Microsoft rolls out Cyan update with Windows Phone 8.1 to Lumia devices on Windows Phone 8

Ready for some great news? Starting today, the Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphone family will receive the Lumia Cyan software, the new Windows Phone 8.1 update and Lumia features upgrade that will make your Lumia an even more personal, fun and indispensable part of your life.

Simply put, Lumia Cyan is the update you’ve been waiting for.

Smarter essentials

Squeeze even more of the things that matter on your home screen with a third column of customized Live Tiles, plus a favorite feature of ours lets you use one of your photos as a background image on your Start screen. The People Hub also gets even better, and is the one-stop shop to your address book and social networks.

There are great new features that simply make life easier. Action Center, is the key to all your settings and with one swipe, acts as a mini dashboard to make your Lumia experience even faster. You can customize your settings and app notifications as well as change settings such as Wi-Fi and Flight mode. And yes, you can still make changes even when your phone is locked or if you’re using a third-party app.

Wi-Fi Sense automatically connects your Lumia to free Wi-Fi hotspots around the world and even takes care of the annoying part of putting in your details for you. And then there’s Word Flow, the most intuitive smartphone keyboard out there. Just glide your finger over the letters on the screen and your Lumia will do the rest. Word Flow will also correct words as you “type” and predict your most frequently used expressions. It’s lightning fast!

And for people in the US, Cortana is the virtual assistant built around you. She tracks what you care about, helps you become more productive, and even gets better at her job the more she learns about you. Read about the hidden tricks of Cortana here and meet the brains behind it here. She is also pretty good at football predictions.

The new Device Search is one feature you’ll love. If you need to find a specific email, contact, appointment, or even a song, just type in a keyword in the Bing search bar, and voila, there it is.

An updated Internet Explorer 11 will give you a fast and intuitive browser experience, and the updated nativeCalendar tracks not just your appointments, but also the weather, so you know when to bring an umbrella or a jacket in case of inclement conditions.

Richer experience

The Lumia Cyan update will also improve the already powerful Nokia Camera, Creative Studio and Storyteller apps. Nokia Camera gets a simplified user interface with one-tap access to edit and share pictures, and full-resolution zooming, re-framing and Creative Studio 6 (CS6) are available directly from the renewed Camera Roll.

CS6, available in the Windows Phone Store soon, brings new filters and image enhancement tools to make your shots unique. The updated Storyteller app allows you to share your best shots as a short Story Video on social networks.

It can be hard to keep track of all the tech-related gadgets you have. But with the new Nokia Device Hub included in the Cyan update, your Lumia can help you track down a missing accessory by showing you where you last used it. You’ll also get recommendations for apps you can use with that accessory.

And a bonus for you folks with a Lumia 520, Lumia 525, Lumia 620 or Lumia 720: If you currently run local HERE Drive, you’ll get a free upgrade to global HERE Drive+.

Your digital office

The unparalleled business support you’ll get with Windows Phone 8.1 will make your Lumia a tiny, highly efficient digital office. Among the built-in tools: Office for Windows Phone so you can see, edit, save and share Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents and OneNote notebooks on the go; Outlook, Skype and OneDrive so you can communicate and collaborate seamlessly. And of course, all of your information is protected with full device encryption.

There are also several new enterprise features you should know about. With Windows Phone 8.1, you can send digitally signed and encrypted emails to people outside your company (S/MIME), and you can set your Lumia to automatically access your company’s virtual private network (VPN).

More goodies for Lumia 1520 and Lumia Icon

The Lumia 1520 and Lumia Icon, powerhouses in the Lumia family, will provide an even more immersive experience via the Lumia Cyan update. For one, the audio quality of videos taken with these smartphones will be even more true-to-life thanks to Nokia Rich Recording and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 sound. And the camera capabilities will be even more robust (e.g. improved colors and low-light performance, continuous autofocus and improvements to RAW DNG images) and real thanks to the Living Images feature.

In addition, Microsoft’s Screen Share technology allows you to project content from your Lumia 1520 or Lumia Icon to connected screens like a smart TV or projector. Last but not least, the new SensorCore SDK Beta means that your favorite apps (such as Bing Fitness & Health) and gadgets can use location data, real-time updates (such as miles walked) and other advanced features.

How do I update?

The Lumia Cyan update will start rolling out around the world today and will be available for all Windows Phone 8 Lumia devices in the coming weeks.

Your phone automatically checks for updates and will notify you when the update is available.

Check availability here: http://www.nokia.com/global/support/software-update/wp8-software-update/

Which features are you looking forward to the most?