What are /r/windowsphone's favorite Products & Services?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Please read this:

Nokia: We're still HERE on Windows Phone: http://www.zdnet.com/nokia-were-still-here-on-windows-phone-7000034055/#ftag=RSS0966a21

Upvote this so people stop whining

Love you all 😊

As someone who just switched their unlocked 920 over to T-Mobile and apparently gets free Spotify streaming over data, this makes me very happy.

Edit: Read the discussion below, it's a good one!

Edit2: Here's some more discussion on the topic over at Hacker News!

> you are forgetting about that whole antitrust business MS went through

Oh, that thing where Microsoft got in trouble for bundling a browser with the OS. Good thing that practice has ended.

god yes, ReadIt is so much better than "reddit is fun" and the offical app too. I hope he ever considers porting ReadIt to android, I'd buy it again.

Thank you guys for all the suggestions! I check them out :).

EDIT: I also got a recommendation, SquareHome2 is a awesome launcher that looks like a windows phone home screen but is extremly customizeable. Worth the money I spent on it.

I think it has potential but it is fairly barebones right now. It is also buggy - I found 3 bugs after playing with it for about 10 minutes.

I like the UI. I'm definitely keeping an eye on it. For now I'm sticking with 2Day.

Get Launcher 10. It's the closest to a Windows phone experience. A few minor bugs, but if you pay for the Live Tiles and to remove ads, you won't be sorry.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nfwebdev.launcher10

I made the Android to WP switch in 2013. Last weekend I put a cheap SIM card in my abandoned, two-year-old Android and thought I'd see how tough it would be to make the switch back. It's working so well that I'm carrying that phone around along with my Lumia Icon now.

Microsoft makes it incredibly easy to switch to Android. They've even got a lock screen app[1] that duplicates WP's lock screen beautifully, complete with weather, notification integrations, and beautiful Bing photos. (It has functionality beyond WP's lock screen, too--it lets you swipe right to see headlines, and you can do a Bing search without unlocking the phone). In the past I've hesitated to install things like lock screen apps and home screen replacements on Android, because I don't want to give software written by an indie developer no one knows access to everything on my phone. But the fact that this came from a reputable company like Microsoft greatly increased my confidence.

All of the MSN apps, including news and weather, are there. Office, of course, is there, and better than WP's implementation. Microsoft also has some really cool apps, like on{x}, that are not (?) available on WP at all.[2]

I do miss the WP home screen. Android lets you have custom "launcher" apps that replace the awful Android home screen; while a few enterprising souls have written ones that somewhat imitate WP, they don't come close enough for my liking. (Widgets, guys; figure out a way to put widgets into those imitation WP rectangles, please).

[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.androidapps.picturesque

[2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.onx.app

21-part free tutorial series. Looks quite in-depth.

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Building-Apps-for-Windows-Phone-8-Jump-Start-01a-Introducing-Windows-Phone-8-Development-Part-1

EDIT: fixed url

Personally I don't want any of these, except maybe: >sorting options for apps list - alphabetical, by date installed, by most used

And someone there obviously knows how

Cloud storage is not impervious to failure, man-in-the-middle attacks, or social engineering hacks. You need redundancy. Don't put all eggs in one basket. For example, the DropBox security fiasco of 2011 allowed anyone to access any DropBox account for 5 hours, and a subsequent fiasco in 2012.

There aren't many logistics you need to worry about. Just install your OS to a drive dedicated for the OS. Put everything else on a separate drive so you have a local copy that works offline, then mirror that data back to your OS drive or to a cloud storage system. Now you've got redundancy and online/offline access.

Why reformat a drive with games on it, only to reinstall them all again right afterwards?

You are wrong.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.excel

>Sign in with a free Microsoft account to create or edit spreadsheets on devices with a screen size of 10.1 inches or smaller. A qualifying Office 365 subscription is required to unlock the full Office experience. Office 365 is also required to create or edit on tablets with a screen larger than 10.1 inches.

First study c# on microsoft virtual academy

Then use this course: http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Windows-Phone-8-1-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners It is by Bob Tebor, one of my preferred teacher. His courses are really simple, easily understandable and complete. You'll love them (and him).

While that's true and annoying we can already share to our PCs, or remotely open the browser with the Connected Devices (formerly Share Across Devices) app: https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9nblggh4tssg

Readit and mytube also support continuing on other devices.

But in reality, only 20% of those 1.2 million apps actually get used.

http://mashable.com/2014/07/10/zombie-apps-ios/

In other words, 80% of Apple store apps are there just be counted as a part of app statistics but nobody actually use them. This makes you think what the app count means. The WP store apps should have higher usage rate with higher percentage of good apps, simply because only those apps doing well in the iOS and Android can afford to get ported over to WP. Personally, I don't feel any shortage of WP apps. I don't play much games on WP in order to preserve the battery life. MS has said that there are around 500 new WP apps added daily on the average. It would drive me nut if I try to keep track all the new apps. I have around 300 apps on my phone. It is only 1/1200 of available apps in store. Just how many apps do you want? The Windows store apps should pass 800,000 by the end of this year if the current rate of growth can hold up.

