Windows Phone

Work hard, play hard – the mantra for students up and down the country. So why not use your Windows Phone to help you find the perfect balance?

Whether it’s keeping up with your university friends in a single glance, getting that awesome track the DJ played last night in the student union or helping you to get the most out of your three hour lecture – your Windows Phone will be there for you.

How? It’s simple:

Work Hard

Get up in time. Make that 9am lecture and save your snooze for later in the day with the Windows Phone’s built-in alarm. If you want to take waking up seriously, try out SleepMaster which monitors your sleep pattern and wakes you during your lightest sleep phase.

Night Stand Clock is another great clock-watching app, which will help to remind you when it’s time to put down the books and get some shut eye.

Catch up with tutors and work groups from your phone. Windows Phone supports multiple email accounts, so set up your .ac.uk address on there too. Go to the inbox > click more ‘…’ > click ‘add email account’ > choose ‘outlook’ > enter your email address and password and sign in > enter the domain (i.e. uniname.ac.uk) and sign in > wait for a screen to appear and click advanced > enter the server address (you may need to check with your IT department) > done. Drowning in uni mails when the new term kicks off? Tap next to any message in your inbox to reveal a row of check boxes – allowing you to select and bulk delete at lightning speed.

Windows Phone is the only phone with Office, meaning you can easily edit assignments on the bus or in the pub – you could even write entire essays on there like this Windows Phone fan. Our top tip is to use OneNote plus SkyDrive to keep your lecture notes instantly backed up in the cloud. If you have access to SharePoint you can even open, edit and save all Office documents to your online share. Typo troubles from tapping on the trot? Tap and hold a text box until the large cursor appears, then drag it to the problem spot.

Get Adobe reader so you can check PDF documents too.

Play Hard

Okay, so you made it to your lectures, you deserve a bit of fun. But what are your mates up to? Check the People hub which is integrated with Facebook, so you can see the latest from all your friends. Let them know where you’re at by updating your status or posting pictures. Too many mates? You can reduce the number of Facebook friends in your contact list too by tapping Settings > Applications > People, then look for the Facebook option.

Throw a party and have the best music selection on campus with Zune Pass. This gives you access to unlimited streaming from the Zune Pass database – so if you have any last minute requests, you’re sorted. Zune Pass even works on your Xbox 360 too, an essential console for any student house. Keep mixing it up by taping the Play icon in Music+Videos to randomly play your entire music collection.

And download Cocktail Flow from the marketplace to impress with your mixology knowledge.

Speaking of Xbox, you can keep playing on the go with Windows Phone – the only phone with Xbox LIVE. So rack up achievements and gamer points wherever you are with the huge range of Xbox LIVE titles available. Oh and if your digits are tied up playing Plants vs. Zombies, just tell your phone what you want to do – simply press and hold the Start button to give a speech-based command.

Are you a student? Let us know how you use your Windows Phone at uni in the comments below.