AT&T subscribers who own a Nokia Windows Phone are about to get an update that international users have been enjoying for months.
The update, known as "Amber," is rolling out to Nokia's Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 Windows Phones today. (The update was pre-loaded on Nokia's Lumia 1020.) Microsoft's GDR2 update for Windows Phone is also included in the rollout.
As described back in July, GDR2 adds CalDAV and CardDAV support, which will eventually be required to sync Google services (such as Gmail, Contacts and Calendar) with Windows Phones. Currently, Windows Phone relies on Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync for these services, but Google is dropping support for the protocol on Windows Phone at the end of the year.
GDR2 also adds FM Radio support and includes some smaller tweaks such as an improved Xbox Music interface, performance improvements for Skype, better HTML5 compatibility in Internet Explorer and the ability to set a default Lens in the Camera app.
The Amber update itself, however, is specific to Nokia's Windows Phones. This update improves auto-focus and low-light photo quality and adds a "Smart Camera" feature, which lets you snap several photos and combine them in helpful ways. Amber also includes a "Glance" feature, which turns the phone into a dim night time clock, and lets you flip the phone over to silence incoming calls.
Just in the nick of time
It's unclear why this update took so long to reach AT&T users, but The Verge claims that AT&T ran into issues while testing it on Nokia phones. HTC's Windows Phone 8X received GDR2 in August.
A bigger update, called GDR3, is supposedly coming soon. This update will support 1080p displays in new Windows Phones, and will add a few new features such as a driving mode, screen orientation lock and possibly a way to send and view text messages on the Web or from a Windows PC. Lumia 820 and 920 users should hope the GDR2 issues were a one-time hiccup, and that the next update will arrive much faster.
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