NO. (Why do people on this SR believe every stupid thing about MS?)

What really ticks me off is that we're MISSING THE STORY, which is that this cool guy really did take an amazing trip to raise money for GREAT causes, and he took some unbelievable photos using mostly Lumias. (Did you donate / support him?)

Look at the details in the photo metadata. He only started using the 950XL recently--~~I couldn't find a single picture from the 950XL~~. MOST of his phone pictures were taken with a Lumia 1020, Lumia 930, a Coolpix, or DMC-GF2. That actually seems to be the upgrade path:

~~DMC-G2 -> Coolpix S2800 -> Lumia 930 -> Lumia 1020 (might be 1020->930) -> Lumia 950XL~~ [UPDATE: see below]

Even from the text of the PR material: He clearly had more than one model throughout the trip, with newer things like Continuum being available later. He might have only had the Lumia for part of the trip.

"...he was powered by Microsoft devices..." <-- note the plural

"Having previously owned the Lumia 930, we knew Jamie would be keen to test the latest flagship device so we equipped him with the almighty Lumia 950 XL." ~~<-- oops; did they mean 1020? Or did he have a 930 before the trip, then they gave him a 1020 when they started it, replacing it (as I did) with a 950XL when available?~~

SO...he had a [1020, edit], and they gave him a [930, edit] later in the trip and then a 950XL and a Band 2 as soon as they could.

Is this difficult to see?

"I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space. I think we’ll lose some of the top-tier PCs, and OEMs who will exit the market." - Gabe Newell in an interview with IGN late July, 2012.

Personally, I think he has it all wrong. I've heard no news of any "top-tier PCs" or "OEMs" who are planning to "exit the market" because they're pessimistic about the success of Windows 8. Have any of you? Please link if so..

I guess that's it:

Phones and devices that can upgrade to Windows 10:

Lumia 1520, 930, 640, 640XL, 730, 735, 830, 532, 535, 540, 635 1GB, 636 1GB, 638 1GB, 430, 435, BLU Win HD w510u, BLU Win HD LTE x150q, MCJ Madosma Q501

Source

http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Windows-Phone-8-1-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners

http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Building-Apps-for-Windows-Phone-8-1

and Google problem you can't find. stackoverflow can be your friend.

Try Sync (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.laurencedawson.reddit_sync ). Coming from readit I couldn't find any good reddit app until I tried sync. I've been using it for 3 weeks now and it's as good or better than readit. Tried the official app, reddit is fun and some others.

Not to be negative but...

I beat you, neener neener neener. I win I win I win.

(.218 build)

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=B99EFE0C592D4065!96828&amp;authkey=!APEMU47cXWOixgU&amp;v=3&amp;ithint=photo%2cpng

freeloader NOUN

informal

1. a person who takes advantage of others' generosity without giving anything in return.

They are protecting their own asses, after their FTC ruling. I suspect this is just step one, they'll issue warnings to users and in a few weeks ban accounts. It's a clear and direct violation of Snapchat's TOS to use 6snap or any third party application.

An app/web service for creating simple presentations / web pages. Here's an example of mine https://sway.com/0bJ-mIpJBTixtdDk It allows for easy drag-and-drop embedding of images from your OneDrive folder or Bing, and other entities like Tweets, videos etc. Formatting is limited, and that's a good thing. Sway takes care of the layout and optimizes for all different screen sizes; from PCs to Phones.

UPDATE: Use this link instead

Hello! I am the developer of it! I can start off with how to install it, for those who don't know:

1. Open the *************** (Three dot) menu in Microsoft Edge, and select Extensions.

2. Select Load extension.

3. Navigate to the extracted folder called flyingyoutube and click Select folder.

Enjoy! This is what it looks like: Image

P.S I'm sharing it here, because It will be ported to Mobile when it's out, even though it's not that useful on phones

Press download and it gives full information

edit: Awkward that i got downvoted after providing a proof...

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=d695216053c786a1&amp;id=D695216053C786A1%2140397&amp;ithint=folder,&amp;authkey=!ANG44Nfcfb-B1GE

Please DO NOT use the wp8 series suggested above. That's old and still use silverlight. Bob Tabor suggest to start with http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Windows-Phone-8-1-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners that is more updated and use winRT

Firstly, yes this is a Microsoft app, but there are zero resources assigned to it. I am a full-time employee for Microsoft, but I only get to work on this app at the weekends, and it’s free, has no adverts, and no in-app purchases. With that in mind, I’m basically an indy developer that makes this app out of the goodness of my heart. So, I'm not heavily motivated to devote my weekends for the next year porting an app to UWP just so it can have the same functionality as the current Silverlight version. I just have fun tweaking the app, making additions to the database, and that’s about it.

