Review: Firefox OS

<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <b>You have to respect a company or organization that tries to reinvent itself. It’s never easy, it usually comes with a lot of criticism and birthing pains, and if they make it to the other side, they’ll never be the same again. It’s what’s been happening in the mobile market for the last six years now and it’s what starting to happen, once again, to the computing market in general.</b></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> So when an organization such as Mozilla, makers of the once uber-popular Firefox browser, decides to move way beyond its comfort zone and try to make a full-fledged mobile operating system, you know people will be paying attention.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Firefox OS is the result of this long-term bet for Mozilla and, even though it’s still in its very early stages, it has its fair share of fans and enthusiasts. We’ve seen bits and pieces of the nascent OS at different events around the world, not to mention the number of times we’ve seen it ported to existing Android devices, but now we finally have an official product on the market, backed by a Chinese OEM, ZTE, and a number of carriers around the world.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> So how do Firefox OS and the ZTE Open stack up against incredibly fierce competition from Microsoft, Nokia, Google and Samsung? Read on to find out.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Note that I’ve broken this review in two sections, the first dealing with the OS itself with the second being reserved for ZTE’s hardware.</div> <h2 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> Firefox OS</h2> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> Design and Navigation</h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2013-11-12-10-09-37.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> If you’re expecting anything new or radically different from Firefox OS I’m sorry to say you’ll be quite disappointed. Instead of taking risks Mozilla chose to be quite conservative in the design department and stuck to the “grid-of-icons” model that was popularised by Apple and quickly copied by Google with Android. In fact, Firefox OS looks so much like previous versions of Google’s own mobile progeny that you can easily forget this is actually a brand new operating system.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The phone greets you with a simple lock screen that can display some notifications, the date and time, and your wallpaper. From here you can either unlock your phone or go directly to the camera to snap a pic.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Next you’ll see a very predictable home screen coupled with a bottom row of icons for quick access to the phone’s basic functions. The cleanness of the home screen, where users can’t pin app shortcuts, is quite refreshing at first. However, this gets old really fast when you have to constantly swipe to find your favourite app instead of being able to pin it directly wherever you want. Long-pressing on the home screen allows users to change their wallpaper with photos from the gallery.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2013-11-11-17-51-13.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Home Screen an the Grid of Apps</em></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The bottom row of icons includes the Phone and Messaging apps as well as the Firefox Browser, access to the Camera and a Radio app that’s only usable with a connected headset. Having five icons instead of four creates a very weird aesthetic, as the icon of the last app is always partially off-screen. Users can also scroll through this row which would make a lot of sense if you could add or remove apps from this quick-access drawer, but you can’t, which makes scrolling and the fifth icon look daft.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Swiping left on the home screen takes you to your apps which, as discussed previously, are arranged in a grid of icons similar to iOS and Android. Long pressing on such an icon allows you to delete it or to move it around, exactly like iOS.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> In lieu of any interesting UI choices, Mozilla has opted to take the giant risk of making the icons round, which might, obviously, shock and confuse some users. Unfortunately, even this isn’t consistent. All system apps have rounded icons while the downloaded Facebook app is a square and the Twitter app uses just the logo so it’s in the shape of the blue birdie. Meanwhile Cut the Rope uses the same rounded corner icon it has on iOS. So in the end it’s something of a mess, with a range of different design ideas and standards.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> If you continue to swipe left you’re taken to additional screens of apps. Anybody used to Android or iOS will feel right at home.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Now, swiping right on your home screen takes you to the Search page and this is where we find Firefox’s biggest differentiatior. They have thought out and engineered search to be a very important part of how you use and experience the OS.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2013-11-11-17-51-59.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The search integration in FF OS - an important asset</em></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> On top, users find a blank search bar where they can input their queries. Below, there are rows of categories of items that you can search for like Music, Shopping, Financial News, Social, etc. Finally you can also see an extended list of these categories by hitting the More icon.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Choosing a category, such as Social, will bring up a list of web apps for this category. Currently Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and Tumblr are the top apps that appear. A user can then open up his app of choice or pin it to one of the app pages for later use.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Searching for a term without selecting a category brings up a multitude of choices and a user can then pick and choose what is needed. For example, searching for “The Beatles” brings up Grooveshark, Youtube, SoundClound, but it also brings up Wikipedia, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter; selecting one of these apps opens it up and performs a search query with your term – in this case showing me everything that’s going on on Twitter regarding #thebeatles.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> This way to search through apps can be super powerful and very helpful; it’s probably the best feature of Firefox OS. Unfortunately this is where the good part ends because relying on web apps and HTML usually reads great on paper but ends up disappointing in the real world, and Mozilla’s project is no exception.