Bundled Grids
We begin with a look at the basic bundled Grids that are available in the beta test. First is the System Stats application, a handy PC status center. From here you can see CPU core count, their utilization, memory usage, network usage, and storage capacity. The app is larger than the screen's display area, so you can scroll down to see remaining information. There's also a handy stopwatch and timer.
System Stats is an interesting application, but I wouldn't consider it a must-have. Perhaps it'd be useful when diagnosing a problem with your PC. Otherwise, it's a solid showcase of what custom Grids are capable of.
Next, let's look at the Sound Control Grid:
This Grid allows you to control master volume, and it has more depth than you'd assume. You can launch a pre-defined media player and go through playlists. You can also control master, music, and microphone volume on the main page. Scroll down and you even see controls for each application channel's sound level.
This app is potentially very useful whenever you'd like music, microphone, and per-app volume control without leaving the software window you're currently using. It's nice to have dedicated controls that don't take up valuable keyboard or monitor space. Perhaps more importantly, you can control your PC media center playlist from anywhere in your home.
The third bundled Grid is the Incoming Center, built to handle all types of messages: email, Facebook, Skype, RRS feeds, and TeamSpeak.
While I can see the potential of an app center for looking at information, it seems counter-productive to type on your smartphone to reply when you're in front of a keyboard at a computer, no matter how much you might want to stay in a single app. For me, this works best as an indicator of new email, not as a one-stop, real-time communication center.
