Microsoft has announced that the newest update of its Windows Phone OS, 8.1, will get its long awaited release in April.
The new version of the OS will be released to members of its Developer Preview programme on 8 April, just after Microsoft’s Build Developer Conference 2014 that runs from 2-4 April.
Sources quoted by IBTimes added that the full Windows Phone 8.1 over-the-air roll out for devices that currently run Windows 8 will start at some point in early May with Microsoft yet to firm up a solid release date for the OS.
Update: Different sources are currently reporting different dates for the Windows Phone update. WPCentral, which has the inside track with “various sources”, states that it could be available as early as 23 April.
Microsoft will also use Build 2014 to release the first device to run on Windows Phone 8.1 in the shape of the Lumia 630 dual-SIM card device, with the rumoured high-end Lumia 930 also thought to be appearing shortly after the event.
The Lumia 630 comes in at the lower end of the Windows Phone market and images of the phone have so far shown it to come in a variety of colourful options with a basic camera that has no flash or camera key.
It’s likely to have a 4.5in 854 x 480 resolution screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, GSM and WCDMA network support, and the aforementioned dual-SIM slot.
In comparison the high-end Lumia 930 is rumoured to have a 5.2in display with a Full HD 1080p resolution and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core chip clocked at 2.3GHz supplemented by an Adreno 330 GPU. If that wasn’t enough it’s also expected to have a powerful 20-megapixel camera.
Build 2014 should see a number of new Windows Phone 8.1 apps launched alongside the new OS and smartphone, with the annual get-together likely to give us a good indication about Microsoft’s strategy for the coming months.
