nokia 3310!

Just kidding, we're here today to talk about the 8.1 Windows Phone update I know you're all waiting for. We've seen the posts, the tweets, the facebook comments... It's something you guys really want, so we're pleased to bring you more details and information on the new 8.1 update that's headed your way soon. Let's lay it out in an easy-to-read Q&A. We all love Q&A's right?

Why didn't we get this update on 24th June?
24th June was the official start date for the "lifecycle" of the 8.1 update. This wasn't necessarily the date when WP users would get the update, but merely the beginning of its life. From then, it would take Microsoft several weeks to push the update out across continents, countries and networks. We and the UK simply had to wait our turn, that's all.

Okay, okay... Where's my update?!
Don't worry, it's coming soon. We have already started testing the software on our key WP devices that will receive the 8.1 update. We're testing these to ensure the device performs as expected and without any major issues, and to ensure it performs as expected on our network. All-in-all, we want to make sure when the update leaves our hands and reaches yours, it works the way you expect it to.

A DATE! I WANT A DATE!
So do we, with Cheryl Cole if that's at all possible... Microsoft wants you to get this update as soon as possible. Nokia want their devices to get this update as soon as possible. And so do we - As soon as we're confident and happy the update will run smoothly for you, we'll release it back to Nokia for them to push out to our customers. Due to there being a lot of Lumia devices, we're unable to test them all at once so the update may launch at different dates for different devices. We hope and expect for the first 8.1 updates to begin rolling out towards the end of July with others following over a few weeks past then.

Good stuff... What about the Cyan firmware?
As some of you may know, Nokia are also working on a new firmware update they've called 'Cyan' (following on from the previous Black and Blue naming scheme). This will be bundled in alongside the 8.1 update your phone will receive from us, so there's no need to wait for a seperate update for it. What's this update about? Cyan is essentially an expansion on the 8.1 update you'll receive - it will include enhancements such as Bluetooth 4.0 LE support, a new 'Creative Studio' app, camera improvements, and some other device-specific updates too.

What new features can we look forward to in 8.1?
There's genuinely just too much to mention, so we'll highlight some of our favourites:
- Wi-Fi Sense
- Battery Sense
- Storage Sense
- Start screen customisation
- Word Flow keyboard
- New People Hub
- Improved Phone UI
- Action Centre and extended System Tray

You can find out more about what features the 8.1 update will include here

Our Gurus have also blogged about some of the great 8.1 features with videos over here

Anything else we can look forward to?
As a matter of fact, yes, and it will launch exclusively on O2. Visual Voicemail! Want it? You got it! We've been working closely with Nokia to implement this feature into our network and to get it enabled on devices with an O2 Pay Monthly SIM via the new 8.1 update. This works similarly to how it does on an iPhone - when you receive a voicemail it is downloaded to your handset and gives you visual controls to play, pause and delete. No more calling 901/Voicemail for you.

I've got my update. How do I use VVM?
It's easy and straight forward but requires you to activate it first. We've written a guide here on how to activate and use this new feature.

What Nokia devices will we see the 8.1 update on?
We're working on all of our portfolio devices, so this will include the 520, 620, 625, 720, 820, 920, 925, 1020, 1520. The above VVM feature will be bundled into the 8.1 update for these devices, but will not be enabled immediately for the new 8.1 devices - the 630, 635 & 930. We are again working closely with Nokia and the VVM feature will come to these devices as part of a future maintenance release. We don't have any dates ironed out yet but we'll keep you in the loop.

Will we have Cortana once we update?
Unfortunately not – the Cortana feature is being rolled out as a separate feature by Microsoft. The roll-out has already begun in some parts of the world but we’re within the UK we don’t expect to see this feature enabled until some time in Q4. Sorry for any frustration this causes as we know Cortana is a feature many are looking forward to. As rollout plans from Microsoft progress, we’ll keep you updated whenever we know more about release dates.

