All You Need to Know About Windows Phone 8

All you need to know about... Windows Phone 8

All you need to know about...

from the experts at

Windows Phone

Learn  the  basics • Level  up • Be  a  pro

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PLUS: Every Windows Phone from

HTC, Nokia, Samsung

Hands on

Microsoft Surface +5 brilliant new tablets

over

200 apps

+ Music

essential for your phone and tablet

+ Email November 2012

+ Maps Which phone should you buy?

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from the experts at

master in minutes

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Brings you

Windows 8 Phone

Live tiles gives you real-time

People hub your social networks are in one place, so you’ll always be in the loop.

Wallet app a tool, for NFC

Office hub mobile versions of Word, Excel & PowerPoint to help you work on the go.

Smart glass turns your

TellMe launch and control

updates on all the things you care about and love.

phone into a “smart second screen” for your Xbox 360.

payments and storage of card-like information.

apps with your voice and talk to your phone.

The network

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All You Need to Know About Windows Phone 8 Issue 1 November 2012 ISSN 2051-2279

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ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

Welcome to All You Need to Know About Windows Phone 8, your essential guide to the next big smartphone OS. This guide covers tips, tricks and secrets of the new Windows Phone 8, from setting up the basics, right through to expert know-how on using Windows for home entertainment, business and of course, social networking. For the first timer, it offers comprehensive descriptions of core features and unique abilities. Owners of Windows Phone 8 devices will find plenty of expert tricks and friendly how-tos to get the most out of their phones. Look out for the Master in Minutes sign to get step by step instructions for foundation features, and when you’ve got a grip on it all, hit our Level Up section starting on page 104 for advanced fun on your Windows Phone, from downloading game demos to working with friends online. We’ve also got every Windows Phone 8 handset available (from page 46) as well as some of our favourite Windows tablets, including a spotlight on that original Windows 8 tab – the slick new Microsoft Surface (page 58). Of course, a smartphone is but a simple phone without all the apps – so our monster round up of over 200 of the best Windows Phone apps starts on page 75. Whether it’s social, art, finance, productivity or just plain weird, we’ve got you covered. Don’t forget to finish on our back page, where we’re giving every reader a chance to win an awesome new Windows Phone 8X by HTC. Just tell us what you think of this very guide – and of course, Windows Phone 8 and whether you’d want one anyway. We can’t see how you wouldn’t.

You’ve just picked up the very first instalment re to look out for of our new series. Be su ow About titles more All You Need To Kn NOVEMBER 2012

1

what’s inside...

What is Windows

Phone 8 about?  4

The lowdown on the social, entertainment and business skills of this hyper-connected smartphone OS

Learn the basics Windows Phone 8 The Start Screen  Email  Messaging  Camera  Video  Maps 

6 8 10 12 14 16

Social  Browser  Calendar  Office  Games  Search and voice 

18 20 22 24 28 32

Learn the basics Windows 8 tablets Windows on a tablet  The Start Screen  Personalise it  Gaming  Social  Office 

34 36 38 40 42 44

Tested ultimate Windows phones Nokia Lumia 920  Nokia Lumia 820  Samsung Ativ S  Windows Phone 8X by HTC  Windows Phone 8S by HTC  2

NOVEMBER 2012

Which Windows 8 Phone should you buy? – 56

46 48 50 52 54 ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 contents

Tested top Windows 8 tablets Microsoft Surface  Asus Vivo RT  Samsung Ativ Tab  Asus Taichi  Lenovo ThinkPad 2  Toshiba Satellite U920t  Which Windows 8 tablet should you buy? 

Over 200 apps  Photo & Video Music Books Going Out Health & Fitness Sports

58 62 64 66 68 70 72

from76

Art & Design Movies & TV News

Reference Social Games

Productivity Finance Learning

Travel Shopping Utlities

The new Windows Store features – 75 Collections of top apps

Level Up Windows Phone 8 tricks

Why SmartGlass is your killer app – 116

WIN a Windows Phone 8X by HTC ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

104 106 108 110 112 114 116 118 122 124 126

The ultimate lock screen  A private social network  Keep it kid-friendly  Advanced camera skills  Make it efficient  What is SmartGlass? Create your HD media hub  Get high on SkyDrive  Amp your security  Why updates matter  The Microsoft Wallet 

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Windows Phone 8

What it’s

the iPhone for the growing The next generation OS with advanced and demographic of tech-savvy users after social features and lots of cool ways to something different. Live Tiles sync your stuff Instead of app icons, the singular

I

n a sea of Android and Apple phones, Windows Phone might look pretty unfamiliar. Instead of icons for your apps, you have minimalist square tiles that continually flip and update with more information. Facebook isn’t just Facebook, it’s woven into a whole new People Hub thing. You put in your Hotmail address and suddenly all your photos are backed up online. In an age where over half the UK is using a smartphone, Windows Phone 8 is a refreshing alternative to Android

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home screen – called the Start Screen in Windows parlance – is composed of tiles that update with real-time information in whatever app they represent. Many third-party Windows Phone apps are designed with this system in mind too, and pinning a Live Tile of a new app can often deliver cool content to your Start Screen.

It’s super social

Windows Phone is built around sharing, and its People Hub is a brilliant integration of Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn with calls, text messaging and

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 OVERVIEW

all about Hotmail messenger. It’s the humble phonebook on ’roids, bulked up with all the info your friends have shared online so that you can text, tweet, call or email a pal right from this Hub. If you have something you just have to share with the inner circle, you can create a Room for a private place to post thoughts, photos and what you’re doing later.

Information, please

It’s also all about information, constantly updating, constantly available. Live Tiles are one part, the other is an equally live

lock screen that not only shows your newest messages, appointments and alerts, it’ll do you a personalised, rotating collage of photos too.

Staying in sync

Underpinning all that makes this OS so very smooth is SkyDrive, Microsoft’s virtual online box for all your digital stuff. Of course your web mail and social network details and content are already saved online – SkyDrive is built into the other apps too, like Office, Camera and lots of downloadable apps. This means your photos, documents and work files are backed up online, accessible from anywhere.

One pass for everything

Windows Phone slots smartly into a larger system of general Windows-ness – and that one Hotmail or Microsoft account you used to sign in will sync your Windows computer and Xbox 360. It’ll neatly sync your work and media files so you can head to Office or the photo gallery on your computer and see the exact same things you saw on your phone. Share something with a friend in a Room, and you’ll have it on your PC too. • All You Need to Know About Windows Phone 8 details everything about these smart features, from the basics of setting up through to expert tricks with Windows 8 tablets and the Xbox 360 – for the ultimate efficient office and connected home.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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Pin important apps, supersize the best ones and manage your social life

T

start The

Post to Facebook and Twitter

he Start Screen on Windows Phone 8 can show everything that’s going on – be it email, Facebook, WhatsApp, the weather or even information on those stocks you bought last year. That’s thanks to its Live Tiles interface, built out of constantly updating apps that display as elegant squares in its minimalist design. Got some important dates? The constantly updating Calendar will show when the next one is. Or perhaps you want to keep tabs on what your best friends are up to. You can turn any app or contact into a Live Tile by dragging it to the Start Screen, where it’ll automatically show you the latest content from the tile.

Tap the Me tile to post an update to Facebook or Twitter, or both at once, in one easy move

Organise work and personal emails

You can keep your business and social life separate by keeping different Live Tiles for each email account – or blur the line by creating a Universal inbox

Shoot and score at Games Hub All your downloaded games plus your Xbox Live profile are stored here – just tap to play

Priorities, priorities

Of course, some things (or people) are more important than others. You can therefore resize Live Tiles into rectangles (the largest), squares, or unit squares to help you organise what you see, as well as give priority to your favourite apps. The Start Screen is a bit like the home screen on other smartphones, with what’s possibly the most creative, interesting way of organising all your content.

master in minutes 1› Swipe left to see all your apps

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2› Hold down on the app you wish to pin

Is it live?

Make sure you check if downloaded apps have live tiles – if so, pinning items to Start will show regular updates in that app

Pin an app to the Start Screen 3› Drag it till it’s in the right spot

4› Tap the bottom right arrow to resize

5› Tap it in the centre once to confirm

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

screen Locate the best around you

Tap Local Scout to get info and reviews on nearby restaurants, shops and other points of interest

Supersize the important apps

Hold down on any app and a small arrow will appear in the bottom right, allowing you to resize the app according to its importance

Keep tabs on upcoming events The Calendar is one of the most handy apps here, pulling together events from Google, Microsoft Exchange and even birthdays from Facebook

See what your friends are saying Tap the People Hub for an aggregated view of Facebook and Twitter updates – and swipe left to instantly access just-contacted friends

TRY THIS Organise by size › With apps that only show a small amount of information, e.g. the Email app, resize to a 1x1 square. You can still easily see the number of messages waiting, and it helps fit more apps into the same space.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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N

email

ow you know your way around the Windows Phone 8 interface, it’s time to get your email set up. The main accounts supported are Outlook, Hotmail and Google Mail (Gmail), but you can add other accounts too, and even multiple accounts at once. Set-up is refreshingly simple: just go to your People tile, tap ‘Add an account’ and follow the instructions. You can also add your email account in the email app itself (the bottom option in the menu bar). Type in your address and password and you’re done.

Red is unread

Your inbox is presented as a list of messages, with the most recent at the top. Any mails you’ve received that you haven’t yet read will have their subject line highlighted in red (or whatever your theme colour is)

Swipe left for labels

By flicking left and right across the screen you can change the email view, so you aren’t simply presented with a long list of all of your messages. Other views include Unread (only unread emails appear), Flagged (messages you’ve marked as important) and Urgent

Timed to perfection

To the right of each email you’ll see the time or date when it arrived. If it came the same day you’ll see the time in the 24-hour clock, while everything earlier shows up as a date

Attached to you

If an email includes an attachment (such as a photo), a little paperclip icon will appear beneath the date. Go into the message and you can download the attachment to your phone by tapping on the icon

master in minutes 1› First go to your email inbox and tap the three tiny dots in the bottom right.

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2› Tap ‘Settings’. At the bottom of the new menu, you’ll find the ‘Signature’ section.

Change your email signature 3› Make sure the switch is set to ‘On’, then enter your desired signature text in the box.

4› When you’re satisfied, tap the tick button at the bottom of the screen. Job done!

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

Set up your email without any fuss, organise your accounts and keep on top of correspondence See the full conversation

If the email is part of an ongoing conversation, you’ll see a vertical line beneath the sender’s name, and a number telling you how many messages are in the conversation. Tap on the email and the full conversation is revealed

Delete all

Get tons of spam mail? Don’t delete them one at a time. Instead, tap the Select icon and a column of check-boxes appears to the left of your messages. Tap the box for each email you wish to delete, then hit the bin icon at the bottom

Sync me up

To refresh your emails and check for new ones, simply tap the Sync icon. Any unread emails since your last sync will appear in your list of messages

Lost and found

Flicking through thousands of emails looking for that one hilarious cat pic your mum sent you can be a real trial. Hit the Search icon and type in a key word – either the emailer’s name or a subject title – and your recent mails are searched. If you need to search further back, just hit ‘Search more’

TRY THIS deleting emails fast › Instead of tapping the Select icon to choose which emails to delete, simply tap to the very left edge of each mail.This automatically checks them, ready for deletion.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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The smartest keyboard and your beefiest inbox

Y

mes

our Windows Phone 8 device is perfect for messaging, because Windows Phone is the only operating system that ties texts, picture messages, instant messenger and Facebook Chat together in one place so you can view it all in a single handy place.

Keep it together

The smart type

Typing faster, better

Your messages are housed in the ‘Threads’ page. Here you’ll see all the contacts that have messaged you recently. Nudge on a person’s name and you’ll find all your text and instant messaging conversations grouped together and handily colour coded so you can read them back

The Windows Phone keyboard works on an intelligent predictive text system that increases your accuracy by predicting the next word you’re going to write. It’ll widen the touch-area of certain letters that you are more likely to type next, based on the letters you’ve previously typed. As it learns your writing style, it’ll actually make better predictions. You can also share your location in a text message, or even sync instant messages on Facebook chat or Messenger – also stored here – to your SkyDrive cloud account (page 118).

master in minutes 1› Go into your messaging tile

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2› In the ‘Threads’ page nudge ‘Settings’

The new Word Flow keyboard can correct or predict what you’re trying to type next and a cute emoticon button lets you input hundreds of new smileys, shapes and other icons. It’s never been easier to keep the conversation flowing. You can even choose from multiple keyboard languages

Fluency guaranteed

If you use more than language, add it via Settings > Keyboard. Then hold down on the ENG button next to spacebar and you can quickly switch between them.

How to delete old messages 3› Press ‘Select’ and you’ll see a tick box next to all threads

4› Select the message threads for deletion

5› Press the trash icon

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

saging Start a conversation

Just press the plus sign at the bottom of your ‘Threads’ page and start typing the name of the contact you want to message, then press their name when it pops up on the screen

Chat whenever, wherever

Swipe across to the ‘Online’ page in your messaging tile and you’ll be able to see which of your contacts are online and available to chat right now. Nudge a contact’s name if you’d like to instant message them, and type away

Silence the chatter

If you need time to yourself you can tap the person icon at the bottom of your online page and set your chat status to busy, away or invisible

TRY THIS meeting with friends › If you’re meeting a friend and need to quickly change your meeting place, you can attach your location to your message as well pictures, video or notes.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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ca

Strike a pose, get snap happy and share with your friends, afterediting to your liking

T

aking photos is one of the most popular uses for modern smartphones, after texting and apps. Windows Phone 8 allows you to take fantastic photos with its built-in camera functionality, view and edit your snaps, and then share your favourites via social media sites, email or Bluetooth. Here’s our guide to taking the best possible photos on Windows Phone 8.

Instant Access

You can access the camera app by tapping the tile as usual or, if your Windows Phone 8 handset has a physical camera button, simply by holding it down. This will take you straight into the camera, even if your phone is hibernating

Photo finish

Tap this arrow or flick your finger right across the screen and you’ll find yourself in the photo gallery. From here you can check out your handiwork, edit your snaps and share with the world

Get flashy

The flash icon at the right edge of the screen shows you the current flash setting. To cycle through the various flash options (on, off or auto), tap this icon until you find the one you want. Most of the time the ‘Auto’ option will do you fine

Focus

Tap anywhere on the image and the camera lens will focus on that section. This is a great way of ensuring your subject is sharp, or doing arty close-up shots with blurry backgrounds

master in minutes 1› On the photo, tap the three dots in the bottom right corner

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2› The first option is ‘Share’.Tap this for a list of options

Share and backup your photos 3› Email, post online or in your family room (see page 106)

4› In the previous menu, you can backup to SkyDrive

5› Add a caption and tag your friends, then click ‘upload’

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

mera Movie magic

Tap the Video icon at the top of the options bar to switch from still photos to movies. In video mode, tap it again to return to still photos

Lenses

These are a new addition to Windows Phone 8, and you can download more from the Windows Phone Store. The Bing Lens allows you to take photos of text, barcodes and more, which are then scanned by your phone. Scan some text to copy directly into an email or document, or to translate it

Self-portrait

Tap this to switch to your phone’s front-facing camera, if you have one. This allows you to take self-portrait shots (perfect for Facebook and other social media purposes), or record yourself ranting for YouTube

Settings

To dive into the camera’s settings, tap the three dots in the top right corner and select ‘photo settings’. From here you can change the picture resolution (bigger means sharper pics but larger file sizes), as well as ISO, Exposure, Contrast and more, if you’re a professional photographer

TRY THIS clean up your photos › Shot too dark or needs a touch up? When viewing the photo, hit the Edit menu option and then the Fix option (the icon looks like a wand). You can also crop and rotate your snaps.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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video

A

Playback

s well as taking photos, you can effortlessly shoot Full HD video using Windows Phone 8. It’s a perfect way of capturing home movies on the go, without lugging around bulky camcorders. You can access the video feature through the camera app: simply open it as usual, and then tap the icon that looks like a video camera. You’ll know you’re in video mode because a timer reading ‘00:00’ will appear onscreen. To record, push down the phone’s shutter button, the same way you’d take a photo. Push it again to stop recording.

Tap this arrow or swipe right across the screen to view your videos back on the smartphone’s screen. It’s a quick and easy way to see if you’ve captured the action as you hoped to

Screen time

This is where the magic happens! Everything you film will appear here, so you can check if the footage is too light, too dark, or too blurry

Perfect timing

The (rather enormous) timer shows you exactly how long you’ve been shooting, and is a handy way to check that you definitely pushed the shutter button hard enough to start recording

Set up

In the video settings, you’ll be able to play around with the quality of video you shoot. The higher the quality, the more space the video will take up on your phone. You can also turn off continuous focus if you’re shooting static scenes

master in minutes 1› Hold the phone still to avoid wobbly footage

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2› Grip it firmly and avoid sudden movements

Take great-quality video 3› Rest against a wall to reduce shaking

4› For best results, don’t shoot into sunlight or glare

5› Edit videos on a PC to add titles and cut bad bits!

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

Capture the action on video wherever you are, check over footage and play it back Return to snapper

Tap the video camera icon once more and you’ll go back to the standard camera function and be able to take photos again

Virtual lenses

To access your video camera’s special features (such as Cinemagraph on the Nokia Lumia 920), prod the ‘lenses’ icon

Flash toggle

If you’re shooting in a low-light environment, turning on the flash will light up your subject and make your video far more watchable. Simply tap this on-screen button

Rant to camera

If you want to shoot a video of yourself talking to the camera (perhaps for YouTube), hit this icon to switch to the front camera. You can then watch yourself as you record to ensure you don’t drift out of shot

TRY THIS sound matters! › When shooting video, don’t forget that the audio is also massively important. Get close enough to people to pick up their voices, and try not to shoot in windy conditions.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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maps M

Save your favourites

aps on Windows Phone 8 offers a lot more than your location and directions. In line with the Windows Phone OS, Maps is a tile that contains several features related to your location – nearby venues for anything from a movie to a museum, plus user-reviewed restaurants and bars in walking distance. Thanks to deep software integration, you can tap these places for contact details and call directly from Maps.

Once you have searched for a place, you can save it by tapping it to reveal its contact card, then hitting the star to mark it as a favourite place to find again (and again and again ...)

Call for reservations from Maps

Once you’ve found a place you want to go, touch it to see its contact card. Then just tap the phone number to call them up

Get the quickest route

What’s Nokia got to do with it?

