Nokia's 'Display + Touch' plug-in for its Windows Phones just got itself a big update to v1.6 - or at least, big if you have an 'Amber'-level device (currently just the Lumia 925), adding in a 'Peek' setting for the (potentially) always on Nokia Glance system. Thus, if you choose to have Nokia Glance off most of the time, you can wave your hand over the proximity sensor on the phone to activate the clock for a short time. Details below, via WPC. Note that the Amber update will come to most existing Windows Phone 8 devices from Nokia, following on from, and integrating, the official Microsoft GDR2 update, all coming in the next month, though it's not clear yet how much of this 'Glance' functionality will apply to LCD-screened phones like the Lumia 920 and 720.

Rafe (and our Lumia 925) is currently in New York, so we'll pass you on to our friends at Windows Phone Central to demonstrate this update:

In short, you can now optionally hover your hand like a Jedi over the display to turn on the Glance screen, which then gives you notifications and clock. Under those conditions, the Glance screen stays on for a minute or two, giving you a "peek" at the display. That's opposed to having it always on or timed. Call us crazy, but that is some awesome usage of the proximity sensor for motion detection. Kudos to Nokia for adding a feature to the OS where none existed before.

Pick up Display + Touch v1.6 here in the Nokia Collection. 

It's pretty cool to have the choice on how Nokia Glance works to this degree of granularity, though of course there's nothing really new under the sun and this draws from ideas on Nokia's own Symbian platform (Big Clock, Sleeping Screen, even qooSaver), plus ideas from Samsung's Android phones and their use of the proximity sensor.

It still remains to be seen how Nokia Glance will function on the LCD-equipped Nokia 720 and 920 - here's hoping that 'Peek' is purpose designed for the power requirements of non-AMOLED screens, i.e. wave your hand over the 920's face and the clock will appear for a few seconds?