Windows Phone8 Blue to offer phabelts. Many more features to offer

Microsoft is building up a huge update to Windows Phone. Dubbed Blue, the General Distribution Release 3 (GDR3), will likely land in 2014 with a notification center, improved multitasking and updated core apps in tow. According to sources Microsoft will be releasing some of the improvements meant for Blue later this year - support for larger screens (5" and 6"), 1080p resolution and quad-core chipsets (likely the Snapdragon 600 and 800 series).So it's likely that we'll see Windows Phone 8 phablets with much improved hardware before the end of the year. Microsoft has reportedly been trying to offer speedier updates but had issues with chipset testing and bugs along the way.Meanwhile, Redmond has also released the changelog for the upcoming WP8 GDR2 update - it will bring improved Xbox Music (easier download of music), FM Radio embedded in the Music+Videos app (select phones) and the new Data Sense aoo, which helps you regulate your phone's data usage. There's also improved HTML5 support for Internet Explorer, and the ability to set a Lens as default cameraapp. The GDR2 update will come to the Nokia Lumia lineup as a side dish to the Lumia Amber update, which will bring Smart Camera among other goodies.Windows Phone 8 was a huge update over the initial WP7 bringing support for key features like multi-core processors and microSD cards, but since it launched Microsoft has been very quiet when it comes to updates. The company basically hasn’t released anything major since then. Why is that and what is Microsoft doing, you might be wondering. Whispers say Microsoft has entered “shut up and ship” mode as it has fully focused on delivering a massive Windows Phone Blue update and that’s coming up in 2014.  Windows Phone Blue should introduce huge changes like a new notification center, better multitasking, and changes to the core Windows Phone apps. It is also possible that some of the WP Blue features arrive earlier as part of a GDR3 update coming later in 2013. The biggest novelty coming with it will be support for 5-inch and 6-inch Windows Phone devices with 1080p screens and quad-core chips. Those devices will also come later this year. A lot of the current features will support all future phones so you’ll have nice unified support across devices. Interestingly, Microsoft is said to have wanted to deliver a number of smaller updates to Windows Phone earlier this year, but bugs and other issues have stopped it from doing so. Still, it’s clear that the company is cooperating closely with vendors and Windows Phone chief Joe Belfiore himself has said: "I wrote more than 10 pages of feedback myself on the Nokia Pro Camera app as it was being developed."Microsoft obviously realizes it has a lot of catching up to do, and hopefully it will deliver with updates in the near future. From this point of view, its silence recently might be actually encouraging.