Windows Phone apps from O2?
The following apps are already available for WP 8.0 devices and should work absolutely fine on 8.1 too: Up at The O2, My Network, O2 Academy, O2 Tracks & O2 Priority Moments.

Where's O2 Wifi, TU Go and My O2?
Our team have been working on these tirelessly and we're looking to bring these to you soon. Don't worry, we'll make sure to keep you updated along the way!

Don't forget if you'd like to discuss any particular O2 app or would like help or assistance with any of the apps or their features, we have a dedicated O2 Apps board here

Fancy the chance to win a WP 8.1 powered Lumia 930?
What sort of a question is that? Of course you do... Join us on Twitter (@O2) from 9am Friday 18th July where we'll be running a series of games. We'll choose a winner from each game who'll win a Lumia.

More info on the competition over here

Release Info
The O2 update to 8.1 with VVM is now available on all Lumia devices

1st August Update

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Unfortunately many of the 8.1 updates had been slightly delayed in being pushed out to customers - this impacts all networks across all countries. It's important to understand that O2 have already approved all of the 8.1 updates which are sitting with Nokia - at this stage, there's little we can do to speed up the process as the last part of the equation is for the update to be released to customers.

On the other hand, it's also important to realise that Nokia have several hundred updates, all of which will differ from release to release. This spans across all network, all countries & all continents that Nokia operate in - it's a very important update for Nokia and their users so they want to get this right and ensure all updates go out as planned without any issues.

We have however met with Nokia and discussed this and we hope to have our updates streamlined and prioritised as much as possible. We currently hope to see updates begin rolling out again late next week but please bear the above in mind - unfortunately delays can happen, especially when the update is as big and widespread as 8.1.

VVM on 8.1 Devices (930, 630, 635)
We will shortly be approving a maintenance release for these devices which will be sent to Nokia to join our current queue of 8.1 updates awaiting being pushed out to customers. This update is only for enabling VVM - it won't include any other changes

VVM on Business tariffs?
Yep, it works - you got it!

Where's my update? WHERE IS ITTTTT?!?!?!
It's closer now more than ever! We're extremely, insanely, massively, immensely hopeful that the 8.1 update will roll out to the rest of the Lumia devices before this weekend. Given there's not many weekdays left this week... It'll be pretty soon.
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18th Aug Update

VVM Update for Lumia 630/635/930
This update went live over the weekend so you should have it available to you now if it hasn't already been updated. Remember this update is only to enable VVM - it doesn't contain any other changes.

[FredBloggs]

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@Chris_K wrote:

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@FredBloggs wrote:

Thanks Chris.  I appreciate what you are saying, but it's a shame that this isn't made clear when buying phones on O2 contracts from companies such as CPW.  Not sure if you recall, but I was pondering whether to get the 930 direct from O2 or via CPW and due to limitations of colours I went for CPW as advice from the forums that it would be the same but the contract would be different.  It may have influenced my decision if I knew that factors like VVM are dependant on an O2 sourced handset... 😞

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I remember your post Fred and also replying to your queries. Sadly back then very little was known about VVM on 8.1, or even if we'd have the feature - it was only a week or two before I made this thread that the VVM feature was known to me so I'm sorry I couldn't have influenced any of your decision... Sadly we just didn't know back then.

CPW are partners of ours but they are also a completely seperate business and they have their own terms and conditions which we have no bearing on.

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Cheers Chris.  I understand the timing was not ideal.  However, are there any other features / services that I need to be aware of that I wont be able to use when buying from a reseller rather than direct from O2? This will help me make an informed decision when I come round to the next upgrade.

[Anonymous]

Fred - none of my business but I iwouldntlet them get away with this. not only is it bad customer relations but it breaches retail conusmer rights re transparency/ etc

Chris - are you making decisions on this? if so please confirm that CPW etc now displaying specific warnings about phones being supplied by them for O2. & if you're not, I suggest you chuck this over to your corporate counsel swiftly.  (your comment that you don't charge for VVM was a bit of a faux pas). I'm guessing that I bought the 630 after you guys already knew about VVM so please don't insult me by suggesting I go back to CPW for a repair when the only thing thats broken is the service provided by o2 .  . .still waiting to hear about that swap.