</div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> Apps and Web apps</h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2013-11-11-17-51-43.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Web apps have been something of an obsession for tech companies during the past few years with everybody jumping on board and then usually jumping off again. Web apps developed around HTML5 and web standards held the magical promise that companies could code something once and then run it on any internet connected device, regardless of manufacturer, OS, version, etc. </div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Unfortunately due to the basic precept that these apps should run everywhere and due to their reliance on HTML instead of native code, web apps end up being far inferior to regular apps especially from a user experience point of view - and this clearly shows in Firefox OS.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The way the OS is currently built, users are supposed to mainly rely on these web apps to get stuff done. Whether they “install” them through the Marketplace or via the Search Pane, users have to rely on these faux apps.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> But most of these apps are simple wrappers around the mobile website of different companies. The Facebook app for example, is little more than simply hitting up m.facebook.com in a separate wrapper. Same goes for Twitter and most other apps I’ve tried. Occasionally they’re optimized to look a little better on your device but that’s pretty much the only difference.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2013-11-12-10-16-38.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The official app Marketplace</em></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> While using mobile versions of websites may bring many features, performance is quite dreadful and lack of proper internet connectivity makes things that much worse. In a world where even proper apps that are not natively coded have a tough time impressing anyone – here’s looking at you, Windows Phone 7 apps – having what basically amounts to shortcuts to mobile sites and touting those as usable 'apps' is simply not acceptable.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> What may confuse users even more is that folks can download proper offline-usable apps in the Marketplace. However it’s pretty much a game of chance as to whether what you’re downloading is a decent, usable app or just another mobile website.  Games are a decent example here, the few that I’ve found being “regular” apps and working as well as can be expected on such a low-end device as the ZTE Open.</div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> System apps</h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> As opposed to downloadable apps which are optional, system apps are the ones that come preinstalled on the phone and can’t be deleted. These control the phone’s basic functions so it’s extremely important that they work well and have decent functionality.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Firefox OS comes with the same basic apps as any other phone such as the Phone app, Messaging, Contacts, E-mail, Calendar, a Camera app, Gallery, a music player, the Firefox browser, the Marketplace, a clock and a note taking app. It also comes with some interesting extras such as a Video player, a Radio app, a data usage app simply called Usage, Nokia's HERE Maps and Accuweather. None of these can be deleted or changed so I’m considering them to be basic system apps.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2013-11-12-10-48-18.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Calendar and an often encountered FB error</em></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The phone and messaging apps work exactly as you’d expect and there’s nothing surprising about them; they are neither good nor bad.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The contacts app is somewhat bare-bones though it does its job well. You can import contacts from your SIM card much as you can on any other OS. You can even import friends and info from Facebook, or at least the OS tells me I can; I was never actually able to do it. Whenever I try to integrate Facebook contacts I always get the same “Invalid App ID “ error.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The e-mail app is nothing special either. It does support multiple accounts which can be set-up quite easily, whether they’re for a popular service such as Outlook - where the app pulls the configuration info and you need to only add in your address and password - or they need to be setup manually.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Unfortunately multiple accounts doesn’t also mean a unified inbox so users still have to check every account manually to see if they’ve got unread messages. Message threading is another basic feature that seems to be missing from this app with every e-mail showing up individually.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> These are features that other operating systems have had for a long time, so it’s very frustrating that Mozilla couldn't get this right on its first try.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Another thing that’s definitely a minus for users is the fact that many apps - most apps, in fact - don’t work at all on devices with little internal memory, unless you plug in a memory card. So on this ZTE Open, that comes with very limited internal memory, I couldn’t use most of the phone’s functions including the camera and gallery apps, or the music and video players. Of course this wouldn’t be a problem on higher end devices but it does severely limit your out-of-box experience with a low-end handset.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The rest of the apps have nothing special either. Calendar works as well as you’d expect a basic calendar app to function. It even integrates with other calendars such as your Gmail one, and it works decently, but there’s nothing outstanding about it.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2013-11-12-10-18-30.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The camera app on the left and the Gallery app on the right</em></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The camera and gallery apps are also limited and offer little more than the most basic functions: taking pictures and video, and reviewing them afterwards. There are no preferences to select, or levels to set or any type of advanced setting. The Gallery app makes up for this, but just a bit, offering some filters, effect and brightness settings. You can also share photos or clips to social media or via e-mail and Bluetooth.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> It’s still a very basic experience for such an app and considering the vast strides other platforms have been making in the photography department this bare-bones approach is certain to disappoint users.