Hot on the heels of Nokia's Lumia 925 announcement, Microsoft has some big Windows Phone news of its own to share. The Redmond-based firm today announced a new Windows Phone 8 update that will bring several improvements to the platform. The update, which will come preloaded on the Lumia 925, is described as being similar in size to the Portico update that hit Windows Phone devices earlier in 2013.
This new Windows Phone 8 update will include FM radio support, a feature that was offered in Windows Phone 7 but didn't make the cut into the initial release of Windows Phone 8. The update will also give more carriers access to Data Sense, a feature that allows users to track their data usage and receive alerts when they're about to hit their data cap. Verizon Wireless is currently the only U.S. carrier that offers Data Sense. Microsoft notes that the availability of FM radio and Data Sense will vary depending on a user's hardware and carrier.
Also included in this upcoming Windows Phone 8 update is easier selecting, pinning and download of Xbox Music content, improvements to the accuracy of song information and other metadata and support for CardDAV and CalDAV that will allow Windows Phone 8 to work with Google services. Microsoft says that there are "hundreds" of additional small, unnamed improvements packed into the update.
Microsoft says that it'll begin rolling out this new Windows Phone 8 update to existing devices this summer. While the update may not be quite as big a deal as the jump to Windows Phone 7.5 Mango was in 2011, this still sounds like a nice bundle of improvements for Windows Phone 8 users, especially those that rely on Google services. Now we just have to sit and wait for the update to begin pushing out so that we can sink our teeth into it and discover the other tweaks that Microsoft has made. Which feature of this Windows Phone 8 update are you most looking forward to?
