Recommended Posts

Hello,

Just bought a Nokia Lumia 710 from Carphone Warhouse on there pay as you go deal. I was using a Galaxy S2 but have decided to switch for a while and see what these Windows Phones are like! What good apps can you recommend? Any tips and tricks i should know?

Thanks

Richard

4th & Mayor

For some time wasting games:

Wordament

Chessbypost (If you like chess :p)

Pex4Fun (if you want to learn to code)

Apps:

Flashlight XT (or similar) - A must have for turning your phone into a flashlight (hella useful :))

Microsoft Insider - A hidden gem of the WP ecosystem. It's released by MS and has a bunch of tips and tricks, wallpapers and ringtones (Don't bother with the ringtones).

Skydrive (If you use it)

Skype (If you use it)

Photosynth (If you take a lot of photos :))

Tips:

Silent profile is enabled by pressing the volume rocker and clicking the little icon on screen.

Sync all your contacts with your Microsoft profile. Makes your life a ton easier if you need to change/move anything.

Play. You just need to play with it to learn.

If you have questions, just shout :D

That should get you started :)

Use the battery saver function to turn off notifications, push email, and updating live tiles for extra battery life.

why would you buy a wp and turn off live tile? Do you buy an xbox or ps3 and throw away the controllers?

this is something many new WP users don't know, so i'll say it: tap the top of the screen to see the status bar icons. They're all hidden by default unless they require your attention.

I find swiping my finger down from above the screen to just below the notification area works better than tapping, tapping seems to take a few attempts on the 710 before they appear, swiping down works every time

why would you buy a wp and turn off live tile? Do you buy an xbox or ps3 and throw away the controllers?

Because they decided to put weak ass batteries in them that barely last a day with medium use

why would you buy a wp and turn off live tile? Do you buy an xbox or ps3 and throw away the controllers?

Battery saver only switches off features when your battery life drops down to a critical level (10% I think). It's designed to keep your phone lasting that little bit longer.

why would you buy a wp and turn off live tile? Do you buy an xbox or ps3 and throw away the controllers?

mm I don't know, to save battery maybe, if you are running out of battery and you know you won't be near an outlet any time soon you use that function, its just a temporary solution. Great comparison you got right there....

ConnectivityShortcuts, MS Translator, artist info (if bing music doesn't work for you)

tip by MS PAndya (I didn't know this :s) : WP7 has a built in scientific calculator. If you landscape the device so the back/windows/bing buttons are on the right, you get a scientific calculator. For bonus points, if you landscape the device the other way so the buttons are on the left, you get a programmer's calculator that does octal, hex, binary, and other useful stuff.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • I just looked on my computer and there are settings and log files for utilities I have never even turned on!
    • O&O ShutUp10 3.1.1104 by Razvan Serea O&O ShutUp10 offers a simple yet effective way to take control of your Windows privacy. It provides access to almost 50 privacy-related tweaks, most of them hidden or not easily accessible to the average computer users. Using a very simple interface, you decide how Windows 10/11 should respect your privacy by deciding which unwanted functions should be deactivated. Using ShutUp10 you can easily disable Windows Defender, turn off telemetry, disable peer-to-peer updates, turn off Wi-Fi Sense, disable automatic Windows updates, turn off and reset Cortana and more. ShutUp10 allows you to create a System Restore point before you apply any changes, so that you can revert your system at any time if you run into problems. O&O ShutUp10 is entirely free and does not have to be installed – it can be simply run directly and immediately on your PC. And it will not install or download retrospectively unwanted or unnecessary software, like so many other programs do these days! O&O ShutUp10 Free and Premium The latest version brings O&O ShutUp10 Premium, expanding the app’s long-standing privacy controls with automatic enforcement of user-defined settings. Instead of manually rechecking options after every Windows update, users can set their preferred privacy configuration once—or apply recommended settings in a single click—and the tool continuously monitors them in the background. If Windows 10 or 11 re-enables disabled features or introduces new data collection paths, Premium restores the chosen settings automatically without user intervention. The free version remains available and fully functional for manual adjustments, offering the same core privacy controls for Windows. However, the Premium tier is aimed at users who want long-term, hands-off protection, adding automatic reapplication after updates, ongoing monitoring, and optional notifications to ensure privacy settings remain consistent over time. O&O ShutUp10 3.1.1104 changelog: Added “Show Differences” button in the overview panel “Don’t show again” option for the restore point prompt Ctrl+F keyboard shortcut for search/filter functionality Detection and linking of system-wide and user-specific setting associations Automatic search while typing PREM: Option to preserve notification counters and timestamps across application restarts PREM: Reset blocked settings button in the Settings dialog PREM: Informational message when no settings are blocked PREM: Update check can also be triggered from the menu PREM: Notification deduplication and activity log summary feature Improved L005 “Disable Windows Location Service”: Version-specific split (up to Windows 11 23H2) and new variant for Windows 11 24H2+ L001 (Disable Location): Added Night Light warning to the description in all languages Search now detects setting IDs even when ID display is disabled and offers to enable it Detection and removal of Copilot/AI desktop apps in RecallTerminator Optimized High DPI support PREM: Reset button is now only enabled when blocked items exist – setting IDs are shown in the confirmation dialog PREM: Updated tray icons with higher-resolution versions PREM: Activity Log timestamps now use localized date and time formats PREM: Tray icon status now uses OK/Warning indicators and localized tooltips PREM: Recall folder detection switched to service-based detection PREM: Copilot uninstallation now provides UI feedback and improved verification Fixed Description text was not displayed correctly for the last item and disappeared when clicking the scrollbar Crash when clicking a search result heading or the […] button PREM: Installation path is now correctly preserved during upgrades PREM: Tray icon was not reliably removed when exiting the application PREM: Main window was not displayed correctly in single-instance mode PREM: Incorrect display of the & symbol in tray icon tooltips on Windows 10 PREM: Fixed notification flooding after sleep/standby PREM: Dashboard was not refreshed after applying recommended settings during onboarding PREM: Progress bar was not reset after deleting Recall folders PREM: Fixed service startup failures PREM: Fixed incorrect drift detection when Automatic Protection was disabled PREM: Notifications now correctly count all deviating settings when protection is enabled PREM: Registration Wizard was shown after sleep/standby despite a valid license Download: O&O ShutUp10 3.1.1104 | 76.4 MB (Freeware) Download: O&O ShutUp10 32-bit | ARM64 View: O&O ShutUp10 Home Page | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Fascinating...W h i t e P o w e r is now also asterisks out.  
    • In the past few days I have noticed two odd moderation activities. First, when I posted the term 'White Nationist Christian' it was asterisk's out. When I changed it to **** it was allowed! Second, in the Politics is a ###business thread I was allowed to post that the GOP is a party of p e d ophiles but I was censored  when I posted the GOP are a party of p e d ophile protectors. Wtf Neowin. Please explain.
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      Vincian earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • First Post
      Jocimo earned a badge
      First Post
    • Week One Done
      suprememobiles48 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Windows Guy earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      Prasann earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      547
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      163
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      86
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      66
    5. 5
      neufuse
      65
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!