Whether you’re driving or walking, you can get directions for the best route. Be sure to check whether you’re in ‘car’ or ‘walk’ mode as driving routes are usually longer than walking

Microsoft and Nokia announced an alliance in 2010 and, as a result, Nokia’s brilliant map technology now powers Maps in Windows Phone 8, adding handy features like the ability to save maps for offline viewing – useful if you don’t have a data connection where you’re going. There are maps for over 180 countries, so if you’re driving overseas, be sure to download the map to avoid those roaming charges.

master in minutes 1› In any map, tap the ellipses for more options

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2› Tap Settings

Find the closest place to eat

The Local Scout feature shows the nearest venues, shops and restaurants to your GPS location. You can access it via Maps, or simply hit the Local Scout tile in your apps list

Download a map to navigate without internet 3› Select ‘Download Maps’

4› Press the ‘+’ icon

5› Choose the continent, country and city

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

Get directions from where you are, find the best places to eat and keep an eye on the traffic

See the view on the street

That handy ellipsis again gives you more options in the map view – switch to aerial view to get an idea of the area you’re going to. Or pinch to zoom way in and you’ll automatically get a look-see at satellite images of streets and buildings

Navigate quickly

Maps integrates with sat-nav apps such as Nokia Drive – which is preloaded on Nokia’s Windows Phones – or CoPilot, so you tap a place name and select the ‘drive’ option to bounce the address for the sat-nav to direct you

Check the traffic where you’re going

The new and improved Maps sports traffic data for more secondary streets now, so tap the ellipsis for more options and select ‘show traffic’ to see which routes are blocked or free

And that’s not all ...

Nokia phones are loaded with Nokia Maps. For more features like public transport directions, see page 46

TRY THIS Move fast, pin to start › If you often drive a particular route, pin the destination to the Start screen. You can then tap it to instantly open Maps with the place highlighted.

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social

Y

What is a People Hub?

our Windows Phone is perfect for social networking – and easy. Logging in using your Microsoft ID automatically fills your People Hub with the contacts from your Outlook account, while the subsequent set-up screens prompt you for Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Windows devices look at contacts a little differently from other operating systems. Your People Hub doesn’t just store your friends’ phone numbers – each entry allows you to phone, text, chat, write on their Facebook wall, mention them on Twitter or email them in just a few taps of the screen. The more social networks you add to your device, the more populated and newsy this hub becomes.

master in minutes 1› Tap the People Hub tile

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2› Nudge ‘...’ for access to your settings

From your People Hub you can see your contact list, read and interact with posts across your connected social networks and view your most recently contacted friends with just one tap of the screen

What’s new?

The ‘What’s new’ page pulls together all of your contacts most recent posts to any of the networks. You’re effectively logged into all your networks at once without having to access the specific app, and you can interact via this page just as you would within that network

Create your über phone-book

To get the best social experience out of your Windows Phone 8 handset you need to add some of your online accounts. Under ‘settings’ and ‘email and accounts’, tap and add as many accounts as you wish to be synchronised

Add an account to your phone 3› Scroll down the page and press ‘+ add an account’

4› Select the account or network you wish to add

5› Enter your details and your phone will do the rest

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

Link with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and check out what friends are posting in any and all Post to everyone

You can post an update to as many social networks as you want in just one message. Scroll to the ‘Me’ tile and press ‘post an update’. From there you can edit which social networks you want the update posted to

Personalise who sees what

In the case of Facebook you can also edit who can access the post – friends, other contacts or you can set as a public post for anyone

Download the apps

Windows Phone 8 has fantastic in-built support for all the social networks you could want but you should also download the full apps to enjoy all their special features.The Facebook app lets you link your uploaded photos to your lock screen; LinkedIn gives you desktop like info such as who’s been viewing your profile recently and the Windows Phone Twitter app is possibly the most elegantly designed app for the site available

TRY THIS sound design › You can alter the sound notifications for incoming texts, instant messages and emails – perfect if you’re waiting for that important email.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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browser Get desktop-like internet on your Windows Phone

E

verybody loves to browse the web and share links with friends and Windows Phone has made it even simpler. Your device’s built-in browser shares many key features of Internet Explorer 10 such as the smart address bar, tabbed browsing and the ability to delete browsing history.

Start it up

What’s new

See more on your smartphone

When you access your home screen you’ll spot the familiar Internet Explorer icon so you can start straight away

Internet Explorer 10

The fastest version of Windows Phone yet. Tap a hyperlink from anywhere to launch the browser and view the page

It has also been optimised with features like landscape view, you can also have up to six sites open at a time and add any site to your home screen or favourites in a few taps of the screen. SmartScreen Filter protects you from malicious websites too so you can be sure that your device isn’t at risk from malware.

master in minutes 1› Hold down on a link

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2› Select Open in new tab

The address bar of the built-in web browser appears at the bottom of your screen in order to save space, so you can see more of the web and less of the browser frame

Improved smart address bar

The address bar suggests website names as you start to type. Your phone matches content from your favourites, browsing history and what’s popular on Bing to predict what you want

Tabbed browsing 3› To view all open tabs, tap the ellipsis

4› Select the tab you want to switch to

5› You can open up to six tabs, so press ‘X’ to close any

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

Keyboard designed for web use Tap and hold the ‘.com’ key on your onscreen keyboard and you’ll be able to choose from ‘.org’, ‘.edu’ or ‘.net’ as required

Less is more

Internet Explorer 10 is extremely touch-friendly allowing you to do a lot in just a few clicks – you can share interesting links, save web images and pin pages to your home screen in a jiffy. Pinch to zoom, tap images to go full screen or nudge pages to make text fill the space

Tap + Send webpages

You can share a webpage using the Tap+Send function in your phone, if it’s NFC-enabled. All you have to do is tap your phone against another NFC handset – the phone will vibrate and you’ll get a popup telling you the url has been passed on

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

TRY THIS pinned to your heart › Do you have a favourite website? Remember that you can pin a url to your home screen by tapping ‘...’ in the bottom right of the browser, giving you quick access to the content you love the most.

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Create events, make to-do lists and send meeting invitations fromhere

L

cale Create a super-calendar

ike most built-in Windows Phone 8 apps, the Calendar is not simply a calendar app, but also the home of overall agenda-related features. So your calendar isn’t just a handy date finder, it’s also where you can save your to-do lists and invite friends or colleagues to events. As a calendar though, it’s incredibly comprehensive, showing appointments that you’ve saved in your Google, Hotmail and Microsoft Exchange accounts, as well as events you’ve been invited to on Facebook, and even upcoming friends’ birthdays, also pulled from Facebook.

The Windows Phone calendar supports Google, Yahoo!, Hotmail and Microsoft Exchange calendars, as well as Facebook birthdays and event invites, even if you haven’t responded to them. You can disable the Facebook events if it gets too much – or simply clear the events by tapping on them, hitting the ‘reply’ icon at the bottom and confirming your non-attendance

Customised group calendars

If you’ve shared a calendar with a Room of selected friends (p106) it’ll show up here too. Calendars are colour-coded to help you keep track of what’s going on and with whom

Making it happen

Stay on top of appointments

It’s also ridiculously simple to get it to do all this – on setup you’ll be asked to input any social network and email account details that you have, which (almost) instantly pulls associated events into the Calendar tile. Didn’t do all that on setup? Just head into Settings and select email+accounts to add what you need.

master in minutes 1› Tap the plus symbol

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2› Tap ‘More Details’

Set reminders for to-do tasks as well as events. They’ll pop up on your lock screen with a friendly blip. Or, just head into your Day view to see a one-liner detailing how many appointments and to-do’s you have for the current day

Invite a friend to your event 3› Tap ‘Add Attendees’ and add away

4› Repeat till everyone is invited

5› To remove someone, hold down their name

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

ndar View your life any way you want

Handy daily and monthly views help you see at a glance what you’re doing, while the Agenda view lists all the events you have coming up and when they are

Keep track of tasks

Here’s where you can also make a to-do list, saved to the Hotmail you activated the Windows Phone with. You can select a due date and an accompanying reminder, as well as sort tasks by priority levels. Clear those tasks by holding down on them in the to-do view and selecting ‘complete’ or ‘delete’

Create mass events

The Calendar is where you can schedule meetings, organise parties and generally get people to congregate in a single place. Just fill in your event details, noting if you’d like a reminder, and start adding members from your phone book. When you save the event, the Calendar will email the invitation

It’s on the Start screen

The Calendar is a powerful Live Tile that automatically shows your upcoming appointments

TRY THIS Calendar’s first › Stay on top of engagements by putting your Calendar on the lock screen. Just hit Settings, Lock Screen, and select Calendar to show ‘detailed status’.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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officehub M

icrosoft has always been the don of office software on the PC, and the Office tile brings that in a big way to Windows Phone 8. The Office Hub contains mobile-optimised versions of Word and Excel, each with a full-fat set of features, as well as Office 365 and SharePoint for anyone whose company uses these online office tools.

Instant SkyDrive account

All Office documents are saved to the SkyDrive online storage, accessible from anywhere with internet. Once you’ve activated your Windows Phone with your Microsoft email, a SkyDrive account will automatically be linked to the email

Attachments all here

Email attachments you download and open are automatically saved here, easily accessible from the landing screen

SkyDrive and OneNote

Two additional apps round off Office – OneNote is for those on-the-go memos, while SkyDrive is the foundation that enables the coolest features of Office, like the ability to edit a file on one Windows device then pick up exactly where you left off on another. Like Word, Excel and PowerPoint, OneNote notes are also saved in realtime to SkyDrive, to be easily accessed anywhere you use SkyDrive.

Work anywhere with remote access

Tap to add a SharePoint address, and collaborate online with business colleagues

Backing up made easy

Any changes or new documents you create are saved in real-time to your SkyDrive, so you’ll never need to actually save a file before you do something else

Expert tricks on SkyDrive p118

master in minutes 1› In the document to be sent, tap the ellipsis

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2› Select ‘Share’

Send files instantly 3› Then ‘Tap + Send’

4› Hold to another NFC phone until you hear a chime

5› Finally, the receiver must select ‘Accept’

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

Create and edit on your phone, pick up where you left off on your tablet and instantly back up files in real-time

Tap and send – anything

Built-in NFC technology allows your Windows Phone 8 to instantly transfer files – photos, webpages, documents, contacts and more – to any other NFC phone. Just make sure it’s turned on in ‘Settings’

PowerPoint access

There isn’t a full PowerPoint app in Office, but you can view PowerPoint presentations that have been sent to you. You can make minor edits as well

Swipe interface

The standard Windows Phone user interface is as pleasingly slick in Office, with a simple swipe left showing recent documents opened

Search any and all files

In Office, you can search for documents saved in SkyDrive and your phone, as well as to-do lists and notes you made in shared Rooms

TRY THIS pdf alert › The first time you try to open a PDF file, say, in an email attachment, Windows Phone will prompt you to download a PDF Reader. Once you do, PDFs can be found in that app.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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Word, Excel and Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents can be accessed on your Windows Phone, with each app optimised for gorgeous rendering on the WP8 OS. A refreshed design and fine-tuned backend technology make it slick and streamlined to use, and all documents, whether in SkyDrive or downloaded from emails, automatically turn up here.

Word Navigate long documents

Tap the icon to view every sub-heading and skip ahead easily in long documents

Add notes to self

Tap on a word to select it, then press the speech bubble to highlight the word and add a comment – whether it’s for amendments later or simply a reminder

Emphasise important stuff

Tap the paintbrush to get access to bold, italicised and underlined words, as well as strike-out, superscript and subscript. You can change the font and highlight colours too

Move between phone and online

Tap Save As to save a file from SkyDrive to your phone and vice versa

Copy and paste

Tap on any word to select it, then drag the corners to select text and tap the copy icon that appears

OneNote

Though not part of Office Hub, OneNote works seamlessly with your online office. You can save memos as audio recordings, photos, and good old typing.

Expert tricks on OneNote p112

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ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

PowerPoint... Excel Navigate easily

View all spreads in a sheet set to skip ahead to the bit you want

Calculate like a genius

Write algorithmic masterpieces just like on desktop Excel and hit auto-sum to instantly add up a selected range of cells

Slick touch controls

Select a range of cells simply by tapping and dragging the corners to the bit you want. You can then apply Excel magic to your data like Sort or Format cells

Make a chart

Or several – this graph icon lets you make a column, line, pie or other chart based on your selected data cells

Format your cells

You can designate particular cells to only ever contain money values, percentage values or dates so that whatever you input is automatically in that format

TRY THIS Read long text easily › On a small screen, cells with lots of words are hard to read. Hold down on these cells and select ‘View Cell Text’ to get a reading panel with larger font. Tapping another cell displays its contents there too.

PowerPoint

You can’t create PowerPoint presentations, but you can view them and make minor edits to your speaker’s notes. A new graphics engine renders visuals in sharp clarity

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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Find, download and play the best new games

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gam Ready to go

our Games Hub is your one stop shop for all things gaming on your Windows Phone 8 device. With it you can demo the latest and best-rated games, download new and exciting titles in an instant and connect with your friends over Xbox Live. The games you install to your handset will automatically be backed up to the cloud along with your other apps, so if you change handsets all the games you’ve downloaded will be there when you login.

Scroll down your home screen and you’ll notice that your Games Hub tile is already pinned there. Nudge the tile and you’ll see a selection of games for you to try out

Xbox Live and kicking

The best part about your Windows Phone 8 device is that it is seamlessly integrated with the Xbox Live service. An Xbox Live account is the online service for Xbox 360 owners which allows you to download new demos, play games online with friends, stream HD video and much more

Over achievers welcome

As you play games you unlock points and listed on your profile page you’ll see how many ‘Gs’ you’ve racked up playing all those great games. Tap the trophy symbol to see the achievements you’ve unlocked

master in minutes 1› Tap the games tile

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2› Swipe your finger across the screen to the ‘Friends’ tile

Find your friends on Xbox Live 3› Tap the plus sign

4› Enter your friend’s Xbox Live gamertag

5› Add your friend to your friends’ list

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

ing Compare games with friends

Gamerscores are great an encouraging a little healthy competition. If you want you can sneak a peak at what you’re friends have played by swiping you finger left across the screen until you come to the Friends tile and tap the friend you want to compare games with

Message your friends

Xbox Live has its own instant messaging service, made even easier using the onscreen touchscreen keyboard of your Windows Phone. Access the Friends tile and you’ll see your entire contact list. If you spot a friend you want to message, simply tap their username and select ‘send message’ and type away

try this virtual facelift › You can change the look of your Xbox Live avatar at any time. Press the t-shirt icon and install the Xbox Extras app and dress the mini you up in whatever styles you like.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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Learn how to use Once you get the hang of using the Games Hub, you’ll want to explore and download from the extensive catalogue of games on offer. It’s all a matter of what you love and you can choose from the very best action and adventure, platform, role playing, racing and puzzle games, and many more besides.

Find new games

Access the Games tile and on the front page tap ‘get more games,’ or swipe your finger left across the screen until you spot the ‘Games Store’ tile, then tap it. This is where you’ll find all the games you’ll ever need

Look for your favourite types of game

You might love one type of game more than another and there’s a simple way to navigate the thousands of games on offer. Once in the Games Store, swipe your finger left across the screen and you’ll find a list of game genres. So if you’re addicted to platform games, puzzles or want a go at the latest racer you’ll know exactly where to look

Games for any budget

From the Games Store home page you can select from the top free games, best rated and great new Xbox titles. Even the top paid-for apps come with a free demo so you can try it out if you’re watching your pennies

master in minutes 1› Tap the Games tile

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2› In the games collection tap ‘try now’ under a title

Download a game demo 3› On the game’s page tap ‘try’

4› The game will then start to download

5› After installation you can ‘purchase full game’

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

the games store Collections

You can also use the Game Store interface to browse the collections of apps in the Store. Tap ‘Collections’ and choose from helpful app groupings like TV, music and film for media buffs; ‘Reading room’ has top apps for book lovers and ‘essentials’ covers must-have apps like Facebook, Netflix and Amazon

Especially for you

The more you do with your phone, the smarter it gets at suggesting new downloads. From the Games Store, tap ‘picks for you’ then tap the screen again for personalised suggestions

Slash the fruit with ninja precision (left) or smash those dastardly piggies in Angry Birds (below)

TRY THIS bing › Connect your Microsoft and Facebook accounts to Bing and your phone can suggest new apps, recommend places to eat or visit and show deals you might enjoy.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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voic

Search and From sourcing a bar to identifying a song you like, Bing’s got it covered

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Elementary, Holmes

indows Phone’s built-in search tool is called ‘Bing’, and it’s a quick and easy way to search for apps and files on your phone, as well as anything you can imagine on the internet. But, its powers go way beyond discovering a website about your favourite band, or working out why your cat constantly coughs up furballs.

Your Windows Phone should have a physical search button in the bottom right corner, shaped like a magnifying glass. A quick tap will take you straight to this Bing search screen

Just say it

You can tap the search box to type in your search terms with the virtual keyboard, or tap this microphone icon to bring up voice search. Simply speak what you wish to search for, and Bing will get to it

Find it all

Bing can also swiftly search out the best bars and restaurants in your area, soothe you with an ever-changing slide show of amazing images, and even translate foreign text – a great relief when you’re stuck in a café in distant lands with no English menu in sight.

master in minutes 1› When searching, you’ll see a Google-style list of sites

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2› Scroll down to browse and see a brief description

Did you know ...?

The Bing screen’s wallpaper constantly updates with cool images from around the web. You can often discover fun facts about each image hidden on the screen – just find and tap the squareshaped hotspots

New search categories 3› Flick left to search for local businesses, e.g pubs

4› Tap to expand the map and find what you need

5› Flick again for photos to match search terms

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 The basics

e Local hero

In a new town or city? Tap the ‘Local Scout’ icon and you’ll be presented with a map showing you nearby places to eat, drink, shop and kill a few hours, complete with user reviews and opening hours

Name that tune

If there’s a song playing on the radio or in the pub, and you’re going crazy trying to remember what it’s called or who sings it, check out Bing Music. Simply tap this music note icon, and Bing Music listens to the song and tells you what it is. If the song’s available in the online store, you’ll get a link to buy it too

Scan for more info

Cleverly, Bing can even scan a product’s barcode to give you more information on a product, including online prices. Just tap the Bing Vision icon and then scan the barcode using your phone’s camera. You can also scan QR codes this way, or even chunks of text from a book, to copy into an email or translate into another language

TRY THIS instant answers › Some search terms give you ‘instant answers’ results. For example, search for ‘weather’ and you’ll be presented with a forecast for your local area. Try searching for a flight number or your stocks too.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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over

Tablets

Your first look at the beauty of Windows 8 RT, a special version for tablets

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Start it up

indows 8 on a tablet looks rather similar to Windows 8 on a phone, as they both use the same ‘tile’ interface. Play around with Windows 8 RT (the name given to this special tablet-only version of Windows 8) and you’ll find surprising depth and plenty of excellent tools hidden away beneath the surface, just waiting to be uncovered. Here’s what you’ll see when you first turn on your Windows 8 tablet, so let us give you some more insight into this fantastic new operating system.

The first thing you’ll see when your trusty tablet boots up is the Start Screen, as shown here. This is your main hub to all of your content, from the internet to your music and movies. For more information on each section of the Start screen, just turn the page!