UWP apps don’t have an equivalent to Silverlight ViewportControl, which I regard as a critical component to City Art Search. I have asked the question here on Stack Overflow (almost two years ago), and it seems the only solution would be for me to build my own one, which would be a substantial undertaking.

And yes, CAS Preview is still in beta. I already need to support this beta version on Windows 10 Mobile, Windows 10 PC, and Xbox One, in addition to City Art Search on Desktop and Windows 10 Mobile, and on Windows Phone 8.1. While CAS Preview is beta, it still does what it’s supposed to do; auto-refresh your Lock Screen / Wallpaper. And I did recently add a slideshow mode to it, as well as actionable notifications.

> If there are a lot of OEMs, we'll have one strategy. If there are no OEMs, we'll have one strategy. We are committed to having the phones in these three segments.

It's in the full interview on zdnet that is one of the top linked articles on r/windowsphone right now.

The three segments he's referring to are value, business, and flagship, btw.

EDIT: link

It may make sense, but they keep alienating their users and developers. That's why 70% of the Apps in the Windows Store are dead and their market share is dwindling. Will customers keep coming back to Windows Phone if they're being duped time and again? I think not even Microsoft believes that (and from a business point of view, that's fair enough).

This is such a mindbogglingly stupid move. I've been using mint.com for years. I've used Blackberry, Android, iOS, and Windows phones. The mint experience on Windows Phone was pretty good - not up to feature parity but close.

Now that Windows 10 is out and their potential user base has gone up hugely they decide to kill their app? Forget stopping support - they're going to KILL the app? This makes absolutely no sense.

edit:

Chat with their support reps and tell them how unhappy you are: https://www.mint.com/support

Actually, these functionalities are public and developers can leverage them too. The reason why it might be delayed even by developers who want to add this function is the late documentation from Microsoft. Many are still not aware that they can leverage social extensibility sdk into their app. I personally searched a lot for documentation and it was only by July I could find offical blog posts, videos and documentation regarding this feature. That is 3 months after the developer preview was announced. I think it is just a matter of time this feature gets available on amazing apps. Also, this feature is only limited to Silverlight WP8.1 apps and not for universal apps.

For developers listening this, here is the link to all the documentation. Check the description of the video.

http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Inside+Windows+Phone/IWP77-Leveraing-Social-Extensibility-in-Windows-Phone-Silverlight-8-1-apps

Get Launcher 10. It's the closest to a Windows phone experience. A few minor bugs, but if you pay for the Live Tiles and to remove ads, you won't be sorry.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nfwebdev.launcher10

Create a contact for "Cortana" and add 555-555-9876 as her phone number. I used a picture from an image search for her profile, since my car with a built-in nav screen will display the image from the contact.

After connecting the phone via Bluetooth to the car, I'm able to set a button on the dash (or steering wheel) to call someone in my address book. I set the first button to Cortana.

Over a Bluetooth connection, "dialing" the special 555-555-9876 number triggers the Cortana bloop prompt via the car's microphone and speakers. (I assume it's like a "Hey Cortana" trigger, but I still think the always listening thing doesn't make much sense on my phone.) After that, I can tell Cortana to call anyone else.

Hope that's the setup you were asking about. Useful for sending SMS messages (with "send a text to ..."), too. I also like some of the simple commands, such as "redial" to have Cortana redial the last number. And, of course, you can do all the other parlor tricks, like "tell me a joke."

I forget what year they added the special number, but it made Cortana very functional in the car. Android or Blackberry has a similar "special" number for voice prompts, I think.

I'm going to say that it's the website not your phone. I have a 950XL and yes, the menus don't work. But as a software and web developer, I regularly test sites in many different hardware and software combinations. So I tested the site on different hardware/browsers combinations I have here.

The ausopen.com site doesn't work in Edge for the desktop either. If you shrink the browser horizontally until the menu switches to the mobile version (most sites detect widths to switch menus).

If I remember correctly,

Rendering Engines:

• Windows Edge uses Microsoft's EdgeHTML

• Apple uses WebKit

• Chrome and Opera use Blink

• Firefox uses Gecko

It's the site developer's fault not Edge. I checked their site's code and they are using Drupal as their content management system. Drupal has a long standing issue with dropdown menus.

Here's a link to a thread on Drupal's site with the fix. I sent an email to the Open's web site. Let's see if they fix it.

https://www.drupal.org/project/bootstrap_business/issues/2220211

It was integrated into OneDrive.

http://i.imgur.com/HBLk6Dw.png (1st one /#Outside; /#Building(incorrect but whatever); /#Sky

It sorts your pictures automatically and detects pretty much everything, it even detects "door pictures" which is ridiculous. It's pretty accurate in most cases.

