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SpiritLink

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Hello everyone. I'm new to Windows Phone as well as these forums. I came here to check out the community as well as get some information to help me learn the ins and outs of Windows Phone.

I have a problem with my iPhone 6 Plus that requires me to send it to Apple for repairs. Instead of using an old phone I decided to finally test out a Windows Phone since I've wanted to for a while now. I went with the HTC One M8 since I heard a lot of good stuff about HTC from some Android friends. Also I liked the IR blaster and the front boom speakers.

Anyways almost a week in I'm already 90% sure I will be switching to this full time. I will just keep my iPhone 6 Plus as a backup incase this phone has an issue in the future. I absolutely love almost everything about Windows Phone and I'm completely shocked at why it's so unpopular. I've always heard it's because of the apps. While I don't use tons and tons of apps, I have about 15 core apps that are must haves. Windows Phone has all but one. That app is Google Maps. I know there are other options, but I'm not sure which ones are good. Also I don't think any have street view.

All that said, I do have a couple questions. How do you get the battery percentage to show in a tile? I've seen itin screenshots but can't for the life of me figure out how. The second question is about Cortana. When I use her to set an alarm, I then have to click on that alarm and go in and change the tone to something other than the default because the default one just isn't enough to wake me up. I can't seem to find anything in the sound options to make a permanent choice so I don't do this every time.

Please forgive me if those questions are stupid, I've been using iOS for 4-5 years so this is completely foreign to me and I'm trying to learn everything still.
 

Muessig

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Hey SpiritLink! Sounds like you're really getting to grips with your new One M8!

If you pin your Battery Saver app to the start screen you should be able to see a real-time battery charge countdown there.

For your alarm, you have a couple of options. If you set your alarm manually you can change this sound in there via one of the options. Your other alternative is a work-around. You can set a series of alarms for the times you need with the alarm 6 tone (the only one that wakes me up!). Then Cortana can switch those alarms on (eg: say "Turn on my 6.00am alarm").
 

Yasser Aboobakar

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hiii...way to go....for google maps u can install gmaps or gmaps+ by dreamteam mobile.i use it a lot for my work or else u can also give a try to here maps pretty amazing...cheers
 

Bobvfr

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Welcome to the forums and it sounds like you are enjoying WP.

I am not sure you can get Here maps as it is a Nokia app released on Lumia's, as a mapping tool it's very good but as you say doesn't have street view, for me this isn't an issue as that is a function I have never used on a phone (I do use it on a PC when I occasionally use Google maps).

I will set off and try Cortana and alarms and see what I can find, hopefully someone else will get in quicker and answer it anyway.
 

SpiritLink

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Thanks for your response Muessig! I pinned the Battery Saver app and it's still not showing a percentage. Is there somewhere to enable the percentage? Also as far as the alarms, I'm a truck driver and get up at different times depending on my load so setting multiple alarms ahead of time wouldn't really work for me. I will just have to change the tone manually each time it seems.

If you have any newbie tips I'd be more than happy to hear them.
 

SpiritLink

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Thanks for all the replies! I will check out those map apps.

As far as the street view, I'm the same. I rarely use it on my phone. Usually on my laptop or iPad. That's why not having it isn't a deal breaker for me.
 

Muessig

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Thanks for your response Muessig! I pinned the Battery Saver app and it's still not showing a percentage. Is there somewhere to enable the percentage? Also as far as the alarms, I'm a truck driver and get up at different times depending on my load so setting multiple alarms ahead of time wouldn't really work for me. I will just have to change the tone manually each time it seems.

If you have any newbie tips I'd be more than happy to hear them.

Make sure you're up to date. Go to store>settings>check for updates.
 

RumoredNow

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Welcome aboard the board...

For my use, the App "Battery" by Enless Soft Ltd. has been outstanding. Percent on the Live Tile plus more useful tidbits on large tile like time left estimate/time since last charge/time when last updated. Reports to the Lock Screen and shows a lot of oher useful info when opened. I've been using it about 6 months on two different phones and would not care for anything else at this point.

Sorry... I'm stymied at the moment about changing default alarm noise.

I love my Here Maps and Driving Apps... If you can't get them on an HTC, I'd go with one of Yasser's recommends.

​Have fun and I'll see you around the place.
 

