Top tips for new Lumia owners: Part 2

Yesterday we published a list of tips for new Lumia owners, helping you guys to get to grips with your shiny new smartphones. With so many features and functions, however, there are more tips than we could fit in a single article, so here’s the follow-up covering everything you need to know.

Adding to the People Hub

To add a friend or acquaintance to the People Hub on your Lumia, simply open People Hub and tap the + button. You can link a contact to your email account, and once you’ve selected an account you can add details for their Name, Phone, Email, Ringtone and a list of other options. Once you’re done, simply press the Save button at the bottom.

Multitasking

Multitasking on a Nokia Lumia really couldn’t be easier. If you want to go to an app that’s already running in the background, simply press and hold the back key. When you hold it down, the screen will zoom out slightly, and you’ll be able to swipe through other applications or settings pages that are still open. Just tap the one you want to go back to it.

SkyDrive

Your Lumia comes with free SkyDrive storage, and it’s easy to take full advantage. To get started, and to ensure your files are backed up to SkyDrive, press the Settings option, followed by ‘Backup’, and then select what you want to be stored on your SkyDrive account (apps list and settings, text messages, and photographs). To access your content, make sure your phone is running the latest version of SkyDrive, and then you’ll be able to use the app to browse files.

How to download apps

Apps help to give your phone a personal feel, and they can turn it into a particularly useful tool, with hundreds of thousands of apps, games and utilities on offer from the Windows Phone Store. To download an app, press the Store button, and then either use the Search option (the magnifying glass at the bottom of the screen) or search by category. Once you’ve found an app you like, click ‘Install’ to download.

Adding to the Start Screen

Adding your favourite apps and shortcuts to your Start Screen can transform the way your Lumia works. To add an app, find the one you want, press and hold, and then tap ‘Pin to start’. You can also add web pages by opening the Internet Explorer, pressing the menu button followed by ‘Pin to start’. To remove from the start screen, tap and hold an icon, and when it’s highlighted press the unpin icon at the top right corner.

Moving tiles

Along with resizing and unpinning, pressing and holding an icon also lets you move it around your Start Screen. As before, wait until it’s highlighted, let go, and then you’ll be able to drag and drop it to a different part of the screen. When you’re happy, tap the icon again and your Start Screen will return to normal.

Switching to silent

The volume rockers on the side of your Lumia make it simple to adjust the volume, but they also offer a means to switch your phone to silent. When you tap the volume button, a tab appears at the top right of the screen – tap it to switch between Ring and Vibrate, and Vibrate (silent).

Shortcut tiles for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

If you use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Airplane mode a lot on your phone,Connectivity Shortcuts will make a big difference to your daily life. The app lets you add shortcuts to your Start Screen, so you can switch Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode and GPS on and off without having to navigate through the settings page.

Find my phone

Concerned about losing your phone? Nokia offers a feature that makes it simple to ring, lock or erase your device, along with sending apps to the handset from WindowsPhone.com. Open Settings, followed by ‘Find my phone’, and then tick the options that are important to you. With Find my phone activated, you can go to WindowsPhone.com, click the phone icon at the top right of the page, and track down your handset.

The main buttons

When you get your new Lumia you’ll need to get accustomed to the three main buttons: Back, Windows, and Search. Back lets you close your application and return to the previous screen, while the Windows button lets you return to the Start Screen without closing what you were doing.

With your previous page running in the background, you’ll be able to return to it by either pressing the back button, or by holding the back button and then using the multitasking option to select from multiple pages. The Search button does exactly what it says on the tin, bringing up the Bing search bar.