Microsoft has announced over its Windows Blog that a new Windows Phone 8.1 update 1 build for dev preview enabled devices will be released later today. With latest dev preview build, Alpha Cortana comes to France, Italy, Germany & Spain.
We had reported sighting of a new Windows Phone 8.1 Build 8.10.14219.0, so need to see whether this will be the release Build today or we will get something higher.
Nothing else is known about what other changes will come with today’s update, but the blog post does tell you about what features of Beta Cortana is available in Alpha Cortana.
Alpha means that Cortana is new to these countries, most of the features in the beta version are available but some are missing or coming soon. For example, flight tracking is not available at this time for alpha. Transit data is currently limited to larger cities and will expand as we have more data. Additionally, reference data (e.g. “How tall is Mt. Everest”) is also not available – but we’re working hard to enable this soon! We have also worked hard to tailor Cortana’s personality in each language (with local chit chat and jokes) to make her more locally and culturally relevant (i.e. make sure she fits in!). Cortana will also show European football (or as we Americans call “soccer”) league data, including Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, and La Liga.
Cortana team urges you to use Cortana uservoice to help them make Cortana Alpha better, once it is available for your countries.
