Microsoft realizes it has its work cut out in order to catch up to Android and iOS in a very competitive mobile OS market. At an October 29 event in San Francisco, the company shed light on what to expect from handsets running Windows Phone 8 OS, showcasing new features and revealing some of the phones that were set to support it.
Now that Windows Phone 8 devices have been on the market for a month-plus, let’s dive into the current options available and take a look at the features to help you determine if it’s the right phone for you.
Comparing Available Windows Phone 8 Handsets
The HTC 8X was one of the first Windows Phone 8 handsets to be released. It features a 1.5Ghz dual-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 4.3-inch Super LCD 2 touchscreen, and 1280×720 resolution support. It also packs an 8 mega-pixel camera and either 8GB of RAM or 16GB. Its contract price is set at $100 for the 8GB model and $200 for the 16GB model.
Other available Windows 8 phones include the Nokia Lumia lineup of handsets. The Nokia Lumia 920 is the phone to really watch out for, and the one getting a lot of attention. It comes with 4G LTW connectivity, a dual-core 1.5GHz chip, 1GB of RAM, SkyDrive integration, and a 8.7 mega-pixel LED PureView camera. It can be had for $99 from AT&T with a two-year contract, but good luck finding one. According to recent news, it was sold out during Black Friday.
Although the two options above are really the cream of the crop right now, there are other options, including the Nokia Lumia 820. It doesn’t pack the same quality display as the 920, but you can pick one up for cheaper at AT&T. It comes with a lower-res OLED display with support for a WVGA resolution of 800×480. Its camera is 8 megapixels like the 920′s, but it isn’t PureView. Most of the other specs and features match the 920.
Another option is the Nokia Lumia 822. It is very similar to the 820, but may actually be inferior in some ways despite its higher namesake. You can see a comparison between these two Nokia Windows 8 handsets here. There is also a Nokia Lumia 810 available from T-Mobile that may be worth looking into for a mid-range Windows 8 phone.
All of the above-mentioned handsets are examples of Windows 8 phones on the market today, but make sure to check out your local carriers, as there may be some other options available by the time you read this. Let me divulge some Windows Phone 8 features and let you help decide if these phones are a right fit for you.
New Additions to Windows Phone 8
Windows 8 handsets offer features a step beyond previous Windows phones. This includes near field communication (NFC) technology so you can make mobile payments with your phone. Microsoft already has an NFC-based mobile payment service in place for Windows 8 phones called the Microsoft Wallet. Windows 8 phones will also offer IE 10 for online browsing.
If you have kids, Windows 8 phones have a feature called Kids Corner that allows you to lock down aspects of the phone or interface, so you determine what apps you want your kids to see.
All apps designed for Windows Phone 7 will work on Windows Phone 8 devices. However, developers can make Windows 8-exclusive apps that are tailored only for Windows Phone 8. So, if they take advantage of native code or navigation in the background, for instance, they will not run on Windows Phone 7 handsets.
There will also be greater cross-compatibility and integration among Windows 8 phones and Windows 8 tablets or PCs. SkyDrive integration is further ironed out, and Nokia Maps has also been integrated into the OS. I will discuss further changes and additions in the interface section below.
The User Interface Explained
You may be aware that Microsoft has shifted its recent focus to the Metro or Modern Interface and tiles as app icons. Microsoft is continuing this tradition with Windows Phone 8. There will be a tile-based interface, but it offers new features.
The Windows Phone 8 interface uses the whole width of the screen so you can fit more tiles. The tiles can be set at three different sizes of your choosing. This is useful because you may not use certain apps often, so why take up a lot of space on the interface with a large tile for them? On the other hand, you may use other apps constantly and want to be able to see them at all times with a large tile.
Like Windows 7 phones, Windows 8 phones also come with Live Tiles. These include weather, sports, news, e-mail, photos, calendar, and people. They display information for you live or as it occurs with updates or notifications showing on the interface. For instance, if you have a new e-mail message, the live tile will let you know.
However, Windows 8 phones improve upon the previous mobile setups by introducing Live Apps. These are official Windows 8 apps that can be pinned as Live alongside Live Tiles. These Live Apps include e-mail, messaging, calendar and the Windows Phone Store. There are other apps that can be pinned as Live like SkyDrive.
Data Sense is a new app Microsoft created for Windows 8 phones that helps you keep your data plan running smoothly. It allows you to track your plan usage and compresses all the Web pages you visit so that less data is consumed when visiting them. Another great feature of this app offers is sniffing Wi-Fi hotspots. It can also be pinned as Live.
Some of these Live Apps will display information to you at the lock screen. This will allow you to stay updated with the outside world even while your phone’s battery starts draining.
Microsoft Office
Microsoft has added SkyDrive integration with up to 7GB of free storage for Office support. You can also save files directly to Office 365 or SharePoint if you choose to and own licenses for the software. Windows Phone 8 allows you to use use mobile versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint in a new redesigned Office Hub. You can create new documents or edit existing ones from this Hub.
There are various built-in templates for you to explore, and you can start a blank template as well. Microsoft has took a hint from Apple by removing a save icon. This means the documents you will be working on save automatically into the cloud.