Check it yourself over at https://onedrive.live.com/?id=tags&amp;v=photos

Indeed! The Microsoft developer website for all thing Windows Phone, including design, can be found here. Select Design from the top menu.

http://dev.windowsphone.com/

Bob Tabor has a free course in Windows Phone development (@ Channel 9 - a MS community website):

http://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Windows-Phone-8-1-Development-for-Absolute-Beginners

There's also the Microsoft Virtual Academy if you need to study more. It's all free.

Http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com

Earlier at the Build Conference. You can watch the recorded video here. ~~I can't remember which timeline he demonstrated it though.~~ Found it. Starts at 0:09:40.

EDIT: Rudy Huyn made the diagonal style lockscreen.

I actually don't think it means much. They are just looking for a mobile developer with experience on different platforms, Windows Phone including.

Just use an Android phone! Install a basic launcher like this and your good to go. You can get an Android phone today that's cheaper and better then a WP. If you love how simple and clean WP was, check this out. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.aswinmohan.nophone

As much as I loved WP, just accept that it's dead. I've owned at least 4 Lumia's, but I let them go last year. At most in a year it's gonna be hardly usable unless you want to use it like a dumb phone, which an Android can also do. Trust me, you don't want to move but when you do you'll never look back! (Except for that WP keyboard, though)��

You should check out this app: Microsoft Apps its basically a MS App Store in the Google Store. It's a collection of all MS App's on Androide. Made by Microsoft.

Wait. Wait wait wait wait WAIT. Is the build released to the public really 10586.164, the one currently in the Insiders Release Preview Ring?

Well, at least the update is only available thought the app Upgrade Advisor. This build is in no shape to be used by ordinary people. Ordinary people be: my mother, my sister, my less tech savvy friends, my uncle, etc.

And i mean it: The topic I've created may have been buried away by now but, just me and a friend of mine cataloged 82 system bugs, most of them are actually quite severe and serious issues that need to be addressed before this can be considered a stable OS. A OS where WI-FI stops working at random, Opening and closing an app renders the main menu unreadable, causes cracling audio on a lot of devices, alarms that don't go off as they should, shouldn't be released to the public.

You can check out the Excel containing all bugs previously cataloged on build .164 here: https://onedrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=DFC55B32F9926FE5!185796&amp;ithint=file%2cxlsx&amp;app=Excel&amp;authkey=!ALPcWSuIil4-11E

Will do a hard reset since this is actually the public release build and let's see how it goes. Was hoping they'd fix some other issues, especially battery related and SMS app related ones. Good news is, since MS controls the updates now, they can release cumulative updates more frequently :)

EDIT: Did hard reset. I'm updating the Excel Column "After Hard Reset" as I test. Has Yellow / Red / Green Colors to help, they stand for "Yellow: Not detected yet | Red: Still Present After Hard Reset | Green: Fixed after hard reset"

This looks to be a perfect addition to the Metro-style family. I can't WAIT to get my hands on one of these... think I'll break the bank and go for the best model available as well. This thing looks amazing!

You can also read Engadget's live blog here: http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/18/microsoft-major-announcement-livelog/

Along with the ARM powered one, there will also be a Pro version running an Intel i5 Ivy Bridge, available up to 128 gigabytes, with pricing comparable to an ultrabook laptop (probably around $800 for the cheaper version to maybe $1200 for the most expensive version).

This article by TechCrunch actually gives a pretty good description of why the market is expanding, or at least some reasons people use phablets. Although its not specific to Windows Phone I think the principles carry over pretty well. The line that makes the most sense to me was:

>The reason phones are bulking up in the screen department comes down to our addiction to consuming data, coupled with the ever-increasing richness of data services.

Just a request, could you please use the link to original article in the future? In this case is seems that it was Mary Jo Foley that broke the story, and I am sure I am not the only one who would rather she get the views instead of The Verge

http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-arcadia-team-is-building-a-streaming-app-and-game-service/

I'm a software developer but I've never worked with something like that before. Just found out there's an open source DS emulator DeSmuME, I'll try to figure on weekend if that's something that can be easily ported :)

I swear it's like 90% in the Balkans region. Even my mom (who is generally not proficient with technology to say the least) uses it.

EDIT: ~~I found this: https://www.similarweb.com/blog/worldwide-messaging-apps~~

~~Third most popular globally, also only app behind Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger to claim the #1 spot in 10+ countries.~~

Data only relates to Android.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/20/windows-phone-8-ota-updates-18-month-support-program-early-access/

Not only that, they're also adding a program to get updates earlier.

Sure it's just words right now (since there are no WP8 phones out there), but it's something.

Try this app: contacts+message backup

You can transfer the messages backup file to your PC and figure out ways to make it printable in a readable format. The figuring out part isn't difficult.

First update for ParkenDD, an app for viewing live data of the parking situation at public parking lots where there's open data available (mainly Germany/Europe for now).

http://www.bing.com/news/

Seriously, look at Bing. It's actually pretty good. Especially if you live in the US, and sign up for Bing Rewards.

