14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 was first spotted in March at the MWC 2015 in Barcelona, and soon after that, Microsoft said that this would only be available on new phone models, such as the Lumia 640 and Lumia 640 XL.
Last week, however, rumors that reached the web indicated that more phones could get GDR2 in the coming months, as Microsoft is paving the way for Windows 10.
And it appears that Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 actually arrived a lot sooner than expected, as with the release of Windows 10 for Phones preview build 10051, the software giant also shipped this update to a number of phones. As we reported to you a few days ago, Microsoft released the update for more phones before starting the Windows 10 build 10051 rollout.
Details as to which phone models got this update are not yet available, but Microsoft itself confirmed this, pointing out that Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 was required to get Windows 10 for phones build 10051 up and running on a number of devices.
Right now, it appears that several models are getting it, including Lumia 830 and even 930, despite the fact that the latter didn't even get the Windows 10 for phones build 10051 update.
How to download it
While Microsoft doesn’t provide a direct update method to download Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2, you can get it with a simple trick if the release is indeed available for your device.
The Windows Insider app is the one providing you with access to GDR2, so just download it, select the “Fast” ring when asked, and check for updates. Since Update 2 is required in order to install Windows 10 for phones build 10051, you might be prompted to install this one too, but make sure that you don’t proceed when asked to install the technical preview unless you really want to.
Right now, there is no information regarding a possible release date for Windows Phone 8.1 Update 2 to more devices. We’ve asked Microsoft whether it has any plans to block this update trick on more Lumias and will update the article when we get an answer.
@Jonatha48569290 The images we published were deltas from a base build - in some cases the base needed to be GDR2.
— Gabriel Aul (@GabeAul) April 13, 2015