Tiles, tiles, tiles

As you can see, the interface of Windows 8 RT takes a rather hefty leaf from Windows Phone 8’s book. The Start screen is covered in tiles, which are basically miniature gateways to all of the apps (programs) you have installed on your tablet. You can move them around simply by holding your finger on them and dragging

Big or small

Just like Windows Phone 8, you can resize the tiles so your most important ones are large and rectangular and the rest are more compact, square-sized tiles. This also helps to add some diversity to the Start Screen, so it isn’t just a grid of rectangles. See our ‘Tip’ to find out how

master in minutes 1› Buy a protective case to keep it scratch-free

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2› First make a note of your tablet’s screen size

Keep your tablet as good as new 3› You can find a selection of generic tablet cases.

4› Also try online stores, which often offer a better deal

5› And use a soft cloth for cleaning the screen

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS 8 The basics

view Live update

Another similarity with Windows Phone 8 is the way the tiles update in real time with new information. For instance, the weather tile actually shows the latest weather update right there on the tile, so you only need to tap the tile if you want a more in-depth forecast

In with the new

Whenever you install a new app, its tile is automatically added to the right-most edge. If you have so many tiles that they flow off the right edge of the screen, you’ll need to scroll along by swiping your finger in order to see them

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

Shuffle around

Don’t worry if you don’t like the layout of your tiles, as you can move them around and group similar tiles together. Simply swipe your finger across the tile you wish to move, to bring up the apps menu (see the ‘Pro Tip’ below)

TRY THIS resize or delete files

› If there’s a tile that you want to move or resize, do a small swipe up or down it with your finger. The apps menu will pop up and from here you can choose to unpin it from the Start Screen, resize it, or uninstall it entirely.

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start Tablets

The Start screen is your hub to your apps and amazing features

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Look at all the People

ow that we’ve taken a quick look at Windows 8 for tablets, let’s delve under the surface of the Start Screen and see what incredible functionality we uncover. There are tons of fantastic nifty features that might not be obvious the first time you look, but are lurking there just waiting to be discovered. For instance, the brand new ‘Charms’ bar hides just offscreen but can quickly be summoned for searching your tablet and the web, sharing great things you’ve found with friends and family, and adjusting your tablet’s settings.

The People tile is your address book and social hub, giving you essential info on all of your buddies as well as their latest social shenanigans through websites such as Twitter and Facebook

SkyDrive

You’ve probably heard the term ‘cloud computing’, which is basically a way of storing and backing up your important photos and files online. SkyDrive is Microsoft’s version, accessible whenever your tablet is online

Return to the Start

If you’re in an app, you can quickly return back to the Start screen by tapping the ‘Start’ button in the Charms menu. This simply minimises the app rather than shutting it down: you can re-enter at any time by tapping the app’s tile

Search me

The ‘Search’ tool allows you to quickly find a specific app, file or contact on your tablet, or head online to find the answer to a burning question. You can also search the Windows store for apps and media

master in minutes 1› To share a pic, file or site, go to what you plan to share

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2› Swipe from the far right to get the Charms menu

Share something exciting with friends 3› Tap the ‘Share’ icon, just below the ‘Search’ icon.

4› To share with a contact on your tablet, tap on them

5› Or or enter their email address to email it

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS 8 The basics

screen A true charmer

Position your finger to the right of the screen and swipe towards the middle of the tablet, and the Charms bar appears. This is a pop-out menu containing the excellent Search and Share tools, as well as access to your tablet settings

Behind the scenes

This ‘Settings’ button gives you access to the tablet’s set-up, including wireless connectivity, screen brightness and volume. To find out more, turn the page

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

TRY THIS updates ahoy › Microsoft frequently updates Windows to fix security concerns and improve performance. On the Charms bar, tap ‘Settings’ and then ‘Power’ down at the bottom. If an update is available, you’ll be asked if you wish to install it before the tablet shuts down

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pers

Tablets Get your tablet looking just the way you like it

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Get online

ou’ve learned your way around your shiny new tablet’s Start screen, and now you’re ready to delve into a mountain of apps, media and, of course, the World Wide Web. But before you get stuck in, there are a couple of quick bits you can do to get online and give your portable pal a personal touch.

Some of the best uses for a tablet include browsing the web, checking your emails and downloading new apps, all of which require internet access. This Network icon gets you connected to a wireless network (see ‘Master In Minutes’ below for a full guide)

Typists’ corner

If you’re regularly bashing out emails or Office documents, you’ll want to configure the virtual on-screen keyboard so it’s set up just the way you like. This Keyboard icon allows you to change the keyboard language and bring it up on-screen. You can then tweak the layout or even replace it with a handwriting tool by tapping the button in the bottom right corner of the keyboard

Tinker with your Tiles

The Tiles settings allow you to hide or display Windows 8 RT’s administrative tiles, which can troubleshoot your system, clean up your system drive and give you information on your tablet’s hardware

Help me!

If you need extra information about any part of the Windows OS, the Help menu inside the Settings is the place to go. This gives you step-bystep guides to completing a wide range of tasks, no matter how complex. You’ll need to be online to use it, however, as the guides are stored on Microsoft’s website

Power me down

When you’re done with your tablet, shutting it down properly instead of putting it into hibernation will prevent the battery from draining. Hit this Power icon and you can shut it down straight away

master in minutes 1› Gain wireless access to the Windows Store

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2› Bring up Charms, Settings; tap the Network icon

Get online 3› A list of local wireless networks will appear

4› Find yours in the list and give it a tap

5› If it is password protected, enter the password

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS 8 The basics

onalise Turn it up

Next to the Network icon you’ll find the Sound icon. This is used to change the volume of the tablet, so you can turn it up if you’re enjoying a movie in your lounge, or knock it down if you’re out in public. Alternatively, your tablet should have physical volume controls on the side

Bright spark

Next up is the Display icon. Give this a tap and you can change how bright your tablet’s screen is. Turning it right up if you’re outdoors or in a brightly lit room can make the display easier to read, but also saps your tablet’s battery quicker

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

Configure your tab

Inside the ‘Charms’ menu (see previous page) you will find the Settings tab. This is your one-stop shop for tweaking your tablet’s settings, from display brightness to volume to network connectivity

TRY THIS notifications › Any unread messages, tablet updates and other important titbits appear in the ‘notifications’ area. To access it, hit the Settings option in the Charms menu and the icon is at the bottom.

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gamin Tablets

Get started

Download fun new games to your Windows 8 tablet for the ultimate gaming experience

Your Windows 8 tablet comes with a Games tile preinstalled on the homescreen. This is where you can access the games you’ve downloaded onto your device

Games for everyone

The Store is full of puzzle games, platformers, racing games and much more to keep you entertained. Tap the Store and swipe along to the ‘games’ section; there you’ll find the best new releases and amazing free games

Y

our Windows 8 tablet can handle anything you care to throw at it, including the brilliant games on offer in the Game Store and on Xbox Live. Gaming on a tablet also has the advantage of a bigger screen and top notch processing power. Navigating and downloading is simple, and you can shop around for the best new releases, free apps and try out games you like the look of before you commit to buy.

Xbox Live on your tablet

The Games tile is also full of great Xbox titles for you to choose from, both free and paid for and usually with a free demo sampler to whet your appetite. Once you download a game, it’s yours to install on up to five other Windows 8 devices

Connect to your friends

Your Windows 8 device allows you to connect to your Xbox Live account, accumulate more points to your gamerscore and talk to your Xbox friends in an instant

Touch and go

Your tablet device’s large and responsive touchscreen is ideal for fun mini games like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja

master in minutes

1› Tap on the Store

tile

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. 2› Swipe your finger along the screen to the Games page

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Download a game to your Windows 8 tablet

3› Nudge the Games option

4› Select a subcategory and price range

5› Choose your game and install to your tablet

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

g

WINDOWS 8 The basics

Take a look at the games on offer for Xbox Live

Browse the latest game releases on your Windows 8 tablet

TRY THIS Xbox remote › You can turn your Windows 8 device into a remote control for your Xbox 360 games console using the SmartGlass app. Turn to page 114 for more.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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Tablets

social How to use your Windows 8 tablet to stay up to date with your friends

Messaging made easy

If you love to instant message, nudge the cute smiley on your home screen to access the messaging tile. This syncs with Microsoft Messenger and Facebook chat so you can send IMs to your friends in a jiffy. You also have the ability to delete old conversations, set your status to invisible when you’re busy and send emoticons

W

indows 8 is designed to make it easier than ever to communicate with friends fast. You can synchronise your social networks better than ever. The People Hub on your Windows 8 tablet pulls information from the accounts you choose to link. Add your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Skype accounts and this tile will soon become a bustling hub and a quick way to email or instant message your friends. Excellent Skype integration means you can call or video chat in just a few clicks.

master in minutes

1› Download the Skype app to your Windows 8 device

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. 2› Nudge the app and when prompted add your Microsoft ID

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People who love people

Your People Hub can be found on your Windows 8 tablet’s home screen. Once you enter your Microsoft ID your device will begin to synchronise your email contacts and you’ll spot their avatars and contact info

Frequent flyer

Your tablet remembers who you email most frequently – their names will be top of the list whenever you compose an email

Merge your Skype and Microsoft accounts

3› Next, either login or sign up for Skype

4› When asked, merge your Microsoft and Skype accounts

5› In Skype you’ll see your Microsoft and Skype contacts listed

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS 8 The basics

Synchronise your online world

At the top right of your People Hub you’ll see which accounts are currently synchronised. Nudge here and you can add more like Facebook, Skype and Twitter. The more accounts you add, the more ways you’ll have to reach your friends.

Link accounts

Some of your contacts may go by different usernames on other social networks. Link accounts by swiping up on an individual contact card to reveal the ‘Link’ option and nudging the plus symbol. Find their other account and merge them to complete the link

Me, me, me

Tap ‘Me’ on your People Hub. Here you can view updates from across all the networks synched to your tablet – from the latest notifications on Facebook to your last tweet. You can even post a status update or tweet from this page

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

TRY THIS Your VIPs

› You can pin your most important contacts to your homescreen from their contact card in the People Hub.

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Office for Use touch-friendly Word, Excel, PowerPoint and One Note for work on the go

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tabl

indows 8 tablets may look drastically different from your current Windows PC, but they’re built to the same workfriendly spec. Every Windows 8 tablet is preloaded with the Office 2013 suite preview, including touch-friendly Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote programs.

Snap to see two apps

If you need to reference another document or webpage while you’re working, you can use the Snap feature to open two apps in a single window. See below for how

SkyDrive sync

Instantly sync

Did you already link up your home computer to your smartphone (page 26)? It’s automatically synched to your Windows 8 tablet too, and you can use the tablet to access that PC, showing off photos and videos or simply grabbing that important document you forgot to send

Sign into a Windows 8 tablet with your Microsoft account, and it’ll automatically reflect all the documents, presentations and notebooks that are on your Windows Phone. Unlike the Office programs in your Windows Phone though, these full-bodied apps have the whole hog of features, from detailed editing tools to a varied list of templates to help you make flyers and invitations as well as complex spreadsheets and reports.

master in minutes

1› Open Internet Explorer then press the Start key 44

2› Open Word from the Start Screen

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An office in your tablet

Windows 8 tablets are preloaded with tablet friendly preview versions of the Office suite. In line with the tablet-optimised version of the Windows 8 OS, Windows 8 RT, these are called Office RT programs

Use Internet Explorer and Word at the same time

3› Make a small swipe from the left then swipe back

4› Select Internet Explorer in the Switcher toolbar

5› Drag it to the left or right

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS 8 The basics

ets Instant picture notes

Use the OneNote clipping tool to take a screengrab and embed it in a note. You can also clip a particular area to embed or use this icon to fire up a teeny note quickly

Bounce around the Office

You can easily switch between Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote in the familiar Windows toolbar, a comforting relic from old-school Windows. They’re pinned by default, but you can remove any of the ones you don’t use

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

TRY THIS Collaborate online › You can get colleagues to work on the same document, spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation by saving it to SkyDrive. Once you do that, you can tap ‘File’ > ‘Share’ > ‘Get a Link’ then email it to the people you would like to edit the document.

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Nokia Lumia 920 A feature-packed phone boasting wireless charging and a PureView camera

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okia has rammed so many cool features into its flagship Lumia 920 smartphone that we struggled to mention them all here. This 4.5-inch beauty sports a sleek and colourful curved design, coming in black, white, red and yellow, and weighs plenty thanks to its solid construction. On the outside it’s marvellous, but the most exciting parts are hidden.

Action packed

For a start, there’s the 8.7megapixel PureView camera, featuring a remarkable Carl Zeiss floating lens. Not only can you take better lowlight photos, the camera also works against your shaky hand movements, resulting in less motion blur in your snaps and less headache-inducing shaky-cam footage when shooting video. You can wirelessly charge the Lumia 920 using a charging plate, and built-in NFC will wirelessly stream music to compatible speakers and headphones. We love the custom apps too, such as Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive (a sat-nav app) and the free-to-stream Nokia Music service.

CHECK OUT: Windows Phone 8X by HTC perphone Camera-centric media su 46

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ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 Tested

great for: era buffs Travellers and cam

Enjoy offline music Nokia’s Music service allows you to download your four favourite mixes to your phone, so you can listen to them even when you’re out of service range.

Need to know Keep your mittens on

The wonderfully responsive 4.5-inch touch-screen is so sensitive, it even works when you’re wearing gloves

Wire-free power

By resting the phone on Nokia’s charging plate, you can power it up without fiddling around with cables

Face to face

A high-resolution front-facing camera allows you to take self-portrait shots or chat online with Skype

Dual-core power

A dual-core processor running at 1.5GHz gives you enough power for all of your apps and games

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

HD movies delight

With a supremely sharp resolution, HD movies look fantastic. Nokia’s Pure HD Motion+ technology means no motion blur either, perfect for action films and sports

Sharp snapper

The 8.7-megapixel rear-facing camera takes sharp photos, and you can edit them to create animated GIFs using Nokia’s ‘Cinemagraph’ tool

Nokia Drive

This brilliantly executed sat-nav app offers easy, intuitive maps of hundreds of places worldwide and free turn-by-turn directions all over the globe. Exclusive to Nokia Windows Phones, it’s also accessible in Maps, when you can tap a location to get voice directions to it

fact file Nokia lumia 920 › 130 x 71 x 10.7mm › 185g › 1GB RAM › 32GB › 650 mins talktime › 460 hours standby › From £469 SIM-free

NOVEMBER 2012

47

Nokia Lumia 820 Cheerful, compact smartphone in a rainbow of builds

L

ike the first child, hot friend or louder partner, the flagship smartphone gets all the attention. Nokia’s beefy Lumia 920 superphone (page 46) was all the rage at launch, but the littler Lumia 820 is actually its equal in most spec standoffs – and it’s sleeker and smaller too, something many of us are craving in this age of gigantic handsets exceeding 4.7-inch screen sizes.

Shades of rainbow

The Lumia 820 comes in an alluring array of red, white, blue, purple, grey, white or yellow finishes, another unique option in the current regime of white or black handsets. Like the 920, its glossy plastic chassis is moulded to an ergonomic squared design with sloping edges to further streamline its body. Preloaded with Nokia Drive, you’ll also get free sat-nav anywhere in the world, plus one of the best mapping apps around – and yes, that includes Google Maps.

CHECK OUT: Windows Phone 8S by HTC 8S packs warm, Want beefy sound? The rich Beats Audio

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NOVEMBER 2012

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 Tested

try this nokia city lens › This preloaded app is great when you’re in a new place, as it overlays info on what’s near you when you point the camera at your surroundings. Augmented reality - it beats the real stuff.

great for: nment design and entertai

Need to know Nokia Music

Power like the 920

Versatile snapper

Charge the wire-free way

Stream unlimited free tunes and download playlists for offline listening. Data still costs though, so do it over WiFi for maximum freedom

The eight-megapixel camera sports a Carl Zeiss lens for bright, clear shots, while Smart Shoot mode pretties up the group photo by letting you choose the best expression for each individual

Pocket-friendly media

A 4.3-inch screen with 800x400 resolution and Nokia’s ClearBlack display tech is perfectly pocketable and a brilliant carrier for high-def movies and photos

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

Yep, it runs the exact same 1.5GHz dualcore Snapdragon S4 chip as its bigger bro, so high-intensity games and apps will play just fine

The chassis cover is easily removable, so get another in your favourite colours – or better yet, a futuristic, wireless charging one. Then pop it on Nokia’s Fatboy dock or wireless charging plates to enjoy wire-free battery replenishment

Super typist

The glass fronted touch-screen is beautifully responsive, with featherlight touches eliciting slick swipes and easy navigation

fact file Nokia lumia 820 › 123.8x68.5x9.9cm › 160g › 1GB RAM › 8GB storage with microSD › 480 minutes talktime › 330 hours standby › From £380 SIM-free

NOVEMBER 2012

49

Samsung Ativ S A fast camera and understated design make the Ativ S a streamlined media machine

S

amsung is a monolith of mobiles, and the Ativ S is a classic of the genre with its massive high-definition screen set in a deceptively dainty chassis. Officially the first Windows Phone 8 to reveal itself to public eyes, the Ativ S is light but well built, with Gorilla Glass protecting its front and aluminium jazzing up its back.

The Samsung Special

Microsoft places strict limits on how manufacturers can customise the WP8 interface (not very much, basically), but Samsung has personalised the Ativ S with some of its own apps and a useful ‘Now’ Tile displaying live weather info as well as news and stock updates when you tap in. Like the other top-end Windows Phones, performance is speedy thanks to a dual-core 1.5GHz chip and comfortable 1GB of RAM.

CHECK OUT: Windows Phone 8X by HTC a phone, with Another excellent camer n a sloped, ergonomic desig

50

NOVEMBER 2012

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 Tested

great for: design lined camera and am re st a r te af e on Any Tap to go home The Ativ S is the only Windows Phone 8 with a physical home button, which you’ll find handy if trying to use your phone with gloves

Need to know Deliciously HD

The 4.8-inch screen packs Samsung’s trademark hyper-bright HD Super AMOLED technology for vivid colours and pin-sharp clarity

Action photos possible

The eight-megapixel camera snaps photos instantly so you’ll be able to grab that spontaneous moment as it happens. A dual LED flash helps light lowlight scenes – though if you can, go without as it does tend to overexpose

Wide-angle video calling The 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera has a wide angle lens to take in more of your surroundings for video calls

Movies on your mobile

Full HD video is supported, with 1080p playback and recording.The Ativ S also supports a wide range of video formats, for that new episode of Dexter

Wave and pay

The Ativ S supports NFC technology so you can use your phone to pay for small purchases – or simply put your phone back to back with another NFC device to transfer files (page 26)

fact file samsung ativ s › 137.2x70.5x8.7mm › 135g › 16GB/32GB storage with microSD › 1GB RAM › Battery life: N/A › From £440 SIM-free

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

NOVEMBER 2012

51

Windows Phone by HTC 8X A powerful media phone with a brilliant camera and fantastic special effects

W

ith a blazing camera, vividly high-definition display and uniquely enhanced sound skills, the 8X is the media superphone of Windows Phone 8. Sporting a slimline chassis made of tactile, matt-feel plastic, it, along with little bro 8S (page 54), are the only WP8 devices with Beats Audio, the sound enhancer to max out your jams, while their camera chops are advanced by a instant shutter at the back, and an ultra-wide angle lens up front for great Skype (page 42) and self-portraits with multiple friends.

