1. Project your screen to your PC or
TV
Projecting your phone to
your PC or TV screen is surprisingly simple. Select Settings > System > Project
My Screen. Your phone will automatically start searching for any devices near
you that can take advantage of wireless screen projection. However, if your TV
or PC monitor does not support this, it’s still possible to project your screen
via USB on a Windows PC. First, download the Project My Screen app from
Microsoft’s official Windows Phone website, install it on
your system, restart, open the app, plug your phone into your PC and navigate
to Project My Screen as before. This is great for showing off your videos and
photos on a much larger screen.
2. Glance settings
Glance settings allow you
to adjust your time and lock screen content when your phone is on standby.
Select Settings > Glance Screen to see the full range of options, which are
pleasingly extensive. Particularly useful options include glance screen timeout
settings. Consider keeping it at “peek” or turned off completely if you’re
worried about battery life. An interesting function called Night Mode allows
you to set a timeframe – such as 10pm to 6am – during which your phone’s lock
screen will change colour to a dark red, green or blue, in order to save your
eyes from any intrusive glare that the standard white may cause. The blue is
particularly effective.
3. Battery Saver
Battery Saver, found by
heading to Settings > Battery Saver, will give you extensive control over
your battery usage. The opening screen will give you a good indication of which
apps are using the most power, which at a glance allows you to locate which
apps you might want to shut down or uninstall. Swipe right and you’ll get more
detailed information, such as exactly how long your battery will last and
whether you would like to enable Windows Phone’s Battery Saver, which can
conserve energy when your battery is low.
4. Data Sense
Data Sense (Settings >
Data Sense) finds more efficient ways to use mobile data and displays your
usage. With this powerful feature, it’s possible to set very specific data limits
– for example, if you’re on a monthly plan with 1GB of data, you can set the
date your data resets, assign the monthly data limit and Windows Mobile will
only allow you to use the specified amount unless the settings are overridden.
You can also restrict background data usage while roaming and instruct your
phone to compress images and adverts in Internet Explorer automatically if
you’re reaching the end of your data limit.
5. WiFi Sense
In a nutshell, WiFi Sense
takes the hassle out of connecting to public WiFi hotspots and allows you to
securely share your WiFi details with friends on Outlook, Facebook and Skype.
Head to Settings > WiFi > WiFi Sense and you can tell your phone to
automatically accept terms for use when required. Additionally, under Edit
Info, you can tell your Windows Phone to automatically provide a fake name,
email address and phone number if you’re concerned about privacy while using a
public network.
6. Word Flow
Word Flow is built into
Windows Phone 8.1, allowing for fast and accurate shape typing. Instead of
typing each letter individually, you can glide your finger across the letters
instead. No need to hit space after each word, just lift your finger and begin
gliding again and Word Flow will enter the spaces for you. To quickly add a
full stop and a space, tap space twice. What’s more, Word Flow is quite clever
- for instance, it will automatically add accents to words that commonly use
them, or capitalise proper nouns, such as “England” or “Tom Selleck”’. The more
you use it, the smarter Word Flow will become.
7. Set up a mobile
VPN
A Virtual Private Network
allows for remote secure connections to private networks using a public
internet connection. This is now an in-built feature for all Windows 8.1 phones
and is especially useful if you work on the go and need access to your
company’s network when you’re catching up on emails at the airport or a coffee
shop. Go to Settings > VPN and tap the plus symbol at the bottom to set up
the VPN. You may need to ask your IT department for your specific VPN settings,
which they should be able to supply easily.
8. Set Quiet Hours
In Settings > Quiet
Hours you can outsource your calls and texts to Cortana, Microsoft’s
intelligent personal assistant, leaving you completely undisturbed for as long
as you wish. Quiet hours can be turned on for specific hours (say 10pm to 6am)
and/or when you have a calendar event marked busy. You can also set
“breakthrough rules” for your “inner circle”. This means specific individuals
will still be able to contact you, even during your quiet hours if you so wish.
