Windows Phone 8.1

More customisation ; Some handy new day-to-day features

A few parts could do with visual tweaks

Windows Phone 8.1 offers some significant changes that help the system gain parity with its major rivals iOS 7 and Android 4.4 KitKat. Some parts have a little less spit ‘n’ polish than we’re used to with Windows Phone, but they help to make the system...

Cortana voice search is superb ; Cortana Home and Notebook are useful and easy to navigate ; The Action Center is an overdue improvement

Some effort will be needed to make a phone truly personal ; New background feature is almost a throw away

Cortana and Action Center were desperately needed for Windows Phone, OS is now solid for having it

Action centre notifications, multiple tile rows for all devices, prettier Start screen, Cortana works as well as its competitors and Notebook personalisation is positive, Wi-Fi sense can take the pain out of laborious sign-up

Would like more tile customisation, more quick actions wanted, dual maps software seems confused, calendar sync issues with Gmail delegate accounts, will we genuinely use Cortana's speech?

Windows Phone 8.1 brings the operating system up to date. It's more colourful, more customisable, more intelligent and more usable than before. If anything it's more Android and iOS than before, but with that Windows twist and some additional quirks.

Massive improvement over Windows 8, massive improvement on all other versions of Windows, free,

The Modern UI will cause problems for some, many Windows 8 apps are still utterly hopeless

No doubt lots of people will say that 8.1 is what Windows 8 should have been from the start. To be fair to Microsoft though, it deserves some real credit for listening to the complaints people made about 8 and acting on them. While this sounds like...

Pretty and now more customisable ; Cortana’s powerful and effective ; Notifications have finally arrived

Start can look messy if you arrange it badly ; Settings and multi-tasking could be cleaner ; iOS and Android still ahead on apps

8.1 sees Windows Phone starting to realise its potential – with a couple of caveats this is now a worthy alternative to iOS and Android

More intutive to use than Windows 8 ; Non-touch experience almost as good as Windows 7 ; Cloud backup and other neat tweaks

A pain to install ; Should have been like this from the start ; Windows Store needs better apps

An essential upgrade for Windows 8 users, and one which improves just about every aspect of the OS.

Improved notifications and keyboard; Beefed up Enterprise functionality; Works with all Windows Phone 8 handsets

Cortana US-centric at present; Lack of apps still a problem; Update time frame is carrier dependent

Windows Phone 8.1 adds core features to the operating system and helps it to become a more credible alternative to Android and iOS devices.

more help for new users, the return of the Start button, improved Mail app

Start button isn't a return to its former glory; interface remains confusing

This article was updated on 24 September: "earlier this week" in the first paragraph was corrected to "earlier this month".

Action Centre and Word Flow keyboard, mobile device management support, encrypted email and VPN support

Application offering still behind iOS and Android, no Cortana in the UK

Cortana is fun and useful ; Action Center makes everything faster ; Home screen is more beautiful than ever

Ecosystem still really lags ; Multitasking still has some issues ; Can still be unintuitive in spots

Microsoft raised its game, but not above its competitors