What’s in a name?

If you’re wondering why the 8X and 8S are prefixed by Windows Phone, it’s because Microsoft has declared these phones the flagships of its new OS. While that doesn’t seem to entail much difference for us actual phone users, the sleek, well-built handsets that HTC has turned out definitely match the equally streamlined WP8 look. We like.

CHECK OUT: Nokia Lumia 920 et with super-fast 4G intern Excellent camera phone

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NOVEMBER 2012

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 Tested

great for: raphy buffs Media and photog

Awesome 8-megapixel camera A larger lens means you can take excellent lowlight shots, while daylight photos are bright and clear

Bigger bass and warmer sound

Beats Audio gives music and films a boost with added flair: the audio jack now has a built-in amp for greater clarity and crispness. A second amp on the 8X’s speakers should also help to cut distortion

Need to know Brilliant 4.3-inch HD screen Speedy dual-core The display rocks a sharp 720p 1.5GHz processor resolution, and its Super LCD2 technology makes colours look vibrant and realistic

Gorilla Glass strong

Yep, this keeps your phone’s screen free from scratches, scuffs - and hopefully even from shattering if you’re the clumsy sort

Good front camera

The 2.1-megapixel camera will be useful for Skype (page 42) and handy for self-portraits. The wide-angle lens even lets you take small group shots

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

This means you can run high-intensity games and apps with no problem, as well as multitask like a demon

Swipe and go

The 8X comes with built-in NFC for contactless payments (see page 126) as well as easy file transfers with other NFC phones like the Nokia Lumia 920 (page 46)

fact file windows phone 8X by htc › 112x34x9.9mm › 196g › 16GB storage with microSD › 1GB RAM › 500 minutes talktime › 500 hours standby › From £400 SIM-free

NOVEMBER 2012

53

Windows Phone by HTC 8S A fun, tactile smartie with cool HTC extras

W

ith all the web browsing and movie watching many of us are doing on our smartphones, it’s no surprise they’ve ballooned to the sizes they have. Like the Nokia Lumia 820 (page 48), the Windows Phone 8S takes things back to sizes of yore, with a smaller screen than HTC’s flagship Windows Phone, the 8X, and eschewing NFC contactless payment technology.

Small packages

Its four-inch screen is down there with the most petite of phones launched this year, with its sleek design amplified by its tapered edges. Like the Lumia 820 and 920, the 8S comes in a fresh range of colours, with a two-tone look helping you differentiate it from the Lumia look. Unlike the glossy Lumia range though, the 8S is made of tactile, matt-look polycarbonate, offering a great grip on its almost rubbery feeling chassis. With Gorilla Glass fronting its trademark responsive touch-screen, this is a compact handset you can easily toss in a bag and go.

CHECK OUT: Samsung Ativ S m screen but is light and sli Packs a monster 4.8-inch 54

NOVEMBER 2012

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS PHONE 8 Tested

great for: price ce at a great value en ll ce ex ne ho P s Window

Insta-Instagram Everyone’s favourite vintage photo production tool hasn’t made it to Window Phone yet – but you can get the same effect by heading into HTC’s Photo Enhancer app to add oldtimey filters and frames

Need to know Speedy apps and games

The 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor isn’t the zippiest or most powerful, but you’ll experience no lag on the streamlined Windows Phone OS

Keep it slimline

The four-inch display sports a 720p resolution for great rendering of highdef movies and games – and it won’t poke out of a tight jeans pocket either

fact file windows phone 8S by htc

Easy access

Push down on the bottom panel of the two-tone chassis to change SIM cards or get at your memory card without needing to remove the back cover

Weather by HTC

HTC’s custom Live Tile shows the weather, temperature and time on your Start Screen. Tap to get more details

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

Sounds like teen spirit

Like its bigger bro, the 8X, 8S comes packing Beats Audio for enriched sound and full, deep bass. It’s missing the beefed up amps in its little speakers though

› 120.5 x 63 x 10.28 mm › 113g › 4GB storage with microSD 1GB RAM › 431 minutes talktime › 617 hours standby › From £240 SIM-free

NOVEMBER 2012

55

W

smart 130.3mm

indows Phone is a nimble and intuitive OS, and one of its charms is that it works the exact same easy way no matter what handset you find it on. But that also means it can be pretty difficult to figure out which of the latest superphones is the one that’s right for you. Our handy chart stacks up the handsets we’ve covered in the last 10 pages for an all-in comparison to help you choose.

123.8mm

Which

70.8mm

Size Screen



› Nokia Lumia 920

› Nokia Lumia 820

130.3 x 70.8 x 10.7mm

123.8 x 68.5 x 9.9mm

4.5 inches

4.3 inches Its 800x480px resolution and ‘ClearBlack’ display deliver decent clarity and colour

The 1280x768px resolution is almost as

sharp as the 8X. IPS screen tech delivers true, bright colours

Camera

8 megapixels with PureView enhancement and 1080p video

8 megapixels with 1080p HD video

Front camera? NFC? (see p126) How fast is it? Storage Best bit

1.3 megapixels

VGA (0.7 megapixels)

Yes

No, but NFC backplate can be purchased

Dual-core 1.5GHz

Dual-core 1.5GHz

32GB, not expandable

8GB, expandable by 32GB

Nokia Drive for free sat-nav anywhere in the world – and of course, Nokia’s patented PureView camera tech

Removable back covers mean you can add wireless charging and NFC features – as well as cool new looks

Overall

A beast of a Windows Phone with the full lineup of smart, future-friendly features

A smaller, lighter Lumia with equally fast performance and capable camera

£469

£380







Approx price (SIM-free)

56

68.5mm

NOVEMBER 2012

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

phone should you buy?

120.5mm

132.4mm

137.2mm

WINDOWS phone 8 at a glance

70.5mm

66.2mm

63mm

› Samsung Ativ S

› Windows Phone 8X by HTC

137.2 x 70.5 x 8.7mm

132.4 x 66.2 x 10.1 mm

120.5 x 63 x 10.3 mm

4.8 inches The 1280x720px resolution and Super AMOLED tech make for a sharp, colourful screen

4.3 inches The 1280x720px resolution makes it the sharpest screen here

4 inches The 480x800px resolution provides decent clarity and colour

8 megapixels with 1080p HD video

8 megapixels with 1080p HD video

5 megapixels with 720p HD video

1.9 megapixels

2.1 megapixels with 1080p HD video

No

Yes

Yes

No

Dual-core 1.5Ghz

Dual-core 1.5GHz

Dual-core 1GHz

16 or 32GB, expandable by 32GB

16GB, not expandable

4GB, expandable by 32GB

Massive HD screen in a deceptively light aluminium chassis, plus super camera and video skills

Brilliantly quick camera and sharp video, and its touch-screen is a delight to type on

Well-built unique design with two-tone look and tactile polycarbonate body

A designer smartphone with an excellent camera

A powerful media superphone with great balance of smart features and usable size

A compact, chunkier phone with almost all the smartest Windows features at a reduced cost

£440 (16GB model)

£400

£240

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

› Windows Phone 8S by HTC

NOVEMBER 2012

57

Microsoft Surface The original Windows 8 tablet is a super-light, super-tough PC built to work with your Windows Phone 8

T

ablets are fast becoming the must-have second screen in our tech-centric lifestyles. Even laptops are taking a backseat to the uber-portable tablet, thanks to the way tablets can sync so seamlessly with that other must-have in our lives – the smartphone.

Connect with me

The Microsoft Surface is a slick, well built ten-inch tab that doesn’t take much to instantly connect your calendars, emails, social updates and, of course, entertainment, games and apps. Made of a magnesium alloy three times lighter than aluminium, it’s a surprisingly sturdy machine – luckily so, as its family-friendly features mean you’ll want to let your little rugrats try it out too.

Try this Fresh Paint › Remember Paint, the basic image editor that’s been on Windows since the dawn of time? It’s been updated to a touch-friendly new palette design with slick controls and fun extras like the ‘dryer’ to prevent (digital) smudges.

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NOVEMBER 2012

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS 8 Tested

Need to know Double-duty cover

The bundled touch-keyboard doubles as a cover just 3mm thin. It’s connected by heavy-duty magnets, so strong you can dangle the tablet by its cover

Touch typist

Smart cameras

The dual 720p cameras on the front and back have intelligent software that corrects exactly 22 degrees when the tablet is leaning on its kickstand so that video calls or photographs are still in line

The practically paper thin full QWERTY responds to touch rather than pressure, but thanks to its excellent build, we quickly built up speed, typing at our standard 100wpm within seconds

Hollywood-style security Use a picture as the base and your password can be something straight out of Ocean’s 11: unlock the tab by swiping and tapping various points on the photo

Sharp, bright screen

The 10.6-inch full HD screen is brilliantly clear with a 1920x1080px resolution, while its ClearType fonts make any document look clear and smooth

Über internet is yours

Dual Wi-Fi antennas pony up a stronger signal even in a weaker hotspot

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

NOVEMBER 2012

59

Which Microsoft The Surface will come in two software variants – one running the straight Windows 8 OS and one running the Windows 8 RT, optimised for tablets. If you intend to use your tablet for office work – and you have a legacy with Windows PCs – we’d suggest you grab the Surface running regular Windows 8, as you’ll be able to access current programs like Office. But if you’d like to keep your Surface for entertainment and the odd work task, the Surface RT is perfectly streamlined just for that. It doesn’t support existing Microsoft programs, and you’ll only be able to download apps from the store, but if you’re willing to start afresh, tablet versions of the Office Suite are readily available.

Need to know Ergonomic design

Sloped edges help the 10.1-inch chassis feel smaller, while a discreet kickstand on the back is easily flipped out for instant media viewing

Just like Windows Phone Work friendly More like a smartphone than a traditional PC, the Surface has a lock screen displaying alerts and live information, just like its phone brethren

Family friendly

If you have kids who like to play with your expensive toys, you can set up their own accounts for them, allowing them to see only the apps you prescribe, and a home-screen of their own choosing

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NOVEMBER 2012

Like other Windows 8 tablets, the Surface is preloaded with Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 RT Preview for full-bodied Word, Excel, and Powerpoint action

Say yes to USB

A full USB port lets you plug in memory sticks and hard drives to view content or save files, making it a far more versatile device than most Android or Apple tablets

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS 8 Tested

Surface?

fact file Microsoft Surface (RT) › 27.5x17.2x0.9mm › 640.4g › Quad-core 1.2GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor › 2GB RAM › 32GB or 64GB › From £399

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

NOVEMBER 2012

61

Asus Vivo A long-lasting Windows 8 tablet for keeping you entertained and productive on the move

A

sus’s tablets have fast become our favourites, even surpassing Apple’s mighty iPad thanks to their quality construction and excellent features. The Vivo Tab RT is one of its latest, sporting a detachable keyboard dock to keep you productive on the move. In tablet form, the Asus Vivo Tab RT is a surprisingly slender and light device. With its 1366 x 768px resolution, the 10-inch screen is a great way to enjoy movies, which appear fantastically crisp – we could see every tiny wrinkle, spot and mole on the actors’ faces. The panel is bright enough to counter even harsh sunlight, while the excellent viewing angles mean you can watch a film with buddies without having to cram your heads together.

Strong stuff

Battery life is one of the Vivo Tab RT’s other strong suits. By itself, the tablet can last all day with moderate use (occasional apps and email) or around five hours if streaming video, a decent effort considering the bright HD screen. However, hook up the dock with its built-in second battery and you can effectively double the Vivo Tab RT’s battery life, making this one of the most portable tablets around.

Need to know Smile, you’re on camera

Impressively, the Vivo Tab RT also packs in an eight-megapixel camera on the rear, for snapping points of interest on your travels. A front-facing two-megapixel camera means you can take full advantage of Skype and other webchat apps

Top performer

Boasting a quad-core nVidia Tegra 3 processor and a mighty 2GB of RAM, this is one of the most powerful tablets we’ve clutched in our sweaty little mitts. It handles everything available on the Windows Store with ease, whether it’s fastpaced games or business software

Docking stations

The Vivo Tab RT slots easily into the keyboard dock and holds firm until you pull a switch on the side of the tablet.You get a USB port and secondary battery as well as a full physical keyboard for typing out emails or documents

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ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

Tab RT

WINDOWS 8 Tested

Expand your memory A generous 64GB of built-in storage gives you plenty of space for your photos, files, and apps, plus the Micro SD memory card slot allows you to expand it further – you can buy these cheaply online

Vibrant screen

Even from the Windows 8 desktop, you can tell how beautifully rich and vibrant the Vivo Tab RT’s screen is. Photos and movies look magnificent

Starter pack of apps

The Vivo Tab RT comes stocked with a good selection of starter apps, including the usual calendar, maps, music and video and news/reference programs you’d expect. Students and business users will also appreciate the Microsoft Office suite, which can be used to draft up Word documents, spreadsheets and presentations

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

fact file Asus Vivo Tab RT › 263x171x8.3 mm › 525g › 10-inch IPS › 1366 x 768px › 8-megapixel + 2-megapixel front-facing cameras › NVIDIA™ Tegra® 3 Quad-core › 2GB RAM › 64GB storage › From £549

NOVEMBER 2012

63

Samsung A super-slim tablet with designer good looks and multitasking cojones

A

Windows 8 tablet to match your Windows Phone 8 is exactly what Microsoft hopes you’ll want – but Samsung is taking it one step closer by having you own a Samsung Windows tab to match its phone (page 50). Samsung is the only manufacturer with both tablet and phone running on the nextgen Windows, with its new Ativ (Vita spelled backwards, for the record) range offering slimline but study builds.

great for: ity Style and portabil

Size zero slate

The Ativ Tab sports a 10.1-inch display at just 8.9mm thick – thinner than many phones – and 570g light. Under the hood, it runs a somewhat modest dual-core 1.5GHz processor but that’s backed up by a generous 2GB of RAM and a choice of either 32GB or 64GB built-in storage – also expandable via the microSD slot by up to 64GB. Like Microsoft’s own Surface (page 58), the Ativ Tab runs on Windows 8 RT, the tabletoptimised version, and supports Wi-Fi only.

Need to know Screen tested

Unlike Samsung’s usual retina-searing HD Super AMOLED displays, the LCD screen delivers more modest colours, with decent clarity at 1366x768 pixels

Double camera action A five-megapixel rear-facing snapper with auto-focus and LED flash and a 1.9-megapixel front-facer for video calling

Tablet tap and go

Like Samsung’s Ativ S phone, it supports NFC for contactless payments as well as the ‘Tap + Send’ for fast wireless file transfer. You can also easily connect accessories like speakers or a keyboard

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NOVEMBER 2012

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS 8 Tested

Ativ Tab

CHECK OUT: Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 pports a digital stylus Slim and powerful, it su diagrams for art, notes and other

Software king

The Ativ Tab comes preloaded with the usual lineup of Windows apps, including Internet Explorer 10, Office RT Preview, SkyDrive and Bing Search, while Samsung’s Family Story app allows seamless sharing and synching with your other devices

Samsung style

Naturally, Samsung has loaded on a few of its extra services, including ChatOn, its free IM program, its music store, and a fun photo editor

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

fact file samsung ativ tab › 265.8 x 168.1 x 8.9mm › 570g › Dual-core 1.5 GHz processor › 2GB RAM › 32/64 GB storage with microSD › Continuous use up to 12 hours › From £550

NOVEMBER 2012

65

Asus Taichi

A powerful dual-screen portable device that’s a handy cross between laptop and tablet

O

ne of the more innovative Windows 8 devices that we’ve seen is the Asus Taichi, an 11.6-inch laptop/tablet hybrid featuring a double-sided screen. At first glance, the Taichi is just a standard Windows 8 laptop. However, flip it around and you’ll find another screen on the back of the lid. This secondary display isn’t just an extra screen, however, it’s a fully-functional touchscreen that supports stylus input, so the Taichi can be used as a tablet when the lid is closed. The best part is the bundled software ‘SimpleShow’, which gives you an idea of how else that second screen can be used. While you’re sat behind the keyboard, you can put out the same image to the other screen so people sat in front of you can see what you’re doing – useful for presentations, or sharing a movie across a table when you’re stuck on a long-haul train journey. You can also throw photos or videos to the other screen while you get on with something else, one way to keep the kids entertained while you sort out some work bits.

CHECK OUT: Microsoft Surface ristic Just as slim with a futu magnetic keyboard 66

NOVEMBER 2012

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS 8 Tested

top tip last longer › Get more battery life by dimming the display. The screen is a major power-sucker, especially on full brightness.

great for: Someone after the ultimate all-in-one gadget

Need to know Raw power

The Taichi is a formidable little device, packing a powerful Intel Core processor into an impressively slender frame. Backed up by 4GB of RAM, this can handle all kinds of software

Two sides, two screens

There are touch-screens on both sides of the lid. Shut it to use it like a tablet, open it and you can share the same view on both screens – and they both fully support touch input too

Weight watchers

Eleven incher

Tiny snappers

And on and on

At 1.25kg the Taichi is also surprisingly light for such a feature-packed device. Of course, when in tablet mode it’s best used laid on a table

A five-megapixel camera on the lid can be used to shoot your surroundings or whoever’s facing you, while a camera on the inside can be used for web chats

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

The dual screens are both 11.6 inches from corner to corner, and pack a super-sharp 1920p HD resolution, so everything looks incredibly crisp

Asus promises five hours of battery life from a single charge. Plenty of time to kick back and enjoy a couple of movies when you’re on a journey

fact file asus taichi › 307 x 199 x 17.4 mm › 1.25kg › Dual 11.6-inch HD screens › 1920 x 1080 px › 5-megapixel camera + frontfacing cameras › Intel Core i5 or i7 with 4GB RAM › Storage from 128GB

NOVEMBER 2012

67

Lenovo ThinkPad A slim, powerful Windows tablet packing a stylus pen

M

easuring less than 10mm thick, the 10.1” ThinkPad Tablet 2 also packs up to 10 hours battery life so you should stay productive no matter where you roam. Full 3G and 4G support means you can stay in touch with friends and family the whole time too. What really sets the ThinkPad Tablet 2 apart from other machines however is the optional Digitiser Pen. This stylus is the same shape and size as a normal pen, making it comfortable to grip and wield, and allows you to quickly and easily make notes, draw diagrams and more – making this an excellent device for arty types, students and professionals who want to annotate their work.