As far as migrating, I'd imagine the easy way would be to add a forward to your gmail account to go directly to your new Outlook (Or whatever else) account, and update any accounts as they come into the old Gmail address to point directly to the new one.

Not quite the same, but Cloudplayer is similar and supports OneDrive. It's what I used to replace groove. Unfortunately I can't remember what Groove on a phone used to look like, so that's the best I can do.

So, I got a couple of good news for you. Launcher 10 is a great substitute for the W10M home screen. Does the same job, looks identical, however has even more customisation options (tiles can go from 1x1 to 6x6 including non-standard sizes like 2x1 or 1x3) and the notifications on the live tiles actually work better (they just display a notification, so if you swipe it away, they refresh immediately, unlike on W10M where you sometimes had to wait a random amount of time).

And here are all the sounds from WP7 and W10M.

Just a little something to make switching to Android less painful.

Cool, maybe one day you'll even be able to remote play your xbox one from your phone with a bluetooth controller.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playstation.remoteplay&amp;hl=en

I use it on my phone, it works very well!

Because synthetic sapphire is immensely cheaper than diamond or organic sapphire, extremely strong (second only to diamond in scratch resistance), and is already being used in many applications.

Here is a demo, with an example of an iPhone outfitted with sapphire as well as an Android phone.

Also, Apple already uses sapphire for their camera lenses on the iPhone 5 and 5S/C. They will likely use a thin layer of sapphire on future iPhone screens for shatter resistance.

I realize you were joking. I wasn't, though. Synthetic sapphire is the future of mobile/touch surfaces.

Actually, Airbnb was mentioned by Satya Nadella, Microsoft's CEO, in an interview recently as a company that could profit from the new Universal App platform that Microsoft is pushing as part of the Windows 10 release.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/ceo-nadella-talks-microsofts-mobile-ambitions-windows-10-strategy-hololens-and-more/

My guess is that they're already working with Airbnb on something, you don't get namedropped by Microsoft's CEO just like that without a reason. At least that's what my gut feeling tells me.

Hit the physical Cortana button, then tap the mic icon in the lower right corner. Now look up, the right corner will have a musical (cleft) sorry can't remember what that

is called

[example](https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=B63908169701600A!72241&amp;authkey=!AFdpnBAdnXu6zfw&amp;v=3&amp;ithint=photo%2cpng

No idea if I did that right. Sorry, total rookie!

Pretty much and it took them half year to polish it. I don't understand how Microsoft is so oblivious when it comes to delivery. I wish they released Photosynth already, Nokia's Panorama app is awful. They make these promises and never do anything, if WP fails it will be their own fault.

On a side note, I love Microsoft Research and this approach to me looks better than Nokia's Smart Shot, which takes one shot every 1-2 seconds, too slow for me.

Its actually disguised in a pair of glasses, coming in a variety of styles.

Its controlled by blinking your eyes, and even measures the force your eyes open and close (Force Blink).

Those ordinary looking glasses Satya Nadella wears? That is the HoloLens Phone Preview.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=satya+nadella&amp;view=detailv2&amp;&amp;id=4F8ACC0FBAC2AEAC1CC19F2284D04C753D8F9C14&amp;selectedIndex=1&amp;ccid=O1OCZOW2&amp;simid=608002898358304771&amp;thid=OIP.M3b538264e5b6e467b8df0eecd8b3401bH1&amp;ajaxh...

2:23:25

> I should point out we need new hardware for this and I don't have that hardware working today. In fact we're going to try a demo of that at a session on Thursday. So you're seeing a simulation.

OSX announcement was done back in June and releasing very shortly. Frankly, it's much more appealing when paired with their phone. Hand off activity from your Mac to your tablet or phone be it email, web browsing, documents, maps, reminders. Answering calls from your desktop, messaging on any device with text, voice, images.

It's already progressed there.

https://www.apple.com/ios/whats-new/continuity/

Plus software, if I buy an app on an iphone, it's there on a tablet for me too. The idea of playing games on my phone and picking up on Xbox was so appealing to me. Never came to fruition. Halo Spartan Assault comes out for Phone, a year later I need to buy it again on Xbox? It's the same game.

Sick of waiting for Windows to get there. It felt so close a few years ago, but my devices don't feel connected at all. Win7 Desktop, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Windows Phone 8.1.

Yeah, saw the Google+ one, guess that's not the same.

Though there does seem to be a Hangouts JavaScript API, and you can use JavaScript to write Windows Phone apps, maybe there is hope...

Though really I forgot about the video chat aspect, I only ever use text chat which is what I was thinking. A really simple, clean, Google chat app.

Wallmart still has it. The ATT version has a few restrictions.

