Tips For Fixing Common Windows Phone 8 Issues
Windows Phone 8: a great platform that is fast, slick and responsive. Most of the time. Windows Phone 8 is an improvement over Windows Phone 7, but while I enjoy its responsiveness, the ease with which I can perform particular tasks quickly and the way the OS syncs with SkyDrive, I'm more than aware that this is a platform with a few notable bugs. I've already looked at improving battery life on Windows Phone 8 and here are several more fixes for the most common issues.
Five Amazing Nokia Camera and Image Apps for Lumia Windows Phones
Since Microsoft and Nokia announced their joint venture back in 2011, there has been a general shift towards the Finnish company in the Windows Phone manufacturers’ market share. Nokia has been innovating and producing a series of superb apps for Windows Phone, exclusive to Lumia devices. Put simply, if you own a Windows Phone 8 device from Nokia, you should have these camera and image apps, which are all available free (for the full app or with trial) from the Windows Phone Store.
Everything You Need to Know About Adding Ringtones on Windows Phone 8
Over the 15 or so years of owning a mobile phone, I've always been interested in pushing the device as far as it can possibly go. In the early days, this would often involve finding ways to add custom ringtones. When Windows Phone 7 was first released, the customization options were limited. Windows Phone 8 takes a whole new approach to ringtones, making the addition of user-chosen audio far simpler. If you own a Nokia Lumia 920, you could have custom ringtones set up by the time you finish reading this page.
How To Backup Media, Apps & Settings On Windows Phone 8
I’ve just about filled the 32 GB internal storage on my Nokia Lumia 920. Initially, I was surprised that it only took me six months, until I realised that I’ve been recording videos in HD. When you consider everything that relies on internal storage, it certainly seems like a complete removal of personal storage is required. There are several options. Backing up data can be performed manually, using the Windows Phone Tool via USB and you can rely on native tools to back up your photos, apps, settings and messages.
How to Prevent Text and Instant Messaging from Smothering a Relationship
Ladies and gents, ever heard of the old phrase, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder?" It's not just some silly cliché. In fact, it's quite possibly more relevant in this day and age than it ever has been. Why? Simple: It's nearly impossible to be absent anywhere these days. Unfortunately, constant communication kills relationships - emphasis on the word "constant". However, by looking past technology and into human interaction, there are ways to prevent text and instant messaging from smothering a relationship.
File Sharing, Manual Syncing & Bluetooth Tips For Windows Phone 8
Having used the Windows Phone platform since 2010, one of the things that has struck me is how difficult Microsoft initially made it to share files to and from your phone. With the original Windows Phone 7 a registry hack was required to use a device as mass storage, but this workaround was soon shored up in a subsequent update. Fortunately with Windows Phone 8, Microsoft has taken a more accepting position on the use of phones as mass storage devices.
6 Gorgeous, High-End Smartphone Accessories Your Phone Secretly Dreams Of
So you own a smartphone, what's next? For most of us, the answer is "nothing". Smartphones are expensive as it is, and together with the case and screen protector we usually end up getting (we need to protect our investment after all), that's about it for smartphone accessories. That doesn't mean that awesome accessories don't exist, and here you'll find the coolest, most gorgeous accessories you can get for your smartphone - so get your wishlist ready, we all have at least one birthday coming up this year!
How To Tether The Nokia Lumia 920 & Other Connectivity Options
Here in the UK, 4G is currently being rolled out across major towns and cities by the EE network (previously T-Mobile and Orange). Where I live we’re stuck with 3G, but I do have a 4G SIM to take advantage of high-speed mobile Internet when travelling. This always comes in useful, particularly if local Wi-Fi networks aren’t doing their job properly.
How This Freelance Writer Maximises Productivity With Windows 8 & Windows Phone 8
My personal desktop setup has changed considerably in the past few months since purchasing the Acer Iconia W7 series tablet, which I use as my primary PC. Gone is the tower of my old self build AMD-powered game station, replaced by far more compact dimensions, a new monitor and an external HDD. This is the main hub of my professional life: a Windows 8 tablet. Yes, you read that right. Let me demonstrate how you can be productive with Windows 8. It is possible, and with the right apps you can get great results.
How To Encrypt Data on Your Smartphone
With the Prism-Verizon scandal, what allegedly has been happening is that the United States of America's National Security Agency (NSA) has been data mining. That is, they have been going through the call records of Verizon's approximately 99 million users looking for, well, anything! If the thought of the occasionally overzealous government official isn't enough reason to encrypt your smartphone, then all the identity thieves and scammers out there ought to be. Today, I'm going to show you a few things you can do to make that information a bit more secure.
Android's Facebook Home vs Windows Phone's People Hub
Facebook Home is the highly-promoted new Android app from Facebook that unifies messaging and socializing with a single view and launcher, a sort of home screen replacement. Meanwhile Windows Phone users have People, the contacts/social networking hub that is integrated into the platform. We thought it would be interesting to see which of these approaches to integrated social networking is most effective.
How I Freelance Without My PC - Using Windows Phone As A Mobile Office
One of the things I love about a freelance career is being able to up sticks from my home office and go to a local café, bar or library to work in a different environment. It can prove extremely productive and as they say, a change is as good as a rest. I’ve even used the boot of my MPV as a makeshift office! While I generally have my Windows 8 Acer Iconia W7 series tablet with me in such situations, there are of course times when I’ve been caught out.
Stuck In a Recharge Loop? Use These Power Saving Windows Phone 8 Tips
When I became the proud owner of a Nokia Lumia 920, I was delighted to learn that I would be the lucky beneficiary of a free wireless charging pad, apparently worth about £100. Although there were a few hoops to jump through, the pad eventually came a few weeks later, enabling me to simply put my phone down to charge it, rather than struggle working out which way the USB cable connects to my phone.
Race Against Rising Lava & Collect Diamonds: Call Of Carlos for Windows Phone
It’s unusual for me to find a platform game that I would call fun (see my review of ilomilo for more on this), even more unusual that I should return to it again and again. But that is exactly what has been happening with Call of Carlos, a free Windows Phone game that features a jumping diamond miner, his versatile pickaxe and some fast-rising molten lava! Surely it can’t be the promise of virtual riches as Carlos collects the diamonds, so what is the attraction?
Everything You Need To Know About Emails & Windows Phone 8
How do you use your Windows Phone? I know a lot of users who are purely addicted to a combination of WhatsApp and Xbox Live gaming. Others enjoy their Windows Phones purely due to the social networking options (which are admittedly impressive). Then there are also those of us who take advantage of the various productivity tools. Email is of course one of these (along with the mobile Microsoft Office).
Start Screen Shortcuts - Connection Tiles For Windows Phone 8
Windows Phone has one or two frustrating omissions. One of these is an easy toggle button to enable and display wireless networking, mobile Internet, Bluetooth pretty much anything concerning communication. Rather than a simple on/off button on the Start screen, users must open the settings menu and flick the on/off switch. Surely there is an app-based solution to this?
Voice Messaging – A Secret Weapon On Windows Phone 8
One of the most important things about using a smartphone is the ease with which you can compose and send messages. These might be SMS/MMS messages, emails or even a social network. The important thing, of course, is that you are able to get in touch with the other person as easily and efficiently as possible. Certain mobile phone platforms prevent this. In the case of Windows Phone 8 there are many improvements over competitors.