***The official must have Windows Phone 8 apps, tips, tricks and customisations thread (with added s

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Soldato
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photoshop said:
Also, is there an easy and quick way to turn the phone to silent vibrate only and then back to normal without going into the settings?

Quick way to enter camera from lock screen?
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From the lock screen just press volume down button. The volume control will slide down over the lock screen and in the top right corner you can press the soft button to flip between "vibrate" or "ring and vibrate" without having to unlock the phone.

To use the camera from the lock screen just press and hold the camera button (bottom one on right hand side). It will enable the camera and allow you to take photos without unlocking the phone (i.e. you can only take a photo, not access or do anything else). The idea is you can take a photo quickly although the phone itself remains locked so you can't do anything else. Handy for passing to someone else.
 
Windows 8 "Modern UI style" companion app - http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/en-GB/app/windows-phone/0e0fbaf6-fd99-4046-b494-9ce469ae3009

Windows "traditional style" desktop app - http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/how-to/wp8/windows-phone-app-for-desktop

Mac OSX app - https://itunes.apple.com/GB/app/windows-phone/id415571499?mt=12

Interestingly the Windows desktop app will give you a choice of syncing music and playlists from Windows media or iTunes. The iTunes sync actually works really well surprisingly.
 
Cheesy description from the website but worth posting as I suspect lots of people have not spotted room functionality. Supports WP8. WP7and IOS so far, not seen any reference to Android support yet.


Rooms are an invitation-only place on your phone – and on the phones of the other members – where you can share a private calendar, group chat, photos or videos, and notes. When you invite someone to a room, they'll receive a text message with a link to join.

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http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/how-to/wp8/people/use-rooms-and-groups
 
photoshop said:
For iPhones there's iTunes for playlists, photos, music and videos syncing etc.
What's there for W8Phones?

How do I add my music/videos/pictures to it and keep them all synced between phone and PC?
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Either drag and drop (plug the phone into your PC and it's seen as USB storage device) or use one of the apps I mentioned above.
 
photoshop said:
Skydive?
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Skydrive would make the files available to you, yes, although I don't think it would "sync" back to local storage on your PC/Phone.

WP8 uses Skydrive to auto sync every photo you take into cloud storage automatically as you take them.

Xbox music give you free (ad supported) music streaming or no ads with a music pass. Could be quite data intensive if you are not connected to wireless though and not much use on a train unless someone has figured out how to cache the music locally (actually I think you can "download" a limited number of tracks)
 
Yes, you can create playlists or indeed import ones you already have on your windows PC or in iTunes using the desktop apps I mentioned earlier.
 
photoshop said:
What if you don't want to transfer over from iTunes? What if you want to start afresh? Do MS/Nokia do a desktop app like iTunes to organise your digital music library?
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Yes, in Windows 7 it's Zune or Windows Media player, in Windows 8 it's Xbox music or Media Player
 
satchef1 said:
WP8 can sync in various ways.

If you have Windows 8 there's a Metro app for syncing your handsets.

If you have previous versions of Windows you can use USB Mass Storage Mode, Windows Media Player, or just about any other program.

On OS X, same as above, though I believe you might need Windows Phone Connector or something to get full support in iTunes.

Alternatively, you could sync everything via Skydrive.

I believe they are working on a desktop program for Windows, though it's not ready yet.



Contacts Transfer app? Should be in the Nokia Collection in the Store.
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I've linked to the Mac, Windows 8 metro and Windows Desktop app (preview) further up the thread. So far for me the Windows Desktop app is the best although to be fair I don't think it's really needed, at least not for me.
 
Goes straight to the phone, or you can browse the store on the phone itself the app then also goes straight to phone.
 
Out of interest I'm told switching off NFC (Tap to send) in settings hugely extends battery life. There's also a switch in settings (defaults to off) to allow you to "push" apps from the windows phone website.
 
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