Microsoft Lumia Denim for your smartphones: How to track update status?

Microsoft, which officially announced the Lumia Denim updates for users of its Lumia range of smartphones way back at the IFA 2014 earlier in the year, has started seeding the update to Lumia owners.

However, the Lumia Denim firmware update is not yet available to all Lumia smartphone users throughout the world at present.

Lumia Denim is expected to complete its official rollout only by Q1 2015, according to a Winbeta report.

Nevertheless, with Lumia Denim having begun its official rollout, and with the rollout schedule being random, you can check out whether your devices are eligible to receive the update. You can also find out the carrier-specific details of the firmware update and the release cycle for your devices.

Track Lumia Denim update

To enable users of Lumia smartphones to obtain status-related updates with respect to the rollout of Lumia Denim, Microsoft has a dedicated update tracker that provides vital firmware update related information.

As per Microsoft's official software update tracker, owners of the Lumia 928 living in the United States and having subscribed to Verizon's wireless service are in for a bumper, as Lumia Denim has started seeding to Verizon-driven Lumia 928 devices across the country.

Lumia 928 users should observe Lumia Denim bearing firmware version number 3051.50009.1446.0000 being available to their handsets via the over-the-air (OTA) mechanism.

Do remember that your devices should run Microsoft's Windows Phone 8.1 operating platform to be eligible to receive Lumia Denim.

However, if your smartphones have received Lumia Denim, you can verify your current firmware and OS versions manually as explained below:

• Navigate to Settings within your smartphones, and tap Extras + Info
• Select Settings > About > more information, to verify current firmware and operating system build

Gauging by Microsoft's exclusive update-related webpage, it is evident that other major Lumia smartphones viz Lumia 520, Lumia 620, Lumia 625, Lumia 920, Lumia 1020, Lumia 925 and Lumia 635 will take time to obtain Denim via OTA, as these devices are still stuck with the older Lumia Cyan, Amber and Black firmware updates.

Apart from US-exclusive information, Lumia smartphone owners residing in other parts of the world can also track and verify the availability of the latest firmware updates for their smartphones.

Click here to navigate to Microsoft's official Lumia update tracker.

Currently, Lumia Denim is available for comparatively more number of Lumia smartphones in Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe, than other markets.

Do let us know about the availability of Lumia Denim for your respective Windows Phones, in our comments section.

Enhancements brought along by Lumia Denim

• Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1
• Multiple camera-related updates
• Live folders
• Cortana (available as beta to users in UK and China, as alpha to India, Australia and Canada)
• 'Hey Cortana' voice command
• Apps corner
• SMS merge and forwarding
• Snooze Times
• Consumer VPN 
• Mobile Web Site improvements in IE