Windows Phone 8 training resources highlight a number of new features for sales reps

By Rich Edmonds
last updated

Lucy! Tidy up your corner, it's a bloody mess!

Be sure to take a deep breathe before reading this - sales representatives are going through some training before Microsoft unveils its next Windows Phone release. Fancy that, eh? Neowin has been sent a number of shots showing some resources that appear to be utilised as training material.

Highlighting and running through a number of features in Windows Phone, the material will (or so it's believed) enable sales representatives to answer questions consumers may ask when browsing the collection of Lumias or huge array of Samsung hardware (we'll stop picking at Samsung soon enough, or will we?).

We've previously looked at how terrible sales staff have been with Windows Phone with Windows Phone Central reader reports. Whether it be straight out recommending Android and iPhones over Windows Phones with a strong, bias push, or damaged demonstrations units out on display. It's not been a rosy experience for any Windows Phone veteran visiting a carrier store to witness such awful marketing from retailers and carriers.

As mentioned above, the training material published by Neowin shows a handful of features we've known since (and prior) the Windows Phone 8 SDK leak. These include the Wallet app, Kids Corner and Rooms. Kids Corner will be the number one addition for parents, which will provide extra control and safeguard management to keep the little ones from accessing the depths of 4chan.

Parents will be able to set up a profile or account to access specified apps and more, which will be achieved by swiping left on the lock screen. Lastly, we have some NFC documentation and PIN screen for added security. Rooms are also confirmed, and will allow users to set up groups of contacts that will participate in group chat, calendar, notes, lists and documents. 

Check out more shots below.

Source: Neowin

Rich Edmonds
Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.

36 Comments
  • it's funny I know more of wp whenever I go to the phone store. I ask the sales people many questions and some don't even know crap. Yup total newbies
  • I found that most I have spoken with are more bias than anything else. I have had multiple poor experiences with these "reps"
  • Dammit, I used to enjoy walking into stores and schooling sales reps on WP. :D
  • I don't think will be some surprising new feature... AT&T would not make an incomplete training to its employees... I'm so disappointed...
  • Looks good but on a different note Surface is to be officially priced today :D here's hoping for under $399 price for 32gb RT
  • what? you're lying, where when? I need to know now I dont want a surprse come next Friday
  • "huge array of Samsung hardware"?
  • It is funny how misguided the Samsung hate on this site is, even from the editors, when Samsung is going to be the major player in the success of the Widnows ecosystem well ahead of the HTC and Nokia's contributuions.
    HTC gets worshipped for two crappy WP8 phones and an event paid by Microsoft. Nokia for one phone and some software and an event paid by Microsoft.
    Samsung contributes with the Ativ S, Ativ Tab 10.1, Ativ Smart PC, Ativ Smart PC Pro, and is paying money out of their own pockets to show off their flagship Windows 8 ultra books sometime in mid october and no one appreciates it.
    Backwards much? It is kind of disgusting how little credit they get actually. It seems like the only way people will learn is if they pull out of North America and take all their displays and chips with them. I would love to see that actually. Especially after that Windows Phone executive laughed and tweeted WP8 is looking good right about now after they lost 1 billion in the lawsuit. Talk about disrespecting your main hardware manufacturer.
     
  • Totally agree with you. Except that they haven't actually paid yet and are appealing case
  • I dont really approve hate, but more so cheering for something else. I can say (and have said before) that the materials used in Ativ S is a turnoff for me and I love the Lumia 920.
     
