As just announced on the Windows Phone Developer Blog, we have released the Windows Phone SDK 7.1.1 Update. Immediate download is available on the Microsoft Download Centre and DreamSpark soon.
So rather than me duplicate all that good stuff here – check out blog and install the update.
One last thing, when you have done this PUBLISH your app in Marketplace AFTER registering for our incentives programme and you can win a Nokia Lumia 800 AND/OR a trip to the MTC where you get to meet our deep technical experts to home your app and your skills.
You may have seen the recently released Consumer Preview of Windows 8, giving you a taste of what our new Operating System has to offer. You may have also downloaded the developer preview or seen some of the sessions from our BUILD conference.
Getting started with Windows 8
This spring we’re running a series of overview sessions for developers across the UK. Join us to get the inside story on how best to take advantage of these opportunities and get ahead of the game on your app building.
Now whilst these are aimed at Professional Developers I think you as students would benefit as well. Here are the initial events and I’ll keep you informed as we do more activity around Windows 8
We know you love the way Windows Phone puts People First. Do you want to win one? Course you do! We have put together a competition for those people who like writing Apps for mobile devices. With our latest programme, only available to students aged 16 or over in the UK, we want to encourage you to write lots of Apps and submit them via App Hub into the Marketplace.
For EVERY app you write, during the periods of the competition, (see the detailed terms and conditions here) you’ll have a chance to win one of 100 Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phones. We also want to reward those who write top quality Apps so we are complimenting the random prize draw with a judged competition, the top prize being a trip to our offices to spend a day honing your skills and your Apps with our deep technical experts.
Putting it simply
To enter the competition you simply need to register with your LiveID, App Hub Publisher name, preferred contact email address and mobile phone number and that’s it. Obviously you then need to publish Apps to have a chance of winning.
Good luck!
The below post was written by our very own @Lee_Stott after realising that students often don’t know what’s out there for them to use! Enjoy!
For the past few months we have been running a number of Phone Camps across the UK and judging from all the questions and comments in relation to "Metro" there is clearly a lot of interest and passion around this topic from academics and students.
So I thought I would share with you all a quick set of resources for Windows Phone Development.
Windows Phone
Consumer site www.windowsphone.com
AppHub – Developer Site for Windows Phone http://create.msdn.com
Windows Phone YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/windowsphone (Watch Social, App and Web videos)
Resources
Windows Phone SDK http://www.DreamSpark.com
Windows Phone UX Guidelines http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh202915(v=vs.92).aspx
Design Templates for Windows Phone 7 http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=196225
Windows Phone Grid http://ux.artu.tv/?p=165
31 Weeks of Windows Phone Metro Design http://ux.artu.tv/?page_id=190
Get started, get the Windows Phone SDK 7.1 (Mango) http://create.msdn.com/en-us/home/getting_started
Silverlight Windows Phone 7.1 (Mango) Toolkit http://silverlight.codeplex.com/releases/view/71550
Microsoft Design .toolbox Tutorials http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/school/tutorials.aspx
Microsoft Design .toolbox Courses http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/school/
· Calculator http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/school/modules.aspx?lid=16&mid=46
· Daily Awesome http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/school/modules.aspx?lid=17&mid=47
· Air Hockey http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/school/modules.aspx?lid=18&mid=48
· Golf http://www.microsoft.com/design/toolbox/school/modules.aspx?lid=19&mid=49
Windows Phone Geek - UX Resources http://www.windowsphonegeek.com/Resources/UX#ux
Jeff Wilcox’s “Metro” design guide for developers, v1.00 http://www.jeff.wilcox.name/2011/03/metro-design-guide-v1/
Quick Spacing, Margin, and Icon Tips for Windows Phone Devs http://www.jeff.wilcox.name/2012/01/metroradio-design/
Videos
Full Day Event Windows Phone Design Sessions http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jaimer/archive/2010/08/13/windows-phone-design-day-recordings.aspx
Windows Phone Design Day
Metro | the foundation http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechDays/Tekniset-Esitystallenteet/TechNet-2011-Windows-Phone-UX-osa-1
Metro | the foundation part II http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechDays/Tekniset-Esitystallenteet/TechNet-2011-Windows-Phone-UX-osa-2
Think & Design | sketch, wireframe, prototype, design http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechDays/Tekniset-Esitystallenteet/TechNet-2011-Windows-Phone-UX-osa-3
Refine | Best Practices http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/Design-Day-del-2-Refine-Best-Practices
Build | Building a Windows Phone App Prototype with Expression Blend http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/channel9spain/WINDOWS-PHONE-DESIGN-DAY-OPTIMIZA-Y-CONSTRUYE (Note: this video includes both REFINE and BUILD. BUILD starts at
BUILD 2011
Windows Phone User Experience Design http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/BUILD/BUILD2011/APP-832T
MIX11
All Thumbs: Redesigning an Existing UI to Suit Windows Phone 7 http://channel9.msdn.com/events/MIX/MIX11/OPN02
Analyzing and Improving Windows Phone Application Performance http://channel9.msdn.com/events/MIX/MIX11/DVC01
Application Design for Windows Phone http://channel9.msdn.com/events/MIX/MIX11/DVC02
Windows Phone UI and Design Language (MIX10) http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MIX/MIX10/CL14
Design Talks
Mike Kruzeniski: Personal, Relevant. Connected: Designing Integrated Mobile Experiences for Apps and Web http://www.ixda.org/resources/mike-kruzeniski-personal-relevant-connected-designing-integrated-mobile-experiences-apps-a
How was CocktailFlow Designed? Creating a Beautiful Windows Phone 7 Application http://uktechdays.cloudapp.net/techdays-live/creating-a-beautiful-windows-phone-7-application.aspx
