Microsoft Announces Wider Rollout of Lumia Denim Update

Microsoft on Friday announced the wider rollout of its Lumia Denim update to a limited number of Lumia handsets to start this month. Additionally, a report claims that the Lumia 930 has started receiving the Lumia Denim update in select markets.

The company is a blog post titled "The Lumia Denim Update is coming your way" said, "A wider rollout of Lumia Denim to all Lumia smartphones running Windows Phone 8.1 is expected to begin this month following partner testing and approvals."

The Redmond giant confirmed the markets namely Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, and North America, where the Lumia Denim update will be rolling out shortly. Microsoft also provided a list of compatible handsets - Lumia 520, Lumia 525, Lumia 530, Lumia 530 Dual SIM, Lumia 535, Lumia 535 Dual SIM, Lumia 620, Lumia 625, Lumia 630, Lumia 630 Dual SIM, Lumia 635, Lumia 638, Lumia 720, Lumia 735, Lumia 820, Lumia 830, Lumia 920, Lumia 925, Lumia 930, Lumia Icon, Lumia 1020, Lumia 1320 and Lumia 1520.

Notably, numerous users in India, China and Europe had reported they were receiving the Lumia Denim update for Lumia 520, Lumia 525, Lumia 526, Lumia 530, Lumia 625, Lumia 635, Lumia 720, 720T, Lumia 925, Lumia 1020, and Lumia 1320 handsets in December.

The Lumia Denim update, apart from the changes Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 brings, includes other major changes such as Cortana, which was originally available in the US, China, and the UK in "beta" mode, will now be also available in "alpha" in Australia, Canada, India, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. Other features include Live Folders that allows users to put apps or games into folders; Apps Corner will allow users to create a customised Start screen; SMS merge, which allows to select individual text messages to either delete out of a messaging thread, or to copy and paste into a new message in order to forward them; Snooze Times, which allows users to customise the snooze time within the Alarm app.

Microsoft back in September claimed that the latest Lumia Denim update also brings mobile website improvements in IE (Internet Explorer). The Lumia Icon, Lumia 1520, Lumia 930 and Lumia 830 will also get an updated Lumia Camera.

In other news, Nokiapoweruser claims that Lumia 930 has started to receive the Lumia Denim update in few markets namely Oman, Qatar, and UAE. It also suggested that the Lumia Denim update was available to download for Lumia 930 users in European markets including Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Norway, and Denmark. Some of the other markets reportedly receiving the update are Hong Kong and Taiwan.