Conserve Windows Phone battery life

Conserve Windows Phone battery life by managing background apps

We heard and experienced for ourselves some rather crummy battery life with the Nokia Lumia 920Windows Phone. It's a mixed bag of results with some report fantastic battery performance while others are struggling to make it through half a day.

While Nokia is looking into things, they've reminded us that managing the apps that are running in the background could help with battery life.  And this power saving technique isn't exclusive to the Lumia Windows Phones.  If you want to conserve power on your HTC 8X or Samsung Focus 2, shut down some of the apps you don't need that are still running in the background.

To see what's running in the background, go to your Windows Phone's settings and swipe over to the applications page. There you will find "background tasks" setting at the top of the list.

Once inside the settings, you'll see a list of all the apps running in the background. To shut it down, just tap on the app and tap the "block" button. To confirm that you've shut down the app, press and hold the back button to view any open apps.

Nokia has received reports that if Nokia Drive is left running in the background can contribute to high power consumption. They also note that Angry Birds: Star Wars may also be consuming higher than normal power. There's nothing definitive about either, just suspicions that are being researched.

Along with shutting down apps operating in the background, consider disabling the NFC feature (touch + share feature in your settings menu). We aren't sure if there's a connection but over the past two days with NFC disabled, our battery life has improved dramatically.

It's nice to see Nokia taking an interest in the Lumia 920's performance and if we here anything definitive on the 920's battery concerns, we'll pass it on.

Source: Nokia Support

http://www.wpcentral.com/conserve-windows-phone-battery-life-managing-background-apps

Windows Phone App: Metro.am

Windows Phone App Review: Metro.am

While there is not an Instagram app for our Windows Phone, there are a few client apps available. One such is Metro.am.

Metro.am does a good job delivering Instagram content to your Windows Phone but does feel a little lacking. Lacking because of the inability to sign up for an Instagram account or post images to your Instagram account. And it's not the developers fault for overlooking these features. You can blame the Instagram API restrictions.

Metro.am does allow you to sign into an existing account, view other Instagram images, view Instagram images submitted by nearby members, and view your most recent submissions.

You are able to pan/zoom individual images, like the images, comment on them and save them to your Pictures Hub. Metro.am will also allow you to view your Instagram profile as well as profiles on other Instagram members.  Metro.am will also let you search for photos by Instagram user or tags.

Still, regardless on how nice Metro.am is it is tough to overlook the fact that you can't create an Instagram account or upload images to Instagram from the app. The account sign up can only be done through a iOS or Android device running the "official" Instagram app. Kinda silly that such restrictions are in place but it is what it is.

I ended up borrowing my wife's iPhone to create an Instagram account. There is another workaround that WPCentral Reader Marc sent in. You can download and install the bluestacks software from bluestacks.com on your desktop. Bluestacks allows you to run Android apps on your PC. Once bluestacks is installed, install the Instagram app from your PC and sign up for an account. Once an account is established, you can delete the bluestacks software as it will no longer be needed.

While this will get around the account creation hurdle, there's not a way to get around uploading images to Instagram. It is kinda silly to have these restrictions (or the lack of an official Instagram app for Windows Phone) in place. Maybe one day this will change.

Metro.am may not be a fully functional Instagram client for your Windows Phone but it does what it does well. Which is basically allowing you to view, comment and save images from Instagram. You can't blame the developers for these limitations and they did a good job with what access they had to Instagram.

There is a free trial version available for Metro.am that is basically an ad-support version that lacks the ability to pan/zoom images. The full version (no ads) ofMetro.am is currently running $1.49 and you can find it all here at the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Thanks, Marc, for the bluestacks tip!

http://www.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-app-review-metroam

Windows Phone Metro UI

Windows Phone Metro UI re-naming contest winner!

With all the rumblings about Microsoft moving away from the name Metro to describe their Windows/Windows Phone user interface, we opened the floor up for suggestions on what the new name should be. After narrowing it down to six entries, put it to a vote of the masses and 1,840 votes later we have a winner.

Walking away with 31.09% of the vote, Pure edged out Motion as the winning suggestion. Windows Phone Central reader J4rrod offered up the Pure moniker and as a result takes home a $50 gift certificate to the Windows Phone Accessory Store. We'll be dispatching an email to J4rrod shortly with details on his prize.

We had some great suggestions and it will be interesting to see what direction Microsoft chooses. Who knows, "Pure" might win out over "Windows 8".

Thanks everyone for participating not only in the hundreds of suggestions but also in selecting the winner.

Link: http://www.wpcentral.com/metro-ui-naming-contest-winner

Sprint and Windows Phone 8!

Sprint still has cold feet with Windows Phone 8

With AT&T, T-Mobile and even Verizon reportedly on board with Windows Phone 8,Sprint is the last holdout for a major US carrier in supporting Windows Phone 8. While some of our readers erroneously entertain notions that the carrier will embrace Microsoft’s next iteration of their OS, we’ve been very cautious in agreeing.

In a recent interview on All-Things D, Sprint VP David Owens is once again pouring some cold water on customer’s hopes for a big Windows Phone 8 push this fall. The carrier has 90% of their late 2012-2013 lineup already in place but what role Microsoft will play in that in unclear.

Speaking to Ina Fried, Owens notes that they are interested in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 but they may not be the leader this fall...

“The market impact of both Windows 8 and the next iPhone are also key factors that are a bit hard to predict, Owens said.

As for Windows 8, Sprint said it wants to be actively involved, but may not lead the charge. It sees some clear opportunities but is also mindful that its last Windows Phone, the HTC Arrive, was one of the more returned products in the company’s recent history. Owens said that many buyers of that phone were coming from Android and found Windows Phone’s unique operating system hard to get used to.”

If that sounds like Sprint is distancing themselves from Microsoft we would have to agree.

We do understand that carriers need to strategically think of their next move and having caution over a new OS is certainly warranted. But we think Sprint is going to miss the boat again this fall, leaving customers high and dry (or maybe underwhelmed with a single device release).

Here at Windows Phone Central we don’t endorse any carrier—it’s a personal choice mostly dependent on your wallet and just as importantly, your actual signal coverage. Still, although we’ve been a customer of Sprint since 2000 and are on the cost-effective SERO plan, we’re getting ready to abandon them soon and we suggest some of you start considering doing the same as the fall approaches.

Update: Another quote from Owens via Phonescoop sheds more light on the issue. Here, Owens does not commit to Windows Phone 8 exactly but notes that they will be participating:

 "We think Windows Phone 8 is a solid product that they are bringing to market. We're interested in watching it unfold over the course of the next year. And we won't be watching from the sidelines. We'll be participating. We may not lead it, but we'll participate."

To our ears that sounds like they'll dip their toe into the Windows Phone 8 pool but with only one or two devices. 

Source: All Things D

link: http://www.wpcentral.com/sprint-still-has-cold-feet-windows-phone-8