The Cortana Setup Guide

[Talderon]

You reminded me the good old movie smart house by Disney lol.

I am working on it... trust me. I just have to get the wife to buy-off on it.

 

[Ural Kavraal]

You have wp 8.1? O.O
How?

 

[Talderon]

You have wp 8.1? O.O
How?

I have had it since Feb. I work for Microsoft.

 

[darkest.white]

I have it on the following devices:

L1520
L920
L520
HTC 8X

ALL of these devices run WP8.1 and Cortana just fine. The ONLY differences will be the subtle ones like App Launch time because of the processor. But all in all, Cortana is REALLY responsive as if you were to just bring up Bing Search. A lot of work went into making this fast and responsive across all devices.'

As stated above, the ONLY difference I see is the functions that are CPU bound, however, overall, it's nominal differences.

Hey, so I'm just curious, there has been some talk that we will be getting more live tiles, but its been a iffy subject. Lately I've seen lots of people saying that the Lumia 920 will not support the extra column of live tiles, and I was really hoping for that. I know they are always tweaking these things, but do you have any insight on it? Or even an option on your 920?

Thanks

 

[Talderon]

Hey, so I'm just curious, there has been some talk that we will be getting more live tiles, but its been a iffy subject. Lately I've seen lots of people saying that the Lumia 920 will not support the extra column of live tiles, and I was really hoping for that. I know they are always tweaking these things, but do you have any insight on it? Or even an option on your 920?

Thanks

Everything from the 520 on up will get an extra set of live tiles. On the smaller screens, the SMALL tile will be hard to use, but with more space on the screen, Large and Med tiles will work awesome! Some people may not have issues with the small tiles, but I do on the smaller screens.

 

[SwimSwim]

I have had it since Feb. I work for Microsoft.

Lucky dog xD

 

[Talderon]

Lucky dog xD

I just wish I could have talked about it sooner, but at least I got to beat the Dev Preview to the punch! LMAO!

 

[SwimSwim]

I just wish I could have talked about it sooner, but at least I got to beat the Dev Preview to the punch! LMAO!

Am I allowed to ask what you do there, or is it hush-hush (Like WP8.1 has been for so long)?

Also, how does one pursue a job there? I'm still in highschool, but really have no idea what I want to do with my life, but something technology related seems fun (seeing as I love it so much). Is it a fun place to work?

And again, thanks for the informative guide. I remember all the hype around Siri, but how it died so quickly when people discovered it was absolute rubbish for real life. I'm most excited that Cortana is voice-optional, so I can still get all the benefits she offers, without having to speak aloud.

 

[Talderon]

Am I allowed to ask what you do there, or is it hush-hush (Like WP8.1 has been for so long)?

Also, how does one pursue a job there? I'm still in highschool, but really have no idea what I want to do with my life, but something technology related seems fun (seeing as I love it so much). Is it a fun place to work?

And again, thanks for the informative guide. I remember all the hype around Siri, but how it died so quickly when people discovered it was absolute rubbish for real life. I'm most excited that Cortana is voice-optional, so I can still get all the benefits she offers, without having to speak aloud.

I am a Sr. Engineer here and work primarily on the Bing Platform as a whole, but also work closely with the part of the platform that powers Cortana.

Getting a job here is not as hard as people think it is. Best thing to do is go to college and get a degree in Computer Sciences with a specialization that you are interested in. Anything from Hardware support/design/development to Software Development and support. There are SO many options here at Microsoft for people who are from all walks of life, NOT JUST TECHNICAL!

It's a great place to work. Microsoft has it's own culture and it's not for everyone, but for those that like it or love it, it's fantastic. They told me when I was hired that this could possibly be the last company I ever work for, even if it's not the last job I have.

One of the more understated and least review aspects of Cortana is this:

If you give Cortana a verbal query, she will, if able, answer you verbally.

If you TYPE the query, it will just show up on the screen.

This is GREAT!! You don't have to worry about everyone hearing her tell you what she found or ask for confirmation out loud if you don't want to broadcast your business.