[Chris_K]

It's a really tricky thing to comment on solidly, because for example the 8.1 VVM is a fairly recent development and before it all became reality, the team behind it may only found out about the open market VVM issues during said development.

In general all features available on a phone will work the same whether on network x, or update z. It's not often network-specific features like VVM will make appearances and we couldn't have predicted open market VVM issues (like on CPW-purchased devices which run on open market) before development of the feature on our network.

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@Anonymous wrote:

Fred - none of my business but I iwouldntlet them get away with this. not only is it bad customer relations but it breaches retail conusmer rights re transparency/ etc

Chris - are you making decisions on this? if so please confirm that CPW etc now displaying specific warnings about phones being supplied by them for O2. & if you're not, I suggest you chuck this over to your corporate counsel swiftly.  (your comment that you don't charge for VVM was a bit of a faux pas). I'm guessing that I bought the 630 after you guys already knew about VVM so please don't insult me by suggesting I go back to CPW for a repair when the only thing thats broken is the service provided by o2 .  . .still waiting to hear about that swap.

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If you feel your consumer rights have been breached, you'll need to discuss this with CPW as they were the point of sale. If a feature works on O2-purchased handsets but not on CPW ones, we have no means of ensuring CPW communicate that to you - they may also not have known about the feature.

I don't make these decisions and I wasn't involved in the development of the VVM feature. What CPW communicate to customers about handset features is their decision.

[FredBloggs]

shrock - the points you make are valid and sound reasonable, but IMO its just a phone and there are bigger things for me to worry about. Also, I understand the situation that O2 (and particularly Chris K) are in as I'm associated with the software industry in a big way via the work I do. Actually I think we should take our hats off to Chris for giving candid, honest and open responses to the questions asked. I frequent many forums related to technology and you would not get this type of response from the social media team from most of the others - you'd probably get something on the lines of a non-committal statement that is ambiguous and does not help at all. At least with O2 (and from what I've seen of Chris) you get a direct answer and you know where you stand... even if it's not what you want to hear. Keep up the great work Chris! If there's one piece of feedback it would be to push WP more in the stores... all I see if Galaxy & iPhones.... come on guys... give WP an equal chance 🙂 Oh, I forgot... there are more things for me to worry about...

[Anonymous]

you're right, VVM is trivial but the principle isn't. I'm not a big fan of a supplier who expects me to sign a 12/24 month contract thinking they can change/ make up the rules as they go.

for what its worth, tho no idea why you think its relevant, I'm a software investor and sit on a couple of telecom boards

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I have a Lumia 520 Pay&Go from Carphone Warehouse. When can I expect the update?

Thanks,

Burkus

[Chris_K]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi,

I have a Lumia 520 Pay&Go from Carphone Warehouse. When can I expect the update?

Thanks,

Burkus

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You will have an open market 'country' variant so will need to await Nokia releasing this to your particular update channel - We only receive info on our own O2 variant updates so I have no info on when your device will receive this I'm afraid.

I'd recommend keeping an eye on Nokias update tracker here for the latest info > http://www.nokia.com/global/support/software-update/wp8-software-update/availability-in-europe/

[Anonymous]

Cool good to know

Just to confirm from what I've read from other posts this means I won't get the VVM feature?

Thanks,

Burkus

[MI5]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Just to confirm from what I've read from other posts this means I won't get the VVM feature?

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Yes, that's the situation, for now at least.....

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your help Chris. I ended up using the Nokia Software Repair tool and reverting back to Windows Phone 8.0 and then downloading the Cyan update OTA and I am now running Cyan complete with VVM. I just can't wait to get Cortana later on in the year. Thanks again 😊