Microsoft has been consistently improving the Windows Phone OS over the years and with the Windows Phone 8 they managed to make it quite good. The latest General Distribution Release 3 update has leaked a few times now and there is a change log we got our hands on today. This change log presented us with some additional features that we didn’t knew about till now.
Hardware Updates
The Windows Phone 8 GDR3 was more of a necessity when we consider the Hardware platform it brings support for. The latest flagship smartphones operate on Quad-Core Processors and Full HD displays (1080p) where as till now Windows Phone 8 could be operated on 720p Displays and Two-Cores for the CPU at Max. This has been resolved as GDR3 brings Full HD Display (1080p) and Quad-Core Processors (Yes Snapdragon 800 Included) to the Windows Phone 8 platform.
Software Updates
There are numerous big and small changes that come with the GDR3 Update. Most of these are improvements to the Windows Phone 8 OS to make it more practical and compete in the advanced fields with the iOS 7 and Android 4.4 KitKat that might release by the end of this month. The 5 Major features that disclosed till now can be listed as
- The Home Screen can now have 3 Medium or 6 Small tiles for the phones that have WXGA (1280 x 768) or higher screen resolutions.
- The Application Switcher allows you to end applications with a close button on top left corner (Not swiping)
- The Auto-Rotation can now be turned on/off.
- There are custom tones for text, email, reminders, IM and voicemail. A new feature is attaching Office files to emails.
- Nokia’s Bittersweet shimmer firmware : 20 new accent colors for Glance Screen’s night mode (currently Only RED in Amber Update). Glance screen will also have notifications, like the lock screen. There will also reportedly be new apps – Nokia Camera and Storyteller.
