Windows Phone 8.1 getting second major update after MWC

The Microsoft software team is diligently working on making Windows 10 for Phones available in the near future, but that doesn’t mean their current software release, Windows Phone 8.1 will be left behind. Even though the majority of phones running Windows Phone 8.1 will be updated to Windows 10 soon enough, Microsoft is still going to keep support up for those that aren’t qualified for the update. At the MWC 2015, the Redmond-giant should announce more about Windows Phone 8.1 GDR2 (General Distribution Release).

A few specifics of the update have been leaked in official Microsoft documents intended for clarifying hardware requirements for the update to OEMs and carriers. That means that the information detailed within these documents is incomplete when it comes to users of Windows Phone 8.1. The changelog for the update is quite minor at the moment, which leads us to believe there will be more features and upgrades added to things like Cortana and the Action Center.

The documents reveal that the new Windows Phone 8.1 update will bring forth few major improvements. Video over LTE is going to be upgraded, bringing customization settings for behavior so that you can set up video over LTE so that your carrier requirements will be met (toggle Video over LTE switch with a default value, customizing names, labels and descriptions of the switch, customizing timeout, enabling video conference, IFTTT-type monitoring of video quality, dialog options).

Besides video over LTE improvements, the Windows Phone 8.1 update will restore the Start tile layout and add more languages to the phone itself, including Bangla, Khmer, Kiswahili and Lao. You can check out the full changelog over at Microsoft, but hurry up as it might get taken down soon. Remember that this changelog is rather incomplete, because it doesn’t list many software modifications that would impact users, so expect to see a few new Cortana functions as well as Action Center upgrades. We should find out more about Windows Phone 8.1 GDR2 at the Mobile World Congress on March 2nd.