You may think that this is becoming a blog dedicated to Windows Phone – it’s not, but Windows Phone is something that I’m enthusiastic about and deserves more praise than it’s getting. In a previous post I discussed live tiles, which have become more common-place in apps since the release of Mango. In the last day I’ve indulged in a bit of jiggery-pokery (that’s the technical term) which has resulted in me being able to capture Windows Phone screens. So here, dear reader, is a better look at the live tiles I was talking about. Click on the small pictures to see the larger versions.
Screen #1 :
- Phone, having missed one call and a voice mail waiting.
- People hub – access to anyone from Outlook, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Windows Live (they’re all optional). Inside the people hub is an aggregation of updates from the social networks subscribed to.
- BBC News – a flipping live tile shows the two most recently-updated top stories, often with pictures.
- Outlook e-mail – a new one has arrived.
- Messaging – Facebook, Windows Live and SMS. I can switch between the three to keep a conversation in one thread.
- Me – my favourite feature. From here I can see responses to my most recent updates in Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and post new updates to all of them or a selection.
- Marketplace – the Windows Phone app store. An update is available for one of my apps.
- A to-do, due on November 10th, from the Tasks application, and pinned to the start screen.
Screen #2:
- Countdown tile – shows the number of days to an event.
- My Football – a fully-featured football app, but I’ve selected Arsenal as my team and can see their record in the last five games.
- Foursquare – again, a fully-featured app, but the live tile shows my position among my friends.
- Pulse – a news application featuring lots of feeds, but you can take any of those feeds and pin them as a live tile.
- Tasks – same app as seen in the first screen, but this accesses the main app and shows an overview of the number of tasks (it flips to a secondary tile to show the number of overdue tasks).
- Daily Dilbert – a new comic strip everyday. My life is complete.
- My family group – rather than wade through all of the contacts I’ve put my family members into a group, and pinned the group to the start screen. The live tile shows updates and their faces.
- The weather in Camberley – there’s loads of weather apps, this one is from The Weather Channel.
Screen #3:
- Wi-Fi – a shortcut to turn Wi-Fi on or off, but this one shows whether it is on (or off).
- Bluetooth – a shortcut to Bluetooth.
- My calendar, which shows the next appointment or event from any of my subscribed calendars.
- Microsoft group – as described above, this group contains Microsoft colleagues and shows recent updates. Tony Cocks has hurt his foot.
- Xbox Live – access to games, and features my handsome avitar.
- Another task pinned to the start screen.
- A news category from The Guardian app. Any of the news categories from the app (all sporting different colours) can be pinned to the start screen and will periodically update.
Now that I can capture screens expect more Windows Phone content and features soon.
