Windows Phone 8 GDR2 Said To Include Call And SMS Blocking Options

Microsoft sure likes to plays its cards close to heart now. Word got out a few months back that the technology titan is going to work in stealth mode going forward, particularly for Windows Phone.

What this means is that while the company will still be making public its future roadmaps, it just will not lay it all out in the open, at least not early in the development process. A smart move indeed — as long as the updates keep on coming regularly, and on time.

Anyway, now the company seems to have made some interesting changes to the Windows Phone 8 GDR2 emulator code — a few brand new APIs have been found inside when compared to the original Windows Phone 8 emulator.

As noted, this new tool aimed at developers comes with an API that is designed for blocking and filtering calls and SMS messages. It provides an option to block specific phone numbers or even phone calls from unknown or private numbers.

This feature can also be applied to SMS messages — and this sounds like a pretty handy new feature for Windows Phone users that want to prevent people from spamming them with texts.

WMPowerUser notes that wireless carriers will have the option to turn this feature on or off.

And if you are wondering, yes, no specific interface for these APIs has so far been spotted on the few devices that already run the GDR2 update. But chances are that third party developers will still have access to them, and we may see them put to good use in an app on the Windows Phone Store soon.

Excited by this appealing new development? And is this a feature that you wanted to see on the Windows Phone platform? Share your thoughts in the comments and let us know.