Scoop Techlab Blog #1 : Getting started
By Jesse Jeffries for for Scoop Techlab
Scoop Techlab's latest techlabster - Jesse Jeffries - is an almost-13 year old. She has taken on the role of reviewing
the HTC 8s - a Windows Phone with a teenager sized price point. Til now this girl has been all about Apple, she has discerning tastes and is very conscious of the status of her
accessories. Take it away Jesse…
First impressions
From the photos I thought it looked like a really weird shape and I wasn’t too keen on it to begin with. But after
opening the box I decided that it looked cooler in real life. Now I’m used to the shape I think it’s not so bad after
all.
Getting set up
Putting in the email and Facebook accounts was easy, and using Facebook is easy peasy. It’s got a cool layout.
But the Microsoft account was just plain annoying. First of all we had set it all up and were quite happy with it, then
when I went to install a game it said I needed my parent's permission. We didn’t really want to make a account for Mum
and she thought it was ridiculous so we had to make a whole new account with a fake age just so I could download a game.
Switching the Microsoft account was only possibly by resetting the entire phone, so I had to enter in all my settings
and contacts again :(
Getting the phone working was pretty straight forward. I understood how it all worked without reading any instructions.
The Telecom guy was really helpful when we went in to get an account. It’s only $19 per month for unlimited texts, 500Gb
of data and an hour of talking - that’s waaaay better than the Vodafone deal I had before (this made Mum very happy).
Customising the phone was fun, getting to choose the colours and backgrounds and stuff. There are a lot of different
ways you can make it in your own style and that’s cool.
Syncing the music from my iTunes was Super Duper easy, It was really straightforward. And the Dr Dre Beats headphones
are so cool! I love them so much. Everything’s so much clearer. I haven’t figured out how the Beats app works on the
phone yet though - so far it just says it’s not available.
Taking photos is easy. But one thing - if this phone is going to be bought by teenagers (like myself) - people may want
a front camera because teenagers these days take lots of “selfies” using front cameras. It’s a bummer there isn’t one on
this phone.
The buttons for texting are easy and cool. It's good you can see your previous conversations on the same screen. It’s
got loads of cool emoticons.
After 1 week
I’ve warmed up to it and it’s actually a pretty cool phone. It’s got heaps of cool apps and I really like it.
Content Note: This post has been enabled by Telecom NZ , but the thoughts are my own. Scoop TechLab is a project of Scoop Independent
Media http://www.scoop.co.nz . You can find more about the HTC 8S on the Telecom website and on Scoop TechLab.