Homeless in Vancouver: Wi-Fi plays hard to get on Nokia’s Lumia

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      Yesterday I had my first chance to play with one of Nokia’s Lumia mobile phones running the Windows Phone 8 OS—essentially Windows 8 for touchscreen phones as it uses the same kernel and tile-based user interface as Windows 8.

      I was sitting in the McDonald’s at Broadway and Granville when a complete stranger approached me, handed over his brand new Lumia smartphone and asked me how to to get on the Internet.

      I might’ve answered, “practice, practice, practice,” but people don’t get that anymore and no one likes a smartass.

      Would’ve been a good answer though.

      What would Jesus Windows 8 do?

      Based on my experience using Windows 8, I had to guess that out-of-the-box Windows Phone wouldn’t put the Wi-Fi controls anywhere the user wanted them to be. They probably weren’t on the start screen. I swiped up and down to double-check—no Wi-Fi, no Settings.

      I expected Windows Phone might put network stuff like Wi-Fi under Settings like Windows 8 does and, I might add, iOS.

      Windows 8 also hides important features off the right edge of the screen: Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings. Microsoft calls them “Charms”. They can only be moused into existence.

      And that’s how I found the Settings app and the Wi-Fi controls in Windows Phone.

      The User Guide for the Nokia Lumia 520 describes the steps:

      On the start screen, swipe left, and tap start-icon-settings Settings.

      1. Tap Wi-Fi.
      2. Make sure Wi-Fi networking is switched to On basic-icon-toggle-on.
      3. Select the connection you want to use. Your connection closes when the phone screen switches off. To change this setting, on the start screen, swipe left, and tap start-icon-settings Settings.

      Then I explained to the fellow that he probably couldn’t connect to the free Wi-Fi anyway because the Broadway and Granville McDonald’s Wi-Fi is always more of a promise on a door than a reality in the air.

      I showed him how to do it though: to tap the McDonald’s network name on the list and wait for it to fail.

      I have to give Windows Phone credit, it bailed on each attempt to connect quite quickly—a very responsive OS.

      I suggested that if he was patient and tried to connect over and over and over again he should get on eventually. I gave him his phone and he gave me such a look.

      Put the Wi-Fi on the Start screen where it belongs

      It wasn’t hard to find the Wi-Fi controls because I guessed correctly but I don’t think they should be hidden that way. Settings may be an application but all apps are not created equal. I think frequently used operating system and hardware controls should be given prominence for ease-of-use; maybe I’m being old-fashioned, but then so are the Lumia’s physical buttons for both the audio volume and the camera.

      Windows Phone should make the Settings app available on the start screen by default, but it’s easy enough for the user to add it after the fact. It’s just like pinning programs to the Windows Taskbar:

      • From the Start screen, swipe right-to-left to open the app library
      • Find the app you wish to add to your startscreen and tap and hold on its icon
      • Tap “pin to start”; the Live Tile will now appear on your start screen

      It’s also seems easy to put the Wi-Fi controls on the start screen. All you need is the Connectivity Shortcuts app, available for free at the Windows Phone store.

      This app enables startscreen shortcuts of Wi-fi, Bluetooth, Cellular, Airplane Mode and Location settings.

      My takeaway lesson from my brief encounter with a Lumia is that as far as Windows Phone—the child of Windows 8—is concerned, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. 

      Stanley Q. Woodvine is a homeless resident of Vancouver who has worked in the past as an illustrator, graphic designer, and writer.

      Comments

      8 Comments

      blah

      Mar 8, 2014 at 12:37pm

      ok Stanley, you obviously have skills and experience. Why do you choose to be homeless?? Or is this just a ruse to get on the straight's online pages??

      Stanley Q Woodvine

      Mar 8, 2014 at 9:00pm

      @ blah

      I may have skills and experience but if I went to all the trouble of becoming homeless just to get on The Straight's Website then I can't have much in the way of intelligence.

      Look how easily you got on.

      blah

      Mar 9, 2014 at 12:00pm

      @ Stanley, wow, I ask a reasonable question and I get a smarta** reply. So, why do you choose to be homeless? By the way, being intelligent and being smart are two different things.

      Martin Dunphy

      Mar 9, 2014 at 1:41pm

      blah:

      As you so consistently demonstrate.

      Stanley Q Woodvine

      Mar 10, 2014 at 10:30am

      Gee blah, you call:

      "Or is this just a ruse to get on the straight's online pages??"

      a reasonable question? I call that being a smart ass. And we homeless folk believe in paying back in kind.

      blah

      Mar 10, 2014 at 11:00am

      Stanley, I owe you an apology. I didn't mean to create stress for you. When I used the word "choose", I was hoping to spark something in you to inspire the strength and power we each have as an individual. Life sucks for most of us at one point or another. Crap happens for us all. But life isn't what happens to us, it's what we do about it. I actually admire you. As I stated, you obviously have skills and intelligence. I grew up in an environment of violence and abuse. But I didn't move beyond that world until I took my personal power into my hands and stop waiting on society to change. That would have been a long wait. The only power we have as individuals is the power of the choices we make. And everything we do and are is based on those choices. So my humble apology to you and thank you for helping me to open my heart and mind. While my method may have been crude ( I promise to work on that), my intentions were good. Please forgive me.

      blah

      Mar 10, 2014 at 11:09am

      Martin, grow up. I have read enough of your rantings over the years to know that in your world nobody is responsible for their own actions. Criminals are always the victims of society, not the leeches they actually are. Everything is a conspiracy. Left wing extremists like you are no different than the tea party extremists of the right wing. Your inability to consider alternative views shows you to be the closed minded person you are. If you want to be a force for good, maybe you could help Stanley find employment so he could find a place to live. He has skills with computers and graphic design so he could probably be very helpful to a publication such as an advertisement supplement that poses as an "entertainment, arts" magazine. Maybe you know of such a publication.

      Martin Dunphy

      Mar 10, 2014 at 12:04pm

      blah:

      Thanks for your obvious interest in making this world a better place.
      And thank you for your apology.
      Consistency should now be the guiding principle in your life.