9. Automatically
backup photos and set default camera app
In Settings >
Applications > Photos+Camera you can change your default camera app. This is
particularly useful if you enjoy using the hugely popular Instagram a lot or if
you’re keen on using more sophisticated camera applications that provide a
greater range of options and features. From here you can also ensure that your
phone automatically saves your images and videos to the cloud, or turn this feature
off/limit it to WiFi only if you’re worried about data usage.
10.
Action Centre/customise quick access options
The new Action Centre
introduced with Windows Phone 8.1 – accessed by swiping down from the top of
your screen – is highly customisable. If you’re not happy with the default
quick actions provided, head to Settings > Notifications+Actions and you can
change the four shortcuts to whatever you desire. Additionally, you can edit
the behaviour of banner alerts as well as app and phone notifications.
11. Personalise
your start screen
You can personalise your
Start Screen by going to Settings > Start+Theme. Options include changing
your phone’s background as well as the “accent colour”. You’re not simply
limited to a dark or light background either, it’s now possible to choose a
photo from a pre-installed list of backgrounds, your camera roll, Facebook or
the cloud.
12. Stay in sync
If you have several
Windows devices, you’ll really appreciate Windows Phone 8.1’s synchronisation
settings. Go to Settings > Sync My Settings where you can effortlessly sync
your themes, apps, web browser and passwords across all your devices. This is
great for those who like to keep the look of their devices consistent as well
as those who regularly move from one device to another, perhaps working from a
phone, PC and tablet in a single day and therefore need seamless device
switching.
13.
Narrate your phone
If you’re visually
impaired you’ll want to head to Settings > Ease of Access and try out
Windows Phone 8.1’s new Narrator feature. Turn this on and your phone will read
out loud any text on your phone. This feature is only available in the States
for now, but bypassing this is easy. Go to Settings > Region and change your
region to the US. Unfortunately this will give you US-style dates and currency,
but it’s a small price to pay for a great feature and it will undoubtedly be
incorporated in the UK in the near future.
14.
Never lose your phone
Find My Phone allows you
to ring, lock, erase, locate or send apps to your phone remotely from WindowsPhone.com. You can set your device to
always use push notifications to send commands and apps to your phone as well
as commanding your phone to save its location moments before the battery runs
out, so as to more easily locate it when lost. Go to Settings > Find My
Phone to edit these options.
15. Edit Cortana’s
brain
Cortana is perhaps one of
the most advanced intelligent personal assistants around at the moment, with
the exception of Google Now. This nifty AI learns a lot about you thanks to its
notebook, stored locally on your phone. Information is gradually collected here
over time as users continue to take advantage of Cortana’s features, but it’s
possible to add more data manually or to remove data that you’re not
comfortable sharing. Tap Cortana on your home screen then tap the three
horizontal bars in the top right-hand corner to enter the notebook. From here
you can add or remove interests, reminders, places, quiet hours and edit your
settings.
16. Customise your
lock screen
For some reason “Show
artist when playing music” is turned off on the lock screen by default. This a
handy feature and there are no doubt many people who are unaware it exists. Go
to Settings > Lock Screen to enable it. You can also change your background
image or even set it to display the weather or your latest health and fitness
statistics. Notifications, screen lock passwords and screen timeout settings
can also be modified here.
17.
Download maps
This isn’t a new feature,
but it’s hidden deep within Settings > Applications > Maps > Download
Maps and is occasionally missed – a shame, as this could be very useful if you
plan to go somewhere with little to no data coverage or as a backup if you’re
not sure. The options provided are pleasingly extensive. You can download maps
for offline viewing by continent, country and even region. For instance, you
can download all of the UK to your phone for a mere 535 MB (about the same size
as four albums at a standard compression rate) or select England, Northern
Ireland, Scotland or Wales separately.
18. Disable auto
updates
Before Windows Phone 8.1,
apps did not update automatically. Instead, a notification would appear on the
app store icon, reminding users that various apps needed attention. However,
you may have preferred the old system, which is now turned off by default.
Perhaps you’re worried about data usage, even over WiFi. Perhaps you fear
change. If you’d like to go back to installing your updates manually, tap Store
> Settings and uncheck “Update apps automatically”.