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Finally there’s the browser – arguably the keystone of the whole Firefox OS. I was hoping this would end up being a stellar experience but the whole thing falls short. Don’t get me wrong - Firefox has the potential to be a great browser, but so far it’s lacking almost all of the good features that you find in the Android and desktop versions.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2013-11-12-10-37-06.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> This browser works well in terms of rendering, switching between tabs and browsing websites, but that’s pretty much all it can do. There’s no desktop sync and there are no advanced features. Sure, you can search for something just by typing it in the address bar but you can’t even select your search provider, with the browser always defaulting to Google.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2013-11-12-10-38-13.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The good part is that the browser seemed very snappy for the most part, working better and faster than most other apps I’ve tried, which shows how well it’s been optimized for low-end devices. In-app navigation also seemed to work well and the swipe gesture used to close tabs makes for really fast and efficient page management.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Unfortunately this browser, alongside all the other apps that come pre-installed in FFOS, offers very little to the discerning consumers that know they would've actually got a better Firefox experience on any Android handset.</div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> Performance</h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2013-11-12-10-20-16.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The way I experienced Firefox OS has no doubt skewed my view on its performance, because I’ve only used the nascent OS on a very low-end device with limited computing power and resources. As such many actions and commands that one would expect to be instantaneous on a smartphone, had delayed responses and weird stutters. However I am giving FF and Mozilla the benefit of the doubt here and I’ll chuck all of those up to ZTE’s crappy cheap hardware.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> There are however instances when the OS is clearly lagging or creating problems and those can’t be ignored.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> First of all, scrolling is absolutely horrible in the OS. There’s a very weird inertial scrolling effect that seems to be turned up to 11 and it makes going through long lists or texts a nightmare, especially when you’re trying to focus on a single line. The really weird part is that this is never consistent with some part of the OS exhibiting this behavior, while others don’t.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/2013-11-12-10-15-57.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> And what gets me mad is that apps don’t suffer from this at all. Twitter and Facebook - apps that have, at times, seen their own share of scrolling problems on other platforms - work just fine. In fact, almost any app, including the Firefox browser, works just fine in this regard, but the basic OS doesn’t.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Then there are some really weird stutters due to the OS constantly trying to interpret your touch as a command to open something. Again, this is most evident in lists, especially the Settings list, where just by scrolling around you end up modifying settings because the OS thinks you’re trying to select instead of scroll.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Finally, there's the keyboard. While it’s true that I’ve used worse keyboards – hello, Android 2.0 – this has to be in the top-five worst on-screen keyboards of all time. The good news here is that the problems don’t stem from weird hit-boxes around the letters but rather from simple lag. This being the case, I’m sure Mozilla will fix this in the near future - but until then, try not to do too much typing on a Firefox OS handset.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/notifications_lock_screen_ffos.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> And speaking of the near future I’m sad to say that even though Firefox OS 1.1 is already out for OEMs, this device has yet to receive the update. Why is that important? Because besides the usual bug fixes, added features and the like, FFOS 1.1 also brings support for third party notifications.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Yes you read that right: as it currently stands, Firefox OS has a pretty decent notification center but no actual notifications. That’s partially because of the fact that most apps are web-apps, but it’s also because Mozilla considered that having notifications is not a high priority in the grand scheme of things. And I’m going to be calling this “a reverse Microsoft” from now on.  </div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> Wrap-up</h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> I’m going to be as frank as I can here: this OS shouldn’t exist. I’m a big fan of Mozilla and Firefox but I also have to be realistic and take a look at the bigger picture. Firefox OS is  so far behind the competition that there is simply no conceivable way for it to catch up and become relevant. Then there's the fact that it behaves quite poorly on low-end device and lest we forget this OS's <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">raison d'etre </em>was to offer a good alternative to Android on the low-end of the market.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Whether you define it as a free OS, a low-end OS, a developing market OS, there’s already something out there that’s better, faster, with more support behind it and already selling handsets. Android fills all those roles mentioned above, and it does it well especially at the higher-end, which Firefox OS can't begin to compete with. Meanwhile, Windows Phone is seeing explosive growth in the low-end where it’s bringing a premium experience through Nokia devices. Add the other five or ten open-source, side-project, just-a-hobby mobile operating systems out there, and there’s very little room for one more, even if it is from a big name like Mozilla.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> There’s only one role that FF OS fills and that’s as an OS for enthusiasts. It’s developed by dedicated people and has an adoring fan base, and that may be its lifeline for the foreseeable future. But a fan OS is very far from a commercially viable OS, and the way things are looking, Mozilla’s pet project will never be able to make that jump unless something radical changes.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;"> By: Neowin</div>

Review: Firefox OS

You have to respect a company or organization that tries to reinvent itself. It’s never easy, it usually comes with a lot of criticism and ...

