Chapter 14. Tiles and notifications

On all smartphones, apps are represented by an icon in an app list. Windows Phone 7 introduced the notion of an additional app tile that users could pin to the Start screen. This provides several benefits: it is a way for the user to customize his phone experience, prioritizing the apps that he uses most and positioning them in whatever order he chooses. Because tiles are bigger than app icons, this also introduces the opportunity for you to provide information on the tile that would not fit on an icon. Not only that, but with Windows Phone, the app can keep its tile up to date dynamically. There are multiple dimensions to this feature, including the following:

  • An app can have a primary tile plus any number of ...

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