 

[SwimSwim]

I am a Sr. Engineer here and work primarily on the Bing Platform as a whole, but also work closely with the part of the platform that powers Cortana.

Getting a job here is not as hard as people think it is. Best thing to do is go to college and get a degree in Computer Sciences with a specialization that you are interested in. Anything from Hardware support/design/development to Software Development and support. There are SO many options here at Microsoft for people who are from all walks of life, NOT JUST TECHNICAL!

It's a great place to work. Microsoft has it's own culture and it's not for everyone, but for those that like it or love it, it's fantastic. They told me when I was hired that this could possibly be the last company I ever work for, even if it's not the last job I have.

One of the more understated and least review aspects of Cortana is this:

If you give Cortana a verbal query, she will, if able, answer you verbally.

If you TYPE the query, it will just show up on the screen.

This is GREAT!! You don't have to worry about everyone hearing her tell you what she found or ask for confirmation out loud if you don't want to broadcast your business.

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep it in mind. After all, they say if you're doing something you love, you'll never a day in your life.

 

[Taube]

I've read or heard somewhere that you can have Cortana remind you of something not only when you GET TO a location, but also when you LEAVE a location. Can you confirm that?

Also I'd like to know which of the language settings needs to be set to "English" for Cortana to work - just "speech language", or "phone language" as well?

 

[Talderon]

I've read or heard somewhere that you can have Cortana remind you of something not only when you GET TO a location, but also when you LEAVE a location. Can you confirm that?

Also I'd like to know which of the language settings needs to be set to "English" for Cortana to work - just "speech language", or "phone language" as well?

You have to have the Region set to US-English at this time to get Cortana to work.

I have not tried it on leaving a place, I will try that today when I leave work and let you all know.

 

[canepro]

Hey thx for the guide, if its possible, do you have any idea when the dev. program of wp8.1 would be released?

 

[Talderon]

Hey thx for the guide, if its possible, do you have any idea when the dev. program of wp8.1 would be released?

Monday, April 14th 2014. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

 

[canepro]

You have to have the Region set to US-English at this time to get Cortana to work.

I have not tried it on leaving a place, I will try that today when I leave work and let you all know.

so do u mean, before downloading the wp8.1 update u don't have to set the region to US to have cortana?,but just when u want to use cortana after you have already downloaded the wp8.1 update?

 

[canepro]

Monday, April 14th 2014. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

thx.....fingers crossed

 

[Talderon]

so do u mean, before downloading the wp8.1 update u don't have to set the region to US to have cortana?,but just when u want to use cortana after you have already downloaded the wp8.1 update?

I know that when the region is not set right on install of 8.1, you can switch it and get Cortana, but if you change it back, it will REMOVE Cortana, so switching back and forth is pointless.

 

[Taube]

You have to have the Region set to US-English at this time to get Cortana to work.

I have not tried it on leaving a place, I will try that today when I leave work and let you all know.

Thanks!
I've thought you have to set the region AND language to US/English to use Cortana. Since there are at least three different language settings in WP (phone language, speech language, keyboard language), I'm curious to know which of those language settings need to be set to English for Cortana to work. I suppose that speech language needs to be set to English - that's kind of obvious. But what about phone (UI) language? I'd love to be able to use Cortana without having to have the phone UI in English (for example: region US, speech language English, phone language German)

 

[Talderon]

Thanks!
I've thought you have to set the region AND language to US/English to use Cortana. Since there are at least three different language settings in WP (phone language, speech language, keyboard language), I'm curious to know which of those language settings need to be set to English for Cortana to work. I suppose that speech language needs to be set to English - that's kind of obvious. But what about phone (UI) language? I'd love to be able to use Cortana without having to have the phone UI in English (for example: region US, speech language English, phone language German)

When you open Settings, you will find Region. There you have to set to US and English. Otherwise, the rest can stay as-is.

 

[flyingsolid]

Is it valid to think about the quiet mode with inner circle as bedside mode and custom contact notifications or do/will these settings work deeper into Cortana?