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  • Houdani - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    Of course, your mileage may vary since the update is still gated by individual carriers. Here's hoping they won't drag their feet any more than is absolutely necessary.

    On the plus side, going forward, the core features in WP8.1 will be decoupled from the OS, which means that updates to those features can occur at MS's pace and outside of the carrier's purview.
  • jimjamjamie - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    What about ie?
  • XabanakFanatik - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    So does this mean since I have a 1520 unlocked on T-mobile, I'll never receive the update as the 1520 is not a supported device by the carrier?
  • kyuu - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    That's an interesting question; I honestly dunno how it works when you're running a device that the carrier doesn't support.

    The easy answer would be for you to sign up for a free developer account with MS and just get 8.1 that way.
  • Farru - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link



    .FAQ - Does my Lumia 520, 521, 525, 526, 630 or 635 phone support sound equalizer?.

    No, Lumia 520, 521, 525, 526, 630 or 635 phones don't have support for sound equalizer
  • frostyfiredude - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    If I understand correctly, your 1520 is a factory unlocked model that you've stuck a T-Mobile SIM in and thus use on the T-Mobile network. T-Mobile won't have any say in your updates, so updates will be pushed directly from Nokia/Microsoft to your device. I believe that's the case for most if not all factory unlocked devices.
  • XabanakFanatik - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    Not quite, it's an AT&T model that I purchased from Microsoft, unlocked while still an AT&T customer, and brought over to T-Mobile when I switched carriers.
  • a5cent - Thursday, July 17, 2014 - link

    In that case you will get the update when AT&T releases it.
  • althaz - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    You can get the upgrade by unlocking your phone.

    You can then either download the updates when they are in preview or release (on a case by case basis).

    To do this, sign up as a "developer" and unlock tour phone. Then download the "Preview for Developers" app and you'll be able to get the latest updates.
  • AMRooke - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    Updates for the L1520 will likely be pushed out on the AT&T schedule. Updates to the Cyan distribution schedule are posted at http://www.nokia.com/global/support/software-updat... (click North America and look down the list for the 1520 under the United States of America, AT&T is the only one listed). I'm not sure if my L920 will get the update with US AT&T (my carrier) or UK Country Variant (I flashed the ROM to this last year to get Data Sense).
  • Farru - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link


    Does my Lumia 520, 521, 525, 526, 630 or 635 phone support sound equalizer?

    Nokia FAQ | Entertainment

    No, Lumia 520, 521, 525, 526, 630 or 635 phones don't have support for sound equalizer.
  • Farru - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link

    http://www.nokia.com/us-en/search/?action=siteSear...
  • SeannyB - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    > "The other new display related feature is what Nokia calls color profiles."

    For a second I thought this meant full-blown color management on a mobile OS.
  • althaz - Wednesday, July 16, 2014 - link

    That would have been pretty nice, unfortunately the colour management is fairly basic. You get a few sliders (brightness, vividness, temperature, colour balance) and that's more or less it.
  • hfm - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    Might want to change the headline to Windows Phone 8.1 , Windows 8.1 is a separate product.
  • Brandon Chester - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    Thank you. I cannot believe I did that.
  • Flunk - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    For now, bwahahaha!

    One Windows to rule them all, One Windows to find them,
    One Windows to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

    But seriously, we're going to end up with one converged product when Threshold drops.
  • 457R4LDR34DKN07 - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    By the time T mobile rolls this out I'll probably have wp 8.1 gdr 1 developer preview...
  • JeffFlanagan - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    >new Action Center which combines notifications and access to settings
    >and shortcuts in a menu that can be pulled down from the top of the device

    Someone's been looking at Android. At least they're getting there by copying, if not innovating. They got into phones really late, but seem to be moving toward something more usable. They might even sell me a Lumia one day.