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Review: Windows 8.1

<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-13%20at%2011_07_51%20AM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 378px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Windows 8.1 is the start of something new for Microsoft. It’s a dynamic shift in strategy for its core OS and it is also a refinement to Windows 8, one that will likely shift the tide in terms of user perception. </span></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Prior to this release, Windows 8 had been a toss-up between a dramatic separation from the traditional Windows platform, and a push in creating a new user experience that is touch-friendly. The result was that Windows 8 was a hybrid OS - and consumer reaction to this was mixed, to say the least - but there were some glimmers of real innovation tucked inside the OS.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Windows 8.1 builds upon Windows 8 and includes many new features that were requested by consumers. The most obvious change is the return of the Start button, but not the Start menu, and the ability to boot directly to the desktop.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Even with the new features, will Windows 8.1 be enough to convince the crowd that stuck with Windows 7 that 8.1 offers big enough improvements to make the jump? Read the full review below to see what’s new with Windows 8.1.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/review-windows-8.1-b01.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Windows 8.1 is an upgrade to Windows 8 that will be delivered via the Windows Store. While you can acquire Windows 8.1 as a stand-alone product, for anyone that has Windows 8 installed, the 8.1 upgrade will be free.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Steve Ballmer referred to Windows 8.1 as a ‘refined blend’ of Windows 8 and many will likely agree. Or more specifically, most will probably say Windows 8.1 is what Windows 8 should have been when it launched last October.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The upgrade to Windows 8 has been significantly influenced by feedback from consumers, and the end result is a matured Windows platform that increases the usability and reduces the ‘new user frustration’ that many experienced when jumping from Windows 7 to Windows 8.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Windows 8.1 is not a service pack, by Microsoft’s definition, but it is a substantial update to Windows 8.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/review-windows-8.1-b02.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-13%20at%2010_47_30%20AM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 436px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Windows 8.1 will feature an installation process that is familiar to those of you who have installed Windows 8. If you are upgrading from any other version of Windows, the install process is quite easy to understand and allows for customization right out of the box.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> If you are upgrading from Windows 8, your files and apps will come along for the ride and the process will be quick and easy. You will only have to enter a few bits of information to get your machine up and running Windows 8.1.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> If you are opting for a clean install of Windows 8.1, the process will feel much like Windows 8 too but with a few more customization options (new colors etc). But again, the process is quite easy to follow and no real surprises are included with the Windows 8.1 installer.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> As with Windows 8, if you have a Microsoft account and you sign in once Windows 8.1 loads (assuming you are doing a clean install), all of your system settings will sync to your new setup. The same can be said too for the Windows Store: once you login with your Microsoft account, all of your purchased content will be available for download.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Microsoft has mastered the installation process and putting Windows 8.1 on your machine, with either an upgrade or a clean install, is a simple process. Long gone are the days of complex settings and screen after screen of blanks demanding to be filled. With only a few clicks, your machine will be up-and-running in very little time at all.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/review-windows-8.1-b03.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-13%20at%2011_30_46%20AM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 386px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> There are many places we could start with Windows 8.1, but the Start screen is one area that has seen some of the most dramatic changes when compared to Windows 8. Like Windows Phone 8, there are now more live tile size options that will make it easier to create your perfect start screen.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> In addition to the new tile sizes, Microsoft has also enabled a ‘customize’ mode that makes it easier to transform your Start screen and reduces the amount of times that you accidentally resize or move a tile.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> While these two features may not seem like much, they go a long way to improving the usability of the space and generally make the Start screen a bit more user-friendly.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> One of my favorite features for the Start screen is the ability to match the background image to that of your desktop. Why is this important?<q class="qright" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; float: right; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; margin: 0.9em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 220px;">The improvements to the Start screen are simple, but greatly improve usability.</q> Well, with Windows 8, toggling between the desktop and the Start screen is a visual assault on your retinas if your background images are two different colors. By allowing you to use the same image (this is where the “Windows 8 should have had this” comes into play), the transition between the two interfaces feels much more natural. But we suspect that, even with this update, it will still not appease those who want the classic Start menu back as the usefulness of the modern interface is still debatable for the keyboard and mouse users.