What Microsoft's upgraded Windows 8.1 offer

Microsoft, whose smart phones have been on the sidelines, is reported to be looking to get a larger piece of the market, by adding new features to its OS at an increasing pace, fastcompany.com reported.

The software giant, earlier this month, started rolling out Windows Phone 8.1, making substantial additions to Windows Phone 8 whose highlights include Cortana, Windows'  response to Siri and Google Now.

Even with the rollout process underway, the company announced its first upgrade to Windows Phone 8.1. Some of the new additions are:

• Live Folders: In the past, Microsoft had maintained that Windows Phone's start screen, which allowed users to arrange oversized Live Tiles for their favourite apps as per users' liking, eliminated the need for folders akin to those in iOS and Android. Windows Phone users, seemed to be unconvinced: The Windows Phone 8.1 Update has come out with Live Folders, which lets users cluster multiple Live Tiles for related apps.
• Multiple selections: Microsoft was improving Windows Phone's ability to allow multiple selection of items, such as contacts, text messages, and calls in user history, for actions such as bulk deletion
• Sandboxed Mode: With a new feature called Apps Corner users would be able to set Windows Phone to run one app and prevent anyone from getting into other apps, the home screen, or settings, which come handy in scenarios such as when a merchant handed over the phone to a customer for mobile payments.

Reuters reports that Microsoft's hardware chief gave employees a sneak peek at a 'selfie' phone featuring a 5-megapixel forward-facing camera at an internal meeting this week, citing a source at the company yesterday.

The phone was shown off by Stephen Elop, the former Nokia CEO who now runs Microsoft's devices business, to an audience of thousands of employees at the company's annual employee meeting in Seattle on Monday.

The 4.7-inch screen 'selfie' phone, plus another high-end Windows Phone, would be expected to launch soon, according to tech news site The Verge, which first reported the news.

The 5-megapixel front camera is much more powerful than Apple Inc's iPhone 5, with a 1.2-megapixel front camera.  Also the screen of the Microsoft phone's screen is larger, which makes it better-suited for users who want to take pictures of themselves.