Live tiles galore
What's on your Start Screen, Zac Bowden?
Still using a Windows Phone? Need Start Screen and app ideas? We've got you covered!
Start Screen
Live tiles galore
It's personal
Mark's Windows 10 Mobile Start Screen setup
I've been mostly happy with the Lumia 830 after installing Window 10 Mobile preview. Things are moving along, and I think that it is good enough as a daily driver. I've already said goodbye to Windows Phone 8.1 and will be using Windows 10 Mobile from now on. Here's what I have on my Start screen.
Customize away
Transparent tiles are coming to Windows 10 for phones
If you installed the Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones, you may have noticed that the start screen renders tiles differently from what we've seen in Windows Phone 8.1. Tiles that use the theme color were transparent in Windows Phone 8.1, allowing you to see the background image, but in Windows 10 for phones, the tiles are merely translucent. If you're a fan of transparent tiles,...
TIP
Get back the Modern Start Screen in Windows 10
Today, Microsoft unveiled their Windows Technical Preview for the new Windows 10 operating system. There are obviously plenty of questions from users about upgrading to the Preview, and one of those has to deal with the Modern Start Screen. If like me, you installed the Technical Preview but you would like to get back the Modern Start Screen, here is a quick and easy way to make that...
8.1 HD Tiles, delivering transparent Live Tiles to your Windows Phone
8.1 HD Tiles is a Windows Phone 8.1 app that will let you add transparent Live Tiles to your Start Screen. The app not only offers transparent tiles for two hundred apps but 8.1 HD Tiles also offers tile options for settings, websites and blank tiles that can be used as spacers or to categorize groups of Windows Phone Live Tiles. The app is compatible with Windows Phone 8 devices but...
Theme+ updated with new patterns, color shuffling and UI improvements
We're big fans of customizing Windows Phones to suit our personal tastes and mood, and Theme+ is one such app that helps make it easier to add some really awesome effects to the Start Screen. We've covered the app in the past, but today we're looking at versions 1.5 and 1.5.1, which were both recently released. Head past the break to see what's new. Version 1.5: Added new set of...
Theme+ lets you create some vivid and colorful backgrounds for Windows Phone 8.1
With the release of Windows Phone 8.1, under the Preview for Developers program, we have seen a number of apps surface in the Windows Phone Store focused on creating custom Start Screen backgrounds. Each app seems to follow the same pattern of having a simple interface and plenty of creative styles. Theme+ is one of the more recent additions to this genre of apps and falls in line with...
How often do you change your Windows Phone Start Screen?
Our Windows Phone Start Screen is an easy way to make our phones our own. Even before Windows Phone 8.1 introduced transparent Live Tiles and Start Screen background images, through third party apps and in-house settings you could customize things quite a bit. There is a Windows Phone Central Forums discussion, started by Forum Member Sir William Wiener that asks how often do you...
What's on your Windows Phone Start screen?
A lot of people have asked us about how the Start screens on our Windows Phone devices look like. Daniel started a Start screen layouts series here, and other Windows Phone Central authors followed him. There’s also this popular thread on the Windows Phone Central forums where everybody is sharing their Windows Phone Start screens, and some of them are also sharing the images they are...
Top Windows Phone 8.1 Start Screen Apps
Windows Phone Central App Roundup: Windows Phone 8.1 Start Screen Apps While the Windows Phone Start Screen has never really sucked wind, the features the Windows Phone 8.1 update brings to the table takes the Start Screen to a new level. We still have Live Tiles that can deliver bullets of information to keep us up to date on everything from the weather, our schedule, stock prices,...
Start Perfect, your one stop app for custom Windows Phone 8.1 Start Screens
The developers of Transparency Tiles have released a premium app that throws just about every tool you will need to customize your Windows Phone 8.1 Start Screen. Start Perfect has Transparency Tiles built in but also adds additional customization features such as transparent tiles for websites, custom tile names, custom background colors and more. Start Perfect eliminates the need for...
Transparency Tiles updated, lets you pin clear Instagram, Foursquare, Facebook and more to your 8.1 screen
Since Windows Phone 8.1’s preview release this week, you folks can’t enough of the new Start screen backgrounds. And here you thought you’d hate them ;) We covered a cool little app dubbed Transparency Tiles earlier this week, as it’s used to re-create Tiles for your 8.1 Start screen for native and popular apps. On first release it covered just Xbox Games, Music and Video, but we told...
What’s on your Windows Phone Start Screen, George Ponder?
One of the key attractions for the Windows Phone platform is the Live Tiles. It allows you get a glance at key information such as new emails, the current temperature, your next appointment or sports scores. The recent Windows Phone 8.1 update only adds to this attraction with new features such as transparent tiles, a third-column option, and a few new apps that liven up your Start...
Start Screen Customizer for Windows Phone 8.1, let the creativity begin!
One of the fun features of Windows Phone 8.1 is the ability to add a background image to your Start Screen and let it shine through transparent Live Tiles. There is a new Windows Phone 8.1 app in the Windows Phone Store that lets you take this customization one step further. Start Screen Customizer provides you with the ability to choose a solid colored background or adjust the tones...
What’s on your Windows Phone Start screen, Rich Edmonds?
The Start Screen is a unique way to personalize your Windows Phone. Not only do consumers have access to (and can customize) app launches, but there's the possibility to pin Live Tiles that update with relevant information for apps. Part of the [Start Screen layout series](http://www.wpcentral.com/tag/start-screen-layout) from Windows Phone Central staff, it's now my turn to share what...
Back up and restore your Start Screen in Windows Phone 8.1
Anybody waiting for the ability to backup their Windows Phone Start Screen is about to get their wish, as [Windows Phone 8.1](http://www.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-81) will let users backup and restore their Start Screen across devices. Restoring a device will also download the data for all of your apps.
Let us know if you love or hate the new Start screen in Windows Phone 8.1
We are now less than a week from officially seeing Windows Phone 8.1 for the first time. The unveiling is happening next week at Microsoft’s Build conference in San Francisco. Not only do we get to see the new mobile operating system from Microsoft, but Nokia is expected to announce two new Windows Phone 8.1 devices – the Lumia 630 (Moneypenny) and the Lumia 930 (Martini). We’ve seen...
New Windows Phone 8.1 video reveals Start screen backgrounds, parallax view
As we reported earlier, the leaks for Windows Phone 8.1 are coming in at a steady pace now. Following up on this morning’s video that showed off the new OS is one focusing on the new Start screen options. Not much has happened with the Start screen since Windows Phone 8 was announced, but with 8.1 users will have at least two new features to help customize and personalize their phones...
Windows Phone 8.1 custom images for Live Tiles on the Start screen revealed
Windows Phone 8.1 is only a few weeks away. So with that, let’s jump onto the latest rumor floating around today, namely the one dealing with background images on the Start screen. There was some confusion about this feature – codenamed ‘shadowbox’ by Microsoft –with people believing that it was the background of the Start screen that would be skinned. As we cautioned in original...
Windows Phone 8.1 may get backgrounds on the Start screen, three column support
More information from the Windows Phone 8.1 beta SDK leak hint at some forthcoming features for the OS update, due to be announced in April. The info comes from LiveSino, who found references to numerous unannounced references to features in the SDK, hinting that such customizations may be in the final build for customers. The idea of giving customers more options to customize their...