I don’t know about you but learning about this makes me giddy. I listen to Pandora a lot. Okay a lot may be a bit of an understatement. And wouldn’t you know I am cheap about it so I don’t pay for the premium subscription which means I get ads. Not a huge deal since I have been using Pandora for years now and I am for the most part pretty used to it but now I don’t have to worry about that. Oh yes for those of us lucky few with a Windows Phone 8 Pandora is now available for download AND it is ad free through 2013! That’s NINE months folks.

One feature I really like is that when adjusting the volume it also brings up your basic controls for Pandora. And even better is it doesn’t do it just when your in the app but while your on your home screen as well. Oh yeah and you see what’s playing from the home screen. No more having to open the app constantly just to see what band/song is playing.

 To get Pandora on your Windows phone download the app from the Windows store here.

We live in the digital age and our kids are growing up smack in the middle of it. What does this mean for us adults? That our kids constantly want to use play on our phones. This can be all fine and dandy until things get changed around and inevitably apps get deleted. The Windows phone has this nifty feature called Kid’s Corner. What exactly is Kid’s Corner? It’s pure awesome that’s what it is.  

“Create a child–friendly space within your phone using Kid’s Corner. They can access only the apps, music and videos you permit.”-Verizon Wireless

Think of it like a computer within a computer, or a better example might be if you have more then one user account on your computer. It’s a separate screen within your phone that you can pick and choose which apps you want your child to be able to access.

You ask what is so special about that? Don’t other phone’s offer something like that?  Well that is a yes and no answer. The iPhone allows you to set restrictions on the phone but in my experience it’s more of a hassle to deal with then anything and not worth doing because by setting the restrictions I am then limited by the restrictions unless I go back in and change all of the settings again. Back to the Windows phone. Setup on kids corner is really easy and again, you get to pick and choose what you want on Kid’s Corner that your kid’s can have access too. Here are step by step instructions on how to set up kids corner on you phone.

• From your home screen scroll all the way down to the bottom and click the little arrow

•  Select settings

• Scroll down until you see Kid’s Corner, select it

•  Simply turn it from Off to On

•  From there your settings screen will pop up.

• Click any of the options Games, Music, Videos or Apps and it will bring up a new window with all available items on your phone from that genre for you to pick and choose which you would like on Kid’s Corner.

The great thing about Kid’s Corner mode is that the kids cannot enter the regular side of the phone. The only way to get back to the regular home screen is to press the power button on the top of the phone. It then goes into standby mode and when you go to use your phone the next time it will bring up the home screen. To access kids corner from standby mode press the power button and then swipe your fingers from the right of the screen to the left.

I do want to point out one possible downside to Kid’s Corner is having a password on your phone. I always assign passwords out of habit and not wanting certain little one’s deleting items on my phone. By having a password enabled on your phone you cannot access Kid’s Corner without entering it. At times that may be a downside but on the other side of that it ensures no one will be getting into your phone, either your side or the kids side.

Today I want to talk about how to take screen shot on the HTC Windows 8x phone. It’s one of the first things I learn how to do when I get a new phone and I usually figure it out pretty easily, but it took me up until ohhh five minutes ago to finally do it. I assumed it was like most phones and that you had to press the power button and the start/home screen button. I kept pressing those buttons but I would get one of two results.
1. The phone would go into standby mode
2. It would go into voice recognition mode
Neither of which was what I wanted to do…insert frustration here. I was about to give up on the whole thing but decided to send out a tweet asking if anyone knew how. I figured if the twitter-verse doesn’t know then it’s probably not meant to be. Verizon Wireless support got back to me almost immediately.

You know the saying that sometimes it just takes another set of eyes for you to see things? Well in this case it rang true. As soon as I tried it after reading Verizons tweet the strangest thing happened…it worked! Don’t you love how that happens? Despite my frustration I am just happy I finally was able to get a screenshot.

So here’s what you do.

• Press the power button. That’s the push button on the top right of the phone. 

• At the same time, literally the same exact second,  press the start touch button. The start touch button is the middle button on the bottom of the phone. The one that with the windows icon.

Until you get the hang of it it may be a trial and error/frustrating experience. Or you may be lucky and not have the struggles that I had attempting to do this. But once you get the hang of it it will be a lot easier.

I have searched high and low for a way to connect my Windows phone to my computer, a Mac. For months now I have come up empty handed and then I found it, what I have been looking for all along. An application specifically for Mac’s from the Apple Store called Windows Phone. I know, completely and totally obvious, I should have been able to find it immediately.

The app itself is pretty self explanatory but I will break down a few key points for you.

After you download the app plug in your Windows 8x phone. Make sure that you do not have the phone locked or it wont start syncing. If you do have it locked it’s not something to worry heavily over, simply unlock the phone and it will start immediately.

You can choose to name your device or just leave it as “Windows Phone”.

Once it has finished syncing it will show you the status of your memory on the bottom of the screen. Click continue and you can manage your photos, videos, movies, tv shows and you can sync your iTunes music library to the phone as well.

I wanted to point out that if you do not have the current version of iPhoto it will not transfer the MP4 (MPEG-4) files. MP4 files are your videos from your phone.

This entire process took under five minutes to complete, and even though it is not specifically for the HTC Windows 8x phones it’s works great and so far I haven’t experienced any flaws with the app.

Yes you read that right I am taking on another round with Verizon Wireless and their Ambassador program. Color me giddy, I just love working with this group of people and being able to review, test out, geek out over the new devices is an awesome perk.

 

In this round I was sent an HTC Windows 8x phone. I will be up front and honest….I am struggling a little bit with this phone. The phone itself is awesome, I love it and I am not having issues with the phone, it’s the app store. I am not sure if it’s just because it’s a relatively new phone operating system so it’s still making it’s name on the app market or what but as of this moment there are not many apps that are relative to me. Don’t fret because it does have the basics, FaceBook, twitter and of course you can add your email but as far as games and a few other categories go it’s still working on it. Or at least I hope they are.

Even though I am having a bit of a hard time getting used to this being my go to phone I am excited to learn all about this phone over the next three months and test drive this bad boy out while coming here to share my finds, thoughts and of opinions on the Windows phone.

Disclosure: I am participating in the Verizon Wireless Ambassador program & I have been provided with a wireless device & three months of service in exchange for my honest opinions.