>Att - variant: does not support Band 12 (you can NOT enable it) Att - variant: does not support wifi calling Att - variant: does not support ENS toggle Att - variant: does not support firmware flash ( dead lock to ATT only )

Yeah -- it's actually quite a lot of work to put together a free version/demo :( If it's any consolation, I do have a free version online over at Game Jolt. It doesn't have ALL the stuff in the mobile version, but it should give you a good taste for the game to see if you like it.

(Browser, Unity) http://gamejolt.com/games/rpg/tales-of-the-adventure-company/23973/

Launcher 10 is a really good one. It even has live tile functionality, though you have to pay for that part.

If you use Google opinion rewards, then that'll alleviate the cost.

None of the WinPhone style launchers ever worked for me. They're improving, but i still find them a bit buggy and laggy at times.

Microsoft Launcher is probably the best one if you want to stay all in with the MS ecosystem. Microsoft seems to be using that launcher as a beachhead to integrate Windows and Android.

It took me a while to accept it, but I felt my phone experience improved greatly once I finally gave up on the idea of making my phone look and work exactly like a Windows Phone. When in Rome, and such.

That said, I recently started trying Niagara Launcher, which is currently in a stable Beta. In no way does it emulate WinPhone, but it offers a new style of UI that is super clean, simple, fast, distraction free, and provides quick access to every app on your phone.

It might be a little too simple for some folks, but it's really working on this former WinPhone diehard. Even though it's a different UI, those elements kind of remind me of what I liked about the WinPhone experience and so I figured I'd share.

According to Mary-Jo Foley most of the redundancies are going to come from the sales and manufacturing parts of Nokia. These are the parts of the company that are important when you are trying to build and sell tens or hundreds of millions of phones a year. MS have explicitly said that they don't want to be a standalone phone company so getting rid of these people makes sense.

However the question is what happens if the third-party OEMs don't turn up to fill the gap that MS leaves? MS can't and won't fill that gap because they are getting rid of the people and capability to sell phones in huge numbers. We'll be left with MS selling a few million phones a year and concentrating virtually all their mobile investment on providing the best apps and services possible to iOS and Android users. WP would technically still be alive but it would be irrelevant to everyone except fans.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsofts-latest-job-cuts-to-hit-manufacturing-sales/

Well, I think that they unveil project AirSpace: http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-microsoft-is-taking-on-the-cross-platform-challenge-with-office/

On the Channel 9 site in Build section is lot of tags about Cross-Platform, so this make sense to me.

THANK YOU

I don't care how well Windows Phone runs on what hardware. Microsoft isn't using exotic or custom hardware for any of their devices.

When you can get a Snapdragon 615 device for less than a Snapdragon 400, something is wrong.

This is essentially what you're saying:

"Yea, they're dumping Windows Phone, but Windows will still run on small handheld devices that have cellular antennas and can run Windows Phone apps."

Sure, I agree with you, technically Windows Phone won't exist any more. Except all phones running Windows Phone 8.1 will be upgraded to Windows 10, all Windows Phone apps will run on Windows 10, and new phones running Windows 10 will continue to be released.

From the article linked:

>He loved the capacity to use Continuum and Microsoft Display Dock with his Lumia 950 XL, and connect it to a keyboard, mouse and monitor to enable a PC-like experience. As a keen multi-tasker, Jamie was delighted he could have Microsoft Word projected onto a big screen to write his blog posts and embed images he had captured with his Lumia, whilst still using the phone to carry out other tasks too, such as texting.

So he was carrying a keyboard and mouse with him the whole way was he microsoft?

I think continuum is a great idea, but its being marketed with unrealistic scenarios (not just this).

Yeah the 24" monitor and power socket is just behind that tree: https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AHSNkcBxkN21Ki8&amp;v=photos&amp;cid=1EC66015C832BD11&amp;id=1EC66015C832BD11%21147601&amp;parId=1EC66015C832BD11%21177913&amp;o=OneUp

Windows Phone and iOS have one thing in common that makes them REALLY secure and makes it pretty hard for un-authorized code to run.

The process is called 'code signing'. Basically, the Microsoft/Apple/(And Google but we will cover their issue later.) only let applications that they have signed off on run on the devices. Essentially (and I might have the exact details a bit off, but the concept is about right), they use a hidden private key that only they have to lock the app, and it is only unlocked using a public key which we all have built into the phone. If there is no lock on the app for the phone to unlock, it doesn't run. a virus as we typically think of them would not be signed code, and thus even if sent to the device directly would likely fail to operate. The only way for it to run is to be signed by the signing authorities.

This is why you can only really get apps from the iOS/Windows store. Now compare with Android, Google also does signing of the applications in their store for the exact same reasons. But you can install un-signed apps really easily (for example, the Amazon app store doesn't have Google's private key), basically tap OK and you just bypassed that security function. https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&amp;docId=1000626391&amp;ref_=mas_dl_appstore_rr

EDIT: As another user mentioned, beware of fake apps. It happens, that is why we see what permissions the app wants to have on our device when installing.

