Windows Phone 8 has just launched and looks set to offer consumers an exciting alternative to a market currently crowded with iOS and Android device. Here’s a look at some of the new features that help it stand out from the crowd
Screenshots
Windows Phone 8 is the first iteration of the OS to feature screenshot functionality. It’s simply a case of pressing the lock key and tapping the home key simultaneously and you’ll notice the phone’s display flashes. Your newly captured screenshot can then be found within the Photos app.
Kid’s Corner
For discerning parents who worry about the possibility of their kids texting their boss or buying expensive apps without their permission, Windows Phone 8 features a service called Kid’s Corner.
You can select which games, albums, videos and apps can be accessed from Kid’s Corner within the phone’s Settings menu simply by ticking and unticking as you go. The idea being that provided your main lock screen is protected by a pin, the only other place your kids can navigate to is Kid’s Corner.
Once you’ve configured which apps and services you want to appear, swiping to the right from the standard lock screen will reveal Kid’s Corner and behind it, your child can only use the apps you previously set as safe for their use.
Live Apps
Windows Phone’s Live Tiles have always been a distinctive feature on the home screen, but heading to Settings and looking under the lock screen options, now offers access to Live Apps. Each application can interact with the lockscreen in a different way, with Bing offering a photo carousel and Facebook showing updates and image from your friends. When you’ve decided what additional information you want to populate your lock screen, choose your app and it’ll feature every time you check your device.
Office
Windows Phone 8 is the only mobile operating system which offers a fully loaded Microsoft Office suite. Users can create, edit and then store documents in an array of locations locally and in the cloud with services like SkyDrive. Key file types such as Excel, PowerPoint and Word documents are supported, with full editing tools in each app. Once you’ve made or edited a document, it’ll then sync to other Microsoft systems like Windows 8 and Windows RT.
Resizable Tiles
A simple and hotly anticipated feature of the newest edition of Windows Phone are its resizable live tiles. With Windows Phone 8, users can place small, medium and large tiles on their home screen, allowing for far greater flexibility over Windows Phone 7, which only offers the latter two size options. Previously users could only pin or un-pin apps, however this arrow in the bottom right now allows for switching between the three sizes with varying degrees of information on display, depending on the tile size.
Are you using Windows Phone 8? What do you think of it? Perhaps you're eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get your hands on the Lumia 920, or maybe you've been lucky enough to find one already? Tell us about your experiences in the comments below.
My friend has just bought a Windows 8 phone and he loves it. For those who are into the social networking aspect of the internet (Facebook, Twitter, etc), it's really good as it will combine all your contacts on your phone with those you have on social networks and show you at a glance the last few things that they've done across the sites. The home screen is a little busy for my liking though, there's an awful lot going on there! I didn't play about with resizing things or anything with it not being my phone, but it did put me off a little. I'm used to iOS where everything was nice and tidy (although I just switched to Android and I quite like that too, it's taking a bit of getting used to, though). Great post
Love my Windows 7 phone, but cannot justfy the purchase of a new handset just yet so will just have to wait a bit for the addtional features. A committed iPhone 5 owner had a play with my phone the other day and had to admit that he enjoyed it and found it very easy to navigate.
Not long since I got my shiny new nokia lumia 800 so will wait until price comes down a bit before considering new widows 8 phone.
Still feel Nokia and Microsoft should have not bothered with the Lumia 800 Running windows mango 7.5
when they knew the they were to soon launch the new windows 8 phone just hope they don't leave us windows 7 phone users out in the cold with apps etc.....
Well all said I love my Nokia lumia 800 and also tried the Lumia 900 wp8 also a great phone but a little expensive yet.
Think that this just may save the nokia brand from extinction ..
Shame we could not get nokia lumia 800 to run android now that would be fun to see
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