Need to know Portable pal

The ThinkPad 2 is impressively mobile, weighing in at 600g and lasting more than 10 hours on a single charge

Office suite

As with the other Windows 8 tablets, you get full access to Microsoft’s excellent Office 2013 suite, complete with Word, Excel and PowerPoint

CHECK OUT: The Digitiser Pen makes life more simple An optional extra – that

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NOVEMBER 2012

Multiple users

Set up temporary visitor IDs or restricted accounts for your kids, so they can use your tablet without accessing things they shouldn’t

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS 8 Tested

Tablet 2 Great connectivity

You get a USB port, Mini HDMI port and Micro SD memory card slot lining the edges of the ThinkPad 2, giving you full connectivity to your peripherals and allowing you to expand the on-board memory

Get online

Not only do you get full Wi-Fi support, you also get 3G or 4G support for getting online wherever you roam. For 3G or 4G you’ll need to sign a mobile data contract with a network service provider, which comes with a small monthly charge

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

fact file Lenovo ThinKPad Tablet 2 › 307 x 199 x 17.4 mm › 600g › 10.1-inch screen › 8-megapixel camera with 2-megapixel front-facing cameras › 16/32/64GB with USB slot › Continuous use: 10 hours › From £405

NOVEMBER 2012

69

Toshiba

Satellite U920t 12.5-inch behemoth tablet boasting a slide-out keyboard

T

oshiba’s new Windows 8 tablet is a 12.5-inch slider catchily called the Satellite U920t. Your first peek gives the impression of a generously sized tab, but the HD screen hides a surprise – slide it back and a keyboard is revealed beneath. You can still use the touch-screen even when it’s positioned upright, while the solid hinge mechanism means you can prod away without the screen wobbling all over the place.  The Satellite U920t is a chunky beast, almost 20mm thick when closed up. It’s fairly hefty at around 1.5kg too, so you won’t want to wield it one-handed, but it’s comfortable to grip in both hands for enjoying a movie. Although keyboard tablets are becoming more popular, the Satellite U920t stands out thanks to its sheer size. Having the keyboard as part of the device instead of a separate dock means you can’t separate the two if you just want to use it as a tablet, but if you’re a constant typist then the Satellite U920t is worth a gander.

CHECK OUT: Asus Taichi

Lighter and smaller with a cool double screen

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NOVEMBER 2012

try this anytime charger › If a device has a ‘sleep and charge’ USB port, it means you can connect a mobile phone and it will charge even when the device is hibernating. Very useful when you’re travelling.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS 8 Tested

great for: sts apps; constant typi ss ne si bu d an k or w

Need to know Your telly’s best friend

You can connect the Satellite U920t to a TV using the HDMI port, perfect for presentations or playing your movies or photo slideshows

Apps a-plenty

An Intel Core processor and up to 8GB of RAM gives you plenty of power for all of your apps, which can be downloaded from the Windows Store

Hook me up

Two USB ports can be used to connect peripherals, or even attach USB memory sticks to expand the 128GB of built-in storage. You also get an SD memory card slot

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

Light of my life

An ambient light sensor can be used to automatically adjust the screen brightness for comfort. This will also help to stretch out your battery life

Wi-Fi hottie only

You get full Wi-Fi support for accessing the internet, but there’s no option for 3G roaming, so you’ll have to seek out Wi-Fi hotspots when you’re on the move

Where am I?

The Satellite U920t can keep you from getting lost thanks to its built-in GPS sensors, which lock onto your position using satellites

fact file toshiba satellite u920t › 326 x 213 x 19.9 mm › 1.5kg › 12.5-inch › 1.7GHz processor › 5-megapixel camera + front-facer › From 4GB RAM › Up to 128GB › From £399

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Which

tablet should you buy?

W

indows 8 tablets come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, from slender portable models that you can toss in any bag, to hulking great laptop convertibles with slide-out keyboards. Picking the right one for you can be tricky, so here’s a side-by-side comparison of the big Windows 8 devices to help you decide which one is your perfect portable pal.

fact file do you need a tablet?

› Microsoft surface



› Asus Vivo Tab RT

Weight

Size

680g

275 x 172 x 9.4mm









263 x 171 x 8.3 mm







748g

266 x 168 x 8.9mm



› Samsung Ativ



› asus taichi

› Lenovo Thinkpad 2

525g













1,250g



600g







307 x 199 x 17.4 mm



9.8mm thick



To help you decide, see how many of the following statements apply to you. ›  I desperately need to watch movies on a 10-inch screen in my lap › I want something to check my email on (but not reply, unless it’s short ones like on my smartphone) › I need to be able to access and edit work documents comfortably › I don’t need to store too much media - most of it is on my main PC › I just want a brilliant new gadget to download apps and games, all right?

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› toshiba satellite u920t

1,500g





326 x 213 x 19.9 mm

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

WINDOWS 8 at a glance

10.6 1 1 No, 16GB That soft A slick, well built inches megapixel megapixel Wi-Fi only to 64GB keyboard cover ten-inch tab is protective that’s highly and unique portable

Approx price From £399 172mm

Screen Camera Front 3G Storage Best bit Overall camera

275mm

Durable keyboard A powerful dock that offers tablet with a secondary a fantastic battery detachable keyboard dock

From £549 171mm

10 8 2 No, 64GB inches megapixels megapixels Wi-Fi only

263mm From £550 168mm

10.1 5 1.9 Yes 64GB Effortlessly link to A sleek designer inches megapixels megapixels a mouse, keyboard, tablet that’s printer and TV more than just a looker, packing plenty of power

266mm From £1,000 199mm

Dual 5 1.3 No, From The dual-screen A slick media 11.6-inch megapixels megapixels Wi-Fi only 128GB set-up is perfect and business HD screens for presentations machine with a or sharing movies unique dual screen set-up

307mm 8 2 Yes 64GB megapixels megapixels

Slim build with a A slimline and fast processor highly portable and Digitiser pen tablet with a handy digital pen

From £400 tbc

10.1 inches

tbc From £855 213mm

12.5 5 1.3 Up to A bright, spacious, It’s the biggest inches megapixels megapixels 128GB colourful screen and heaviest that’s great for device here, but work and play the screen and keyboard are fantastic

326mm

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

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WINDOWS PHONE 8 APPS

Windows Store

One of the greatest things about smartphones and tablets is the wealth of apps you can download. Whether you want to kick back and play a game, search for a great recipe or restaurant, or try to translate a foreign sign, there’s an app that can help you out. The Windows Store now boasts over 100,000 apps and while it’s still catching up with the monolithic marketplaces of Android and iOS, a great portion of top apps from these OSes are now on Windows Phone. Hit the Store tile and you can browse by category, as well as most popular lists, including top free or top paid. The new Collections tile has regularly updated apps curated by a Microsoft team on particular themes. You can also go to the Windows Store website and browse and buy apps on your computer. If you’re not sure where to start, here are over 200 of our favourites. From fast-fingered games to essential apps for a night out, these are well worth a download onto your Windows Phone 8.

Hit Collections for handpicked apps en) you are relevant to where (and wh Books

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App

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From photo guides to social, navigation, here are over 200 ultimate apps for Windows Phone 8 Photo & Video

Fantasia Painter Free (Free)

Spruce up your family photos with a fun range of tools, including 28 unique brushes that add everything from fur to rainbows to your snaps, and some excellent little effects to alter the subject’s body shape or swap two people’s faces.

Colorify Pro (79p)

Colorify drains the colour from your photos, giving you a black and white version, then allows you to re-colour any part of it with a simple tap. A quick and easy way to create arty shots to impress your friends online.

Fhotoroom (Free)

After capturing shots with the Pro Camera mode, which brings

together tools such as custom EV (Auto Exposure), Grid and Level for the best possible photo, you can then tweak them with built-in editing features and share on your favourite social networks.

PhotoSynth

(Free)

This nifty panorama app allows you to capture your entire surroundings, 360 degrees horizontally and vertically, making a perfect ‘sphere’. Once you’ve created your panorama, you can share it as an interactive experience on Facebook and Twitter.

Sketch Free (Free)

Sketch is a simple but cool app that converts your photos into pencil-style drawings – imagine that famous A-ha video for ‘Take on Me’ and you’ll know what to expect. Choose from 27 different sketch styles and

share your photo online when it’s finished.

FFFFound (79p)

FFFFound might have a bizarre name, but it’s a great little app that streams funky and inspirational images to you throughout the day. The Live Tile updates every hour with the latest image, giving art appreciators something captivating to stare at.

Lomogram (Free)

Another photo editing app, Lomogram gives you 33 different filters and 57 light effects to produce a unique and stunning picture. As usual, once you’re done tinkering you can get online and share your creation with the world, all through the app.

Apict (79p)

Remember those old Polariod instant cameras, which spat out a photo as soon as you took it?

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Well, Apict adds that distinctive look to your photos, both old and new, and allows you to label them with a realistic written scrawl. Pointless, but very cool indeed.

PhotoFunia (Free)

PhotoFunia is a cloudbased photo editing tool that automatically identifies any faces in your photo and allows you to add more than 250 different effects, to mutate your friends and family however you see fit. With its tongue firmly in its cheek, this is a fun family app.

PuriClub (Free)

This sparkly app turns your mobile into a portable purikura machine (one of those Japanese photo booths that lets you add glitter, colourful clipart and more to your photo). Definitely one for fans of excessive cuteness.

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Books

Freda (Free)

Freda is a free ebook reader that supports EPUB, FB2, HTML and TXT format books. You can customise the fonts and colours, and add annotations and bookmarks, while a built-in dictionary helps you out with any tricky words. Grab new books from the likes of Feedbooks and Smashwords.

Amazon Kindle (Free)

With around a million books on the Kindle Store, you’ll never be bored with this e-reader. You can purchase books directly from Amazon, from a huge range of free titles to the latest bestsellers.

Manga7 (Free)

Fans of Japanese comics will love this free manga reader, which allows you to

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download and enjoy a host of freely available titles. There’s a good variety on offer, and all of them are in English so you don’t need to brush up on your kanji just yet.

Audible (Free)

Do you like books, but can’t seem to find any time to sit down and actually read? Audible. co.uk has a massive catalogue of digital audiobooks, and now subscribers can browse and buy new books through this app’s mobile store, download items from its Audible library, check out listening stats and more.

Poems By Keats (Free)

This is just one in a series of free apps that gives you famous poets’ great works to carry around in your pocket. The Keats version features 13 poems by the British wordsmith, such as ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’, all stored in the app itself.

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MyFitnessPal helps you track your

calorie intake and fitness

Health & Fitness

Endomondo Sports Tracker (Free)

This popular fitness app is effectively a free personal trainer, tracking your running and any other distancebased sport using GPS. You get instant audio feedback on your workout, and social updates on your progress mean buddies can cheer you on.

Sleep Bug (Free)

If you find yourself tossing and turning at night, check out this sleep aid app. By mixing in ambient music and sound effects, Sleep Bug helps to calm your mind, eliminate stress and send you off to kip. And rest easier knowing that it’s free.

Gym PocketGuide (Free)

This exercise app rips content direct from Bodybuilding.com,

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giving you a personal workout encyclopedia you can carry anywhere. More than 90 exercises and stretches, complete with photos and step-by-step guides, help you lose fat and build muscle.

Calorie Tracker (£2.29)

If you’re looking to lose weight or simply keep a healthy diet, this app measures your daily calorie intake and energy expended to ensure you don’t go over your limits. Set goals and you can lose weight.

KickSmoking

(Free)

Smokers who’ve tried and failed to give up will testify how difficult it can be. KickSmoking adds extra encouragement by tracking the health and monetary benefits, with a built-in timer showing how long you’ve lasted.

regimes

Woman Calendar Pro (99p, free Lite version available)

One for the ladies, this app tracks your menstrual cycle and lets you record your moods, symptoms and the severity of the pain, along with temperature and weight, and even predicts future period dates, ovulation and fertile days.

Runtastic PRO (£3.99, free Lite version available)

Another personal fitness trainer, this tracks indoor activities (treadmill, cardio, yoga, etc), as well as distance training. GPS tracking covers outdoor sports, while other workouts must be manually entered. Includes music integration and voice feedback.

WeightWatch (Free)

This app is simplicity itself. Every day, weigh yourself at home and then enter the result

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into WeightWatch. The app then produces a basic graph that charts your weight gain/loss, so you know exactly how your training is going.

Kegel Bootcamp (79p)

If you’ve never heard of your Kegel muscles, they’re… er, ‘down there’. The Kegel Bootcamp app consists of easy step-bystep exercises to strengthen your kegels, complete with photos to help you get started.

First Aid Manual (Free)

This detailed manual of first aid techniques could be a lifesaver, making it a morethan-worthy download. It gives instructions on how to treat all manner of injuries, and includes symptoms to look out for, as well as other essential information.

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Music

BBC Radio 1 Player (Free)

No radio to hand? Try streaming highquality BBC Radio 1 goodness straight to your phone over your data connection instead. A full programme guide tells you what’s coming up, and other radio apps are available for different stations too.

TuneIn Radio

(Free)

TuneIn gives you more than 50,000 digital radio stations and 1.2 million on-demand streams, covering everything from news and sports to the latest tunes. Featuring a large collection of local stations, it’s a great way to keep in touch with your hometown if you’re away.

SoundHound (Free)

It drives us nuts when we’re in a pub or club and we can’t figure

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out what the name of a song is. That’s where SoundHound comes in, automatically identifying any track and even downloading lyrics so you can sing along if you’re suitably soused.

BBC Podcast Lounge (£1.49)

Many of your favourite BBC shows are available in podcast form. There are more than 350 programmes covering an extremely wide range of genres. The interface is simple and each show can be downloaded for later listening.

Mixtapes (Free)

Mixtapes allows users to mix up their own set and upload it for other to enjoy for free. You can listen to all manner of tunes mixed together, and bookmark your favourite bedroom DJs. It’s a great way of enjoying music for free, without ad interruption.

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Link up your Last.fm profile via the app for gig recommendations personalised radio and

Lyrics (Free)

If you’re desperate to sing along to a song but have no idea what the lyrics are, this is for you. With more than 5.5 million officially licensed lyrics in 18 different languages (apparently the largest lyrics database in the world), you won’t have any trouble finding your favourite tunes.

Hey DJ! (79p)

This voice-control app is perfect for drivers, allowing hands-free access to your music collection. Simply say the name of the song, artist, album, genre or playlist you want to play and it immediately loads up. If you’re undecided, you can try ‘play all’ or ‘surprise me’.

Accurate Tuner Beta (Free) Budding musicians will find this app a lifesaver, allowing you to effortlessly tune

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your kit using two classical pitch tuning methods, needle and stroboscope. The needle enables fast and comfortable rough tuning, while optional animations facilitate fine tuning.

Ministry of Sound (Free)

If you’re a big fan of dance beats, the Ministry of Sound app is a must-grab. Not only can you stream a mix of new and classic tunes on the radio station, you can also read up on the latest news, and bag tickets for the nightclub.

Absolute 80s (Free)

Everyone knows the 1980s produced some of the finest cheesy music of all time. That’s why we love getting all nostalgic crooning along to Absolute 80s, which, as you might imagine, plays hits from the likes of Duran Duran, Billy Idol

and Queen. Dodgy haircuts are optional.

Dance Hub (79p)

Dance Hub gathers together tracks and info on your favourite dance DJs. Get down with a selection of dance music podcasts, from trance to dubstep and everything in between.

MetroTube (Free)

YouTube has a fantastic selection of music videos to browse and enjoy free of charge, and MetroTube is a great way of seeking them out. Videos are broken down into categories, or you can search for your favourite artist.

Stop the music! (Free)

As much as we love music, there are times when you need a bit

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of silence – for instance, when you’re called into an emergency meeting. This handy tile immediately stops whatever’s playing and shuts down the media app so you don’t accidentally restart your music.

Gangnam Style (Free)

If you’re not entirely sick of ‘that’ video and dance by now, this app is an amusing free download. Teach yourself the lyrics and infamous dance moves, and pick up trivia about the surprise K-pop smash hit.

Ringtone Maker (Free)

If you want to mix up a super-cool MP3 ringtone from your favourite track, this handy app allows you to do it on the move. This trial version lets you create and save up to three ringtones, or you can pay to save more.

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Going Out

Qype (Free)

If you’re out in town and have no idea where to go, Qype could be your best new friend. Restaurants, bars, shops – even doctors – are all covered, along with user ratings and reviews giving detailed tips on where to go. Almost 200,000 cities are covered.

Spondle (Free)

A fantastic free events app that ensures you won’t miss that gig or show, Spondle is currently UK-only. You can search through theatre shows, festivals, exhibitions, comedy, concerts and even dating events.

AroundMe (Free)

AroundMe is one of those augmented reality apps which allows you to quickly find out information about your surroundings. Using

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GPS, the app shows you the nearest bank, bar, petrol station, hospital and more.

London City Guide – GuidePal (Free)

Travel guides can be expensive, but Guidepal has a large number of free guides for all kinds of destinations. Each is written by objective local residents and covers the best attractions, restaurants, tours, and more, all without going online.

The Mobile Food Guide (£2.49)

Here’s a quality online restaurant guide, regularly updated and currently covering over 4,000 of the best restaurants in the UK, Ireland and the US (with more to follow). Includes reviews, menus, opening times, web links and photos, plus one-touch dialling to book a table.

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Flixster (Free)

Ideal for cinephiles, this app locates your nearest cinemas and looks up film times in a matter of seconds. Best of all, you can look up reviews ripped from Rotten Tomatoes and even view a movie’s trailer.

Tip Calculator (Free)

Calculating a tip at the end of a meal can often be a headscratcher. Avoid embarrassment by quickly and easily calculating exactly what you should tip, including the option to split it between a group.

Toilet Finder (Free)

There’s nothing worse than being caught short in an unfamiliar town, with no idea where the nearest WCs are. Toilet Finder is the world’s biggest public toilet database with more than

60,000 conveniences from all over the world. Best of all, you can add newly discovered loos or report missing toilets.

Nando’s In London (Free)

Quite a few restaurants and fast food chains now have apps. If you get the Peri Peri cravings and need to find a Nando’s, this will sort you out stat. Handy map directions mean you won’t get lost, no matter how hungry you are, and you can see each branch’s facilities.

ScanSearch (Free)

ScanSearch is an augmented reality app that locks onto your position using GPS, then shows you a full list of services in your local area, including eateries, pubs, shops and more. Simply hold up your phone and they’ll be pinpointed on the screen using the camera.

Taxi Route GB (Free)

TaxiRoute gives you a list of locally subscribed taxi companies and gives you a quick estimate of how much that taxi fare home should cost, based on current location. A map shows you the predicted journey so you know if you’re going on the ‘scenic route’.

Wikitude (Free)

This augmented reality app was voted best of its kind three years running. Hold up your phone and you’ll see your immediate surroundings, with local services such as attractions and restaurants highlighted, complete with user reviews.

Hangover Helper (Free)

You’ve had your big night and now you’re suffering. Hangover Helper can get you out of

read reviews on the best pubs across Guide 2012 app the UK via the Good Pub 82

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the most terrible day-afters, including giving you local taxi details if you find yourself in an unusual bed, and autogenerating text messages to let your friends and family you’re still alive.

Radar Rabbit (Free)

Not got a date for tonight? The Rabbit can help. Enter your profile, view other people’s profiles to find a close match, and chat with members in your general area, all for free. You never know when you’ll find that special someone!

Translator (Free)

If you find yourself in a foreign land, with a sign/menu/set of instructions that are completely indecipherable, the translator could be your best buddy. Simply enter the word or sentence you need translating and this app will do the rest.