Microsoft has included a “recent panel” option in the Office Hub that helps you search for documents. This is useful if you work on your device constantly and have hundreds of files to shift through. You can also sync files from Office 2013 on your PC if you choose to.
Future of Windows 8 Phones
Windows 8 Phones have a great future ahead. Software, such as Microsoft Office, truly shines on the platform and shows what is in store for owners in the future. The price of Windows 8 phones seems to be just right, and Microsoft may truly challenge Apple and Google this time around. The fact that phones are already selling out shows good promise and greater developer support going forward.
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More Reasons to Love Windows 8: New File Explorer
Well it’s been two months later and I have even more reasons to love it. Since my last article I have installed Windows 8 on my desktop at home, bought a new laptop and installed it there, and created several virtual client PC’s in my current SharePoint environment. I fully immersed myself in the new OS, almost. Currently my work PC still uses Win 7 and during the course of my normal work day I find myself missing the new features of Windows 8 that I have come to love, and being very annoyed when I have to do things the “old way” in Windows 7.
So today I am going to share a few of my favorite features from the File Explorer in Windows 8, most of which do exist in earlier versions but are a little harder are to find.
The Ribbon
Windows 8 has finally adopted The Ribbon for File Explorer and it’s about time. I’ve been a fan of The Ribbon since it was introduced in Office 2007; I’ve always felt it was much easier to find commands there than searching through endless drop down menus.
Move and Copy
I think my absolute favorite new feature in the File Explorer is the addition of the Move to and Copy to buttons. They are located on the Home tab, in the Organize group.
How many times have you opened two File Explorer windows side by side to drag items from one folder to the next, and then deleted the ones in the original folder if they were no longer needed there? If I had a dollar every time I’ve had to do that I’d own Microsoft. Well now it’s a whole lot easier. Now all you need to do is select your item or items and choose either Move to or Copy to, depending on which operation you want. A list of your libraries and other places you’ve recently accessed will appear, simply choose from the list to send the item to its destination.
If the place you want isn’t on the list, at the bottom you will find the option to Choose location, click there to find your computer’s directory tree and navigate to the proper place.
The Home tab also has several other great options like a delete button, properties, and some favorites from Office.
File and Folder Options
The Ribbon gives easy access to many file and folder options that were previously tucked away in the folder options menu which wasn’t always easy to find, and often difficult to navigate. One of my favorite options is the Hidden items, which will reveal hidden files and folders in a slightly washed out look. You can find this option on the View tab, in the Show/Hide group.
I also want to point out that to hide an item you simply need to select it and click the Hide selected items button also on the View tab, in the Show/Hide group.
Contextual Tabs
One of the great things about The Ribbon in Office has always been that it changes based on what type of item has been selected giving us access to many different contextual tabs with specific types of tools and the new File Explorer is no different. When you select a library, such as the Documents Library, you will find a contextual tab called Library Tools which when selected will give you tools to manage your library.
The same is true for other libraries as well and depending on the type of library you may have additional tabs. When selecting the Music or Video libraries you will see a tab for Music or Video Tools which will have options, such as play, play all, or add to playlist.
Selecting the pictures library will also give you some simple picture tools as well.
However in my opinion, some of the most useful tools on The Ribbon become available when you select Computer in the File Explorer. Some options you’ll have available include Map a network drive, Add a network location, Open the control panel, or my favorite, Manage, which will open your computer’s Management Console.
Once you’ve selected Computer from your navigation pane, then select a drive such as your Local Disk C, you’ll have access to Drive Tools like Optimize, Cleanup and Format.
When selecting a DVD Drive you may have options to burn, erase or format a disk as well.
Now as I said most of these features have been available in previous versions of Windows in one form or another, but were not so obvious or easy to access, often being buried deep in an obscure menu. With Windows 8 all these great features plus many more are much easier to find and use, mostly with just one or two simple mouse clicks. Remember that Windows 8 has been designed for easy use with a touch screen whether it’s a touch monitor, laptop, or tablet, but reducing the number of actions also benefits mouse users as well.
Giving me quicker access to the tools I use frequently makes me a more efficient Windows user, no matter how it’s done.
The more I use Windows 8 the better I like it. Every day I find more features that just make sense and save me time and effort. So many tasks that I’ve done the same way for years now seem slow, outdated and clunky on my Win 7 PC. Windows 8 is a big change from what we’ve been used to but for me I thinks it’s a good one. Now if I can just convince my IT Manager to let me install Windows 8 on my work PC.
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New Windows 8 Features for Productive Admins
Not everyone is thrilled with the changes to the Windows operating system, but even the noisiest critics of Windows 8 have to admit Microsoft added a number of useful features to their latest OS. The software giant has integrated several tools to allow users more control over their system.
In this article, I’ll cover a few tricks and tweaks administrators can use to improve their experience with Windows 8 and streamline processes in the workplace; you’ll learn how to virtualize storage, enable dynamic file backup, schedule maintenance tasks, and access the new version of Advanced Boot Options.
