Behind the Tiles event - what it was like

---

I went to a Behind the Tiles event last night in Minneapolis. About 20 people showed up, and there were 10-15 MS employees on hand. Needless to say there was pleanty of oportunity to talk to MS employees one on one and ask very specific questions. The people who presented / made themselves readily available were very knowledgable.

Most attendees were WP7 users already: Just about 1/2 were developers, the other 1/2 were in IT/IS in one capacity or another or at least a technology enthusiast. It was not a developer-oriented event (JIC you didn't know...)

If you're new to windows phone then this is a very good event to see the features demonstrated. Even after 1.5 years of being on the OS I still learned quite a bit about application features (pinning is more detailed than I've been using, integration with areas of the OS where the appropriate apps are located), and a very good demonstration of Bing, which has a TON more features than I've been using.

Everyone had a Nokia 900 provided to play with (focus on Me tile, setting up, etc.), and for Bing we were able to execute translations, scan pictures with the camera for text which we then sent in an e-mail, playing music on the phone and having Bing display the artist and where to buy the albumn / song, and focused a lot on voice commands and how to simply talk to your phone w/out pushing any buttons. It was pretty cool, actually. One thing that stuck out in my mind was that the malls in Bing Maps have detailed floor maps (complete with store names) that I didn't know existed, which was nice to see. They also showed how to filter results from Bing search easily.

In addition, they demoed some future tech (XBox, Kinect, and WP working together), talked about Win8 and WP8 a little (very little, but at least it was direct) and focused one of the sections on business use (also very enlightening).

At the end they gave away an NL 900, 2 StarWars XBox units, and 4,000 gamer points. Given the people there, it was a 1/5 chance to win one of those (of course, I didn't win anything =) ). Not sure if those are given out at each event, so YMMV - that's what they had to offer last night. Oh, and light swag (notebook, I <3 Win Phone stickers, etc.).

Lastly, BestBuy offered $50 off the $99 Lumia 900 if you were eligible, so It's a good way to save a buck or two if that's of interest.

If you were on the fence I recommend signing up - it was worth my time for sure!

Originally Posted by eknutson

I went to a Behind the Tiles event last night in Minneapolis. About 20 people showed up, and there were 10-15 MS employees on hand. Needless to say there was pleanty of oportunity to talk to MS employees one on one and ask very specific questions. The people who presented / made themselves readily available were very knowledgable.

Most attendees were WP7 users already: Just about 1/2 were developers, the other 1/2 were in IT/IS in one capacity or another or at least a technology enthusiast. It was not a developer-oriented event (JIC you didn't know...)

If you're new to windows phone then this is a very good event to see the features demonstrated. Even after 1.5 years of being on the OS I still learned quite a bit about application features (pinning is more detailed than I've been using, integration with areas of the OS where the appropriate apps are located), and a very good demonstration of Bing, which has a TON more features than I've been using.

Everyone had a Nokia 900 provided to play with (focus on Me tile, setting up, etc.), and for Bing we were able to execute translations, scan pictures with the camera for text which we then sent in an e-mail, playing music on the phone and having Bing display the artist and where to buy the albumn / song, and focused a lot on voice commands and how to simply talk to your phone w/out pushing any buttons. It was pretty cool, actually. One thing that stuck out in my mind was that the malls in Bing Maps have detailed floor maps (complete with store names) that I didn't know existed, which was nice to see. They also showed how to filter results from Bing search easily.

In addition, they demoed some future tech (XBox, Kinect, and WP working together), talked about Win8 and WP8 a little (very little, but at least it was direct) and focused one of the sections on business use (also very enlightening).

At the end they gave away an NL 900, 2 StarWars XBox units, and 4,000 gamer points. Given the people there, it was a 1/5 chance to win one of those (of course, I didn't win anything =) ). Not sure if those are given out at each event, so YMMV - that's what they had to offer last night. Oh, and light swag (notebook, I <3 Win Phone stickers, etc.).

Lastly, BestBuy offered $50 off the $99 Lumia 900 if you were eligible, so It's a good way to save a buck or two if that's of interest.

If you were on the fence I recommend signing up - it was worth my time for sure!

