Microsoft Store employee answers your questions about Windows Phone and the Microsoft Surface tablet

posted by Alan F. / Oct 18, 2014, 11:16 AM

Microsoft Store employee answers your questions about Windows Phone and the Microsoft Surface tablet

What's great about a Windows Phone? According to a video shot by Microsoft, Cortana is one of the favorite "perks" of using a Windows Phone. This series of videos, called hashtag #AskAnswerDesk, uses a real Microsoft Store employee to answer questions tweeted by real people. We have embedded two such videos below. The first asks, "What are the perks of using a Microsoft Windows Phone?" The response, as we already alluded to, is all about Cortana.

Calling Cortana the "most personal" of the smartphone personal assistants (a group that includes Siri, Google Now and the new BlackBerry Assistant), a Microsoft Store employee named Kristen explains some of the things that Cortana can do. Words like "pro-active" are thrown around to explain how the personal assistant uses your likes to provide you with information before you need it.

The second video answers a question from a parent whose daughter wants a Mac Book. Fair enough, but the parent wants to buy her daughter a Surface. Kristen responds with a list of differences. The Mac Book is just a laptop while the Surface is a laptop AND a tablet. And with the Microsoft slate, you get a Pen that allows you to complete more tasks, according to the Microsoft Store employee.

You can check out the two videos yourself, by clicking on the video slideshow below.

The Microsoft Store answers your questions

source: MicrosoftStore (1), (2) via WPCenter

Related phones

View Full specs

PhoneArena Rating:

8.0

Read Full Review

Display 10.6" 1920 x 1080 pixels

Camera 5 MP / 3.5 MP front

Processor NVIDIA Tegra 4, Quad-core, 1700 MHz

Storage 32 GB

FEATURED VIDEO

Options

28 Comments

1. Malhar

Posts: 49; Member since: Dec 29, 2012

She is Cute :)

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 11:43 AM 9

2. fouadqr

Posts: 326; Member since: Nov 21, 2012

No...

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 12:02 PM 8

8. DirtyDan23

Posts: 280; Member since: Aug 12, 2014

Yes...

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 1:02 PM 7

13. PAPINYC

Posts: 2315; Member since: Jul 30, 2011

Hell to the NOOOO!!!!

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 3:22 PM 2

25. sgodsell

Posts: 7459; Member since: Mar 16, 2013

All I want her to do is answer the question. Why does WP suck so badly?

posted on Oct 19, 2014, 9:38 AM 0

14. nohatenofanboy

Posts: 515; Member since: Jul 15, 2014

lol I came here to say this :D

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 3:55 PM 0

3. Ketchapp

Posts: 23; Member since: Sep 04, 2014

Smart daughter...

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 12:13 PM 4

4. bendgate unregistered

I clicked because of the girl.

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 12:23 PM 3

5. T.Law

Posts: 423; Member since: May 10, 2014

She's not even pretty but I like your name.

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 12:41 PM 6

6. gaara6775

Posts: 738; Member since: May 20, 2014

She is cute ^^ . If you don't like Asians that's a different story .

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 12:54 PM 9

20. Chuck007

Posts: 1411; Member since: Mar 02, 2014

For an Asian she really ain't all that. Trust me, I am Chinese. :p

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 7:22 PM 1

24. T.Law

Posts: 423; Member since: May 10, 2014

I can safely assume that you have never ever been in Asia then.

posted on Oct 19, 2014, 7:52 AM 0

7. ihavenoname

Posts: 1693; Member since: Aug 18, 2013

"Mom, dad, I wanna buy a Mac" "No, we want you to buy Surface" "Why?" "Uhmmm... I don't know, I have to ask somewhere"

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 12:58 PM 7

9. brrunopt

Posts: 742; Member since: Aug 15, 2013

i think you missed the situation... "Mom, dad, I wanna buy a Mac" "No, we want you to buy Surface" "Why?" "Because its better, you can do a lot more ... Let me ask somewhere how to show her how better it is..."

