Windows Phone 7 : Taking a Quick Tour (part 2)

5. Understanding Status and Notifications

Windows Phone 7 has a status bar at the top of the screen that provides at-a-glance info about the health and well-being of your phone—whether you have a signal, how strong it is, what network you’re connected to, how long before your battery goes kaput. It’s also where you’ll see notifications—pop-up messages that preview the first line of an incoming text message or remind you who’s on hold.

5.1. Status Symbols

The Windows Phone 7 status bar has a few interesting quirks. In their quest to keep the screen clutter free, Microsoft engineers made the status bar hide itself after a few moments. If you need to see it, swipe down with your finger. Here are some of the more common icons you’ll encounter and what they mean.

Icon	What it means
	Battery level
	Battery charging
	Cellular signal strength
	No cell signal
	Roaming
	Vibrate mode
	Silent mode
	Bluetooth
	Wi-Fi signal
	Airplane mode
	Call forwarding
	Locked SIM card
	No SIM card

6. The ABCs of Cellular Networks

Glance up at the status bar, right next to the familiar cell signal-strength indicator, and you’ll probably see one or more letters. This code indicates the type of cellular data network you’re connected to. Put simply, it’s your Internet connection, and the code tells you something about how speedy it is (or isn’t).

The fun of having a Windows Phone really becomes obvious when you’re connected to the Internet. Only then can you surf the Web, send and receive e-mail, map an address with Bing, update Facebook, or download music and apps.

While Wi-Fi is always an option for connecting, most of the time your Internet link comes via your carrier’s cellular data network. As of this writing, Windows Phone 7 is compatible only with carriers that use a GSM network, such as AT&T and T-Mobile. Sometime in 2011, Microsoft says it expects to have a version of Windows Phone 7 available for CDMA networks, the type used by Verizon and Sprint. Here’s a brief rundown of the codes you’re likely to encounter as you cruise around with your phone.

Warning:

Microsoft lets carriers customize the symbols that represent each type of data network. While the ones listed here are standard, what you see on your Windows Phone might not always correspond to this list.

7. Exploring Inside Your Phone

I often talk about Windows Phone 7 as though it’s the entire phone, but it’s actually just the name of Microsoft’s software operating system that makes the phone work. Other companies build the device itself. As a result, the phone in your pocket might look very different from the Windows Phone in mine. Yours might have a slide-out keyboard, a curvier shape, or more buttons.

But inside it’s a different story. Microsoft wanted every one of its phones—no matter who makes it or sells it—to have the same minimum list of features. (Notice I said minimum. If your phone comes with a bigger screen or better camera than the ones I list below—well, lucky you!)

So let’s pull the covers off your new phone and take a quick peek at its silicon guts—if only because this is what makes a smartphone so darn much fun!

7.1. The Camera

Every Windows Phone comes with a 5-megapixel camera. Five megapixels is pretty darn good for a cell phone camera (8 megapixels is about the max on any phone these days) and more than up to the task of taking great snapshots and videos. Windows Phones can also record 720p-resolution high-definition video.

7.2. The Screen

Your phone comes with a 480×800-pixel color screen that’s sensitive to human touch. In fact, the screen on your phone (a capacitance screen, if you must know) only responds to human touch—not a stylus, pencil tip, or finger nail. (Don’t believe me? Try it.) It also knows when you’re touching with two fingers. Some apps, like Maps, Internet Explorer, and Outlook, are designed to take advantage of this.

7.3. The Radios

Every Windows Phone can send and receive various kinds of wireless signals—collectively these transmitters and receivers are known as the phone’s radios. The biggie, of course, is the cellular radio responsible for voice and Internet data. But there’s also a GPS radio for getting a fix on your location, a Bluetooth radio for hands-free headsets and headphones, and a Wi-Fi radio for connecting to Internet “hotspots” at home or in your favorite coffee shop. As a bonus, there’s also an FM radio, something you don’t find in many phones.

7.4. The Sensors

Sensors are the secret weapon of any smartphone. Every Windows Phone has at least four sensors on board. There’s a light sensor to automatically brighten or dim the screen, making it easier to see during the day and help conserve battery power at night.

There’s an accelerometer for sensing motion and orientation, a digital compass (aka the magnetometer), and a proximity sensor that automatically switches off the touch-sensitive screen when you have the phone pressed to your face.

8. Navigating with Your Fingers

If you’re arriving from the PC world of point and click, you’re in for a fun surprise. Windows Phone is operated using a series of finger gestures. If you’re new to touch-screen smartphones, it might take you a few minutes to get the gist of gestures, but you’ll quickly master them. And don’t be surprised if you find yourself starting to touch every screen you encounter from now on, expecting a response.

8.1. Tap

The smartphone equivalent of a mouse click, tapping is the basic way to get stuff done on your phone and the first maneuver you need to master. You tap to launch apps, open web links, type text with the on-screen keyboard, and respond to pop-up notifications on your phone. Occasionally you double-tap the screen to do something—for example, zoom in or out on a picture or web page.

8.2. Press and Hold

Like many smartphones, Windows Phone 7 is loaded with hidden menus. Pressing and holding your finger against the screen for a few moments is the key to revealing them—and accessing many of the phone’s coolest features. If you remember just one thing from this section, it should be this: When you get stuck or confused, try press and hold. It’s your secret weapon.

8.3. Flick and Swipe

Flicking is a fast swipe of your finger in any direction across the screen. Flicking is ideal for quickly scrolling up and down a contact list or web page. The move is also handy in hubs, which you get around by using a flick left or right.

A word of caution: You’ll quickly discover that there’s some real-world physics at play in Windows Phone. Flick too quickly, and you might see the app, contact, or whatever you wanted to find whiz by in a blur. Sometimes a controlled swipe is more called for—for example, to slide open the lock screen or toggle a setting switch on or off.

8.4. Pinch and Spread

A two-fingered maneuver. These gestures are handy in apps like Internet Explorer, Maps, Pictures, and Mail—all places where you might need to zoom in or out to get a better look at something. They’re easier to do than describe. Pinch your thumb and forefinger on the screen to make text or images smaller (zoom out). Spread them apart to do the opposite and zoom in.