True, the current store solution is somewhat a clusterfuck. But the foundation of .NET Core and Windows 10 UWP isn't going away. It fixed a lot of things and apps are starting to roll in.

And remember, .NET Core isn't just for phone.

I assume it would work just like TouchID or OAuth where an app requests the OS to verify the user, the OS verifies the user locally, and the app accepts the verification because it trusts the OS - no identifying information is exchanged between the OS and the app.

And Windows Hello, however it is implemented, should be fast on all devices because if it isn't people just won't use it. For security conscious users it will just be another layer of security but only 34% of smartphone users password protect their phones so for Windows Hello to be effective it has to compete with the ease of instantly unlocking your phone.

Finally, at least for iris scanning, it can't be embarrassing to use. With a fingerprint scanner all you have to do is hold your phone like you normally do, if I have to pretend to take a selfie every time I want to do a mobile payment I'd rather just use my credit card, security be damned.

The only phone I need.

>Software Engineer II Microsoft July 2012 – Present (2 years 10 months)Redmond, Washington

>I am a Software Engineer at Microsoft working on current and next generation versions of Windows and Windows Phone.

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/devin-sinha/2a/62/2a3

It works perfectly, press small button on top of controller, and look for Bluetooth devices on phone to connect. If you have UWP emulator you can have every gaming console in your pocket, you can connect to any TV with Continuum with a controller , Impress the hell out of people.

UWP Emulator 📲 http://nesbox.com/emulator

Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter https://www.microsoft.com/store/apps/9WZDNCRFJBB1

This used to work with mobile. It isn't available to download anymore. Alot of us bought the Microsoft hardware for this for continuum. I assume this is what the comment was referring to

• The compass in my 950XL is off 90 degrees (I look North and it thinks I'm looking West). Calibrating doesn't fix the issue. This has been an issue since the creators update. It is very frustrating because it messes up apps like Maps and Star Walk 2.

• Every day I get a notification that my Microsoft account needs to be fixed for shared experiences. I click on it and I got to settings and nothing is wrong.

• I can't update firmware on my Microsoft wireless display adapter.

• Network Data no longer shows accurate data (everything is duplicated). Resetting the app doesn't help.

• My old pinned websites now just open Bing searches with a garbled URL.

• I have to restart my device almost daily because it eventually gets really hot and everything slows down. Most of the time I'm not doing anything with my phone when this happens.

If I am listening to music over Bluetooth it is really bad.

• Bluetooth randomly turns back on by itself.

• Bluetooth says it is on when it is really off (or vice versa).

• Bluetooth says it is still connected to my car even though my car is off and in the parking lot when I'm at work.

• Basically the whole Bluetooth stack is worse now than it has ever been (I didn't think that was possible).

Edit: There are more issues but these are the most annoying.

Edit 2:

• Forgot to mention that Edge likes to unload webpages on me all the time too. I stream audio off a website and after about 5 minutes it cuts out. When I turn my phone back on edge is reloading the website. Before the creators update I could listen all day and this wouldn't happen.

• Also sometimes my screen fails to turn on. I turn my phone on and the screen stays black. My Windows Hello camera turns on but nothing else happens. (This has always been an issue thought it seems more common in the creators update.)

Try "Launcher 10". Close to the real thing. Very customizable. I'd suggest to invest a couple of bucks and buy ad-free as well as live tiles. I did and I absolutely love it.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nfwebdev.launcher10

>plus you can't theme android with apps that's impossible .

<em>ahem</em>

If you want more than that, there's Substratum.

It's not far off from doing that. The app is called Mingo, I have it on my phone but don't use it because it's still pretty buggy and doesn't pass through to the pc yet.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.skype.m2&amp;hl=en

It gets more updates than the WM10 version hehe.

> "New applications compiled specifically for Windows Phone 8 will not be made available for Windows Phone 7.x devices." http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/20/microsoft-unveils-windows-phone-7-8-for-legacy-devices/

Official: 7.8 for legacy devices. The good news? Looks like most "end user" features will be included, like the new start screen, etc.

Small correction: Snapchat has 100 million active users - that is Android plus iOS. Source: http://mashable.com/2014/08/26/snapchat-10-billion-valuation/. There were roughly 1500 million smartphone users in 2014 (http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Smartphone-Users-Worldwide-Will-Total-175-Billion-2014/1010536), thus about 6.7% of all users use Snapchat. That makes 3.35 million potential Windows Phone customers.

> 14. Sadly, myTube is …

Try NewPipe for Youtube, you can get it via the f-droid. It's not myTube but it still better than the official YT app alone.

Albert Shum and Belfiore are leading the UI/UX team: http://www.cnet.com/news/meet-the-design-guru-trying-to-make-windows-phone-relevant/

They really need to get back to the basics. I miss my Zune HD so much ;(

These were all taken with my 1520 (post-processed in Lightroom). Although you lose the ability to zoom in as much as the 1020 the speed and Denim features more than make up for it. And the battery life.

