What’s on your home screen, Ben Rudolph?

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Pink Lumia 900

We’re continuing our series where we ask Nokia users how they are putting apps and live tiles to use on their Lumia phones.

Today, we’re asking Ben Rudolph, a super enthusiastic Microsoft Evangelist who you probably recognize from the amazing “Smoked by Windows Phone” series of videos. Ben is based in Redmond, Washington, and absolutely loves Windows Phone – and it shows.

So, Ben, what’s on your home screen?

Top home screen

Right now my Nokia Lumia of choice is the new pink AT&T model. I used a magenta Lumia 800 for months before the 900 came out and the color was GREAT for catching the attention of passers-by; I love the fact that it’s bright and bold. And besides…real men rock pink phones.

Note: Ben has two black belts and has taught close-quarter-combatives for law enforcement… so don’t try to take his pink phone from him!

My first start screen is all business

It has:

Phone tile: Because it is, after all, still a phone.
Amazing Weather: This is my new weather app of choice. It has a beautiful live tile that toggles between the current conditions and the day’s forecast, and the app itself is accurate, well Designed, and has a great depth of information. And it’s tied to GPS, so the live tile changes with your location.
Outlook Mail: Email is probably the #1 thing I do on my phone. It keeps me connected to the office without being in the office.
My Me tile: Perfect for quick check-ins and tweets
Calendar: So I know where to go for my next meeting
Rowi: My hands-down favorite Twitter app for Windows Phone. Fast, well designed and has a great, fast-refreshing live tile that shows mentions and DM’s.
Messaging: Texting is a close second to email for me, so it gets prime real estate

Next eight tiles

Pictures: I’m a proud dad of three so I like to have photos of the little ones at the ready at all times. I never miss an opportunity to show them off.
IE: For obvious reasons
The other tiles on this section of my start screen are all Groups & People. I have dedicated tiles for my wife, my extended family, and tiles for two Twitter lists I keep an eye on – one for Microsoft corporate handles, and one for Microsoft Top Tweeters

Next eight tiles

This is where I keep my social and entertainment stuff.

Facebook: For when I need a deeper experience than the Me Tile. I don’t use this a ton, but it’s nice to have when I’m having a busy Facebook day (like this week, when we *finally* closed on our new house after seven months of painful negotiations!)
4th & Mayor: This is my favorite Foursquare app. It’s fast, metro-styled, and has really cool Live Tile options.
YamPhone+: This is a really great Live Tile-powered Yammer app. It’s how I stay connected to my internal Microsoft social network.
Xbox Live: Because all work and no play makes Ben a dull boy (BTW, my favorite game is Wordament, and addicting multiplayer word game. Go get it.)
Music + Videos: I think this is self-explanatory.
Marketplace: 100,000 apps and counting!
My ContacTile: This is a really cool app – just input your contact info and it’ll generate a QR code that you can pin to your Start Screen. Scan it, and your contact info gets instantly imported to the scanner’s phone. It’s almost completely replaced business cards for me.

The rest of my Start Screen

You can tell by now I have a lot of stuff pinned to my Start Screen. That’s what it’s there for, right? This is where I have my lesser used-but-still-important apps.

SkyDrive
Lync
My two Windows Live Mail accounts
Shortcuts to settings and alarms
Flashlight-X
MetroTube, which is a really slick YouTube app.

Below that is my “News” Section that includes

As you can see, Ben Rudolph is making use of his home screen in a very complete way. Have you found any apps that you didn’t know about?