Cool. Nice to hear. Thanks for sharing !!

I would love to attend something like that. I have been using Lumia for a week and wants to love it, but i always have a feeling that it missing a lot. I would really like to explore Bing features more as IMO it should be given more credit.

Originally Posted by viny2cool

I would love to attend something like that. I have been using Lumia for a week and wants to love it, but i always have a feeling that it missing a lot. I would really like to explore Bing features more as IMO it should be given more credit.

No doubt! I was suprised at how much I didn't know! Here's a couple of links that may help to see the functionality of Bing:

http://www.bing.com/community/site_b...-on-mango.aspx

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/vid...1e%7c%7c%7c%7c

I would love to go to one as well. I think the one in ny happened already. I'm gonna have to check it out soon.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

There are lots of these resources online if you look for them. When attending an event with Microsoft, they throw this in your face. But most of it is already available. Check out the Windows Phone Blog sites, and the Windowsphone.com sites for info.....lotttssss there.

i was there too

---

Originally Posted by eknutson

I went to a Behind the Tiles event last night in Minneapolis. About 20 people showed up, and there were 10-15 MS employees on hand. Needless to say there was pleanty of oportunity to talk to MS employees one on one and ask very specific questions. The people who presented / made themselves readily available were very knowledgable.

Most attendees were WP7 users already: Just about 1/2 were developers, the other 1/2 were in IT/IS in one capacity or another or at least a technology enthusiast. It was not a developer-oriented event (JIC you didn't know...)

If you're new to windows phone then this is a very good event to see the features demonstrated. Even after 1.5 years of being on the OS I still learned quite a bit about application features (pinning is more detailed than I've been using, integration with areas of the OS where the appropriate apps are located), and a very good demonstration of Bing, which has a TON more features than I've been using.

Everyone had a Nokia 900 provided to play with (focus on Me tile, setting up, etc.), and for Bing we were able to execute translations, scan pictures with the camera for text which we then sent in an e-mail, playing music on the phone and having Bing display the artist and where to buy the albumn / song, and focused a lot on voice commands and how to simply talk to your phone w/out pushing any buttons. It was pretty cool, actually. One thing that stuck out in my mind was that the malls in Bing Maps have detailed floor maps (complete with store names) that I didn't know existed, which was nice to see. They also showed how to filter results from Bing search easily.

In addition, they demoed some future tech (XBox, Kinect, and WP working together), talked about Win8 and WP8 a little (very little, but at least it was direct) and focused one of the sections on business use (also very enlightening).

At the end they gave away an NL 900, 2 StarWars XBox units, and 4,000 gamer points. Given the people there, it was a 1/5 chance to win one of those (of course, I didn't win anything =) ). Not sure if those are given out at each event, so YMMV - that's what they had to offer last night. Oh, and light swag (notebook, I <3 Win Phone stickers, etc.).

Lastly, BestBuy offered $50 off the $99 Lumia 900 if you were eligible, so It's a good way to save a buck or two if that's of interest.

If you were on the fence I recommend signing up - it was worth my time for sure!

Well i was there too and i won the Lumia (yep the guy who shouted like crazy when the number was announced). meanwhile do you have any idea if the phone they have given is unlocked or not. 'coz i called the ATT guys and they told they do not have this device IEMI number in their database.

Originally Posted by chanakya.wp7

Well i was there too and i won the Lumia (yep the guy who shouted like crazy when the number was announced). meanwhile do you have any idea if the phone they have given is unlocked or not. 'coz i called the ATT guys and they told they do not have this device IEMI number in their database.

Funny, I was sure it was an AT&T device (it has an AT&T logo on it, doesn't it?) so they should have it! I know this sounds pretty dumb... but did you ask them to try again? =)

Grats on the phone, too!

They are having these events at best buys throughout may but in order to go you have to RSVP with a registration code. Did you have that? I don't know how I would get one.


---
I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?hi1pyw

Originally Posted by idelgado782

They are having these events at best buys throughout may but in order to go you have to RSVP with a registration code. Did you have that? I don't know how I would get one.


---
I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?hi1pyw

I used 'MVP', and I saw one other but hopefully that one will still work.