There is much less talk about Windows Phone because it is a more closed and less customizable operating system than Android and less equipped with applications than iOS. Windows Phone 8, however, is an exceptional platform, which works like a Swiss watch, which provides one of the most beautiful interfaces ever and whose diffusion is increasingly wide thanks above all to Nokia smartphones.
It is therefore worth spending an article dedicated to owners of a Nokia Lumia mobile phone or other smartphones with Windows Phone 8 to find the best secrets, tricks and features of this operating system, to customize it and use it to the fullest .
READ FIRST: Switch from Android or iPhone to Windows Phone
1) Fast and easy writing
As with any smartphone, you can write text, a message or an email using the touchscreen keyboard.
The advantage in a Nokia Lumia mobile phone (or other WP8 mobile phones) is the presence of Microsoft Office Mobile pre-installed with original Word, Excel and Powerpoint in a mobile version.
Thanks to the support of Office mobile, the keyboard of Windows Phone 8 is very functional and allows you to write faster, easier and more fluid than you can do on an iPhone.
The writing is also predictive on the words to be used and there is also the spelling checker of Word.
A double tap on the space adds the dot to the sentence.
2) Simplify Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer is the only Windows Phone browser and has some customization options.
In addition to offering the possibility to open new tabs (from the menu -> tabs ), you can also save your favorite web pages as stable tiles on the home screen or create a button on the browser's favorites bar.
Open Settings -> Applications -> Internet Explorer to choose to see a favorite access button on the main IE screen.
3) Search with Bing everywhere
If on Android smartphones there is a deep integration with Google services, on Windows Phone there are the online services of Microsogt then the search is provided by Bing.
Bing provides Windows Phone 8 with voice search, internal search, music identification, barcode and QR code scanning, internet search and text translation.
4) Automatic text messages
Windows Phone 8 allows you to create automatic replies via SMS.
Open Settings -> Applications -> Phone and tap the edit response option.
You can then reject a call when the phone rings by sending an automatic SMS message.
5) Change colors, tiles, wallpaper and lock screen .
In Windows Phone 8 you can change the mobile phone theme in Settings -> Theme .
Here you can choose the color used for the tiles and the text with links.
The Windows Phone lock screen is one of the platform's most configurable things. You can change the background image and use external applications to add information, such as e-mails received or a news flow.
6) Set custom ringtones
Any mp3 song can be used as a ringtone of a smartphone with Windows Phone if it is a file under 30 MB, not DRM protected that can be played by the device.
To add a ringtone on your mobile phone you can synchronize a song from your computer in the Windows Phone Ringtones folder, save an audio file sent via SMS (not via email) or using a ringtone app downloaded from the store.
Go to Settings -> Ringtones and Sounds -> Ringtones to choose the one to use as your phone's ring.
7) Add interactive tiles or Live Tiles
You can add several native applications and Windows Phone features to the Start screen.
The interactive and live tiles are contacts, email, maps, Onenote, photo album, music playlists, favorite websites and games.
The tiles can be resized in various sizes (4 × 2, 2 × 2 and 1 × 1).
On some larger devices like the Nokia Lumia 1520 and later there is an extra column of tiles.
One of the strong points of Windows Phone 8 is the ability to be able to put anything on the Start screen: documents, photos, contacts, websites, songs, notes and anything with the "Pin" icon.
8) Use different email accounts in the same application
If you have two or more email accounts, you can link them in one view by tapping on an email account -> Other -> Link inbox .
9) Safe use for children
You can leave your child to play with the Windows Phone mobile phone without worries through the child mode.
From Start, enter the Children's corner and press Settings to choose what he can do, games, music and website.
10) Windows Phone 8 Multitasking
Windows Phone has traditionally never been good at managing multiple apps together up to WP8.
The App Switcher is activated by holding down the Back button which allows you to see all the active applications.
To switch from one application to another, just touch it, while to close it you must touch the X in the upper right corner.
Among other tricks and secrets for Windows Phone 8 we can look at the official Microsoft guide and learn more about the ways to:
- keep track of the use of the data connection (link)
- lock screen rotation (link)
- phone, data and settings backup for easy recovery (link)
- Voice commands to make calls even if the mobile phone is blocked, to dictate voice messages, to write Onenote, to launch applications (link)
In general, it is worth taking a look at the suggestions on the official Windows Phone official website, which is truly complete and in Italian, which explains every detail of the Microsoft operating system for mobiles and smartphones.
READ ALSO:
- Top 50 apps for Windows Phone 8 and Nokia
- Best 30+ games for Windows Phone and Nokia Lumia phones
