I’ve seen lists of tips from 5 to 100 items, but most are filled with fairly standard things that I consider obvious (e.g., “create a new text message by pressing New Message”). So here’s a list of the tips and tricks that I have found most useful but aren’t obvious at first glance.

In no particular order:

1. Keyboard shortcuts for quick access to symbols and accents

In my last post, I detailed all the different keys available (that I’ve found so far) in keyboard pop-ups.

2. View the ‘system tray’

You may have noticed that the icons at the top of the screen (battery, Wi-Fi, reception strength, etc.) are only visible when they need to be noticed; when the battery is low or you have no signal, for example. To show all the icons, tap anywhere on that top bar and the icons will slide down for a couple of seconds. I usually aim for the clock.

3. Select multiple emails

If you have a lot of emails that you want to delete, move, or mark as read, it can be a time-consuming task to do them one at a time. Instead, tap on the very left of the email link in the inbox (or other folder) and a column of checkboxes will appear with the current email ticked. Add to the selection like you usually would with checkboxes, then delete, move, or mark as read, etc., as needed.

4. Quickly navigate through contacts or applications

If you have a lot of contacts (I don’t, but this is still useful), scrolling all the way to ‘T’ can take a while. The easy way: tap on a letter in the list (‘A’ would be a good start) and an alphabet will appear. Tap on the letter you want to scroll to, and it will take you there. Note that letters that have no contacts are disabled. As of Mango, this same method works for applications once you have around 30 or so.

5. Switch between ringer/vibrate with 2 button presses

Press the Volume Down or Up button (when the phone is on), then tap the bell icon on the right. This will switch the phone to vibrate (or silent if vibration is disabled). You can also access the Zune playback controls (previous, pause, next) this way when a song is playing.

6. Use a carat when typing or correcting text

Sometimes the word suggestion feature doesn’t quite ‘get it’ and you'll need to correct a word manually. This can be annoying when you have to type out the whole word again. Instead, tap and hold in the text area and a carat will appear above your finger (where you can see it – logical!). Drag your finger around to move it where you need it then let go to ‘drop’. It will snap to spaces where it can be placed, so you don’t have to be super precise.

7. View photos as a filmstrip

When viewing a photo, pinch to zoom out as far as it will go. The photos in that folder will now be shown as a filmstrip, allowing you to quickly scroll through multiple photos with one swipe. Tap on a photo to return to regular viewing.

8. Change the background in the Pictures hub

The background does change itself occasionally, but if you want to change it manually, here’s how. Open the Pictures hub, tap and hold an empty space (I prefer the title text at the top) tap or drag the 3-dots-menu up from the bottom-right, then tap either change background to pick your own photo, or change it for me to have a random photo chosen. From Mango onwards, you can now choose shuffle background which cycles through your favourite photos.

9. Silence a call

If you’ve forgotten to put your phone on vibrate and need to silence a call in a hurry, just press the power button while the phone is ringing. The ringer will stop and the screen will turn off, but the call will continue calling. Press the power button again to turn the screen back on to answer the call. Alternatively, press one of the volume controls to silence the call without turning the screen off.

10. Save a picture from a web page

If you ever see a photo on a website you want to keep, just tap and hold and press save picture. You can now set that photo as your lock screen background from your saved pictures folder.

If you have any other tips that aren’t obvious, feel free to post them in the comments below (which are working properly now, by the way!).