Windows Phone GEAR.

I stumbled upon Windows Phone gear today AND NOW I KNOW WHAT I NEED THIS CHRISTMAS.

Windows Phone Gear on CafePress

The official Windows Gear shop (hosted by CafePress) is filled with mugs, totes, hoodies, tees, and stickers, but a severe lack of kid attire (with exception of one onesie). So, I took to Etsy for Windows Phone love. And, no suprise there, not a bit of Windows Phone love on Etsy. (It's all Apple love. Which isn't a shock.)

In June of this year they announced the WPGear shop on the official Windows Phone blog, and they said they wanted to start small and see how it goes. I think for this reason the options are somewhat limited. And I get that.

BUT, I WAN'T MORE. I would love to throw a "Kids Corner" shirt on my daughter to wear around town. Maybe something to consider, Windows Phone? I'M JUST SAYIN'.

Live tiles for all!

I. Love. Live tiles.

I love glancing at my screen and in one moment seeing I have new emails, new notifications on Facebook, status updates and tweets from my "BFF" group (more on groups another time), what music I was recently listening to, a slideshow of my favorite photos, and so on, and so on.

Nearly every app has "push notifications" and live tile support. My Facebook app immediately tells me with a ping that someone said something to me, and it tells me what they said before I even have to unlock my screen or open the app. Then, if I forget, a number indicating how many notifications I have appears on my FB live tile reminding me to check it out when I get the chance. If I resize my tile to be the largest size (only available on WP8), the tile flips over every so often displaying my latest status update and my cover photo. And that's just FB. Again, so many apps have the same support and it makes following everything that interests you so quick and seamless.

And pretty!!

~credit: iTechPost.com

I'm going to be honest with you: a big draw for me was how pretty all my flipping, colorful tiles look when I unlock my phone. I adore seeing my face and the faces of my friends and family displayed on my phone when I slide up to unlock. I love that I can always know exactly what my BFF's are up to just by looking at my BFF's group tile as it rotates back and forth between their pictures and their recent updates.

I also love my calendar. I keep my calendar tile the largest size because with my phone synced with FB and my email calendars, I'm never forgetting appointments, birthdays, or special events at my favorite venues. (The calendar is automatically the largest tile size in WP7 with the same actions.)

Right now my dog is undergoing some very frequent treatments for both a torn ACL and advanced heartworms. With those appointments added into my calendar and reminders set, on the day of each appointment my calendar live tile tells me. And on the days she doesn't have an appointment, invites to events on FB from my favorite music and art venues (or anything I've liked on FB that sends out invites) show up on my live tile, and if I so choose I can enter the calendar app and RSVP the invite or turn it down without going into FB. It's just a matter of tap, tap, tap and boom, we're done.

This is only a glimpse into the world of live tiles. With so many app developers takng advantage of the ability to create live tiles for their apps, you'll find yourself happily scouring the marketplace for every app that suits you JUST so you can pin it to your start screen and watch it dance.

Happy pinning!!

And here's a video of my start screen on my HTC 8X!!

 

Let's talk about color.

When I owned my WP7, I often found myself frustrated at the lack of color options for my tiles. I'm an artist and a proud freak for color. In my home I have a yellow kitchen, a red diningroom, a green livingroom, a chocolate brown guestroom, and my daughter's room is a gorgeous blue steel. Color is a big deal for me. Different colors evoke different emotions and trigger memories. For example, when we see red and green coupled, we automatically think winter holidays, specifically Christmas. On the other hand, when we see gold, red, orange, and brown, we think of Autumn and the holidays therein. Colors do things to us. The world is filled with color for a reason.

So, having only ten or so color options from the WP7 was a bit disappointing. These still provided a lot of customization options, and the given colors were gorgeous. But having TWENTY fantastic colors to choose from for my WP8?? IT'S AMAZING.

One color I really wanted was yellow. And WP8 delivers two shades of yellow: a more neon yellow, and more golden yellow. They've also added four varients of blue, two pinks, two reds, four greens, two browns, two purples, and an amazing shade called "steel" that is a mostly grey hue with just a touch of blue. (My husband loves "steel".)

With these color options, and the resizing options of tiles (which I'll get into in another post), my start screen is filled with vibrancy and life. It is a true pleasure to slide up past my Lock Screen and soak up the color on my screen. Here's the color options available to WP8 owners: