Microsoft has launched a way of getting the next Windows Phone 8 operating system update, GDR3, on your phone right now.
It's a beta version - or Preview, as Microsoft calls it - but it means you get it earlier than the predicted November/December "official" release.
Here's how.
Microsoft has launched Windows Phone Preview for Developers and it's released an app Preview for Developers that you download from the Windows Phone Store to your device.
Head over to Microsoft's Windows Phone App Studio page and sign up. It's free, although your could also register yourself as a developer for £17.25 (£15 plus VAT) per year. With App Studio you get to update one phone whereas if you're a registered developer you can update three phones.
Now open the Preview for Developers app and sign in.
Then...head over to Settings > Phone Update and you'll be offered the over-the-air update to GDR3 without losing any of your phone's content.
In case, you've forgotten...these are the new features in GDR3, or Windows Phone 8 Update 3, as it's now officially called.
You should note that Update 3 is an update to the operating system and not your phone manufacturer's firmware ie you won't get Nokia's Bittersweet Shimmer firmware update until the official release later this year. Also...once you update you can't go back.
The scheme is officially aimed at letting developers test their apps before the general release of Update 3, but unofficially Microsoft has wanted to provide users with OS updates directly and by-pass manufacturers and carriers and the extra delay they cause to official releases.
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