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=CB6389339A84B201!551995&amp;authkey=!AGotys5fSX1bess&amp;ithint=folder%2c

Back in June according to zdnet "[Alan] Meeus said Microsoft has decided instead to rely on things like Secure SSL to address this need."

They can't. Even with the DoJ anti-trust oversight being over, I'm sure Microsoft doesn't want to open that can of worms again.

Ok so I got downvoted and yet nobody can tell me what OS its running. Figures.

Anyway I found this on the HN thread about the device.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8531803

Hi! Dev lead here. Obviously not an official MS response!

"We are using a single threaded lightweight runtime based around call backs. We are completely non-blocking on all IO (including all sensors), and our CPU spends the majority of its time in a very low power mode. Every microsecond of CPU time is accounted for and justified!

I cannot wait until people look at our battery size in mAh."

I think it is a picture comparing win10 with wp10.

edit: My win10 settings. https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=76929B47D3BC5356!69912&amp;authkey=!APPVlH6m377Dj8U&amp;v=3&amp;ithint=photo%2cpng

I had an AT&T issued secure SIM, there's literally no reason why my phone wouldn't work, except that the carriers forbade it. They didnt want it to work on unlocked unbranded phones.

It's telling that both apple and google had to do an end-run around the carriers (apple built secure chips into the phone so they didnt need the SIM, and google put host card emulation into kitkat, which also bypasses the need of a secure SIM.).

We could've all been doing tap-and-pay the past two years if the carriers had just gotten out of everyone's way.

But ultimately you are correct of course. Microsoft needs to figure out some way to middle-finger the carriers and allow everyone to use nfc payments. Let's just hope its coming soon.^tm

EDIT:

>This makes no sense.

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2014/2-533

specifically this part:

> Note: NFC functionality has been decoupled so that apps can now support NFC payments inside their own experiences.

This is precisely because the carriers had their ISIS/Softcard app solution, and refused to allow the builtin wallet tap-to-pay functionality to access their secure SIMs.

Well to my knowledge every phone could have a wireless charging, all you need to buy is coil something like this

And a Qi charger of course.

Nokia has it's own app, but it's free: Here Drive+.

Yes, it monitors your speed and it chimes at me when I exceed the speed limits, but you can turn that off.

Now, I haven't fiddled with the voice, but I think that you can only choose a male or female voice.

EDIT: Fiddling with the voices now, they have every language known to mankind on here, but if you're only looking for an English accent... you can choose between the UK or US versions of male or female voices.

> You might want to use a different graphic for different resolutions.

At least some vector graphic formats allow this, e.g. the icons used in Haiku.

You can download the Roku app and use it with a Roku stick. Had this came out before I got my Chromecast, I would be using it instead.

Hmmm.. Try this:

1) https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc958122.aspx 2) In Device Manager, click on View ->Show Hidden Devices. 3) Uninstall every device that is named Lumia 930 or whatever your phone is called according to Device Manager. 4) Replug device. 5) If it's still not able to be detected, Try steps 17-19 of this (minus the clicking of the Reset button): (http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-phone/how-to-unbrick-nokia-lumia-920-by-flashing-new-firmware/)

The first one I think you can just not sync it through the settings. (Settings>Backup)

As for the second one, I think it has to go through someones server. I mean, it goes from the phone > Carrier > MS > Work Server or Phone > ISP > MS > Work Server. If anything I would trust an MS server (Azure servers, best in the world used by many many companies both big and small including UK health services, PCS Security, Tangerine Bank, and more) and I believe they are also some of the most secure. I would put my trust in their app using their servers over a third party app using their servers. I mean, I haven't heard much on Azure server hacking but iCloud server hacking has been very big in recent memory, as well as the Sony hack.

My guess is they used the time from //build until now to build the api, test it and secure it against hacking to break the phone security. The app itself is not much more than a proof of concept-ish thing, made to demo the api.

There will be better lockscreens in the future once the api is made public.

Edit: Joe Belfiore @ build
http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2014/KEY01#time=8m38s

"...in Windows Phone 8.1 we've implemented a new set of apis that's for the lockscreen, which we're using for ourselves for a little while, before we publish them all to you."

"...I mean, the sky is the limit in terms of what all of you will be able to do this creativity, once it's available"

Easy, Telegram. It's free (unlike WhatsApp), it's run by a non-profit (so no ads ever), and they have fantastic (and open-source!) apps on every platform: web, desktop, iOS, Android, WP, and even Firefox OS. The WP client rarely lags behind in features and it works splendidly.

Telegram also scores well on the EFF's Secure Messaging Scorecard. Take note of WhatsApp's score.

EDIT: If you hadn't noticed, I really dislike WhatsApp, so there's a bit of a bias here. But I do strongly believe that Telegram is the best cross-platform messenger.