TechTalk - Upgrading and Customizing Windows Phone 8.1

If you are a Windows Phone owner - the official release date is sometime in mid June, if you want to download it early... check out this video!

UPDATE - IT'S OCTOBER - IF YOU STILL DON'T HAVE YOUR WINDOWS PHONE 8.1 UPDATE, FOLLOW THE VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS!

Did it work for you?  Don't forget to subscribe!  =D

Yup, once you've upgraded to Windows Phone 8.1, I am sure you will want to customize it, so here are tutorials on how to customize your updated phone!

EXTEND YOUR BATTERY LIFE



QUICKLY SILENCE YOUR PHONE



LIVE APP FOLDERS!


AUTOMATIC APP UPDATES!



CUSTOMIZE YOUR WINDOWS PHONE 8.1 

HOW TO GET CLEAR TILES!

CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE VIDEOS HERE: http://www.youtube.com/user/hawaiiinsomniac/videos 

Mahalo for reading. Until next time.

TechTalk - New Phone - Nokia 1020

Aloha everyone,

I have a new phone and its the Nokia 1020.  I'm excited to use this phone, I've read so much about the camera and I can't wait to try it out.

If you have any questions about this model the Nokia 1020 or windows phones in general post it in the comment section.

Nokia 1020

CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE VIDEOS HERE: 

http://www.youtube.com/user/hawaiiinsomniac/videos 

 Mahalo for reading. Until next time.

TechTalk - Nokia Lumia 920 - Spinning Gears FIX!

You have a Nokia Lumia 920 (or 520, 620, 820, 1020, 925, or 928 - I think that's all the Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 8 series) and you decide to do perform a factory reset...

But you encounter a problem, once your phone is restarting, all you see is SPINNING GEARS.

DO NOT PANIC.

Well, of course you can panic a little, mobile phones aren't exactly cheap and such, but just follow the next steps and you'll be back to your fully functional Nokia Lumia series phone!  WOOT WOOT.

STEPS... 

#1 - Breathe

#2 - Hold down the following buttons

(Power, Volume UP and Volume DOWN)

#3 - Wait until phone resets (if it shows spinning gears again - Repeat Step 2)

Check out my video.

CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE VIDEOS HERE: 

http://www.youtube.com/user/hawaiiinsomniac/videos 

 Mahalo for reading. Until next time.

TechTalk - Windows 8 - Not Ready for Primetime...

Good morning, this is my first tech review in quite some time, so I will try to be as in depth as possible, but this is my initial impression after working with Windows 8 for the past 8 hours.  I have already been using certain aspects of Windows 8 for quite some time - Office 2013 (Powerpoint, Word and Excel), but I will include that in a separate review.

Please note that this review is solely based on my experience with my computer.  My computer is only 5 months old, with mid to top specs - 17" Dell, Intel i5 Dual Core, 8GB ram, Blu-Ray player, etc, running Windows 7 Pro.  I feel that this OS (Operating system) has rendered my PC obsolete, without the screen touch capabilities many of the actions are very tedious.  However, even if I had a touch screen, there are so many bugs that I would recommend a later iteration of the OS.  

Also note, I am a previous Windows 7 and 7.5 user, having owned and used HTC HD7, Dell Venue Pro (one of my favorite phones of all time - though it was bulky),   

I'm going to break this review up into various sections...

INSTALLATION

Surprisingly, this is the easiest installation of an OS, I've ever performed (of course, back up your entire system before performing any time of operating system upgrade).  I opted for the online download, which was $39.99.  After downloading the application, it will perform an upgrade check to inform you of various applications which are compatible and which will require to be removed, updated, etc.  Nearly all of my applications were able to be transported over without any issues.

START

Using Windows 8, you'll be given different options on how to log-in.  You will be given an option to use LIVE log in (Note, you can use your Gmail as a LIVE account - make sure you sign up for a LIVE account prior to installation, if you want to use your Gmail account).  You can also use a standard password or a PIN (a 4 digit code) to quickly log online).