File History
File History works similarly to Time Machine on Mac OS X; the application doesn’t just create a backup of a file, but also creates a backup of the changes to that file. File History scans the file system each hour, storing copies of altered files to a secondary storage device, such as a USB or network drive. Users can then access several different versions of a file as needed — a godsend for most office workers, as it’s not uncommon for employees to accidentally overwrite critical information in documents or spreadsheets.How to Enable File History
- Press Windows+Q. Click “Apps.” Type “control” into the search box and then click “Control Panel.”
- Scroll to the bottom of the menu and click “More Settings” to launch the Desktop Control Panel. Click “System and Security.”
- Click “File History.” Connect an external drive to the computer, if applicable, and then select “Change Drive” from the left pane.
- Select the external drive from the options or click “Add Network Location.” Select the network share and then click “OK.”
- Click “Turn On” to enable File History on the storage device.
How to Restore a File
- Press Windows+E to open Windows Explorer. Select “History” from the ribbon.
- Browse to the appropriate folder. Click the back button to see previous versions of the folder contents.
- Select a file to recover and then click the blue orb to restore the file.
Storage Spaces
Storage Spaces enables users to combine together physical disks into a single storage pool. Associated disks can use either a USB, SATA or Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) interface.To protect against data loss, administrators can configure Storage Spaces to mirror data on one or more disks. The application will create multiple copies of a file, writing the data to each individual disk in the pool. You can also create a parity pool that functions similarly to a mirrored space, with one major exception: parity pools, unlike mirrored spaces, create and store additional redundancy information so that any lost data can be automatically restructured from parity data.
Configuring Storage Spaces
- Press Windows+I. Enter “storage” into the search box. Click “Storage Spaces.”
- Click “Create a New Pool and Storage Space.” Select the drives to add to the new pool. All data stored to the disks will be formatted.
- Click “Create Pool.” Name the storage space and assign a letter to the pool.
- Select “Two-Way Mirror,” “Three-Way Mirror” or “Parity” from the Layout drop-down menu.
- Enter the maximum size for the space and then click “Create Storage Space.”
Automatic Maintenance
Automatic Maintenance installs software updates, defrags the hard disk, performs diagnostic tests, and runs an anti-virus scan on the system. Automatic Maintenance is scheduled to run at 3:00 AM every day; if the computer is in use during that time, Windows 8 will delay the application until the workstation is idle.While the default schedule might be ideal for a number of businesses, some organizations do the bulk of their work in the early morning hours. To keep Automatic Maintenance from falling behind schedule, set the application to run during downtime.
- Click the flag icon in the system tray and then click “Open Action Center.” Expand “Maintenance.”
- Click “Change Maintenance Settings.” Choose when to run maintenance tasks from the drop-down menu.
- Select “Allow Scheduled Maintenance to Wake Up My Computer If It’s Plugged in at the Schedule Timed,” if desired. Click “OK.”
- You can also click “Start Maintenance” to perform unscheduled maintenance.
Advanced Boot Options
Pressing “F8″ at startup on earlier versions of Microsoft Windows would load Advanced Boot Options, from which you could boot into Safe Mode, enable boot logging, restore the OS to a previous configuration, and other useful options. This tradition goes as far back as Windows 95. But in Windows 8, “F8″ doesn’t do what it used to.Windows 8 boots so fast that it doesn’t even have time to respond to keystrokes. This effect is even more pronounced on unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI) systems equipped with solid-state drives (SSDs); on some workstations, a user has less than 200 milliseconds to press “F8.” In other words, loading Advanced Boot Options can be hit-or-miss. In fact, booting into the BIOS is just as difficult on a Windows 8 PC.
Of course, Microsoft isn’t about to lock users out from the BIOS or from Safe Mode; the developers instead created a boot options menu that loads automatically when Windows detects something is not quite right with the startup operation. From the boot options menu, an administrator can access the BIOS, switch OSes, boot from another device, run troubleshooting tools, and, of course, enable Safe Mode (and all the other useful options that Advanced Boot Options provides).
You don’t have to sabotage your OS in order to load the boot options menu, however; you can access it from within Windows 8 any time you want. There are two different methods you can use to access the boot options menu:
Access Boot Options From PC Settings
- Press Windows+I to open Settings. Click “Change PC Settings.”
- Choose “General” from the menu. Select “Restart Now” from under the Advanced Startup section to go to the boot options menu.
Access Boot Options From Charms
- Press Windows+I and then click the “Power” button.
- Hold down “Shift” and select “Restart” from the menu to go to the boot options menu.
Safe Mode
You can also boot in to Safe Mode from Msconfig.- Press Windows+R to open Run and then enter “msconfig” into the dialog box. Click “OK.”
- Select “Boot,” then “Safe Boot.” Choose “Minimal” for standard Safe Mode, “Alternate Shell” for Safe Mode with Command Prompt or “Network” for Safe Mode with Networking.
- Click “OK.” Click “Restart” to boot to Safe Mode in Windows 8.
No More Waiting: Get to Know Windows 8
- How to Add Admin Tools to the Start Menu
- Organizing App Tiles
- Using Win8 for Servers, Clients and Tablets
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