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> For those of you who do live (and die) by your trusty keyboard and mouse, Microsoft has made the ‘All Apps’ section a bit easier to use with Windows 8.1 with a small arrow that you can click to reveal the all apps section of the modern UI. Additionally, you can configure the Start button to launch the ‘all apps’ section of the modern UI too. For those of you who still are not happy with this layout, I highly recommend that when you need to find an app, you hit your Windows button on your keyboard and start typing the name; this is easily the fastest way to find the program you are looking for and saves a few headaches along the way too.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> If you want to read more about the customization options on the Start screen, make sure to check out <a href="http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-81-guide-customizing-the-start-screen" style="background-color: transparent; color: #466ea0; cursor: pointer; font-family: 'Segoe WP Semibold', 'Segoe UI Semibold', 'Segoe UI Web Semibold', 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-weight: 600; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">our guide to customizing the Windows 8.1 Start screen</a>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/review-windows-8.1-b04.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-14%20at%209_09_37%20PM_2.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 373px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 551px;" /></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> It’s back! Kinda. Well, yes the button is back but what you really wanted was the return of the Start menu, which is not returning. Yes, Microsoft has put a button back in the beloved lower left hand corner that replaces that hot corner that Windows 8 utilized, but it does not offer more functionality than the hot corner it replaces.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Start button is simply a toggle to open up the Modern UI, nothing more. Right mouse clicking the Start button pulls up a context menu but is still well short of the Start menu that Windows has utilized for the past couple of decades.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The return of the Start button is nothing more than a crutch to help users move from Windows XP and beyond to Windows 8.1. The button adds a bit of familiarity to the platform and does reduce the confusion for novice users who are new to Windows 8.1. Ultimately, this simple shortcut will likely get the most attention with Windows 8.1 but, in reality, it’s not that big of a deal as it doesn't add any real new functionality to the platform.               </div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/review-windows-8.1-b05.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Microsoft has improved the lock screen with Windows 8.1 as well to include options to make the lock screen have rotating images, just like on Windows Phone 8. Additionally, Skype is getting some lock screen love too as you can now answer calls from the VoIP service on the lock screen (other VoIP clients will offer this functionality too).</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> You can pull the images in locally or link your SkyDrive account as well use images from your personal cloud.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Aside from these small changes, the lock screen is still quite similar to that of Windows 8, which isn't all that surprising. The additional lock screen notifications do help in understanding what has happened to your accounts while you were away, but besides that, the lock screen is simply still a security wall between you and your content.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/review-windows-8.1-b06.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-13%20at%2010_51_14%20AM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 477px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Microsoft has gone to great lengths to update many of the applications that ship with Windows 8.1. Everything from the Mail app to Xbox Video has received some sort of update with some being much larger than others. The updates vary from general improvements to significant updates, such as the Mail client which received a much-needed and quite substantial improvement.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> All of the updates tend to improve the functionality of the core apps and are welcomed additions to the Windows 8.1 experience.</div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mail</strong></h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-14%20at%209_12_52%20PM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 321px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Microsoft has given the Mail application some love that it desperately needed and has fixed many of the shortcomings from the version that shipped with Windows 8. In fact, it felt like the initial Mail app with Windows 8 was rushed out the door, but the update for Windows 8.1 makes the Mail application a more suitable, full-featured client.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> For those of you who use a Microsoft-based email account (such as Outlook.com), features like sweep, flagged messages and<q class="qleft" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; float: left; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; margin: 0.9em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 220px;">The Outlook app has been significantly updated</q> all of your other filters will now be imported to the client to allow you to effectively manage your mail within the app. Drag and drop is now also supported. <span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">With Windows 8.1, the Mail app will likely become a key part of your workflow. The client is now much more robust and a worthy companion to the Outlook email client many of us use in the corporate world. But unlike the Office Outlook client, this app ships for free with Windows 8.1.</span></div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bing Apps</strong></h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Microsoft has included a series of Apps with Windows 8.1 (and Windows 8) that all carry the Bing branding. Windows 8.1 ships with the following Bing apps: Finance, Weather, Maps, News and Sports. Windows 8.1 also introduces two new apps: Health and Fitness, and Food and Drink. All of these apps are well-designed, finger-friendly and do offer some casual entertainment, but we wouldn't necessarily call them ‘killer features’ for the platform.