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 1:06 PM 9

11. ihavenoname

Posts: 1693; Member since: Aug 18, 2013

Better? Trackpad? No. Keyboard? No. Design? Opinion. OS? Pretty equal, also preference. Battery life? As good or worse on Surface, that's what I've read. Apps? Neither are good/meant for gaming, desktop apps are pretty equal, Macs have also Office, OneNote, plus default Mac productivity apps are excellent for average user. Surface has better screen, I give you that. And what if she just happens to like Macs? Should she use Surface just because her parents want to?

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 1:38 PM 6

12. brrunopt

Posts: 742; Member since: Aug 15, 2013

A LOT better screen, digityzer capabilities, lighter, usability as a tablet And what if she just wants to buy a Mac because of the "pseudo" status ? ( Macs are cool ; my friend had a Mac, i want one too ; ...)

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 2:19 PM 10

19. Neo_Huang

Posts: 1067; Member since: Dec 06, 2013

MacBooks are also not very sturdy. Mine is really scratched and I've only taken it out of the house like five times.

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 6:56 PM 1

21. Dastrix unregistered

LOL, dude you're comparing Mac to PC. Ain't even a comparison.

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 7:40 PM 1

22. ihavenoname

Posts: 1693; Member since: Aug 18, 2013

Yes it is. I have used Windows and OS X, IMO OS X is more pleasing experience. Especially now with Yosemite, absolutely stunning OS.

posted on Oct 19, 2014, 1:26 AM 1

26. kenobi

Posts: 35; Member since: Apr 30, 2013

"Where can we ask?" "Uhm .. To the nearest Apple Store"

posted on Oct 19, 2014, 11:11 AM 0

10. corporateJP

Posts: 2458; Member since: Nov 28, 2009

Micerosoft...officially shot themselves in the foot by using a mole and dredging their largest partner... Good luck with HTC and Micromax, Samsung is about to leave you too...

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 1:28 PM 1

15. 0xFFFF

Posts: 3806; Member since: Apr 16, 2014

Microsoft is desperate... so desperate that they are using one of their store employees to make Cortana look like something else other than the big brother spyware that it is. For most people, Cortana is just some mostly useless novelty. But Cortana is woven into Windows Phone so it can spy on your entire life and send your data back to Microsoft. Windows Phone hasn't delivered one unique innovation to the market. Everything is just copied from somewhere else. Microsoft was a haunted empire long before Apple. And it shows.

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 4:04 PM 3

16. Liveitup

Posts: 1798; Member since: Jan 07, 2014

Troll did you hit your head?, i think that you are mixing up Microsoft and Google. Microsoft respects your privacy more than many other companies, the scroogle campaign for was to show how much Google does not respect your privacy when compared to MS, Apples iCloud has been hacked lately with the whole celeb scandal drama. Even prolific NSA leaker Edward Snowden says that you should stay away from Google. Quit hating on Cortana it respects your privacy more than Google. http://www.newsweek.com/wary-privacy-issues-ditch-dropbox-and-avoid-google-says-edward-snowden-276956 Silly troll says WP has delivered any innovation to the market when in fact all modern smartphones has adopted Windows Phone innovations like Flat UI, Clean minimalistic design language Colorful info bars, Lock screen animation, the three dot menu, in app purchases are just a few o the things that iOS and Android have in different cases copied. Blinkfeed, Magazine UX WP inspired etc WP brought innovation to the market that is being mimicked than any other company, the only thing haunted is your common sense. http://www.wpcentral.com/android-tries-find-identity-through-new-material-design-ui- http://www.zdnet.com/ios-7-first-impressions-of-the-metro-ized-ios-7000020920/ Silly Troll Microsoft is arguably the biggest trendsetter today.

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 5:59 PM 7

17. Furbal unregistered

Need native apps on wp8 then I'd make the switch :/

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 6:52 PM 1

18. Furbal unregistered

Gapps*

posted on Oct 18, 2014, 6:53 PM 0

28. ZeroCide

Posts: 816; Member since: Jan 09, 2013

You don't want native Gapps. they are filled with data miners.

posted on Oct 21, 2014, 12:36 PM 0

23. ManusImperceptus

Posts: 724; Member since: Jun 10, 2014

"According to a video shot by Microsoft, Cortana is one of the favorite "perks" of using a Windows Phone." A perk that's only available to 5-10% of users isn't a perk; it's an extended middle finger right in the face of the 90+ remaining paying customers...!