When it comes to smartphones, there’s a new game in town, and its called Win Phone 8 ! Microsoft has just released its newest phone software, and coupled with devices from Nokia, HTC, and Samsung, these new phones bring amazing new technologies to cellular users worldwide. Here are some of the things that were emphasized at the launch, and some of these may be very important to you.
People are the focus of the design
While other phones have lots of icons to run all their apps, this phone has “live tiles” with content that constantly changes in a format totally designed by you. A single glance at the screen will keep you updated without any need to enter your apps. WIth a Win 8 Phone you are not a part of the herd, looking just like everyone else. Your phone is all about you, and that should be unique.
Integration: Do more in one place
We often hear “there’s an app for that”. However, how many apps must you cruise through to get a task done. With Win 8 phones you find your apps tie together, and work together from the same “hub”. For example, look up one of your contacts and you have instant viewing of their basic information, but you also see their social networking status ( including pictures, posts, etc ), and a whole lot more … all from the same place. Looking for a place to dine ? One keystroke gives you a list of local places, and when you select one, you get reviews, directions, one touch calling, and even the ability to make a reservation online. Integration ties everything together.
Safely stay in your data plan
Integrated data sense knows about your data plan and optimizes your phone to not exceed the allowed amount each month. It will automatically detect, and use, wi-fi whenever it is available. It optimizes browsing, giving you 45% more usage. It keeps you informed of your status automatically, and constantly optimizes your useage.
Kids Corner: Protect your important information while the kids play with your phone
Kids love to use your smartphone, but you don’t want them going places and spending money without your permission. With Kids Corner, you can now hand them your phone with the assurance they will be using only what you have made available to them, in the way you have selected.
Instantly import your iTunes music
If you have a large iTunes collection of music, its not a problem. You can now import your complete iTunes library into your Win 8 phone … and very quickly.
Organize your contacts into rooms
Now you can quickly access selected groups of people by organizing them into rooms. You might start with your family. Win 8 phones will allow you to see all activity for any room, or do bulk communications. You can pin a room to a live start tile, and watch all updates by anyone in the room be posted live from your start screen.
Free skydrive makes your information available anywhere, anytime
You can post anything to Sky Drive and the first 7 GB is free. You can store content there for any amount of time you wish ( while other systems limit items to 30 days ), and those files are available to any device running Windows 8 … all seamlessly integrated into the applications. Its automatic, and instantaneous.
Its voice controlled
Actually, voice enabled was provided with Win 7 phones, but it is now available to all the apps and works quite well. Sure you can use it to start apps, communicate via text, and ask for information. You can even use voice to dictate notes and have them stored immediately to Sky Drive as text.
Yes, there are apps
Fans of smartphones like to talk about the number of apps, and they instantly criticize other companies for not having as many ! What does that really mean ? Some companies will tell you they have nearly 700,000 apps. Win phone has 170,000 and adds 100’s every day. So how many will you actually use ? The fact is, of the top 50 apps for smartphones, 46 are already on Win 8 Phone ! In addition, it has a lot of integrated features that other phones require apps to perform. You will also find Skype tightly integrated into the system so it doesn’t rob you of valuable resources. You might like Pandora with its one year of free subscription music, included ! How about a special version of Facebook, integrated Twitter, and some of your favorite games. Of course, all apps, including Windows Office, are all working system wide, from desktop to notebook, to tablet, to PHONE !
How about those phones ?
The comments so far are related to all windows phones because they are in the operating system. However, the manufacturers have added some incredible features, like 8 mega pixel cameras, special photo software and image stabilization, incredible sound, and displays that run 4.3” to 4.8” for greater viewing area. You can view all of the new Windows 8 phones at a local Microsoft store, or at the major carriers ( AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile ).
And finally, a word about, and to, the critics. It is so easy to be negative about anything. Most often people will claim that anything other than what they have is junk, even if they have not seen the other products, or used them. If you are considering a change of phones, then these are worth looking at carefully. If you are totally pleased with your phone, then you should continue to use it while it serves your needs. Some people will say “they don’t sell many of those” and that has been true. Salespeople with most wireless carriers will sell what puts the most money in their pocket, and usually those are the other phones. Often its hard to find someone in your carrier’s store that actually knows these phones ! That is going to change. They don’t know Windows 8, either, but that only speaks about their failure to embrace what is available, not the quality of the product. Those who have invested in Win 7 phones have incredibly high satisfaction scores.
Windows 8 phones may be just what you are looking for, and they will soon be available in the stores. If you are in the market for an upgrade, this is an option worth considering !