Albert Shum Talking about Windows Phone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD8MqWvARfA
ReMIX South 2011 Keynote with Albert Shum and Arturo Toledo http://www.vimeo.com/27800521
Channel 9
Silverlight TV 81: Four Great Windows Phone UX Tips http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/SilverlightTV/Silverlight-TV-81-4-Great-Windows-Phone-UX-Tips
Silverlight TV 69: UX and Perceived Performance of WP7 Apps http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/SilverlightTV/Silverlight-TV-69-UX-and-Perceived-Performance-of-WP7-Apps
Silverlight TV 83: Using Wireframes to Visually Communicate a Windows Phone Experience http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/SilverlightTV/Silverlight-TV-83-Using-Wireframes-to-Visually-Communicate-a-Windows-Phone-Experience
Silverlight TV 75: Quick and Dirty UX Testing (Design Tips Mini Series) http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/SilverlightTV/Silverlight-TV-75-Quick-and-Dirty-UX-Testing-Design-Tips-Mini-Series
Silverlight TV 78: Designing Tiles and Splash Screens for Windows Phone (Design Tips Mini Series) http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/SilverlightTV/Silverlight-TV-78-Designing-Tiles-and-Splash-Screens-for-Windows-Phone-Design-Tips-Mini-Series
Inside Windows Phone #24 - User Experience for Windows Phone Apps http://channel9.msdn.com/Shows/Inside+Windows+Phone/Inside-Windows-Phone-24-User-Experience-for-Windows-Phone-Apps
Twitter
Windows Phone Design Team @wpdesignteam http://www.twitter.com/wpdesignteam
Windows Phone @windowsphone http://www.twitter.com/windowsphone
Mike Kruseniski Blog http://mkruzeniski.posterous.com/ Twitter @mkruzeniski http://twitter.com/mkruzeniski
Corrina Black, Windows Phone Design Lead for Developer Experience @corrinab http://twitter.com/corrinab
Arturo Toledo, UX Designer Developer Experience @arturot http://ux.artu.tv http://twitter.com/arturot
Windows Phone Design Twitter List http://twitter.com/#!/arturot/windows-phone-design
I'm Richard Walters, currently a graduate student at the University of Oxford in the final stages of completing a PhD in Atomic and Laser Physics. Over the past six months, in my spare time, I have been developing for Windows Phone 7, and I am very excited to say that my first app, Calculator², has recently been published in the Marketplace! As someone with no prior experience in developing software for any platform, I have immensely enjoyed building the app, more so than I would have imagined when I started out. I hope with this blog post I can show how easy it is as a student to download the free tools, access the learning resources, and take the plunge into Windows Phone development.
So what started me on the road to building Calculator²? Last July I upgraded to a Samsung Omnia 7. Having never owned a smartphone before, and being a physics student, the first app I searched for was a scientific calculator. I wasn’t very impressed with the apps on offer, so just chose a free one that worked well enough and then downloaded Angry Birds. A few weeks later, I was searching the internet looking for student deals from Microsoft on upgrading to Windows 7, when I stumbled across DreamSpark. I was surprised to find that I could download Visual Studio 2010 Professional and also register as a developer for Windows Phone, all for free! Since I now owned a Windows Phone (although not required) I thought I‘d give it a try and see how easy it was to build an app.
To get going, I downloaded Bob Tabor’s introductory videos from Channel 9, and decided that a simple calculator would be a great first app for learning both C# and the Software Development Kit. If I could get a basic version working then I would prove to myself that Windows Phone apps were well within my ability. I'll admit that I’m not a novice coder; I develop Matlab programs in my research for simulating systems of cold atoms (see here for the research taking place in our department), and have learnt C in the Oxford Physics undergraduate course. However, coding for scientific work is quite different from that needed to build software, so I had a lot to learn. Luckily, there’s a vast amount of information available on the internet to help. Everything in the .NET Framework is fully documented with examples at msdn.microsoft.com. There are also code samples and other learning resources specifically targeted at Windows Phone development on MSDN. However, perhaps the most useful tools were the forums both within App Hub and at stackoverflow.com. Whenever I came across a problem, these were usually the top hits in a search engine, and I was always able to find the help I needed. There’s a great community of experienced developers out there who are happy to help others, and typically the problems I had were exactly those that people before me had encountered also, so the solutions weren't too hard to find.
A few weeks after I started out I already had a basic, working calculator. I was soon having all sorts of ideas on how I could improve on the other scientific calculator apps, and go far beyond what is possible on real hardware. I got a huge buzz out of turning these ideas into reality and wondering what others would make of them. Now that a completed version has been published, it's very satisfying to think that my app could be used all over the World by all sorts of people doing calculations for all sorts of things. Of course, I don't want to stop now! I already have more features I'd like to add to the app (a graphical calculator for starters!), and it should not be too difficult to reuse much of my code to create a version for Windows 8. If you'd like to try my app and see what is possible, please click on Calculator² or alternatively search for 'Scientific Calculator' in the Marketplace (it's a currency, unit and base converter too!).
I would highly recommend Windows Phone development to any student, whether they be a novice – for whom the introductory video series I mentioned looks excellent – or someone more experienced. I think it's fantastic that Microsoft provide the required resources for free, and it’s something that more students should take advantage of. Ultimately, I now have an app in the Marketplace that could earn a fair amount of money, I have a great addition to my CV, and I've learnt a lot of useful techniques that I've now incorporated into my own work. Most of all, I've had a lot of fun along the way!