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Bing Maps also ships with Windows 8.1 and provides all the basic useful features you would expect of such an app. The app has the same feeling as the other apps in the Bing suite, with an app bar at the bottom and other general similarities that should make navigation quite easy for finding your favorite local pub... or more likely, looking at satellite images of your house.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Bing suite does add a bit of content out of the box that some will find useful, and the design of the apps is generally bright and friendly, which should appeal to all audiences.</div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Calendar</strong></h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-14%20at%209_14_04%20PM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 51px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Calendar app for Windows 8.1 has been slightly updated from Windows 8 and now features a “What’s next” view that you will either learn to love, or it will drive you to find another calendar app. Once you get beyond the “What’s next”, the Calendar app is relatively unchanged from the previous version of the application but it does feel a bit smoother in operation.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Calendar applications have never really been all that exciting, but the Windows 8.1 Calendar app gets the job done.</div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Reading List</strong></h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-14%20at%209_16_53%20PM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 311px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> One of the new applications that Microsoft has built into Windows 8.1 is an app called ‘Reading List’. The name contains no surprises about what the app is used for, and for those of you who use a ‘read later’ service on other platforms, Reading List will be quite useful.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> With Windows 8.1, you can add items to your Reading List using the Share charm, which is an easy way to aggregate your content into an easy-to-use application. We know that not everyone will use this app but it is a nice addition to the platform and enhances the OOBE for Windows 8.1. However, the app lacks an offline mode, which we would certainly expect in future updates. </div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Help + Tips</strong></h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-13%20at%2011_20_30%20AM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 389px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> One of the new apps, if you want to call it that, is a tutorial app that helps new users get adjusted to the Start screen. The app features several quick bits of information that demonstrate how to access the Charms bar, use the hot corners, pull up context menus using touch and a bunch of other helpful tips that new users may need.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> It’s really a simple little application but the information <q class="qright" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; float: right; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; margin: 0.9em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 220px;">This is the app that should have shipped with Windows 8</q>found inside will likely help new users avoid frustrating experiences when they can’t locate a certain feature or how to access a context bar. Of all the new items in Windows 8.1, this is the one that we were most surprised that did not ship with<q class="qright" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; float: right; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; margin: 0.9em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 220px;">.</q> Windows 8. But, it looks like Microsoft listened to user feedback and voilà, a tutorial application for new users.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> In addition to the tutorial app, Microsoft is also including tutorial boxes that will pop-up when using Windows 8.1 for the first time. These helpful boxes, while potentially a bit annoying for those of you updating from Windows 8, will again make the transition to Windows 8.1 from previous version of Windows much, much easier.</div> <h3 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Internet Explorer 11</strong></h3> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> One of the biggest upgrades in the app section is the inclusion of Internet Explorer 11. One of the first things you will notice is that Microsoft has updated the UI in IE11 (in the modern app, the desktop app remains similar to IE10) which combines all of the action items in one location at the bottom of the screen. With IE10 in the modern UI, the action elements were split between the top and the bottom of the screen which resulted in you having to use two gestures to access key information.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Microsoft claims that modern IE11 builds upon IE10 in terms of being touch-optimized which is likely why the navigation bar has been updated to make it easier to use with one hand.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> IE11 now also supports ‘pinned sites’ which allows you to take a favorite website and pin it to your Start screen with a live tile, provided the site has created a live tile for you to use. It’s a nifty feature and allows for quick access to frequently visited sites (but if you create too many, your Start screen can begin to get a bit crowded).</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-13%20at%2011_13_45%20AM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 388px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> IE11 in the modern app and on the desktop does introduce a lot of new features and upgrades over IE10 including tab sync, which is likely the best feature for those of you who live in the Windows ecosystem. Simply put, your tabs sync across multiple devices so you can grab any device and pick up wherever you left off when you were browsing on your desktop or vice-versa.