Advice wanted for my Nokia Lumia Phone

[KeyboardDemon]

So while I was away in America I picked up a Nokia Lumia phone and so far I am really happy with it, but I was hoping that some of the more experienced Windows Phone 8 users on here would be able to give me some general tips and advice on how to get more from it. Such as the best apps, ways to make the battery last longer etc...

The key thing I really want right now though is a management app that I can run on my PC to do things like organise the tiles on my phone's start screen.

[BobF64]

I highly recommend wpcentral.com, completely personal opinion about it, just has a lot of useful info about Windows Phones.

Now, assuming its Windows Phone 8, as far as battery saving goes...

make sure you set the phone to only use the best network you get, probably 3G, unless youre likely to get a 4G signal

disable the "tap to wake" option, its not hard to press the button on the side and disable the extra sensitive option, if its a Lumia with the option (Settings -> Display + Touch -> Touch)

setting Glance to something other than "always on" helps too (Settings -> Glance)

As for managing it from an app, im not sure it does that, managing it on the phone shouldnt be that tricky, just tap and hold from the apps list to pin it to the start screen, although theres no real need to pin apps that dont provide live tiles, just swipe left and access the list. Once you get to 30something apps, it enables letter/number grouping, just tap a letter and then tap the first letter of the app you want to scroll to that group.

[KeyboardDemon]

Thanks for that Bob, the reason I wanted an app to manage it was I know that as soon as friends start 'playing' with my phone as they want to see it they will inevitably move my tiles around so an app on my PC to restore things to their desired locations would help.

I like the suggestion to disable the double tab to wake option, I found that this rarely works well for me and often had to double tap several times anyway but didn't know it was using more power for this feature, I did also find in my applications settings that I could stop a number of apps from running in the background. Also I set my glance to peek which will flash the time on the screen for about 15 seconds when I pull it out of my pocket which I think is better than turning on the screen and then turning it off again just to check the time.

[BobF64]

Yea, double tap is a feature thats more useful on some of the other WP8 phones, i think the Samsung or HTCs, where the power button is at the top, the Lumias is nicely placed on the side.

As far as I understood, it takes more power because something has to run in the background monitoring for taps on the screen.

There are a few apps out there, I cant recall which, that have been linked to battery drain as well, so if you suddenly find its not lasting long, look at what you most recently installed.

[TheAnimus]

KeyboardDemon, enable the kids mode.

This allows select apps to be run without unlocking the phone. It's like a sandbox.

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/ho...up-kids-corner

[KeyboardDemon]

There are a few apps out there, I cant recall which, that have been linked to battery drain as well, so if you suddenly find its not lasting long, look at what you most recently installed.

Nice. I'm using a program called Battery that reports battery use per hour and then alerts me when this exceed a certain percantage per hour. I have also noticed how it can take quite a while to fully charge the phone as well, I'm not sure if the charger discharges the battery before charging it first, but so far I am seeing it report that the best I can get is about 40% per hour.

KeyboardDemon, enable the kids mode.

This allows select apps to be run without unlocking the phone. It's like a sandbox.

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/ho...up-kids-corner

I actually thought that this was a bit of a gimmick, but can see it being quite a handy feature when you describe it like that.

[johnnyb69]

Here is what I use on my Lumia:
- accuweather -weather
- battery performance (battery level, nice extra features)
- easyRing & Music (ringtones)
- LastPass
- Network Speed Test
- ProShot
- Super Calendar - indeed a super calendar, you may instal the trial and still use it without any issues
- sysapp pusher - best updater for Nokia apps
- wpcentral - a must have for new apps and forums
- Youtube Pro

I hope the above list will be of use for you

[the.elles.d]

Yea, double tap is a feature thats more useful on some of the other WP8 phones, i think the Samsung or HTCs, where the power button is at the top, the Lumias is nicely placed on the side.

As far as I understood, it takes more power because something has to run in the background monitoring for taps on the screen.

That's why I have disabled it. Not worth it imho.

KeyboardDemon, enable the kids mode.

This allows select apps to be run without unlocking the phone. It's like a sandbox

Problem is, it's not really a sandbox. For example, playing games changes your score as well
It it were completely sandbox solution, it would have been a great feature.

[cheesepiece]

Loved my Lumia 800, will be returning to Nokia when BlackBerry go bust.

[redkirigi]

Caution: Don't let the device completely discharge, sometime it refuses to start. It's a known issue with Nokia Lumia - some problem with firmware.
Happened to my phone, luckily it was in warranty, Nokia repaired it. Though I lost all my photos.

[brs]

As long as you have backup on, your settings and applications should be able to be restored. I have it off most of the time and occasionally turn it on and hit 'backup now'/ I may delete something and I don't want that automatically backed up. Also the same with photos and SMS. Good to have but can be a big battery drain.

[brs]

And one other suggestion is the Nokia wireless charger. I thought it was a bit of a gimmick, as it is plugged in instead of the phone, so why bother, but then I learned that it turns off when the phone is fully charged, so no over charging.

[pp05]

I was reading something on Lumia 520 device and one commenter said he couldn't send images/videos on whatsapp? Can someone with a Lumia device confirm if that is true?

[redkirigi]

I had faced the same problem earlier on Lumia 800, where whatsapp used to freeze when trying to send images. However I believe it was a whatsapp issue rather than a lumia issue. This issue doesn't occur with recent whatsapp updates

[MeridiusBeta]

WhatsApp works fine these days. You can save pictures, but still can't save videos at the moment. Although apparently an update is on it's way through the release system as we speak to add that.

Since upgrading to Windows Phone 8, I do kinda miss the Zune software. Syncing over WiFi and everything built into one tidy app. Like iTunes, but much more attractive, and less 'spreadsheety'. Now all we have is this poxy little "Windows Phone app for Desktop" that does the bare minimum. A bit of a step backwards if you ask me.

[rich835]

I've been a Windows phone user since WP7. I now have a Lumia 920 as well.
I also miss Zune. It was a very tidy solution. I read somewhere that Microsoft wanted their devices to be able to be activated and work without the need for a PC, and that this was the reason they moved away from Zune in WP8 - great shame.