By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Windows Phone 8.1, codenamed ‘blue’ is the next major update to Microsoft’s mobile OS. Here’s what we expect to see.

Windows Phone 8 has evolved slowly with minor updates every 8 months or so, but the Windows 8.1 update, which is expected later this year possibly in the April BUILD conference, will be the the biggest update the upstart mobile OS will see.

In an attempt to appeal to more users and match some of the popular features available to iPhones and Android smartphones.

The Personal Assistant’s name is Cortana

Voice-enabled personal assistants like Apple’s Siri and Google’s Google Now are about to get some competition from Windows Phone’s upcoming Cortana feature. Cortana is named after an artificial intelligence character in Microsoft’s Halo video game franchise.

The feature offers voice navigation, contextual search and a way to access information from Bing search. As big an update Cortana is for Windows Phone, Microsoft is planning on making the service more ubiquitous by adding it to the iPhone via the Bing search and also making it part of the Xbox ecosystem.

Notification Center and Actionable Notifications

The idea behind Microsoft’s Live Tiles was that they were live and would push updates and information but some users might have found this confusing.  An improved notification centre with actionable notifications will make Windows Phone 8.1 more like competing mobile operating systems.

This will enable quicker response to notifications and reduce the time users need to spend checking their apps for updates.

Support for Larger Displays

Smartphones are getting larger in size and Microsoft and even Nokia have committed to enabling improved functionality for larger displays. This would enable the creation of larger devices such as phablets and  devices that are larger than 7″.

This means that we could see some larger Windows Phone powered devices, possibly replacing the form factor that Microsoft envisioned for Windows RT.

The ability to install and run apps on external media

Many Windows Phones are limited to onboard storage with no expansion for microSD cards. This will change with Windows Phone 8.1.

The new update will enable the installation of apps and games to optional microSD cards which means a better integration with cheap, expandable memory.

Better OneDrive integration

OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud storage service and the evolution of SkyDrive. Windows Phone 8.1 will have even tighter integration of OneDrive with the file manager, making OneDrive a natural extension of the phone’s operating system.

These are just a few of the expected improvements to Windows Phone 8.1, stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.