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Microsoft also introduced a ‘permanent tabs’ feature too, which is a new mode that allows you to display open pages and the URL bar permanently along the bottom of the window. This new mode is quite useful if you find yourself spending a lot of time in the modern version of IE11.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Among other additions to IE11 is that you can now open an unlimited number of tabs in the modern browser, there is WebGL support, improved snap browsing, and the ability to manage your favorites from inside the modern app.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> IE11 can also automatically detect phone numbers and highlight them. When you click on the highlight, Skype will open and you can dial the number without having to get out of your seat. It’s a simple little feature when you need it, and it’s a great addition to the browser.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The updated browser also improves benchmark scores over the previous version of Windows, but benchmark scores are a bit redundant. What’s important is that the browser feels like it gets out of the way and allows you to simply view the content without interference or delay.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> IE11, both the desktop and modern app, offer an improved experience over IE10 and that’s all that matters. Microsoft is making strides in support for web standards and usability and that, at the end of the day, is what’s most important for a web browser.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Xbox Apps</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-14%20at%209_17_31%20PM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 282px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Microsoft has included an updated version of Xbox Music with Windows 8.1 and the update is one that was much needed. The previous version of the application was a pain to use when navigating your content, but the updated version of the app that ships with Windows 8.1 makes this process much easier.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> It is now possible to do much of your listening and navigating from a single screen, but there aren't any new features, just an updated UI. Even with the simple UI changes, the end-user experience is much better in the new app.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Xbox Video app does not appear to have received much of an update; if anything, it looks like the background color may have changed but that’s about it.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/review-windows-8.1-b07.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-13%20at%2011_16_13%20AM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 378px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Windows Store is still an odd experience in our opinion. The layout, while improved from the Windows 8 experience, still appears to be focused much on visual appeal over functionality. Yes, there are the top paid and top free lists and when you load the store it shows a couple of the better apps but something still feels a bit off.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> It’s hard to put our finger on it, but when navigating the store, it still feels more like you are looking at an art gallery rather than a cohesive ecosystem of applications. Additionally, Microsoft still needs to find a way to remove apps that are <q class="qleft" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; float: left; font-size: 17px; font-style: italic; margin: 0.9em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; quotes: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 220px;">A quick search for ‘Facebook’ in the Windows Store offers up a dizzying array of Facebook applications</q>designed to mimic official applications. A quick search for ‘Facebook’ in the Windows Store offers up a dizzying array of Facebook applications,  and clutters up the genuine Windows experiences.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> With the above being said, the Windows Store does work and its trial and update functions offer a great end-user experience. We only wish they could clean up the "crap-apps" and make it a bit easier to discover new ones, but Microsoft is moving in the right direction in terms of usability.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/review-windows-8.1-b08.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-14%20at%209_18_45%20PM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 310px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> It’s clear that the updates with Windows 8.1 are targeted at making the new Start screen a more cohesive part of the workflow with Windows 8.1. Many of the updates with the .1 release are directly targeted at making the transitions and adoption of the Start screen a more native experience, but that doesn’t mean that Microsoft didn’t update the desktop too.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> For those of you who want to live in the desktop world and are not in love with the hot-corners Microsoft introduced with Windows 8, there are new options available that will likely pique your interest. In the ‘Navigation properties’ panel, you can adjust how the hot corners respond to mouse movements. The toggles allow you to adjust how the desktop responds when you move your mouse into the upper right, or upper left corner. It’s a small ‘feature’ if you want to call it that, but for those of you who have been driven nuts by accidental engagement of the hot corners in Windows 8, this may be your favorite feature.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> It is within this panel that Microsoft has included what many refer to as ‘boot to desktop’ but used the language, “When I sign in or close all apps on a screen, go to the desktop instead of Start”. By checking this, when you boot up your machine or log-in, you will end up on the desktop instead of the Start screen. Again, it’s a really small feature but for desktop users, it does save a bit of time on startup as you can avoid having to start your day in the Start screen, instead of your desktop.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Aside from these new options to disable some of Windows 8 features, there is not much else new for the desktop but this shouldn’t be a major surprise. Windows 8.1 is an upgrade, not a new OS, and while it feels like a service pack, it is much more than that.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/review-windows-8.1-b09.