Microsoft Finally Rolls Out Its Own Notification Center, Just Like Apple And Google Have On Their Phones

At the Microsoft Build conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, the company showed off its update to Windows Phone: version 8.1.

Among the tweaks to operating system is a new lock screen, which is now more customizable than before. It shows the time, date, notifications and an upcoming calendar events.

There's also a new notification drawer, called the Action Center. It shows more detail of actual battery percentage, notifications for apps, four buttons for quick settings, and for dual-SIM phones, it will offer information about both SIMs.

You can also turn off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth from the Action Center, and see if you've gotten a new email or text message, and you can customize which notifications you see. Just like in iOS and Android, you access it by pulling down from the top of your phone.

Here's what it looks like:

Follow along in our Microsoft Build live blog >>