Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 (GDR2) Due Before Windows 10 for Lumia

Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 (GDR2) for Microsoft Lumia devices will be released within the next few months, it has been revealed, meaning that it will arrive before the release of Windows 10, due later this year.

Unfortunately, the incomplete changelist made available makes no mention of any revisions to the consumer version of Windows Phone 8.1, instead listing details on OEM, the enterprise client, and carrier changes, though supported languages for Asia and Africa are listed.

The current changelist includes the following items:

• Updated VPN settings setup/configurator tool
• PolicyManager — new options (mostly relating to OEM or enterprise locks):

• Connectivity/AllowManualVPNConfiguration
• Connectivity/CellularAppDownloadMBLimit
• Connectivity/WLANScanMode
• Experiences/AllowTaskSwitcher
• Security/AntiTheftMode
• DataProtection/RequireProtectionUnderLockConfig
• DataProtection/EnterpriseProtectedDomainNames

• Video Over LTE

• Allows carriers to, among other things, block video calling over LTE, when the customer is on a capped connections with a low data allowance

• New languages:

• Asia
  • Bangla (Bangladesh)
  • Khmer (Vietnam)
  • Lao (Laos)
• Africa:
  • Kiswahili (East Africa)

• OEM Tile Restore

• Allows specific tiles to be set so that even if you restore to a previous build, the OEM’s tiles will be appended to the end of your list (as if the device was new).

• Emergency calling restrictions

• OEMs can now set a configuration value to restrict emergency service on unregistered devices in some regions.

• SIM Card/Keying updates

• Allows you to disable languages on a specific SIM card and allows carriers to better set default language options (via keying)

• New Tracing Features

• Field Medic for modem failures
• location-based services (LBS) test library API

If more consumer-friendly updates are to be forthcoming, they will likely be announced at the 2015 Mobile World Congress (MWC), which runs 2^nd-5^th March in Barcelona, or even the Microsoft BUILD 2015 event in San Francisco on 29^th April, through to 1^st May.

Source: Daily Tech