Windows Phone 8.1 and MFT

[VinceL]

Having recently updated my phone to Windows Phone 8.1, I thought I would give my impressions for those interested.

I have updated my HTC 8x using the Preview for Developers program offered by Microsoft. I joined the preview mainly because I have no idea when Verizon will get around to updating my phone (also, I can get impatient!!).

So far, there has been only one glitch with the phone. It did connect a bit slowly at first, but I deleted the Sync bluetooth connection and reconnected the phone and that fixed that issue. Text messaging is still awesome with the phone, being able to free-form compose messages, and now that Cortana voice control is available, the phone's utility has increased many fold.

The only thing that I am disappointed by is the lack of car based interface for initiating a message or voice control. I can do it by holding down the search button, but that is a pain when the phone is out of sight, and I do not like fiddling with my phone as I drive (my eyes belong on the road, not on my phone). Well.... it seems that is all about to change. Update 1 for WP 8.1 should be released next week for those on the preview for developers. It has a decent number of upgrades, but the one I am looking most forward to is the addition of Cortana as a phone contact. What that means is I can press the voice button on the steering wheel and say "Call Cortana", and the bluetooth will connect to the phone like a phone call giving me complete Cortana voice control access. Simple, fast, and I never have to touch my phone. Pretty neat.

When I get the latest update installed, I will come back to this thread and post the results and my impressions.

 

[LukerDooker]

Makes sense, sounds like it would be good on any phone for in-car use...

 

[VinceL]

Okay, so the update hit my phone the other day and I have been using it extensively in the Ghost to get a feel for how useful and practical it actually is.

The functionality is quite good. How it works is by pressing the voice command button and saying "Call Cortana" like I would make any normal phone call. A second or two later the phone is ready to accept commands. I can dictate texts, get flight status information (which I will talk about a bit later), initiate the phone's navigation system, find just about anything and ask it to take me there. I am still messing around with it so I am not exactly sure of the extent of the voice control over the phone, but it does a great job with the things I have asked of it, all without having to touch the phone or even out of my pocket.

Cortana caught me off guard last night. My wife and son were coming back from Houston and I asked Cortana to keep track of the flight status for me (through voice command). She added the flight info to my live tile on my phone's desktop and would flash updates periodically. Earlier in the day, I used my wife's flight confirmation in my email to add a calendar reminder for later that evening. That night, the calendar reminder popped up and I snoozed it as I was getting ready to leave. A short while later I noticed a notification pop up on my phone. It was Cortana telling me it was time to leave to get to the airport in time, having selected a route for me and showing it on the screen. It had a button at the bottom for voice directions and when I pressed it, Waze started with the address already programmed it and started navigating. Mind you, I had not asked for directions to the airport at any point, Cortana gathered that since I was tracking an inbound flight that I might want to meet it. Spooky, lol. Ain't technology grand?

So far I am impressed. I will keep poking around to find any shortcomings or things I think need improving. What I like most about the way Microsoft integrated this technology is that it is completely vehicle and phone model independent. All you need is a car with bluetooth calling ability and a Windows Phone with the latest update. It would be nicer just to be able to push a button to get Cortana going, but that would require either hardware or software updates to the vehicle. Maybe they can do that in the future, but it is nice to have a solution that works with older cars.