The main draw and most heavily advertised aspect of Windows Phone 8 is the homescreen – or Start screen, as Microsoft calls it. According to its celebrity-stuffed advertising, WP8 is able to suit the needs of any smartphone user by offering an incredibly customizable homescreen. However, rather than blindly accepting WP8’s hyped-up chameleon qualities, we decided to put it to the test using a Nokia Lumia 920.
As an experiment, we crafted five possible WP8 user types and designed unique layouts for each one. The only constants in each Start screen are the four core apps (phone, messaging, Internet Explorer, and email). In our experience, WP8 is the most easily personalized mobile operating system out there. Below are our first attempts at crafting some custom Start screens.
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Start screen for the Average Joe
This homescreen is designed to cover the basic needs of an “average” user. A square calendar tile displays upcoming appointments, Clearer (our favorite to-do list app, though it is a blatant rip-off of Clear) depicts pressing tasks, and a few favorite people are pinned near the top. We also included a live tile for Weather and a shortcut to Nokia’s transit apps, both indispensable items for the urban professional.
Another option for this would to incorporate a Me tile to keep track of most social notifications, freeing up some space taken by the Twitter and Facebook tiles. But most people will appreciate the option of a more conventional social media experience.
Obviously, the minimalist likes to keep the homescreen to a bare minimum. We went with the slate theme as minimalists aren’t the types to mess around with colors … too distracting.
Every basic function is represented on the Start screen, and aside from the weather forecast, no animated tiles are used. This arrangement shows that WP8 doesn’t necessarily have to be saturated with information and flashy animations.
This design is made for the social media addict, who impulsively shares each and every moment. It revolves around a medium-sized Me tile capable of aggregating social notifications. Surrounding that are frequently viewed contacts. Social networking apps are pinned below.
We included third-party clients for Pinterest and Instagram, though they don’t compare to what’s available on iOS or Android. But we’ve all cried enough about lackluster WP8 apps, time to move on.
A power user doesn’t have the stomach for clutter and garish colors. They want to get in, get stuff done, and get out. Here we created a one-page layout – no scrolling required.
The four core apps are present, as well as Clearer for to-do lists, Skype for IM, Office for on-the-go editing, and shortcuts to common settings (Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Airplane). Unfortunately, these shortcuts aren’t toggles – they link to the actual Settings – but we’d love to see more immediate access in the future.
The final design we created leans toward a media-heavy user, someone who spends most of his or her time listening to music and watching video. We used a broad Photos tile, a full-size Xbox Music + Video tile, and pinned Flixster and VEVO to the homescreen for the latest in film and music. Other apps like Netflix and Spotify could also work.
With the right tiles in use it’s easy to have media be the focus of your WP8 device, rather than exclusively displaying colored blocks. Plus, everybody loves a good slideshow.
I tried Android 14 on my OnePlus 11 — and I’m not impressed
Android 14 is in the final stages of development, and its first stable version is set to release later this month. As a result, Android phone brands are starting to unleash previews of their upcoming software upgrades based on the Android 14 beta, allowing select users to try out forthcoming features before other people. After Samsung opened up One UI 6 beta for a limited number of devices earlier this month, OnePlus is giving us a peek at its upcoming OxygenOS 14 beta based on Android 14.
OnePlus' custom Android skin, OxygenOS, received a major overhaul last year after merging the codebase with the ColorOS interface offered by its parent company, Oppo. Our worst fears came true when OxygenOS 13, based on Android 13, was released last year. It received a radical design overhaul that most OnePlus purists deemed a downgrade that made it nearly indistinguishable from Oppo's ColorOS.
These iPhone 15 cases wrap your shiny new device in an airbag [Sponsored]
So, you’ve just bought yourself a shiny new iPhone 15. It’s amazing. It does everything you want. It looks great. And ouch, it was expensive. Those last two points are particularly important when it comes to thinking about how you want to protect your new phone. You really don’t want to skimp on safety. The best-case scenario when you drop it or bump it into something is that you only scratch or dent the beautiful exterior. The worst case? You’ve just utterly destroyed your new phone, and now you’re scrambling to remember if you have the proper insurance coverage.
Cue TORRAS, a game changer for your iPhone’s safety. There aren’t many cases on the market that can protect from a reasonable drop of about twelve feet. TORRAS’ cases can, and its iPhone 15 cases feature the equivalent of an airbag built-in. They’re so good at handling a drop that they can even survive falling out of an airplane. Seriously, and we’ll prove that soon. For now, just know that TORRAS cases offer remarkable innovation at peak levels. Before we dive in, TORRAS is offering a 20% discount on new case orders when you use code Trends20 at checkout.
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TORRAS sells a number of superior iPhone 15 cases, and we adore them. Here’s why you will love them too:
How to use StandBy in iOS 17 to turn your iPhone into a smart display
Although this year’s iOS 17 release isn’t chock-full of the type of big “tentpole” features we’ve seen in recent years, like customizable lock screens and home screen widgets, there are some fun and exciting enhancements that will change the way you use your iPhone.
Perhaps the coolest and most significant of these is the new StandBy mode that lets you turn your iPhone into a smart display while it’s sitting on a charging stand. StandBy delivers a new lock screen experience that lets you quickly see information at a glance, even from across the room — showing photos, clocks, weather, and other info from a variety of customizable widgets. Incoming notifications, responses from Siri, and music playback controls also use StandBy to appear in an easily readable full-screen view.