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Sports

Premier Leagues + (£2.99)

This in-depth football app gives live coverage of the English Premier League, Champions League, and plenty more from around Europe. Goal alerts and full news feeds mean you’ll always be up on the action.

Mobitee GPS Golf (£17)

Mobitee is the perfect assistant for golfers. It’s a scorecard keeper, distance calculator, virtual coach and GPS assistant (giving top-down views) all rolled into one. Mobitee even gives you club advice for each shot.

ESPN Goals (Free)

The fantastic free ESPN Goals app allows you to watch video clips of all the goals from

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every Barclays Premier League match, as well as giving you live scores and updates, and you can even chat with fellow fans.

Basketball Pro ’12 (Free)

Basketball Pro ’12 is the ultimate app for ballers, giving you up-to-the-minute stats, scores and news from all of the big matches, as well as the latest standings. You can highlight your favourite team, to be the first to know of any updates.

Baseball Live

(Free)

Baseball Live spits out the latest news and results in Major League Baseball. See an article that interests you? You can share it immediately via email, Facebook or Twitter. You can also access live game details including box scores and detailed play information, if you can’t get to a TV to watch it.

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Live Cricket

(Free)

This excellent cricket app brings the full international news. Live scores, text commentaries and ball-by-ball updates include full notifications whenever that vital wicket falls or a four or six is hit.

F1 World (Free)

F1 World provides instant news updates for Formula One. Highlight your favourite F1 teams, drivers and circuits, and get RSS news feeds, plus a brand new photo gallery is coming soon.

Ski Guide (£1.99)

Ski Guide is a great app for winter sport thrillseekers, giving in-depth mountain reports and high-resolution trail maps for more than 1,000 resorts around the world. Best of all, everything you need is

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stored in the app so you can access whatever you need wherever you roam.

Tennis Live (Free)

Tennis Live provides the latest news and results for all of the major international tennis tournaments, so Andy Murray fans can find out how our home-grown star is doing. Get full details of upcoming events, live scoreboards of current tournaments, plus live player details and even videos.

247 Sport (Free)

If you enjoy following a wide range of sports, this is a great app to help you keep up with the latest news. Football, Formula 1, Golf, Cricket, Tennis, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Athletics and Horse Racing are all covered. You can get live scores plus all of the big sports headlines.

Art & Design

FreshPaint

(Free)

Microsoft’s modern take on the popular Paint program that’s been in every Windows PC since the dawn of time. It’s fresh, tactile and comes with cool new effects such as a ‘dryer’ option to stop smudges.

Neon Draw

(Free)

There’s something very Zen about this finger-painting app in fluoro colours. Tapping creates circles, and a two-finger sketch makes a line. Shake to start over.

Spark Art (Free)

Spark Art incorporates physics-based animations to

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accompany shapes, words and objects you draw. Varying strokes and speed affect the resulting patterns and effects for a piece of art you can, y’know, experience.

Color Design Pro (79p)

Create your own colours using red, green or blue, or capture a particularly poignant purple for digital posterity. The app then finds you the exact CMYK code to use in your design work.

Tola (Free)

Browse the DeviantArt online community for unique artworks by category

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or simply by what’s added daily. Lists of the top pieces are handy too.

Sketch Pad (99p)

Create sketches, flowcharts and diagrams with this easy-to-use virtual pad that comes with plenty of useful preset shapes as well as a freehand brush and a good selection of colours, lines and brushes.

Palette Tools

(79p)

This simple mini-app just tells you the best complementary and matching colours for a particular shade – handy if you’re coordinating a wedding party, designing your

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home interiors or even just choosing an outfit.

BlackBoard Writer (Free)

Fancy an old-school white line drawing? This virtual blackboard lets you scrawl and save your work.

Pixelator (Free)

Create pixel art on the go with this fun little app that has a useful grid to keep your dot drawings straight. Pixelator also supports sharing to your social networks.

Hand Painting (Free)

Make drawings out of linked hands (no, not creepy) and save them as wallpaper.

With Colour Sprouts you can draw friends in a jiffy pictures and send to your

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Cinetrailer has the latest trailers and theatre now updates about movies in

Movies & TV

Netflix (Free)

Monthly subscription service that lets you stream unlimited TV episodes and films to your phone, console, or tablet device. The more you watch and rate what you love, the better the service can predict what you might want to watch next.

YouTube (Free)

Everyone’s favourite way to waste an afternoon. Download the app and sign in for your latest recommended clips, to add to your favourites list and share clips across Facebook, Twitter and even to another device via tap and send.

Vevo (Free)

Free access to a catalogue of more than 45,000 great music videos by 11,000 recording artists. Featuring exclusive videos,

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charts, tour information and even tidbits of music trivia. Share your favourite videos over email, Facebook or Twitter.

Flash Videos (£1.99)

Allows you to watch flash movies, episodes and offers the ability to save videos to your phone and watch them later. Also supports subtitles for other languages including French, Spanish and Italian.

TV Show (79p)

Track all your favourite TV shows. Quickly browse synopses, ratings and recaps for the shows you want to catch next, share with your social networks, and mark seen and unseen episodes.

Vimeo (Free)

Search for great new videos and upload your own. The official Vimeo Windows

Phone app lets you like, comment and share content across all your social networks.

IMDB (Free)

Never again do you have to wonder about that extra you’ve spotted in the background or struggle to remember an actor’s name – where did you see him before? The internet movie database lists every actor, director, movie and TV show you can imagine as well as all the continuity goofs, trivia and cast details you could ever want.

Rotten Tomatoes Movie (Free)

Dedicated app for film review site Rotten Tomatoes. Compiles all the topname critic reviews for movies and blu-ray releases as well as user views, so you can check what everyone’s saying about the newest releases as well as old classics.

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Cineworld UK (Free)

Film fans will be able to check for their nearest Cineworld branch, see screening times and view trailers as well as pin their nearest cinema to the home screen.

TvPyx (Free)

Listings for UK TV and radio, including channel lists and programme information for the week. You can even check what people are saying about shows you love on Twitter, and have your say.

Streaming Media (Free)

Client app that lets you stream your media catalogue straight from your PC to your Windows Phone via the TVersity service. Allows you to play your albums as well as mark favourite songs and videos.

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News

BBC News Mobile (Free)

Easy-to-navigate app with the latest news and features from the BBC, which you can pin to your home screen for the latest headlines. Check the latest local and world news as well as sport fixtures, and opt into news alerts for breaking stories with the handy option of quiet mode that runs during the night.

Sky News (Free)

Read all the very latest stories from the Sky News team including UK and world news, politics, business and showbiz. Watch live news reports and weather forecasts. Send your comments and news tips to the studio and discuss stories via the Sky News blog.

The Guardian (Free)

This app has content from the Guardian and Observer newsdesks.

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All the latest comment, reviews, news and videos is broken into sections. And it lets you pin articles to your home screen so you never miss a thing.

The Metro (Free)

Get all the latest news, sport and celebrity headlines from every morning commuter’s favourite free paper. Scroll through the top stories at a glance, and pin categories to your home screen for instant access to your favourite stories.

CNN (Free)

Up-to-the-minute news updates from across the world, you can even set the app to deliver instant news alerts with the top stories of the day. Watch video reports and share stories instantly via SMS or share to your social media contacts.

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ITN News (Free)

Vogue (Free)

Glamour (Free)

PaperPress for Instapaper

The Times (Free)

Sky Sports News (Free)

Easy to navigate news content from ITN. Swipe along for in-depth coverage of UK and international news, as well as the latest entertainment and sport headlines. Tap on the story and you can share to your social networks in a snap.

(Free)

For any paid subscriber of Instapaper this client allows you to view your liked, archived and unread articles. The app even saves your place in any given article and allows you to change the look and font to suit you.

Essential reading for any budding fashionista, the official Vogue app is full of the latest fashion news, backstage access and great interviews, as well as fabulous fashion photography and style tips from across the world.

Enjoy a free 30-day trial to The Times with this app. Insightful analysis of current affairs, the latest news and features from top political and cultural commentators delivered to your device every day.

The handbag friendly magazine becomes even friendlier, packed into your elegantly-designed Windows smartphone. Latest fashion news, tips and photography in an easy-tonavigate format.

Up-to-the-minute sports news and game results, as well as upcoming fixtures and tons of video content and interviews. App also allows streaming access to Sky Sports News Radio for rolling sport news coverage.

Read world-renowned and trusted journalism test news and opinion on Time Mobile for the la

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Wikipedia (Free)

Free encyclopedia on your mobile that lets you find and share entries easily. Wikipedia’s database has more than 20 million articles, and is the most widely used on the web.

Dictionary.com (Free)

If you’re lost for words then it’s always handy to have a few spare. Dictionary.com lets you browse from more than two million words, with audio pronunciation, word of the day and word origins. You can even input a word then tap the screen to switch to thesaurus mode for synonyms.

Tube Map (Free)

An easy way to plan your journeys around London

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with a free scrollable map, complete with live updates including both arrival and departure boards.

London Travel (79p)

The ultimate in London travel tips and packed with handy features such as a live bus countdown, Oyster card balance and journey planner. Maps can even be accessed without an internet connection, especially handy if you’re on the Tube.

Next Bus UK (£1.49)

Live bus times from more than 370,000 bus stops in England, Scotland and Wales, and in an easy-to-navigate interface that lets you search for stops using place names, street names and postcodes.

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Sky Map (£1.29)

For any budding stargazer, simply aim your phone’s camera at the night sky and the Sky Map app enables you to see what stars, constellations and planets are out there in real time.

3D Brain (Free)

Neuroscience on your Windows Phone, this app features 24 interactive structures that can be rotated in 3D space. Contains information on functions, disorders, case studies and links to current research.

Pocket Recorder (79p)

Ideal for students, writers and anyone who likes to take audio notes. Features full integration with SkyDrive so you can back up your audio recordings to the cloud.

Learn about the human skeleton with 3D app Skeletos a tap of the screen with

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Social

Facebook (Free)

Stay connected to your friends and family, check into local hotspots, and post updates quickly and easily. Link your uploaded photos to your lock screen and a new picture will appear whenever you check your phone.

Twitter (Free)

Microblogging fanatics’ social network of choice. Tell the world what you’re up to in a concise 140 characters, share pictures and talk to anyone, anywhere using this elegant Twitter app for Windows Phone.

Skype (Free)

The sleekest and best designed version of the audio and video call service yet. Skype for Windows 8 integrates with your

People Hub and runs in the background so you always receive your messages, even when you aren’t fully logged in. Switch to snap view to browse the web while using Skype as well.

LinkedIn (Free)

Read the latest news and posts from all your professional contacts, explore new job opportunities and start new discussions in your groups. Also suggests new contacts and tells you who’s been viewing your profile.

Whatsapp (Free)

This handy chat app works across Windows Phone, Android and iOS devices and runs off your data allowance rather than text messaging; ideal for any avid instant message

addict with friends on other operating platforms.

Foursquare (Free)

Check in to your local hangouts, restaurants and other such prime locations. Check in regularly and you could oust your friends to become the Mayor of your local coffee shop and earn badges for your profile.

Wordpress (Free)

If you love to blog on the go, the mobile Wordpress app for Windows 8 is perfect. Add new posts, format and edit your content and manage comments as they come in. The app even allows you to check the stats for your posts.

MeTweets (Free)

Twitter client with an easy-touse interface that’s ideal for

Skype for Windows 8 integrates with ns in the background your People Hub and ru 90

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those dipping their toes into the world of microblogging. You can configure your home screens, schedule tweets, pin users to your home screen or mute content you don’t want to see.

Viber Messenger (Free)

A cross-platform messaging service that works across Windows Phone, Android, iOS and BlackBerry devices, which works over both 3G and Wi-Fi, syncs with your mobile phone number and contact list to show you who else has the app.

Match.com (Free)

For subscribers to the Match.com dating service, this app lets you search, browse and contact other singles using the site, view photos and send messages to prospective dates.

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Games

Xbox SmartGlass (Free)

A cross-media essential download for Windows Phone users and Xbox lovers. The app can be used to control your games console, including its rich content such as film, TV and music, and all without even touching the controller for a much faster and more intuitive experience.

Plants vs Zombies (£3.99)

Devilishly addictive tower defence game where you must deploy a range of plants to fend off the horde of zombies shuffling across the lawn in the hope of reaching the front door and eating your precious brains. Face down zombies with differing threat levels using all the plants at your disposal across the 50 levels and various

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game modes. Visit Crazy Dave’s shop for bonus items and tend to the new plants you’ve collected in the surprisingly engrossing Zen Garden.

Bubble Star (Free)

Classic bubble shooting game. Match three or more bubbles of the same colour in order to pop them and clear the board to win. Ricochet bubbles off the walls to make trick shots and try to use as few shots as you can to get three-star ratings across all 110 levels.

Angry Birds (79p)

Who doesn’t know Angry Birds? Use the slingshot to fire your angry birds and smash all the dastardly pigs onscreen. Each of your birds has its own unique abilities so use them wisely, and the fewer birds you take to smite the piggies, the higher your score.

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There aren’t many games where you can pt for Babel Rising 3D play an angry god, exce

Final Fantasy (£5.49)

This remake of the 1987 NES classic role playing game Final Fantasy sees players guide the Warriors of Light as they set out on a valiant quest to restore the orbs that bring balance to their world back to their former glory, battling enemies along the way.

Carcassonne (£2.29)

The board game makes the leap into Windows Phone. Turn by turn you and other players create a landscape by placing tiles with fields, cities and roads, and deploying followers such as knights, farmers and monks. Supports local and online multiplayer games.

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Cracking Sands (£2.29)

Off-road racing fun on your Windows Phone, Cracking Sands is a combat racing game awash with mud, petrol and grime, and where the only objective is to win by any means necessary. Upgrade your weapons, collect coins and choose from four main game modes: normal race mode, eliminator, time trial and head of the pack, where you have to stay in pole position across all laps to win.

Babel Rising 3D (£1.99)

There aren’t many games where you can play an angry god who is out to smite his followers for building

towers to other deities, so Babel Rising 3D is definitely worth a look. You have to protect your own followers, improve your skills and prevent those puny humans from stepping out of line using earth, air, fire and water attacks in the 15-mission singleplayer campaign.

Extraction (79p)

A top-down 3D shooter inspired by retro classics and designed for touchscreen. Government experiments have gone horribly wrong, a wave of infected soldiers are unleashed and it’s your job to exterminate them. One-finger control system, great variety of weapons and four game modes to keep you entertained.

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Real Football (£2.29)

If you just have to have that footie fix then this game lets you choose from 245 teams in eight leagues with real player names. Amazingly detailed 3D graphics, exclusive game modes and voice commentary for the full TV-like experience.

Contre Jour (£2.29)

Use your finger to manipulate the landscape around the protagonist, a one-eyed blob named Petit. Move the ground around him or grab him with tentacles and slingshots scattered across the level to launch him where you need him to go. The game uses light and darkness beautifully and the soundtrack is delightful.

Burn the Rope (79p)

The challenge is to burn as much rope as you can per level but the fire only burns upwards

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so you must rotate the environment to keep your flame going. Unique design style and 112 levels that will present more difficult challenges as you go along.

Sonic 4 Episode I (£3.99)

The iconic blue hedgehog is now available on your Windows phone. The story picks up where Sonic and Knuckles left off, and you must defeat Dr Eggman and collect chaos emeralds by dashing through the 12 levels inspired by the original 90s Sonic video games.

Pandoodle (Free)

A cute little drawing game with 75 carefully crafted levels. The idea is to paint every spot on screen with its right colour, and crossing paths will mix the colours and help you reach

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your objective. Pandoodle is a relaxing and colourful bit of fun.

Super Monkey Ball 2 (£2.29)

A mobile version of the console classic, you must tilt and steer one of the monkeys through colourful 3D environments and collect bananas along the way for extra lives. You can play as one of four cute monkeys across six worlds and 125 themed stages, as well as three additional mini games.

Doodle Jump (£2.29)

Don’t say we didn’t warn you this was addictive. All you have to do is use the platforms to steer your jumping character, Doodle the Doodler, as high as you can. Avoid enemies, broken platforms and use springs, jetpacks and propeller hats dotted across the level to get higher and higher.

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Fruit Ninja (79p)

Simple and classic touch-screen game. Swipe your finger across the screen to slash through all the fruit that flies at you and try to rack up massive combos. Miss three fruits and you’re out, also be careful of bombs – one hit and it’s all over.

Assassin’s Creed - Altaïr’s Chronicles HD (£3.99)

A touch-screen actionadventure game featuring the first protagonist of the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Altaïr, and featuring stealth, puzzle-solving and short- and long-range combat gameplay. Collect orbs to upgrade your health and weapons and execute acrobatic moves in your quest to defeat the Templars.

i Love Katamari

Productivity

Tilt your phone to move the katamari ball over various objects in each stage – it’s that simple. As you gather more and more items your katamari will get bigger and be able to absorb even larger objects. Collect all the items the King of the Cosmos requests within the time limit.

(Free, ad-free version £2.29)

(£1.99)

Roll In The Hole (79p)

Here’s a physics puzzle game with adorable graphics and more than 72 levels to master. You play PoPo the ice creamloving panda who wakes up to find his treats have been stolen. Roll PoPo around each level to collect all the ice cream using moving platforms and warp points dotted around the level to your advantage.

HandyScan Comprehensive document scanner with ability to edit, crop and write on scanned documents, then save to SkyDrive or even create a collage of multiple images.

PDF Reader (Free)

Round off your Office suite with this handy app for viewing PDF files, the cornerstone of any emailer’s corporate arsenal. It also allows you to use PDFy (below).

PDFy (Free)

Capture webpages and turn them into PDF documents. PDFy puts a PDF icon in the app bar of your browser,

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which you can tap to create a PDF of the website you’re on. Afterwards, share it via email.

Evernote (Free)

The original all-inone list-maker now has an app built for Windows Phone 8, so you’ll be able to pin individual, important notes to the Start screen for instant access. You can also pin template tiles to quickly fire up a text, audio or image note.

Tasks (Free)

Note the things you need to do and place them in categories such as Idea, Business and Call. They’re arranged in an elegant tile interface for ata-glance viewing. This Outlook companion also syncs with your work Microsoft Exchange account to pull tasks from your office Outlook.

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Lync 2010 (Free)

If your company uses Office 365, this is the ultimate companion app, offering instant messaging, conference calling and other rich features in a single simple interface.

Presenter (Free)

Remote control your PowerPoint presentation with Presenter, which lets you skip slides, control animations and even keep an eye on just how long you’ve been yakking on for. It supports Microsoft Office 2007/2010.

Yammer (Free)

Forget the work-life balance – you’re in this business to achieve, and this

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private social network for individual companies lets you do just that. Download to constantly share ideas, collaborate on projects and post updates on that virtual memoboard, accessible only by your fellow workaholics.

Word Count (Free)

Word for Windows Phone doesn’t have a word count feature, so try copy-pasting your document into this simple little beauty to tally up those pithy paragraphs.