    That said, one can't forget how Nokia has a huge domination when it comes to the marketshare inside WP7 at the moment. I'm not sure what the number exactly is, but to my understanding it's well voer 50% of WP devices sold are from Nokia.
  • What have you been smoking? They have no one but themselves to blame for the hate. The amount of complaints on the Omnia7 in Europe and lack of support, the apps they have released are a complete joke, recycled design for WP8.
    They pretty much suck compared to the competition right now.
  • More like what are you smoking. Their design isn't anymore rehashed than anyone elses. In fact, your post is the perfect example of the poor observation skills I see around here. lol
  • Are you fucking blind?!!! Lumias and new HTC devices are bringing something new designwise and are matching the OS. Ativ S looks like the old WP7 Android rehash crap we got. And what about the rest of my post? Its like you don't give a shit about the lack of support Samsung has just because you are one of the few not affected by it. Europe has been plagued with issues and they didn't really give a shit the first year. Im throwing my Omnia7 to the wall when I get my new WP8.
  • You jst decided to respond on the design aspect..that too a poor response I must say considering that the design of ativ s looks like a product of utmost procrastination compared to the lumias and wp8x/s...What abt the support and exclusive apps?
    And its not a painful process to find an alternative to Samsungs chips and displays...like apple is doing right now...i would say they ought to be more worried abt their future than N.A worrying abt a hypothetical pull out...
  • Even though I'll be getting an 8X I totally agree with you about samsung not getting the respect they deserve. They dominate android sales for a reason,,,because they make phone people like,,,,,the GSIII is currently T-Mo's #1 selling smartphone of all time. If it brings some of the features found in that phone like swiping your hand across the screen to take a screenshot,,PIP watching a video while doing other things,,calling the person your texting by just bringing the phone up to your ear,,,or the incall volume button,,to raise the volume past maximum during loud situations,,,and the ATIV-S has a good chance of being the best selling WP8 phone,,,not to mention Samsungs brand recognition.
  • PS-The editors on this site don't really "hate" on other brands there just VERY PRO NOKIA,,,,to the point that this site has been know to called "nokiacentral" at times.
  • Odd, I wouldn't say we're "pro anything". Sure, we give Nokia a lot of attention, because they're generally in the news more often than HTC, Samsung, and others. If Samsung matched Nokia in terms of marketing, OEM apps, hardware development, platform promotion, then we'd become "nokiasamsungcentral". Better yet, if HTC does the same with Apollo, we could become "htcnokiasamsungcentral" - woah. I believe "wpcentral" would suffice, no? :-)
  • One example I'm thinking of is the recent article about the HTC 8X comming to T-mo november 14th,,,"still no sign of LUMIA 810". In this instance I think the lumia 810 reference was unneeded because nokia was already being talked about a MANY other articles. But the editor found it necessary to involve the 810 in article about the 8X.
  • Sure, while it was to cover both the HTC and Nokia Windows Phone devices, I can see how you'd get the impression from that article. But I will point out that we're not massive Nokia fanboys who get all excited about every piece of news we locate and write up. As a note: Should you notice anything out of place, or have any feedback you'd like to put forward with constructive criticism or suggestions, then by all means fire us a message, or email myself directly and I'll be sure to get the whips, handcuffs and gimp masks out the wardrobe - contact[at]richedmonds.co.uk. We are only human (and we do actually listen to you guys), and while we do attempt to rule out bias reporting and favouritism. It's nigh impossible to prevent that one moment when you wish to scream out your love for Steve Ballmer.
  • Define constructive criticism lol
  • "Rich. I believe you're a goofy, wide teethed, top-hat wearing, fish & chip eating, tea drinking, British snob. But I love you. Very muchly so, good sir." ^ would be enough? ;-)
  • +1
  • And Nokia has provided NEW user experiences / support for WP. The Focus2 was probably a device they found unable to run Android. Other than that, Samsung has shown NO love for the WP OS.
  • Aw, come on. It's all a bit of fun. When did I say myself or any other member of staff here dislikes Samsung? Samsung stuck Windows Phone 8 onto the end of their IFA presentation and have been extraordinarily quiet in marketing, etc. since Microsoft launched the platform back in 2010. It was obvious they would go into Windows 8 as they're a major Windows PC manufacturing partner for Microsoft. They do wonders in the laptop and desktop space. Windows Phones? Not so much. Don't get me wrong, I don't 'hate' Samsung. None of us here do, but we'd seriously like to see more effort on their part. My first WP was a Samsung Omnia 7, but saw absolutely no marketing for it, whatsoever. I mean, come on. Nokia are everywhere, even HTC do more than Samsung when it comes to brand awareness and development. Also, Nokia has poured absolutely everything into Windows Phone - they have to. They deserve every ounce of credit they receive. Why can't Samsung do the same in the mobile space for Microsoft? Can they not match their efforts in the PC market? Of course they can. No one wants a Nokia driven eco-system, but until Samsung actually makes a move with Apollo, it'll always look bad for them. They could surprise us, who knows?
  • *slow clap*
  • Well done, sir!
  • I'm on Omnia 7 and I'm done with Samsung. Their weather live tile app has died for a month. Talk about support, they give none, nada, zing, zilch, nought,.... Oh hello Nokia!
  • I think from this it'll just be at&t reps that'll make good use of the training.
  • You're probably right!
  • Do I even have to tell you how well informed sales reps. here in Croatia are on the WP subject? :D Sometimes they even call it "mobile Windows" (as in "yeah, it`s just like your PC only on your phone!"). That has changed somewhat ever since Nokia introduced Lumia 800 and 900 but still, they don`t have a clue. 
    Luckily, more and more people can be seen walking around with (cyan) Lumias, so the awareness is improving, I`d say. And many are hogging Nokia Croatia Facebook page (myself included), demanding prices and availability of new Lumias to be revelaed. So, Microsoft should seize the moment and advertise a little bit (more, coz that Lumia 800 on the roadside billboard is getting old and sunburnt :D), providing that they even care about small-country-non-promising-markets :)
  • What about the speech features?
    The speech Speech
  • W8 is the new hope for Nokia, and i believe these new festures can help nokia open the market, and better the nokia can beat up iPhone, i don't like iPhone at all.
    The most of all, i do hope nokia can solve the purple screen problem by adopts W8.
  • Not in my store. Come see me & we'll show you how its done. Still have a soft spot for Samsung as the Focus, that I carried for close to a year, turned me on to the greatest OS of all time. But Nokia being ALL IN with WP with exclusive apps, pureview & build makes it too good not to own one. The 900 is amazing and the 920 will rule the roost!
  • The reps at the local stores I've visted in Japan have been lacking as well. Demo units are running builds of WP7.5 from the Mango launch, and they are all not loaded with temp accounts to show off any of the features. The color of the phones is the only thing that catches your eye. When I've asked about the the Windows Phone the staff spoke highly, but they just talked about how it's great because it has MS Office...
  • I work for Verizon and the end of October (spread out from the 20th and the end of the month) we're going to a hands on training for Windows Phone 8 + Windows 8. They're going to market it as our primary basic to smart platform because it's so easy to use. The 822 and 8X are the two devices they're saying are gonna be there. Apparently it's giong to be a "secret launch" and it's going to be backed very hard. My manager didn't give me much details but she said that Verizon is very excited for this and that it's going to be our main focus going forward. When all of my coworkers groaned and started making jokes about the Kin and Windows Mobile, my manager was like "Well this is something Verizon is supporting and remember that change energizes us."
  • Yeah, I have grown tired of walking into Verizon, sprint and hearing windows mobile. It has been two years of windows phone and the reps still cannot get the title correct. I hoped for a huge push by Verizon in the states with a high end wp8 device so I can leave sprint.... The l822 or htc8s is not exactly what I wanted. Suppose I will wait, but would have loved to support the platform on day one of the launch