Microsoft is expected to show off Windows Phone 8.1 at its upcoming BUILD conference, which kicks off on April 2. There's some good news today for impatient Windows Phone fans, though, because some new screenshots that purportedly show off the 8.1 update's notification center have leaked out ahead of Microsoft's big show.
The freshly-leaked images, which were first shared by Winphollowers and then backed up by WPCentral, appear to have come from an internal Microsoft email that contained information on the Windows Phone 8.1 update. As you can see in the shot at the top of this post, WP8.1's notification area may be known as the "Action Center."
Inside the Action Center are quick toggles for features like Driving Mode and Wi-Fi. Up above the switches are the usual indicators for signal strength, battery and time, which now also show the network, battery percentage and date directly beneath them.
Below the toggles there's a "Clear All" button that would likely clear any notifications that a user had in the Action Center as well as an "All Settings" button that'd likely take the user to Windows Phone's Settings menu and allow him or her to configure the toggles shown in the Action Center. Finally, notifications are grouped together by app, and the slide deck also mentions that apps can "intelligently manage notifications," meaning that the alerts can be silently added, updated or deleted by an app.
One last feature of the Action Center relates to how it acts when the user is in a full-screen app. When the user swipes down while inside of a full-screen app, it's said that a small blue tab will show up and allow the user to pull on it, ensuring that the Action Center is displayed only when it's actually wanted.
Overall is looks like Windows Phone 8.1 borrows some features from the notification centers of other mobile operating systems, sprinkles in some of its own goodies, bakes the mixture at 425 degrees for a couple of months and then pulls it out of the oven to reveal the completed Action Center. A proper notification panel is one of the most oft-requested Windows Phone features, and so the Action Center is sure to please many users of the OS, especially since it includes other goodies like quick toggles and a battery percentage.
Based on the details contained within this leak, what do you think of the Action Center? Does the possibility of it containing features like quick toggles and information related to battery percentage and date make you more excited for the Windows Phone 8.1 update?
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