OS

The Operating system itself is gorgeous, modern, sleek, with clean lines.  However, the utility of the applications can be somewhat frustrating.  I'll break down my current frustrations into separate applications:

PEOPLE

This is one of the reasons I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Windows 7 and 7.5 phone operating system.  Basically the process is you log onto to you accounts: gmail, hotmail, twitter, facebook, linkedin, outlook (whatever accounts you have) and basically you can "LINK" a persons information together, so under one contact - you can see their twitter account, address, phone number, skype account, birthday, etc. and you can PIN this person to your home page, so whenever this person sends you a message via any type of communication, you will receive a notification and access it directly from the LIVETILE - without ever opening the application.

With all of the things I love about PEOPLE, these features are missing from Windows 8 - the lack of LINKING as well as creating GROUPS is super frustrating and hopefully these will be addressed soon.

SKYPE

Skype is beautiful - streamlined and made just for Windows 8 - but 

1)  THERE IS NO SIGN-OUT BUTTON 

2) Lack of integration with all my contacts - If I'm going to MERGE my accounts - why aren't all my contacts here?!

While the operating system is clean, streamlined, simple things; such as uninstalling an application is no longer readily accessible - due to the fact that the control panel has been removed and there is no START button.

I really want to love Windows 8, like I wanted to love Windows 7 and 7.5 (which lacks basic applications like What's app and RunKeeper, and Yelp - a must for me!) I think Windows 8 is best on a tablet, but who knows, like most things there is a leaning curve and I'll post another update next week.

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

TechTalk - 2 reasons why I HATE Windows Phone

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Operating system, the live updating tiles, the integration between the various social networks.  Actually, I've had two Windows Phones the past year - a Dell Venue Pro and a HTC HD7.  I would completely recommend Windows Phone to anyone as long as they understand the Two  Reasons I Hate Windows Phone.  Yes, its a love/hate relationship.  We're currently in the broken up stages.  I currently have an Android phone.

Reason #1 - Hard Reset

A "hard reset" is basically erasing everything off your phone as if it were brand new.  While this may not appear to be a big deal, there isn't a way to re-download all of your apps automatically.  Apple iPhone have the iTunes ecosystem where all apps are stored locally, so theoretically, you can just "sync" your phone.  While Windows Phone uses Zune (and its great at wireless syncing) if you have need to perform a hard reset, you will be forced to manually download all of your apps via your phone or (online Windows Marketplace).

Why do I need to perform a hard reset?

Your Windows phone is tied to a Windows LIVE email (you don't have to use a .LIVE or .HOTMAIL), but once you set up your email as a Windows Live email, that is set on your mobile device.  Recently, my Xbox live account was hacked and after contacting Xbox support, they changed the Windows LIVE associated with my account for "safety reasons" with a new random email.  This basically renders your Marketplace useless, if you try to assess application or update your phone - your phone will AUTOMATICALLY provide your current Windows LIVE email, with another Gamertag.

If you aren't a gamer, this probably isn't a big deal, but many Windows Phone users love to play games and probably currently have an Xbox as well and achievement points are just topping on the cake, needless to say changing emails and gamertags is a frustrating experience.  There is a workaround, but it will involve you (not xbox) creating another email, associating your current (unused) gamertag to that email and finally associating your email with your original gamertag.  Needless to say, I no longer a windows phone after this experience.

Reason #2 - Applications

While the number of applications is just a number to me in regards to marketplaces, there are applications that doesn't exist in the Windows ecosystem that I like to use on nearly a daily basis.

Applications such as Yelp (the Windows version doesn't have a check in method), RunKeeper (an application which tracks your workouts - cycling, running, etc.), Instagram (my current favorite picture sharing application).  Check out http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/marketplace before you decide on a Windows phone - chances are you've invested in an Apple or Android ecosystem and your favorite applications may not be available on this ecosystem.

Microsoft, I love your operating system and I wish you the best with the release of Windows 8, but being an early Windows phone adopter and not having access to the latest and greatest after 2 iterations of the operating system is quite a bit much to bear.

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.