Windows
Phone, the land of dynamic live tiles of various sizes, will soon be a
little more like iOS and Android: An update to the platform will
introduce the ability to drag several live tiles into a single folder on
the home screen.
For
other platforms, the introduction of home screen folders was a
housekeeping move (arriving with iOS 4 in 2010 and Android 4.0 "Ice
Cream Sandwich" in 2011), essentially crossing a clearly needed feature
off a list. For Windows Phone, however, it's a departure. The mobile OS
has eschewed folders since the beginning, mainly because its design
language doesn't play nicely with them. For most, multiple live tile
sizes provides enough flexibility with the home screen layout.
That's
apparently no longer the case, according to details of the update that
were posted to Microsoft's Windows Phone developer portal, which were
confirmed by several different sites. "Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1" is
said to include a number of new features, although the introduction of
folders is probably the most fundamental change to the OS.
Folders
arriving on Windows Phone could has both positive and negative
implications. On the one hand, it's a concession that the design
philosophy was perhaps flawed from the beginning. But it's also an
affirmation of the platform's usability and app catalog; if users are
demanding the feature, it's probably because they have so many apps
installed that they are in danger of losing track of them on the home
screen.
Windows
Phone 8.1 Update 1 has a few other upgrades, including support for
voice over LTE (VoLTE), 1,280 x 800 displays and huge (7-inch) screens.
It'll also bring support for interactive cases, letting Windows Phone
manufacturers build accessories like Samsung's Galaxy S View cases and
the HTC Dot View case, which have a small windows or perforations that
the screen can sense and adapt to.
The update could come as early as next week, according to The Verge. Representatives of Microsoft declined to comment.
Posted by : Gizmeon
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