There have already been plenty of reviews of Windows Phone 8.1. This is obviously not a review. Just a list of details, major or minor, only doable by someone who regularly uses the OS.
Good:
- Keyboard now suggests/offers emoticons!
- Updated boot animation is good.
- Updated icon for outlook account and exchange.
- Parallax implementation is good.
- Does call grouping in call history.
- Map nicely integrates POI from Foursquare. More important stuff appears first when zooming in.
- More tiles across the device spectrum.
- Manual checking of app updates.
Bad:
- Xbox music sucks. SLOW.
- Slower performance.
- Podcast app has no browsing.
- Outlook account is still called Hotmail.
- Office apps not updates one bit.
- Still no contact picture in call history.
- Setting still a mess. No icons.
- Transit direction is not using the transports’ (either of bus and train) names to denote them (NYC), only the direction.
- No need to give that pop-up when I check for app updates.
Neutral and Time Needed:
- Cortana sports integration is woefully incomplete.
- Worsened battery performance.
- Worsened memory management. IE is unloading tabs too frequently.
I want to see:
- Cortana to have batch operations. (Turn off all alarms, Move all alarm forward by 3 hours, )
- More options for Action Center quick actions.
These all may seem pretty small time stuff to a lot of people, but a lot of these small stuff can get in the way of a great experience. So here’s hoping someone is paying attention somewhere.
Simple Thoughts 
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