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-14%20at%209_16_03%20PM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 400px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 296px;" /></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Microsoft’s SkyDrive service is the cornerstone for linking many of its products together. With SkyDrive, syncing your files and folder structures across multiple devices becomes an easy step when you use the same SkyDrive account as your Microsoft account.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> With Windows 8.1, SkyDrive is baked deep into the OS and allows you to use the cloud file system as a local storage option. Put simply, SkyDrive is on the path to replace your local drive--maybe not wholeheartedly in Windows 8.1 since SkyDrive has limited storage options--but that time is coming soon and this is how it all starts as SkyDrive is now a default file save location.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Because of the deep integration, Microsoft makes it quite lucrative to become a SkyDrive user. At this time, SkyDrive is available for all major mobile and desktop operating systems which means you can have all of your files with you no matter the device; a serious value proposition if we do say so ourselves.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/review-windows-8.1-b10.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-14%20at%209_20_32%20PM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 284px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Like SkyDrive, Microsoft has made search a pivotal part of the OS with Bing. When you use the search panel, you now not only search your local files, but also your apps, settings and can even go out to the web to pull in relevant content. Fundamentally, Microsoft has made the web part of the OS with this level of integration and this begins to blur the line between what is your desktop and what is the Internet. </div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The updated search is actually quite useful, as it's typically easier to pull up the search bar than it is to open a web browser and then enter the information into the search field. For those of you who want to limit your searching, you can do so by clicking on ‘everywhere’ and selecting the appropriate mask.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> The search integration is quite useful and a feature that we have been using quite frequently during our evaluation of Windows 8.1; it’s one of those features you may not instantly use but once you understand how best to use it, you quickly see the value of having search so readily available.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/review-windows-8.1-b11.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"> <br /><img alt="" src="http://www.neowin.net/images/galleries/1791/Screen%20Shot%202013-10-14%20at%208_32_57%20PM.png" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: 309px; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 640px;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Microsoft loves to tout in its commercials that Windows 8 allows you to run your favorite app next to your favorite app. Well, with Windows 8.1, you can run your favorite app, next to your favorite app, next to your favorite app (appception!) and so on, as Microsoft has expanded the snapping capabilities in Windows.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> In Windows 8.1 you can now snap apps to have them show side-by-side with each taking up 50% of the screen, or if you have a screen with a high enough resolution, you can snap even more windows on your screen giving you a true multi-tasking experience.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> For desktop users this may not be a huge feature, but for those of you who use a tablet, the option to adjust the size of the apps when snapped, and to have more than 2 apps in view is a great addition.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> <img src="http://www.neowin.net/images/uploaded/review-windows-8.1-b12.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; max-width: 640px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Windows 8.1 is a welcomed upgrade for Windows 8 and for those of you who are already running the latter, the free upgrade is highly recommended.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Windows 8.1 is what Windows 8 should have been as it makes the transition from the traditional desktop to the hybrid OS much easier for the end user. By refining the transition mechanisms, giving users more options for the modern UI and thankfully allowing ‘boot to desktop’ to be turned on by default, Windows 8.1 feels like a mature platform.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> It's not without fault though: the Start button, while back, will likely not appease those who are still holding out for the Start menu to make a return, and even though Windows 8.1 has made strides in giving consumers more options, the jump to the modern UI still feels a bit forced and not like a natural part of the desktop experience.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> For those of you who love Windows 7 and hated Windows 8, it’s a toss-up when using a desktop if the additions to Windows 8.1 will be enough to sway your opinion.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Microsoft is certainly moving in the right direction though, and if you feel that Windows 8.1 didn’t go far enough to appease classic desktop users, Windows 8.2 (or whatever Microsoft will release next year), is not too far away thanks to the new rapid release cycle.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Ultimately, Windows 8.1 is a big step up in the usability department over Windows 8 and for that, Microsoft has done a good job listening to user feedback. While Windows 8.1 will unlikely win over Gabe Newell’s opinion any time soon, if you enjoyed Windows 8, you are going to love Windows 8.1.</div> <div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #222222; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Segoe, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 16px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;"> Neowin</div>

Review: Windows 8.1

Windows 8.1 is the start of something new for Microsoft. It’s a dynamic shift in strategy for its core OS and it is also a refinement to ...

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