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While the Lumia Denim rollout is resembling the excruciatingly lengthy journey of Bilbo and his friends, Microsoft continues to tease those of us with still waiting with Denim’s highly anticipated feature list.
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Many reviews have been touting the much needed camera improvements, but another feature getting a parity update is Cortana. Last year Windows Phone users were greeted with the digital personal assistant in the Windows Phone 8.1 update (well those lucky enough to have received that update. *cough* Verizon *cough*), and now users receiving the Denim update for a select few of Lumia devices will now see Cortana mature even further.
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Perhaps in preparation for the Windows 10 release, “Hey Cortana” is now being utilized on both Windows Phones with the Denim update and PC’s using the Windows 10 technical preview. Microsoft sought to make the interaction between users and Cortana as natural as possible, and in doing so they’ve enabled passive-voice activation technology into a specific set of Windows Phones out today.
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This technology is similar to what’s already available to Xbox One owners with the Kinect sensor, and may power future “flagship” Windows Phone devices. When enabled, your phone will listen for the specific key phrase combination of “Hey, Cortana.”
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Much like the set up for Ok Google, Cortana will need a training session to recognize the various inflections in which you may use to summon the voice assistant. This session will be found in the settings, under “Hey, Cortana.”
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Check out the feature and share your thoughts in the comments below.
\n\nFurther reading: Cortana, Denim, Microsoft, update, Windows, Windows 10, Windows Phone