IE11 Enhancements Coming to Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Phone 8.1

Some important announcements around an updated version of Internet Explorer 11 were made at Build 2014 on Wednesday, April 2, 2014.

Included in Windows 8.1 and also becoming available as an update for Windows 7, IE11 will receive new functionality.

First off, IE11 will introduce much better synchronization features. No matter what device you use (PC, tablet, smartphone), if it runs IE11, things like tabs and favorites will be available across all of them.

For this to work, this also means that IE11 will be available for Windows Phone with the next release (Windows Phone 8.1). IE11 for Windows Phone 8.1 will provide a reading mode, voice commands, InPrivate browsing, and a new High Savings Mode to reduce data consumption and help with battery life.

IE11 will also provide better screen scaling so that it can adapt correctly between differently sized screens, ensuring that the number of on-screen tabs, fonts and menu sizes will adjust accordingly.

But, probably the biggest value for the IE11 update comes for businesses. The IE11 update introduces a new Enterprise Mode, which I've talked about before here. Enterprise Mode for IE (EMIE) enables IT Pros to customize IE11's compatibility list to force selected sites to run in IE8 mode, ensuring that known incompatible sites can be managed and configured centrally.