View the gallery in full screen to read more about our favorite Windows Phone 8.1 features.
With each version of Windows Phone, Microsoft's mobile OS gets better and better. The 8.1 update is no exception. This latest upgrade brings convenience and productivity features that finally make the mobile OS competitive with its older, more experienced rivals, iOS and Android. Considering it's been over three and a half years since Microsoft's serious push into the smartphone space with Windows Phone 7, it's about time.
But it would be a disservice to imply that the new features in Windows Phone 8.1 are merely "me too" additions. As the mobile OS has evolved, it's continued to develop a personality of its own. A drastically different UI and home screen, as well as a true focus on personalization, means Windows Phone 8.1 does a lot of things, and does them with a unique flair all its own.
We've been playing around with a Nokia Lumia Icon loaded up with the developer preview of Windows Phone 8.1 for the past few weeks. Rather than review pre-release software, which will continue to change over the next few weeks, we've decided to highlight some of 8.1's more notable features and explain how they work.
