Impressions of TechEd EMEA 2013

I haven’t updated this blog in a while. I took my time to (hand-) write a cook book for my daughter.

I apologize to my readers and promise to frequently update this blog with new content.

Having said that, last week I was at TechEd EMEA 2013 in Madrid as a staff member at the Windows Phone booth.

Since I am very passionate about Windows Phone it was a great opportunity to talk to people from all over Europe about Windows Phones and some of the features in Windows Phone.

 

Here is a list of the most frequent asked questions:

 

– “Why is there no screenshot option on Windows Phone?”

There is. Simultaneously press the power button and the Windows button. The screenshot  will automatically be saved into an album called “Screenshots” in your picture hub.

 

– “How can I set the phone’s language to my native language?”

Settings > system > language + region

You can pick the language, the region, the regional format for date and the Browser & search language. In order to apply those changes you have to restart your phone.

WP_20130702

– “How do I know which version of Windows Phone I have?”

Settings > About > More info

 

– “Why do I get the error message ‘Attention required. Tap here’ when I try to download an app?

Your phone might have temporarily lost its Internet connection, or you might be trying to download an app that’s too big to download over your phone’s cellular data connection. If you’re trying to download an app larger than 50 MB you need to connect to a Wifi network, or  connect the phone to your computer and use the Zune software (only in case of Windows Phone 7.x devices).

 

– “When I set up my phone I skipped the Windows Live ID sign-in. How can I do that now?”

You will be prompted for Windows Live ID sign in the next time you perform a Windows Phone activity that requires Windows Live ID sign in, such as downloading apps or buying music and videos from Marketplace, or playing Xbox LIVE games.
From this prompt, tap sign in to sign in with an existing Windows Live ID or create a new one.

 

– “How can I change my Windows Live ID?”

In order to change the Windows Live ID used to access features like Marketplace you need to reset your phone. This will erase will erase all your personal content, including apps that you purchased and downloaded, and will restore the factory settings. You may not be able to transfer purchased content to a different Windows Live ID.

Other email accounts, including additional Windows Live accounts, can be removed or added without resetting your phone.

 

– “I have multiple Windows Live IDs. I forgot which one I used when I set up my phone. How can I find out?”

Settings > Email & Accounts

The first Email address listed is the one you signed in to Windows Phone.

 

– “Which one is your favourite Windows Phone device?”

First of all there are no ‘bad’ Windows Phones. Even so called low end devices like the Nokia Lumia 520 or the HTC 8S are smooth running Windows Phones with all features. You even can expand the 8 GB storage with a Micro SD storage card. The only thing that you don’t have with these Phones is NFC and a front face camera. If you are looking for a first phone for your child, those devices are a great choice.

I myself have my heart set on two Windows Phones:

The Nokia Lumia 925: This is the Ferrari amongst the Windows Phones. It has it all: NFC, 8.7 MP back camera, 1.2 MP front camera, 16 GB storage (not expandable), a CPU speed of 1.5 GHz, 1 GB RAM and with a beautiful 4.5” screen just like the Nokia Lumia 920. It is thinner than the 920 though and looks very elegant.

However, for my small hands that would be a little too big. I never really was a Ferrari kind of person, always have been an Audi person. That’s why my real favourite is the Nokia Lumia 720: The specs are: NFC, 6.7 MP back camera, 1.3 MP front camera, 8 GB storage (expandable with Micro SD card), CPU 1.0 GHz, 512 MB RAM and a 4.3” screen.

 

These were some of the most frequent asked questions at TechEd last week. I enjoyed talking to people and sharing my passion about Windows Phone with people from all over Europe.

I am looking forward to TechEd next year and I hope I can be part of it again.

 

To be continued…

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2013
07/02
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Hello, World, Again!

Welcome to my new blog.

Many of my readers already followed my blog on http://andreahaubner.blog.com. Unfortunately in the last few weeks that site was unreachable, so I decided to move that blog.

I started with rewriting all previous post, before there will be new content.

When I started that blog I didn’t know anything about let’s say computer – related stuff. I didn’t know C#, I didn’t know Silverlight, I did not even know how to properly set up a blog. In other words: I knew nothing.

So I picked the first suggestion for a blog that I could find. And to be honest, I did like the fact, that it said “blog.com”. I found that kind of appropriate.

There were people telling me, that I picked the wrong site for my blog, but since I wanted to do that all on my own (that blog was my baby) I did not listen to them.

Well, I better should have! Because my blog has been down so many times. I could not reach it, I could not update it… Nothing! Alone in the last 4 weeks, I was able to reach it once, and today.

So I decided to move my blog. Every entry I made there, will be here as well. And soon there will be new content.

To be continued…

2012
03/22
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The VibrateController Class

I am currently working on another Windows Phone Application, where I needed a way to show the user that they had successfully performed a task and therefore unlocked another feature inside the application.

First idea was adding some sound, but somehow I was not happy with that. So I thought, why not let the phone vibrate?

It’s actually not that hard. The Windows Phone 7 SDK allows me to control the vibrate function easily.

In the namespace Microsoft.Devices there is a class defined with the name ‘VibrateController’.

The only code I need for that function is:

When the user clicks the particular button, the phone vibrates.

A few thoughts to keep in mind:

1. the shortest vibration / pause is 0.1 seconds.

2. the longest is 5 seconds, but that is not recommended.

3. 3 vibrations in one sequence are enough.

4. 0.2 / 0.3 are good choices for an alert.

 

Here you can find more information about the VibrateController Class.

 

To be continued…

2012
01/25
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