Microsoft officially announced the update to the Windows Phone 8.1 platform. This comes after a partial update for select Windows Phone models.

The update will be called Update 1. It brings new features and updates to the Windows Phone software and gives the personal assistant capabilities of Cortana to more countries like China.

There will be a feature called Live Folders which allows users to group live tiles on the Start screen.

A Store tile will also be featured. This will be a live tile and it will inform users when new games and app updates are available. These updates are every six hours, making the battery impact very light.

Thanks to the Update 1, Xbox Music gets some performance improvement as well. Background syncing of a user's collection will return and some new features will be added as well.

Messaging will improve slightly with the capability to delete or forward multiple SMS messages.

There will be an App Corner which allows businesses to select which apps their employees can run and which apps will automatically start when the operating system loads.

Microsoft also said that it will be improving data security on public networks. It will allow data transfer on a VPN (virtual private network) while connected through a WiFi hotspot.

China will be getting Cortana in a beta form. It will be Chinese-optimized and will know how to read and write Mandarin. It will come with features that many Chinese will appreciate including air quality indicators as well as driving restriction alerts.

India, Australia and the U.K. will be getting Cortana in an alpha form, it will be an opt-in feature and only available in U.K. or U.S. English.

Cortana will be a little less formal and more friendly too. She's going to get a new personality. She'll even tell jokes.