How To Navigate Windows Phone 7
# Navigating Windows Phone 7: A Step-by-Step Guide
by David from The Unlocker.com
Welcome back, everyone! This is David from TheUnlocker.com, and today we’re diving into one of our popular series: *Windows Phone 7 Basic How-To’s*. If you’ve just gotten your hands on a new Windows Phone 7 device and it feels like it’s only working as a paperweight right now, this guide is for you. We’ll walk you through the basics of navigating the Windows Phone 7 interface so you can get the most out of your device.
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## Understanding Your Windows Phone 7 Device
First things first: familiarizing yourself with the physical buttons on your Windows Phone 7 device. You’ll notice three main buttons at the bottom of the screen: **Back**, **Home**, and **Search**.
- The **Back** button takes you to the previous page or app you were using.
- The **Home** button brings you directly to the home screen.
- The **Search** button lets you search either globally (across all apps) or within a specific app. For example, if you’re in the *Marketplace*, pressing Search will let you search for apps; if you’re in *Text messaging*, it’ll search your messages.
These buttons are consistent across the operating system, so once you get used to them, navigation becomes much smoother.
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## Unlocking Your Phone and Accessing the Home Screen
The first thing you’ll need to do is unlock your phone. Unlike traditional phones where you might press a power button or slide a screen, Windows Phone 7 requires a simple swipe-up motion to unlock. Once unlocked, you’ll land on the home screen.
The home screen on Windows Phone 7 is both scrollable and swappable. You can move up or down to explore different parts of it, but one of its most unique features is the ability to swipe left or right to access all your apps in a panoramic layout. This design extends throughout the entire operating system, even into third-party apps.
For example, if you swipe left on the home screen, you’ll see a list of all the apps available on your device. Swiping back brings you back to the main home screen. This “panoramic” interface is one of the defining characteristics of Windows Phone 7 and makes navigating between apps feel seamless.
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## The Status Bar: Hiding and Returning
Another thing to note is the status bar at the top of your screen. This bar displays critical information like signal strength, Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth status, battery life, and time. While it’s always present, it can be hidden by swiping down from the top edge of the screen. If you want to bring it back, simply double-tap on the area where the status bar was hiding.
Keep in mind that some icons in the status bar (like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth) will disappear after a few seconds if you don’t interact with them. Double-tapping the area again will make them reappear.
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## Live Tiles: Your Dynamic Dashboard
One of the standout features on Windows Phone 7 is the use of **live tiles**. These dynamic widgets provide real-time information without requiring you to open an app. For instance, the *HTC Hub* live tile might show you weather updates or other relevant info depending on how it’s configured.
You can also find icons for apps like Internet Explorer, Maps, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Unlike static icons, live tiles are interactive—you can hold down on them to rearrange or remove them entirely.
Here’s a quick demonstration: if you hold your finger down on any tile or icon, you’ll see an option to move it or unpin it from the home screen. This flexibility makes customizing your home screen easy and intuitive.
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## Pinning Contacts for Quick Access
In addition to pinning apps, you can also pin contacts directly to your home screen. Holding down on a contact in your phone’s directory gives you the option to “**Pin to Start**.” Once pinned, that contact becomes an icon on your home screen, allowing you to launch a conversation or view their latest Facebook status with just one tap.
This feature is particularly useful if you frequently communicate with certain people—whether via text, email, or social media.
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## Getting More Apps: The Marketplace
Since Windows Phone 7 is such an app-oriented operating system (similar to iOS and Android), it’s important to know how to expand your collection of apps. To access the *Marketplace*, simply navigate to it through your home screen or by swiping left from any app.
From there, you can explore different categories like Travel, Navigation, Social, Productivity, and more. Tapping on a category will display a list of top apps in that section. If you want to see new releases, free apps, or other updates, swipe through the carousel at the top of the screen.
Once you’ve found an app you’d like to try, simply tap **Install**. After the download is complete, the app will appear in your list of installed apps, sorted alphabetically. You can launch it directly from there or (as we mentioned earlier) hold down on it and pin it to your home screen for quick access.
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## Wrapping Up: Windows Phone 7 Simplified
As you can see, Windows Phone 7 is an intuitive and user-friendly operating system once you get the hang of its basics. The consistent use of buttons like Back, Home, and Search, combined with the panoramic interface and live tiles, makes navigating this OS feel natural and efficient.
With a little practice, you’ll be able to handle almost anything Windows Phone 7 throws your way. Stay tuned for more tips, tricks, and how-to guides in our *Basic How-To* section. You can find it at the top of our site by clicking on **How-To’s**, then selecting **Basics** and **Windows Phone 7**.
Thanks for watching! We hope this guide helps you make the most out of your Windows Phone 7 experience.