Windows Phone 8.1 Tips and Tricks

A Virtual Private Network or VPN is now built into Windows Phone devices. This is useful if you want to access a work or personal network while out and about.

These can be a bit tricky to setup, so you may want to ask your work’s IT department for the settings, but this can be found by going to Settings – VPN.

Simply Press and Hold on a text message and choose Delete

To improve focus while using the Camera app, you can press on a specific spot on the screen to focus there.

Also, when taking photos, press the Camera button down halfway to focus. Then depress it fully to take the photo.

Instead of copying and pasting text you see on a website, you can highlight a word. Then press the Search button to search for the word on Bing

If your phone is on standby, there is an option where if you hold down the camera button it will wake the phone up and launch directly into the camera app. This is great if you want to snap a photo quickly.

From the homescreen, scroll to the right and choose Settings – Applications. Then find Pictures + Camera. Then turn the top option to on.

Before you can pay for goods, your phone must first support NFC and this should be enabled.

To enable, go to Settings – Tap+Share. You will then need to enter your payment details within the Wallet App. You can do this by pressing the + symbol inside this App. You will also need to do this step if you ever want to pay for an App or Song/

Once they have been setup, then check with the shopkeeper that they support NFC. If they do, then simply swipe the phone over their terminal and your bank or PayPal account will be charged. Great to avoid getting out your credit card and mucking around with PINs.

To PIN music or playlists to your start menu, go to your Music player.

Then select the music file or playlist you want.

Then Press and Hold on an item and select Pin to start

To Copy text to the clipboard (to paste later), then simply press and hold on some text. Then drag the two end circles to select all the text you want. You can pinch and zoom if it makes this easier.

Once you have copied your text, you can then paste it using the Clipboard option (which should appear about the keyboard).

To turn off roaming while abroad, go to Settings – Mobile network – Roaming.

This can save you from getting stung on high call charges while overseas.