What are some of your favorite Windows Phone tips and tricks?

[Curtieson]

So some of us here have been in the platform for a couple years, some a couple of days...but one thing I always find funny is that even though I've carried a WP since 2010, sometimes people just stumble across a feature that I never even knew was there!

Because of that, I wanted to create a place to share those. I'm going to try to keep this top post up to date with new and interesting suggestions so we can comb through them easier (and I'll link to posts to give credit too). We have a thread that has become a collection but wanted to get some new info by bouncing ideas around the WPC community.

So what do we have out there? What are we missing?

Instant Search
On a website if you are reading a story and they use a word/name you don't understand/recognize, instead of having to type that name/word into Bing to search for it; if you simply highlight it THEN tap the capacitive search button, it automatically searches that term. I use this feature all the time as I am terrible with names of famous people AND terrible at spelling, haha.

Glance Screen Background
More of a hidden app, but I mostly get my information from the forums here, and when I relay the concepts to my sister (a 1020 but doesn't follow the mobile scene) I realize sometimes these system apps get hidden/overlooked. So this is one that was widely covered in Oct 2013 but will be an idea that is over looked frequently.
Details covered in Post 2.

 

[Curtieson]

Some research on the Glance Background:

A great article written about the feature with a video.
Video: Hands on with Nokia’s new Glance Background app | Windows Phone Central

A link to the store here:
Glance Background | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

WPCentral held a contest to see who come come up with the neatest idea/concept. In the thread that was used to sumbit your entries, there were a TON of great ideas. Highly recommend hitting through that.
http://forums.windowscentral.com/no...test-submit-your-nokia-glance-background.html

 

[Zulfigar]

Holding the &123 sign then swiping to the number / symbol you need before releasing is one of the features I use constantly.

 

[Curtieson]

Holding the &123 sign then swiping to the number / symbol you need before releasing is one of the features I use constantly.

Ohhhhhh yea! I think any time a number is followed by any of the characters on the "&123" page it goes straight back to letters automatically...but other than that, holding down that key saves a button press every time.

There are a ton of hidden features on the keyboard that you can find with holding down...I use the "hold . to get to ! and ?" a lot. And I think it's neat how easy it makes it to type an umlaut or accents (even though it is not typical in the US).

 

[Edward_g]

I learned of a couple good features by reading the posts above. Thanks. I've had my 822 for over a year and thought I knew all its features.

 

[anon(7900571)]

Posting here to get new hidden features on my lumia 920

 

[Srvgodara]

So some of us here have been in the platform for a couple years, some a couple of days...but one thing I always find funny is that even though I've carried a WP since 2010, sometimes people just stumble across a feature that I never even knew was there!

Because of that, I wanted to create a place to share those. I'm going to try to keep this top post up to date with new and interesting suggestions so we can comb through them easier (and I'll link to posts to give credit too). We have a thread that has become a collection but wanted to get some new info by bouncing ideas around the WPC community.

So what do we have out there? What are we missing?

Instant Search
On a website if you are reading a story and they use a word/name you don't understand/recognize, instead of having to type that name/word into Bing to search for it; if you simply highlight it THEN tap the capacitive search button, it automatically searches that term. I use this feature all the time as I am terrible with names of famous people AND terrible at spelling, haha.

Glance Screen Background
More of a hidden app, but I mostly get my information from the forums here, and when I relay the concepts to my sister (a 1020 but doesn't follow the mobile scene) I realize sometimes these system apps get hidden/overlooked. So this is one that was widely covered in Oct 2013 but will be an idea that is over looked frequently.
Details covered in Post 2.

instant search is not working for me...

 

[anon5997296]

instant search is not working for me...

Set default search provider as Bing rather than Google in IE

 

[Curtieson]

instant search is not working for me...

Full disclosure, I just made that name up...it isn't an official term, haha. So if you ask somewhere else or know of a different term for it, that is why.

Some other oddities than what Abhi said...
you have to be in IE. Or rather I'm not sure if that is the ONLY section, but it doesn't appear to work when you highlight a word in an email.
if the "copy" icon doesn't pop up, it didn't work (you do not have to tap the 'copy' icon, but it had to show.) I noticed if I highlighted and searched SUPER fast, it didn't work.

 

[undulose]

One of the tricks that I liked very much with WP (which isn't present in Android and iOS) is the very efficient word suggestion mechanism. In Android, you have to manually input weird words that you usually use (which is irritating somehow, but at least they have Gesture Typing).

Sent from my Nokia Lumia 1520 (RM-937 Malaysia) using Tapatalk

 

[Jason Drum]

http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8/230201-new-windows-phone-8-tips-tricks.html

 

[Curtieson]

http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8/230201-new-windows-phone-8-tips-tricks.html

So....we are missing everything we already have? hahahaha

That is the thread that is linked in the "We have a thread" line.

 

[Jason Drum]

So....we are missing everything we already have? hahahaha

That is the thread that is linked in the "We have a thread" line.

Must have missed it. Sorry.