SkyDrive (Free)

View all the files you’ve synced from phone, tablet and Xbox in this app, which also lets you move, delete or create folders. You can also share photos, videos or other files direct from this very interface.

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Finance

Business Trip (£2.29)

This handy app is actually an expenses tracker, with extra features such as reimbursement reminders and the ability to store scanned receipts. It also tracks flights and hotel info, and thanks to Windows Phone optimisation, there’s even a Live Tile for you to pin to Start showing the coins you’ve racked up.

BillMinder (£1.49)

Enter the bills you need to pay, whether it’s mortgage, gas, electricity or credit card, and BillMinder will remind you when you need to pay it. It’ll also keep track of how much you’ve shelled out and compile it all into little charts.

Markets & Me (Free)

Get stock prices and currencies

delivered to a Live Tile and keep an eye on your portfolio with this nimble finance app that can import and export data to Excel. You’ll get a performance report of your yields, too.

Toshl Finance (Free)

Freelancers and project workers will love this personal money minder that tracks your expenses and incomes. Add tags and note down recurring charges, with recurring incomes available on the paid-for version.

Find a Cash Point (79p)

Of course, sometimes you just want to spend your hard-earned cash. This app will tell you where to take it out, giving you the nearest place to your GPS location or postcode. It’ll even give you directions.

Get stock prices and currencies, and keep with Markets & Me an eye on your portfolio

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Learning

National Zoo (Free)

Check in on the fluffy furries at the glorious zoo of Washington, DC, via this app that incorporates webcam views of pandas, giraffes and more.

Star Chart (£1.99)

Behold the jewelled night skies with this augmented reality app that layers astronomical info over the sky through your viewfinder. GPS technology lets you find heavenly bodies even in daylight.

Study Planner (79p)

Exam-taking students, take note (ahem). You can enter exam times into this app to create an exam timetable with

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a feed to remind you when to start studying. Live Tile support lets you pin important homework to the Start Screen.

Speak Italian (£2.29)

Learn the most romantic language in the world – hopefully by living in Italy, but if that’s a faraway dream, start small with the 500 phrases in this beginners’ app. Developer imushrooms makes ’em for loads of other languages too.

Brain App (£2.49)

Test and train the ol’ neurons with this quick-fire app testing your mental reflexes and cognitive memory.

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Your scores are recorded so you can look back and marvel at how much smarter you have become.

New Scientist (79p)

This quiz app from the science rag pushes your brain to its limits with a weekly dose of multiple choice questions relating to scientific facts and breakthroughs. Post scores on Facebook and challenge friends.

Math Challenge (Free)

Develop an agile brain with this training app for any level and age. Difficulty levels from Junior right up to Genius make this a challenge for everyone, while true nerds can compete online.

Check in on the fluffy furries at the ton DC glorious zoo of Washing

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On This Day (Free)

Get a dose of history from this daily digest of important events past. There’s a Live Tile to pin to Start Screen for a handy peek at the day’s milestones and you can skip to birthdays or events in your personal calendar to check out what went on, way back when.

UK Driving Test (£1.29)

Prep for your big day by practising your knowledge in this theory test with questions from the 2012 DSA revision bank. You can search questions by topic, take mock tests and get an analysis on which sections you bombed or aced.

Travel

Skyscanner

(Free)

Compare flight prices across more than 1,000 major and minor airlines and book the best deal. Pin favourite searches to your Start Screen to get the latest prices, and when you’ve got your flight, share it over email with travelling buddies.

GPS Calculator (Free)

This multi-faceted app uses your GPS location to calculate everything from hyper-accurate distances, projected destinations if you were to travel this-fast, and even unit conversions. City data for 2,700 places lets you

Prep for your driving test with questions st in UK Driving Test from the 2012 theory te

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find out cool did-you-knows like the exact distance between any two.

maps of all the major airports, but the ones it does have are pretty great.

TripIt (Free)

Addison Lee

Organise all your flight, hotel and even train or taxi bookings in this brilliant app that will then build your own private itinerary. You can email confirmations to plans@ tripit.com, or set the app to automatically comb your email for reservation-like documents.

GateGuru (Free)

Get a map of more than 180 airports in US, Canada, Europe and Asia so you’ll know where your gate is, and more importantly, where its closest bar is. It doesn’t have

(Free)

The most reliable minicab service in London is even slicker when you order via its streamlined app. Previous pickups and drop-offs are saved, so you can book a cab in less than a minute – and get in one in less than five.

British Airways (Free)

If you fly our national carrier, you need its boarding pass app, which delivers real-time flight info and lets you pin current boarding passes to your Start

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Screen. You can check in online here too, and if you’re leaving from Heathrow Terminal 5, it will tell you what gate you need to be at.

Track My Life

(Free)

Always on the road? GPS and the good ol’ clock combine to help this app track how long you’re in transit versus how long you’re at home or the office. The Live Tile shows you up-todate info on how long you’ve been travelling or stationary in the past 24 hours. Did we mention the graphs? Scary.

Hotel Finder (Free)

If you’ve just landed in unfamiliar territory, this app will find the hotels closest to

GateGuru has maps of more than 180 airports in the US, is l know where your gate u’l yo so ia As d an pe ro Canada, Eu

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your GPS location. Its database has 230,000 hotels worldwide, also searchable by star rating and criteria, with results laid on the interactive map to compare prices and proximities.

TripAdvisor (Free)

Get the lowdown on hotels and restaurants from travellers just like you with the Windows Phone app of the popular web forum. A Near Me Now feature lets you find the closest place to park your weary bones.

Translator with Speech (Free) Don’t know how to order the paella with extra seafood? This app will translate

speech into other speech, from a database of 54 languages. Just say the phrase into your phone, and it will regurgitate it in a passable foreign language to a nearby waiter.

Currency (Free)

Not sure if a million rupees is a rip-off ? Convert it back to pounds sterling in this free and easy app that updates with live currency rates.

Polyglot (99p)

Translate text between more than 30 languages and play back the translation so you know what it sounds like. It works from voice to text too, so you can record what people say and get it translated.

Heathrow Airport Guide (Free)

An incredibly useful one for any frequent flyer, this app updates with live flight times. There are interactive terminal maps and listings of all the restaurants and shops to help you zip around efficiently, plus you’ll get notifications of any changes to your flight.

TheTrainline. com (Free)

Book a train, plan a journey and check all the train timetables. This streamlined app supports all the train companies and you can buy tickets up to 10 minutes before you travel, to collect from more than 1,000 stations in the UK.

TripAdvisor’s Near Me Now feature lets you park your weary bones find the closest places to

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Shopping

PayPal (Free)

Check your balance or withdraw funds to your bank account with the app version of the handy online money sender. You can also bounce money to a friend or vendor right here.

IKEA Shopping (Free)

This unofficial app tries to dilute the chaos of shopping at IKEA by providing you a single place to note down product numbers and their locations in the giant hall of item-pickup. Begone ye tiny pencil and scrap of paper with too little space to write in.

eBay (Free)

The online marketplace looks brilliant on Windows Phone tiles, elegantly housing your selling

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and buying activity as well as messages and need-to-do’s. Pin a Live Tile for items you’re bidding on to instantly check on status and get alerts near the auction’s end.

Amazon Mobile (Free)

Buy anything under the sun with the easily searchable app that can also run price comparisons with real-life shopping. Just scan a barcode or type a search term to see online prices compared. Pin the tile to Start to bring up the barcode scanner in one easy click.

ShopSavvy (Free)

This dedicated barcode and QR code scanner compares that item in front of your very nose with those online, offering you the best prices – and by closest GPS location too. User reviews can help you make that purchase decision.

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Zara (Free)

One of the first high street retailers to actually let you buy items via its app, Zara has created a sleek bit of software that also supports gift card discounts. You’ll get the latest fashions from Zara online.

Groupon (Free)

Scan the web for daily deals in your city with this monolithic voucher provider. You can buy deals and redeem the vouchers right inside the app.

Ocado on the Go (Free)

Do your weekly Waitrose shop on your phone, with this official app that will store orders and organise delivery. The ‘Your Instant Shop’ feature builds your usual order based on previous deliveries to get that milk/eggs/ bread situation sorted.

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Pin the App Detective Live Tile for instant e been searching for notifications of apps you’v

Groceries (Free)

The Tesco giant has its online shopping app too, and you can order any blessed thing in its inventory. You just need to register at Tesco.com – and if you don’t finish an order, you can pick up where you left off online.

Nectar (Free)

Shop at all the brands that belong to the Nectar loyalty card program, including Sainsbury’s, BP and Homebase. You’ll get bonus point offers and balance checking, plus a store locator to see the nearest places to accrue those sweet, sweet points.

Shopping List (Free)

Never leave the most important item off the shopping again.

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Tap your must-haves into this intuitive, good-looking listmaker, complete with checkboxes to tick as you pick things up.

Newegg (Free)

Browse the latest gear for your computer in this tech shopping app with a couple million user reviews and tons of image galleries.

Fashion (Free)

At a crossroads in your consuming? Cast your eye on this aggregated news feed of fashion sites including Couture Snob, Style Watch and the Bag Lady. Inspiration – and possibly a new asymmetrical look – awaits.

AppDetective (Free / £2.29)

Want to buy an app but it’s not on Windows Phone yet? Check this app to see the latest Android or iOS apps that have arrived at the Windows Store, and pin a Live Tile for instant notifications of the apps you’ve been searching for.

ShopGlider

(Free)

Plan your shopping by inputting your grocery lists, recipes and discount vouchers into this single app and carry it all with you everywhere – minus the usual pocketful of scrappy paper. Great for reminders of what you need (and whether you can save a bit of money on it).

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Utilities

Flashlight-X (Free)

Take advantage of your phone’s LED flash and use this app to keep it on in dark, dark situations. It turns on instantly and just keeps on going...

SuperTimer Free (Free)

Got a roast, cake or other bun in the oven? Run a timer in the background while you use your Windows Phone for something else. You can also set a message to remind you what the timer was for, anyway, while the Live Tile lets you start a timer in just one click.

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Connectivity Shortcuts (Free)

Use these Live Tiles to quickly modify your Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and coverage settings, or simply switch to airplane mode. Pin them separately to the Start Screen, or why not make four teeny tiles to sit together in a single Transformer tile of settings adjustment?

PC Remote

(Free)

Control movies and music on your Windows PC from afar with this convenient, well-built app. It puts touch-controls as well as media folders into the

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sleek Windows Phone tile design. You can manage Spotify, iTunes and other media players, or play YouTube content on the phone app to your PC’s monitor. It requires a companion program on the PC in question.

AppFlow App Discovery (Free)

How meta – an app for finding more apps. This app uses statistics and more detailed categorising than the Windows Store to give you more ways of finding new apps, with lists such as Rising Stars and Forgotten Legends, as well as numbers on the downloads.

SuperTimer keeps time in the background while you e for something else use your Windows Phon

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Customise for social updates, favourite photos and lots more information, all at a glance

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lock The

indows Phone 8 adds far more to the lock screen than its predecessor – and it’s probably one of the most interesting lock screens of any smartphone too. The wallpaper can be customised to display a photo and live wallpaper, as well as a constantly changing series of Facebook photos.

Personalise your alerts

Then there are the six different apps whose alerts you can bounce to the lock screen. Without inputting a PIN or even unlocking the phone at all, you can instantly see what messages, alerts or calls you have waiting, and even add next-level content such as the details of a Facebook notification or text message.

TRY THIS Customise your background Want a unique photo collage as your background? › Go to Settings and select ‘Lock Screen’ › Tap ‘Background’ and pick Facebook › You can now select what albums you want to feed photos from, as well as the size you want it to be.

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screen What’s the app you check the most frequently?

› You can choose Calendar, Facebook, an email account, Messaging or the dialer to show a detailed status › This means you can view a full text message, or full details of your next appointment, or the latest Facebook notification in full without having to unlock your phone › Pick the one you check the most to minimise

Get updates from more apps as well

› Windows Phone 8 supports up to five secondary notifications from Facebook, Games, email, Messaging and dialer › Pick these to show a ‘quick status’ in the lock screen settings › If you prefer a cleaner home screen, select one or more slot to show ‘None’

Adjust how long it takes the screen to dim

› To save battery, set the screen to time out and lock itself after 30 seconds › Tap the ‘Screen times out after’ box to customise the time

Set a password

› Scroll to the bottom and flick the password switch to On

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People Hub Set up your own private chat area to talk to close friends and family

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new feature for the Windows Phone 8 People Hub is the ability to create a ‘Room’. This is the perfect way to keep in touch with the most important people in your life quickly and simply. You can create your own Room via the People Hub and it’s an invitation-only space on your phone where you can share a private calendar, group chat, videos and photos with other members. Every Room member can see the chat session, each other’s messages and you can share calendars, photo albums and locations if you’re meeting up. Rooms are a perfect way for families, work colleagues or recreational groups to keep in touch with minimal fuss.

You can leave a Room by tapping the room, tap ‘leave room’ swipe to members then

TRY THIS Invite a non-Windows phone Send a Room invitation to someone on an iOS device and they’ll get a link to information on how to configure their handset’s calendar for calendar sharing.

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Five easy steps to setting up your own Room...

› Access the People Hub › Swipe along to the together page and nudge the plus sign › Add new Room › Name your Room – this is what will show up on each member’s phone › Use to your heart’s content

Room Chat

› Why send individual texts when you can send a group chat message that all members of the Room can view? All members of the Room will be able to see each other’s messages and replies so everyone stays in the loop

Shared Calendar

› Every Room comes with a shared calendar which everyone in the group can update and view. Any changes or additions are automatically synced to all members’ devices

Share your photos

› Your Room also comes with its own shared photo album. Nudge the plus symbol on the photos page to upload a new picture to the group’s album. You can even save the picture to your phone or set them as your lock screen

Add notes

› You can create to do lists for your Room’s members via OneNote as well. Great for flatmates to delegate weekly chores, shopping lists and shared tasks for that week

Change your background

› Anyone in the group can change the Room’s background image. Simply nudge ‘...’ and select to change the background. You can choose any image stored on your phone, saved to SkyDrive or from your Facebook albums

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Control what content your kids have access to when they play with your smartphone

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Kid’s

id’s Corner is perfect for parents who are happy to share their smartphones with their kids but who want to protect sensitive information like work emails and apps not suitable for their age group. It’s just like parental controls on your computer, and grants your children access only to the apps and features that you deem appropriate. They can personalise the Start screen themselves and make it their own, listen to music you’ve selected, view videos you’ve okayed and play games you want them too. This great feature gives you peace of mind when it comes to sharing the technology you enjoy with the people you love.

TRY THIS kid-free zone Make sure you add a passcode to your phone. Your kids won’t be able to access your home screen from Kid’s Corner – unless the phone goes into standby mode, which causes it to revert to your profile. Putting a passcode on your profile means there is no way they can navigate to your content.

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Corner For your child's phone If your child uses a Windows Phone you can set up My Family to control what apps and games they are allowed to access.

Colourful home screen

› Choose a cute picture for your kid’s lock screen, › Go to windows phone.com on your PC › Tap Explore then My Family, and sign in with your Microsoft account › Click Get Started, then Go and enter your child's Microsoft account and password › Tap Fix It to get your child's name into My Family › Next to their name, you can now click Change settings and select whether they can download paid-for apps (or any at all) › You can also set a game rating filter to limit the types of games your child can view and download

or better yet let them choose or take their own using the phone’s camera

Plenty of choice

› Your kids can rename their Kid’s Corner page to whatever they like at any time, or change the colour of their Start Screen

How to set up Kid’s Corner

› Tap the Kid’s Corner tile › Turn the feature on › Nudge the apps, games and media you think appropriate › Press the ‘launch kid’s corner’ button and you’ll see its home screen › Nudge ‘customise’ to name the home screen, select a background and accent colour or let your little ones do it for themselves

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Game on

› Probably the number one reason your kids love your smartphone is the games you’ve downloaded. Using Kid’s Corner you can screen which games they are allowed to play and keep them happy for a few more hours

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Get the most from your camera and capture stunning shots

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hanks to smartphones we now have powerful everyday cameras right in our pockets, making it possible to snap our friends and family wherever we go. You’ll want to get the best possible results before sharing with the world, so let us explain some of the jargon, give you tips on how to get the best possible shot, and run through the editing process so your photo looks truly professional.

Edit to perfection

When viewing a photo, go to the options menu and select ‘edit’.You will see four new icons appear at the bottom of your screen (or right if held horizontally).

› Magic wand: A tap of the ‘fix’ icon automatically adjusts brightness and saturation levels, to rescue dull, dark or over-exposed shots. A marvellous tool! › Slice ‘n’ dice: The ‘crop’ icon allows you to cut down a photo, removing pointless bits at the edges. Adjust the crop box by dragging the blue corners, then tap the tick to save

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› You spin me right round: The ‘rotate’ icon does what it says on the tin, spinning the photo 90 degrees clockwise › Job done: When you’re happy with your tweaking, hit the ‘save’ icon to preserve your work. Be warned that your original photo is overwritten! Simply quit out of the photos app to avoid saving if you don’t like the edit

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pro Jargon Buster

As with all good hobbies, photography is bursting with jargon. Here are a couple of options you may see buried in your camera’s settings.

› ISO – The ISO rating determines how sensitive the camera is to light. A higher ISO means the camera is more sensitive, which brightens up dim scenes. But a high ISO can also result in grainy or ‘spotty’ photos › Megapixels – a way of measuring photo resolution, this is the number of pixels in each shot you take (found by multiplying the number of horizontal pixels by the number of vertical pixels). Don’t assume that bigger is better – unless you’re blowing photos up to poster size, you’re unlikely to notice any difference beyond about five megapixels. Also, as you increase the megapixels you also bump up the size of each file › White Balance – Photos can look dramatically different depending on the lighting involved, be it natural sunlight or dingy disco bulbs. White balance is your camera’s method of compensating for weird lighting conditions. You can adjust it manually with pre-set modes such as ‘cloudy’ or ‘sunny’, to reflect your environment

Light it up

Most phone cameras struggle in low light, resulting in grainy or dark shots. Thankfully a lot of modern smartphones also have a built-in flash which helps considerably, but if your phone is missing a flash, there are other options. Many Windows phones such as the Nokia Lumia 920 are well equipped to

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deal with evening shots, keeping the shutter open longer to let in more light. The only problem is that even tiny hand motions can result in blurry shots. Try resting your phone on a ledge or some other solid surface to keep it steady, or maybe invest in a mini tripod if you take a lot of evening snaps.

Of course, you should also think about lighting when you’re snapping in the daytime. If you’re shooting a person, try to keep the sun off to one side. Your subject will be a dark shadowy blur if the sun’s behind them, or they will end up squinting painfully if it’s behind you.

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How your phone and some handy apps can help you work faster and better

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he era of being able to blame the dog for shredding your spreadsheets is long gone – these days, we are saving important work online rather than on a hard drive, and using phones to edit documents we once would have reserved for a PC. We can collaborate on projects online without having to step out of our trackies, and work from anywhere.