    >This introduces a slider in the brightness section of the settings application
    >for finer control over the desired brightness than the default fixed settings of
    >low, medium, and high

    Can they really have been missing this basic functionality until this release?
  • jimjamjamie - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    It still doesn't have a stopwatch, and no API is available so the 3rd party after mostly hacks or missing functionality
  • kyuu - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    Yeah, there's no stopwatch app bundled with the OS. There are plenty of decent stopwatch apps on the store, though. What's the issue?
  • mkozakewich - Wednesday, July 16, 2014 - link

    Third-party basic tools (as a class of software) will never replace first-party. I still use Notepad.exe every day. All the most basic of tools should have a well-designed, secure, and free implementation included in the OS.
  • sweenish - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    Pretty sure you don't need an API for a stopwatch.
  • althaz - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    LOL, stopwatch API, really? A stopwatch with lap timer was what I made to learn about deploying apps with WP7.
  • kyuu - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    The notification/setting center is obviously in the same vein as Android's, but it's hardly a direct copy. It's far superior to Apple's, at the very least. Except for not having a built-in flashlight feature.

    Yes, WP has never had a slider for brightness, just "low", "medium", "high", and "auto". It's problematic for benchmarking, but for normal use it's really not much of an issue. I'm not complaining that it's finally present, though. Also, the new brightness settings include the ability to adjust the values of the low/med/high settings as well as change the curve for the auto setting, I believe.
  • althaz - Wednesday, July 16, 2014 - link

    Just FYI: You can add the flashlight to the action centre, it's just optional (because the flashlight app isn't built into the OS).

    That said, I haven't done so, I prefer to use the icon on my start screen.
  • kyuu - Wednesday, July 16, 2014 - link

    Are you sure about that? I'm looking right now and I cannot see any way to add additional "quick actions" beyond what are listed, and I don't have any flashlight app listed. I do have one installed and on the start screen.
  • Alexvrb - Wednesday, July 16, 2014 - link

    I know you can change them but I think it's limited to a list of built-ins. Frankly, it's not necessary, since you can just pin it to your start page. I would use the action center shortcuts for things that aren't accessed constantly, but often enough that you don't want to dig into settings. Like wifi, airplane mode, maybe bluetooth.
  • kyuu - Thursday, July 17, 2014 - link

    It's far from being a big deal, but I definitely prefer having the built-in flashlight feature ala iOS7 rather than having to launch an app. But yeah, on my action center I have WiFi, Quiet Hours, Brightness, and Rotation Lock.
  • Thermogenic - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    Will Anandtech start covering Windows Phones again now that they are coming from Microsoft and not Nokia? It's especially sad not seeing the Lumia's in the camera comparisons.
  • kyuu - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    The problem was that Brian Klug was supposed to handle WP covereage/reviews, but he abruptly stopped writing articles for it (after receiving a Lumia 920 for review and stating that the article was a WIP at one point) and started openly mocking WP. No one else at Anandtech ever picked up Brian's slack.

    Now Brian is gone, I believe, and as far as I know there still isn't anyone at Anandtech that has committed to covering/reviewing WP and its hardware. We get the occasional pipeline article, but that's it.
  • Brandon Chester - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    Keep an eye out in the near future c:
  • Alexvrb - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    Good to hear!
  • althaz - Tuesday, July 15, 2014 - link

    Coolness. Although I already bought a windows phone :)
  • Alexvrb - Wednesday, July 16, 2014 - link

    You don't want coverage of upcoming devices? o.O

    Brandon, I want those reviews of the 1525 and 1820 on my desk by Monday! Not sure which Monday, of course, but one of them.
  • Sabresiberian - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link

    Good news Brandon, looking forward to more WP analyses. :)
  • psnewman - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link

    I put the developers 8.1 on my ATT (I unlocked it to use on TMO) Nokia 1520. It now runs slower, gets warm and battery life is terrible. I have the latest version of 8.1 which supposedly solved the battery life issue. I hope the actual rollout of this product is better than the developers edition. In short, I made the mistake of jumping on this too soon.
  • Farru - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link

    The equalizer does not work half the Lumia devices.
  • Farru - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link

    The equalizer does not work half the Lumia devices, does not allow software installation.
  • Farru - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link

    All devices with other operating systems have it in their basic models.
  • Farru - Friday, July 18, 2014 - link


    Does my Lumia 520, 521, 525, 526, 630 or 635 phone support sound equalizer?

    No, Lumia 520, 521, 525, 526, 630 or 635 phones don't have support for sound equalizer.

    http://www.nokia.com/us-en/search/?action=siteSear...

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