Microsoft Lumia 535 Tips and Tricks

If you have a number of apps open and you want to close some of them, then the best way to do this is to long press the phone’s back button. Then press the X icon next to each app, or simply swipe the app downwards.

If you want to display the Action Centre, which is basically a quick access notifications screen (similar to Android), then simply swipe your finger down from the top of the screen.

This will give you access to Airplane mode, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Rotation Lock and so on.

You will also see phone notifications which can be discarded by swiping your finger to the left or right.

If you’re abroad and want to translate text or street signs with your camera, then Window Phone provides this great feature.

Be warned that it does require a data connection, so if you’re roaming then make sure you check how much the costs will be.

First, press the search button at the bottom of your phone (three dots) Then press button that looks like an eye to open the Camera. Next, press Scan Text to take a picture of the text and then press Translate.

If it doesn’t work the first time, then try taking the photo straight on, or from a slightly different angle. Once the phone has recognised the text, select a language to translate to and Windows Phone will translate it for you.

Warning: This will remove ALL data on the phone.

To hard reset your phone, go to Start – Applications list – Settings. Then scroll to the bottom and choose About. Then press Reset your phone. Then press Yes.

If you can’t do that, then some alternative methods are as follows:

1) First press and hold the Camera + Volume Down + Power buttons simultaneously.
Then release the Power button when the phone vibrates – but continue to hold down Camera and Volume Down.
Then release the camera button and Volume Down when the Format prompt is displayed on screen.
Then press Windows button twice to confirm.

2) Turn the phone off. Then press and hold the power key until it vibrates. Then release.
Press and hold the Volume Down button. If the exclamation mark is displayed, then let go of the button.
Then input the follow sequence of keys: Volume Up – Volume Down – Power – Volume Down.

A great feature of recent Windows Phone versions is what’s called Storage Sense which can help you manage your phone and SD card storage.

If your device does have expandable storage and you have an SD card, then Storage Sense helps you move photos, music and Apps from your phone storage to your SD card.

You can also use it to see which content or which Apps are consuming the most storage space. From here you can either delete or uninstall the offenders.

To open websites in a new browser tab, then simply Press and Hold on a hyperlink and select Open in new tab.

When in your Email application, you can Press and Hold on individual emails. This will give you a menu whereby you can Delete, Mark as unread, Move or Set a flag to your emails

If a URL is wrong, then it will often be cut off the screen. To see the whole thing, simply swipe left or right on the text to view the whole address.

If you want to type a word with a capital letter, you can press and hold on the Shift key, then slide your finger to the letter and then release. This saves having to press Shift then pressing the letter.

The same thing works for numbers – press and hold the &123 key, then slide your finger to a number and release. The keyboard will then return to the Alphabetical keyboard so you don’t need to toggle between the two

Go to your Photos App. Then swipe left for Albums. Then press and hold on the Camera Roll. Press Delete contents. Then press Delete again to confirm that you are sure to do this.

WARNING: This will remove ALL photos, so be sure you really want to do this.