You can use OneNote as a voice recorder just tap the mic icon

Always on...

Of course, this blurring of the ol’ work-life boundary is a doubleedged sword. Multitasking can aid productivity, but never taking a breather can tank it – plus no dinner date enjoys the sight of you of tapping furiously away on that email you just have to send right this minute to catch the New York workday. Here are the slickest, quickest ways to deal with work and leisure.

TRY THIS sync your gadgets Own a Windows 8 tablet? Be sure you sign in with the same Hotmail or Microsoft account as your Windows Phone 8 in order for the two to sync.

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uctivity Use OneNote for memos that instantly sync

› Tap on the One Note tile › Select the notebook you would like to add the note to and hit ‘+’ › If you’re writing a list, try the bullet-point option and, if it’s your to-do tasks, use the checkbox option to tick ’em off for that much-relished sense of accomplishment › A picture speaks a thousand words, right? Add a photo to a note, either from your picture library or by taking one right there › Save the note and it’ll automatically go to SkyDrive, where it will be accessible from anywhere with an internet connection › You can view and edit shared notes too, including notebooks from Rooms (see page 106)

Streamline Facebook alerts

Facebook birthdays and events automatically stream to your Calendar. To stem the flow of info: › Press the ellipsis and select ‘Settings’ › Scroll to the Facebook-tagged Calendar › Tick ‘Only show Facebook events I’ve responded to’ or just swipe to turn it off entirely

Get your inbox down to zero

Clear your mail by archiving or simply deleting › In your inbox, tap the second icon › Tick the emails that you’ve dealt with › Tap the rubbish icon for deletion, or the appropriate folder to move it to one of your existing folders

Turn off notifications in order to maintain focus › Go to ‘Settings’ then ‘Email + Accounts’ › You can manage notifications from all email and social network accounts from right here

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Use your Windows tablet or phone to transform your Xbox 360 into a media powerhouse

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our games console isn’t just for the latest blockbuster releases. It has become a media hub populated with demos, video streaming apps and music download services. The beauty of Windows 8 is that it can bring all aspects of your digital life together, and another great feature to enhance that is SmartGlass.

Remote control your Xbox

SmartGlass is a companion application that lets you turn your Windows 8 device into a remote control and at times a second screen for your Xbox 360 games console. Download the app, connect your device and you can ditch the console’s controller for a touchscreen interface. Messaging your friends over Xbox Live also becomes much easier using the app, as you can use the touch-screen of your tablet or phone instead of navigating the on-screen keyboard via your controller.

Turn on your Xbox 360 and activate SmartGlass to your console it will automatically sync

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rtglass

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How to activate SmartGlass...

› Turn on your Xbox 360 › Download SmartGlass from the Store › Access the app via your home screen or Games tile › Sign into SmartGlass › Nudge Remote and use your touch-screen to navigate your Xbox entertainment

Swipe the screen

› SmartGlass lets your fingers do the walking. Engage the remote function and what you swipe on your touch-screen device moves the menus on your Xbox. Tap the screen to select and use the coloured on-screen buttons to navigate your way around

Check it out on your tablet, watch on your TV

› You can browse Xbox Entertainment content on your phone or tablet’s SmartGlass app, then hit ‘Play on Xbox’ and watch it on your television

Messaging made easy

› Typing messages via the Xbox controller can take longer than you’d like, but using the touch-screen of your Windows 8 phone or tablet makes this experience much easier and more intuitive

Two screens are better than one

› SmartGlass means you have two screens of content and some Xbox 360 games are SmartGlass compatible. For instance while playing Halo 4 and using the app you can browse your character’s stats while you play, such as your favourite weapons and number of kills. You can also get extra info, trivia and other titbits using the app

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Where you can use SmartGlass on your Xbox Music Store

Explore new songs and artists, with millions of songs to choose from. A monthly Xbox Music Pass subscription gives you unlimited access to the entire Xbox Music library from your Windows Phone, tablet or on your Xbox 360. Use SmartGlass to navigate the service and extra information about the artist will display on your Windows 8 device as you listen

Xbox Video

Rent or purchase the latest episodes of your favourite TV shows or new movies through your Windows 8 device.You can even start browsing on your tablet then pick up where you left off on your TV. SmartGlass makes this service even easier to browse. Navigate the Store for the content you want, select it then hit ‘play to Xbox.’ Your phone or tablet can pause the action or you can swipe to the time you want using your touch-screen

4oD

Channel 4’s catch up service is full of the most recent programmes and documentaries as well as an extensive archive of the channel’s classic shows spanning its 30-year history. Using SmartGlass you can navigate the series and episode lists in less time and with less fuss

Internet Explorer

You can navigate your Xbox’s internet browser the same way you would on your phone or tablet. Once you’ve connected SmartGlass to the console, drag the pointer using the touch-screen, tap to select and even pinch to zoom for a closer look at selected web pages. You can also tap the web hub icon to see favourite pages, or the mobile icon to open the webpage on your phone or tablet

Pin SmartGlass to your homescreen for easy access your pantheon of remotes in jo ll wi et bl ta or e on and your ph

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Xbox 360

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SkyDrive T

o use Windows Phone to its utmost, you need SkyDrive. It underpins just about every highlight of the enhanced access-anywhere qualities of this next-gen OS. Every photo you take, every office document you create, even the instant-messengers you download are synced across Windows devices using your SkyDrive account. You’ll be able to use it on Xbox and Windows Phone as well as Windows computers and tablets, so you can easily listen to music from your computer on your Windows Phone, or use the Xbox to check out phone photos on your HDTV.

It’s like 1, 2, 3...

Luckily all you need to do to set it up is input your Microsoft account details. When starting up your Windows Phone for the first time, you’ll either input your Hotmail or Live email address, or sign up for a new one. Either way, a SkyDrive account will be linked to the address and content from your phone will automatically be backed up

To sync a computer with SkyDrive

› Download the Windows Desktop or SkyDrive for Mac app › A SkyDrive folder will be created, so drag anything you would like to sync into this folder › Now any file can be accessed from anywhere that supports SkyDrive – including your humble web browser To view all shared content from a single handy place, hit SkyDrive.com and enter your Microsoft account details

TRY THIS the skydrive app for xbox If you download the SkyDrive app for Xbox you can view backed up photos, documents and movies on your HDTV via your Xbox.

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Friends for life › All your contacts are backed up here. Just tap the People tab to view or add more contacts – they’ll automatically sync to your phone too

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e

This cloud storage app is also the base for work, social and media skills on your mobile Chat discreetly on SkyDrive.com If you’ve added Facebook and Hotmail accounts to your phone, you can use their associated chat programs from SkyDrive.com – in other words, without actually having Facebook chat open. Win

Manage your email and social You can link your Google, LinkedIn, Flickr as well as Facebook and Hotmail accounts into SkyDrive.com, allowing you to see photos and contacts from these services

Stream movies from your home PC on your phone › When setting up SkyDrive on your computer for the first time, make sure you check the box to make its files available online, even if they’re not in the designated SkyDrive folder. › Now you can stream movies or show off photos on another computer via SkyDrive.com, even if you forgot to pop the folder in your PC’s SkyDrive folder

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

Share files saved from your phone › Any pictures and documents you’ve shared with Rooms are on the homepage of your SkyDrive portal. You can open any photo to view where and when you took it, and share it via Twitter and email here

Organise an HD photo library › Photos are automatically saved in high-resolution to SkyDrive, organised by folder and type

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SkyDrive for work

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s our lives increasingly head online, work becomes an amorphous state we’re almost always in – whether it’s answering that email or making on the fly edits to that big presentation, it’s become necessary to be able to access pretty much all our work online and from anywhere. SkyDrive makes that less of a headache by automatically syncing work you do on your Windows Phone 8 or Windows tablet. And if you created that SkyDrive folder on your computer (previous page), you can easily make sure any documents or spreadsheets of the workday are sent to the cloud too. Check out some other ways SkyDrive can make your office more efficient.

Skyhigh prices? Every SkyDrive account hosts 7GB free, more per year is... 50; 100GB £30 20GB £6.50; 50GB £15.

On Windows Phone? You don’t need a SkyDrive app SkyDrive works in the background for Windows Phones, so you can just enter any app that supports SkyDrive sharing – Office, Camera, Media – to access documents, photos or media that you’ve shared from your other Windows devices. If you do use a different phone, you can still download the SkyDrive app and backup content from your smartphone by using the standard ‘share’ option.

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Create OneNote, Excel, Word or Powerpoint

TRY THIS bring it home If someone has shared a file through SkyDrive, you can open it in the web app, then choose ‘Open in Excel’ (or Word or Powerpoint) to edit it in your fuller-featured desktop program. If you’re on a computer without the Microsoft Office suite, you can hit up SkyDrive. com, then use the web apps to create and edit documents. Needless to say, you can then access it from your phone to finish the job. It saves in real time so you can just hit the back button on your browser to get back to SkyDrive main screen.

Create a Group

On your phone, you can create Rooms (page 106) to share content – but only with other Windows Phone users. On SkyDrive, you can create a group simply via its members’ email addresses. They just need to sign up for SkyDrive.com account. You can then set up a special group address to send emails to every member of the group, a particularly handy form of low-key online collaboration

Once you've got a group, you can: › Upload any file from your computer in the group for online access › View all email messages previously sent › Add a group calendar

Collaborate in real-time

Share a file with colleagues, then edit online at the same time. › Just tap share in a document to invite collaborators via email, or even embed the file in a blog post › When the recipient hits the link, they can edit the file › You can see in the bottom right if someone else is editing the file. All changes are saved automatically with versions tracked so colleagues can edit simultaneously

limit on any There’s a 2GB large file SkyDrive one document saved on

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secure Keep strangers out of your confidential files and find your phone if it’s lost or stolen

your phone

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hat moment when you reach into your pocket or bag only to grasp at air is stomachcrunchingly horrible. Staring incredulously at the phoneshaped space where your mobile normally resides, you think about all the important, confidential things you have on there – photos, passwords, contact details, emails, maybe even bank details. That’s why it’s essential to secure your phone as soon as possible, and we’ll talk you through it right now.

Find my phone

This free service on windowsphone. com can locate, ring, or even erase your phone remotely, in case it falls into the wrong hands. All you need is a computer connected to the internet. Set it up Before you can use Find My Phone, you’ll first have to create a Windows Phone account and then set up the service. On your computer, browse to windowsphone.com. In the top-right corner of the website

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you’ll see a picture of a phone. Hover over it with the mouse cursor, then click ‘Find My Phone’. This is the tool that allows you to map, lock or erase your phone remotely. When prompted, sign in with the same Microsoft account you used to sign in on your phone. You’ll be given simple instructions to set up Find My Phone. Using it In the ‘Find My Phone’ section of windowsphone.com, you can do the following:

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None shall pass!

A simple and effective way of keeping strangers out of your phone is to set a password. › Go to Settings, then ‘Lock + wallpaper’ › Flick the ‘Password’ switch to on, then enter your password or PIN in both the ‘New password’ and ‘Confirm password’ text boxes. Choose something memorable that no one else could easily guess › Tap ‘Done’ and your password is saved. You will need to enter this every time you wake your phone from hibernation

› Check your phone’s location

› Ring your phone On the ‘Find My Phone’ page, click ‘Ring’, then follow the instructions. Remotely calling your mobile in this way will make it ring loudly even if it is in vibrate mode. This is a great way of finding your phone if it’s hiding somewhere in your house.

now, which will be used to unlock the phone from now on. You can also type a message to display on your phone’s lock screen. Try entering an email address or phone number, so anyone who finds your phone can contact you.

› Erase your phone You should see a map, which shows the current location of your mobile. If the location isn’t highlighted, click the ‘Find My Phone’ button above the map, or the ‘Refresh’ button. You can print a copy if needed.

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› Lock your phone and show a message On the ‘Find My Phone’ page, click ‘Lock’, then follow the instructions. If you don’t already have a password set up on your phone, you’ll need to enter one

This is a last resort if you think you’ll never find your phone, or, like James Bond, you need to delete some sensitive information. On ‘Find Your Phone’, click ‘Erase’. Follow instructions to complete.

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upd System

Make sure your phone is fully up to date

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indows Phone may already be wonderful, but Microsoft is constantly updating the OS to make it as user-friendly and feature-packed as possible. That’s where the system updates come in. These are basically little tweaks to the way your phone runs, often adding in fresh new tools and other benefits. Previously you would have to hook your phone to a PC to perform these updates when they were ready, but now you can receive them wirelessly for minimal hassle. Here’s how to quickly and easily update your phone.

Find the ‘Phone Update’ feature

Phone Update is buried away in the settings menu: just look for the ‘Phone Update’ option and tap it. Manual or automatic updates › In the Phone Update screen you’ll see a button that can be used to manually check for updates, along with a counter that tells you how long it’s been since the phone last looked for a system update › You’ll also see two options:‘Tell me when updates are available for my phone’ and ‘Automatically download

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updates if my data settings allow it’

› If you have the first option checked, your phone will periodically scan for new updates and bring up a message if anything is found. To disable this, simply uncheck the box. You will then have to manually search for updates by hitting the ‘check for updates’ button. Downloading an update › If an update is found, it may download immediately if you have left the ‘automatically download updates if my data settings allow it’ box checked, depending on your

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ates TRY THIS jailbreaking your mobile

network connection. Otherwise, you will be prompted to allow the update › Before performing an update, be wary that they can often be quite large files. To avoid hitting your data quota, we strongly recommend performing updates only when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network › The download should take a few minutes. Your phone will reset and install the update when it has finished downloading. You’ll see two white gears turning while the update is being installed, then an ‘update done!’ message when it’s complete

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW about

› Jailbreaking, otherwise known as rooting, may sound like a thrilling and dangerous procedure, but in actuality it involves hacking your phone so it can do things that are otherwise off-limits. For instance, a jailbroken phone allows the operator access into the hidden files, to tweak how the hardware operates or allow ‘illegal’ apps to be installed. Jailbreaking a phone is a slightly complex procedure, involving connecting it to a PC and running special software to crack through its security measures. There was a ‘homebrew’ software crack available for Windows Phone 7 which anyone could download, and we’re sure it won’t be long before one appears for Windows Phone 8. We don’t advocate hacking into your phone, of course, as it’s lovely just the way it is.

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wallet/

Microsoft

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osing your wallet will soon be a thing of the past, as smartphones become the new billfold and your cold hard cash becomes virtual currency instantly replaceable in the event of theft. Microsoft Wallet is a Windows Phone 8 app that stores your bank cards, loyalty cards and even voucher discounts to save you dosh (while helping you spend it quicker and easier, obviously). The Wallet works with NFC technology built into all new Windows Phones, allowing the phone and other NFC devices such as payment terminals to communicate wirelessly. It’s the same technology used for the Oyster card on the London Underground, and once you load a payment card onto the phone, you’ll be able to pay for purchases under £15 at about 100,000 high street retailers across the UK. Think usual suspects such as Pret a Manger and EAT. You can also download coupons and loyalty cards to the app, allowing you to accrue points or get discounts with a swipe. Later on, deals will appear in the Wallet app.

Pin deals to your start screen them! so you remember to use

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NFC

Store your loyalty cards, banking cards and discount vouchers in this handy, secure digital app

All your cards

› Windows Phone will import your operator account, for example, our Orange account that allows us to buy apps from the Store without having to input card details. › If you have a credit card associated with your Microsoft account – to buy apps, for instance – that will be imported too. › You can manually add cards, and Wallet will try to find apps that link to the cards – for example, your bank’s app, or a membership app

Find, store and share deals › Here’s where you’ll see deals that you can download or search through

› At press time, this feature was not set up for the UK but you can manually add deal info – such as from Groupon

In the future...

› As more retailers and companies join in the digital wallet trend, deal and voucher apps that work with Microsoft Wallet will be recommended here. Just download to your Wallet, and swipe at the appropriate store when at the till

TRY THIS when in windows store… › Your Wallet PIN can also be used to protect your app purchases in the Store. Just turn it on from Wallet, and check this box.

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COMPETITION WINDOWS PHONE 8

WIN

a Windows Phone 8 To get you started with Windows, we’re giving away a

WINDOWS PHONE 8X by HTC

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his brilliant media superphone is the signature Windows Phone device, showcasing its smartest features in a sleek, well-built chassis that packs an astoundingly fast camera and blistering processor. With Beats Audio amping up your tunes, and a high-resolution, hyper-sharp 4.3-inch display, this is your ultimate handset for movies, music and photos. And with Windows Phone 8 onboard, your work and social lives are just as easily connected. To enter, all you have to do is answer these five questions. Which type of smartphone do you currently use?   Android   iPhone   Windows Phone   Nokia Symbian   BlackBerry  I don’t use a smartphone Will you be switching to Windows Phone 8?

Which features of Windows Phone 8 interest you the most? Check all that apply

  Social

  Office   SkyDrive   Gaming  Maps and free sat-nav  Camera and/or video  Other (please specify)

  Yes   No   I already use it Name Address

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Email Tel

Do you currently own any of the following tablets?   iPad   Android   Other   I don’t own a tablet Will you consider purchasing a Windows 8 RT tablet?   Yes   No   I already own one

Send your answers to:

Windows Phone 8 Competition, Mobile Choice, 14-16 Great Pulteney Street, London, W1F 9ND You can also enter online at www.mobilechoiceuk.com/WP8comp  Closing date: 1 January 2013 By entering this competition you agree to allow Mobile Choice, Noble House Media Ltd and companies associated with this competition to contact you (by mail, email, telephone, SMS or fax) regarding their services. If you do not wish to receive such communications, please contact us in writing. Rules Entries must be made online or on this entry form and must be received no later than 1 January 2013. No cash alternative will be offered and we reserve the right to supply equivalent prizes in the unlikely event that the main prize is unavailable. No employees of Mobile Choice or HTC may enter the competition. The editor’s decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into. The winner’s name will be available on written request.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT

EXPERT REVIEWS HOTTEST NEWS EXCLUSIVE VIDEOS ULTIMATE GUIDES TONS OF MOBILE TECH TO WIN

Check us out online www.mobilechoiceuk.com (and don’t forget to follow us for the latest news and reviews first) MobileChoice

Mobile_Choice

MOBILECHOICEUK.COM

Brings you

Windows 8 Phone

Live tiles gives you real-time

People hub your social networks are in one place, so you’ll always be in the loop.

Wallet app a tool, for NFC

Office hub mobile versions of Word, Excel & PowerPoint to help you work on the go.

Smart glass turns your

TellMe launch and control

updates on all the things you care about and love.

phone into a “smart second screen” for your Xbox 360.

payments and storage of card-like information.

apps with your voice and talk to your phone.

The network

Go online today for a great deal! www.affordablemobiles.co.uk Subject to pay monthly subscription, credit clearance and eligibility to selected network tariffs for a minimum term. All offers, prices and availability are subject to change and are correct at time of print. Product pictures are strictly for illustrative purposes only. Other Terms and Conditions apply, see www. affordablemobiles.co.uk for full details.