We've heard rumors that notifications were finally coming to Microsoft mobile platform as part of the Windows Phone 8.1 update. Now, we're getting a first glimpse at how Microsoft would go about implementing them, thanks to some leaked screenshots from an internal Powerpoint presentation published on the Winphollowers website.
Known as the "Action Center", users would summon the notifications interface the same way they do on Android and iOS – a swipe down gesture from the top of the screen. Pulling only half way through reveals four control shortcuts for system settings like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane and Driving mode. All four are customizable. Drag the screen the all the way down and you'll gain access to the full UI with alerts from all your apps.
Notifications are grouped per app and apps can intelligently manage them, according to the slides, meaning they can silently add, update or delete notifications presumably depending on whether they're still relevant. Of course there's a clear all button and we assume you can manually delete individual notifications as desired.
Windows Phone 8.1 should also see the addition of Microsoft's "Cortana" personal assistant. According to reports, Foursquare, Bing, and other data sources will help power the service, which is essentially Redmond's answer to Apple's Siri and Google Now. The update is expected to be unveiled at the Build conference in April.