Finnish phone giant Nokia has announced that the Amber software update for its Windows Phone 8 operating smartphones has started to roll out.

According to the Espoo-based company, the Amber is built on top of the Windows Phone 8 GDR2 update from Microsoft, but sports some exclusive features for Lumia devices. It provides a number of feature additions including a new FM radio player and improvements to the Internet Explorer browser.

More added functionality courtesy of Lumia Amber include:

• Enhanced image processing offering better noise reduction, colour reproduction, exposure control and autofocus to every smartphone across the Lumia range. On the Lumia 920 (review), Nokia adds controls to adjust the ISO settings of the camera from 800 to 3200, allowing for even better low light performance.
• Nokia Smart Camera lands on more devices than the flagship Lumia 1020 and Lumia 925, with users being able to get this app from the Windows Phone Store right after downloading Lumia Amber. This application boast plenty of new camera functionality including enabling users to capture a sequence motion shot of a moving subject, or remove unwanted objects from their group photo.
• Nokia’s excellent Pro Camera also makes its way to the Lumia 920, enabling users to alter every single aspect of their smartphone camera.
• Nokia Glance Screen: When a user’s smartphone is inactive for awhile, the screen enters Glance Screen mode, displaying a simple clock and various indicators. Amongst others, these indicators can include the battery level if the battery is running low or the phone is charging, as well as whether the phone is set to silent.
• Flip to silence and double-tap to wake: Two familiar Nokia features that now becomes available to Lumia users for the first time, with the first of these being the ability to mute an incoming call simply by flipping the phone over. The second feature is being able to unlock the smartphone by double tapping the screen instead of having to press the unlock key every single time.
• Storage Check and faster map updates. Users can view and manage their smartphone’s storage and update HERE Maps quicker via the Amber update.

How to get the update?

The Lumia Amber update will be available first for the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 (review), with exact delivery times varying by smartphone model and operator. Espoo asserted that it expects the update to reach these two devices as well as the Lumia 520 (review), Lumia 620, and Lumia 720 (review) by the end of September.

The Finnish firm added that Nokia Lumia devices will periodically check for software updates automatically, and said that users are able to perform a manual check themselves by going to Settings > Phone Update. As firmware updates are usually quite large, we recommend that users connect to a Wi-Fi network when updating their device, in order to avoid any nasty data bill shocks at the end of the month.  

In related news, Nokia also recently announced the local availability of the Coloud Boom, Knock and Pop headsets, which it developed in collaboration with Swedish firm Zound Industries.