ShinraCorp

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Welcome aboard mate, as for the reason why it's so unpopular it's mostly because people haven't really tried it and most of the folks still has that mentality of Windows being that buggy broken mess of a operating system that keeps getting viruses and blue screens. It's hard to convince these people that it has changed since then.

As for the alternative of Google Maps, HERE maps is a great alternative, you can even download maps for offline usage so say you don't have an internet connection you can still get directions with it. While some people say that HERE Maps directions aren't as great as Google Maps, I find it to be on par to them (there was only 1 hiccup but it was a remote location.)
 

David Van Ryn

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Hi there SpiritLink,

Welcome to the WP community :winktongue:

How do you get the battery percentage to show in a tile? I've seen itin screenshots but can't for the life of me figure out how.

I see that people already guided u to "Battery by Endlessv" and it will probably satisfy your needs for now.
I however installed the Preview for developers on my 830 and my Battery saver app does show that percentage that u saw in screenshots.

So the next major update for WP 8.1 will probably bring this function :amaze:
 
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freestaterocker

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Welcome to the forums and it sounds like you are enjoying WP.

I am not sure you can get Here maps as it is a Nokia app released on Lumia's, as a mapping tool it's very good but as you say doesn't have street view, for me this isn't an issue as that is a function I have never used on a phone (I do use it on a PC when I occasionally use Google maps).

I will set off and try Cortana and alarms and see what I can find, hopefully someone else will get in quicker and answer it anyway.

The entire Here suite of apps has been available for all Windows Phone 8.x devices since shortly after Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's mobile division became official.

To the OP: I highly recommend the Here apps for all your navigation needs, but if Google Maps is an absolute must for you, Gmaps should do the trick.
 

freestaterocker

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Thanks for your response Muessig! I pinned the Battery Saver app and it's still not showing a percentage. Is there somewhere to enable the percentage? Also as far as the alarms, I'm a truck driver and get up at different times depending on my load so setting multiple alarms ahead of time wouldn't really work for me. I will just have to change the tone manually each time it seems.

If you have any newbie tips I'd be more than happy to hear them.

The percentage on the live tile is enabled by an OS update your phone is yet to receive. If you are willing to become a part of the developer preview program, you can get the software now, but you'll have to wait for the official update to be pushed out by your mobile service provider to get any corresponding firmware. As a result, you could see the performance of the device negatively affected by a lack of optimization for the new features. I had my last device, the Samsung Ativ S, running the preview software and it worked out quite well for me, but I've yet to put my Nokia Lumia 830 on the program, and I likely won't, since the features that are newer than what my device shipped with are not of enough interest to me to mess with my new baby. :)
 

Muessig

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The percentage on the live tile is enabled by an OS update your phone is yet to receive. If you are willing to become a part of the developer preview program, you can get the software now, but you'll have to wait for the official update to be pushed out by your mobile service provider to get any corresponding firmware. As a result, you could see the performance of the device negatively affected by a lack of optimization for the new features. I had my last device, the Samsung Ativ S, running the preview software and it worked out quite well for me, but I've yet to put my Nokia Lumia 830 on the program, and I likely won't, since the features that are newer than what my device shipped with are not of enough interest to me to mess with my new baby. :)

Ah, I didn't realise this was part of preview for developers or at least required it.
 

freestaterocker

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It's not the most recent Preview build, but the one previous.

I would advise looking in the One for Windows device forums and the Developer Preview forums to see what kind of experience others may have had running the preview on this particular device. If there aren't any major issues and you're willing to assume the risk, it could be worthwhile to join the DP program. Especially given HTC's poor reputation for post-purchase device support. Many past HTC WP devices never received the latest update they were eligible for because HTC didn't want to bother working on the firmware optimizations. Even a few Android flagships got left behind over the years. In other words, you might not have any firmware coming anyways...
 

SpiritLink

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Thanks everyone. Is the "Here" maps people have referred to the one titled "Maps" that come reinstalled on the phone or something else? Just asking because so far the reinstalled Maps app seems to be very nice. I tried GMaps+ and was immediately put off by pop ups and ads so I uninstalled it. Is there a paid version of that to remove ads?

I've had trouble finding paid versions of apps with no ads. Most aren't to bad but I use weatherbug a lot and would love to pay for ad removal.
 

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