Will Windows Phone continue to avoid to make a File Manager?

[Dheeraj Sukumaran]

Okok experts, users, consumers alike there is never going to be an end to this, these types of threats were discussed enough and more when WP8 came out and votings were done...where those who want vastly outnumbered those who dont want...

Anyway, i was the one who wanted file manager .... i still do but what i prefer more now is that if all the 'downloading apps' (apps that download or have attachments like Whatsapp videos, audios; youtube downloaded files etc) can store the downloaded files in the common wp library (which can be accessed through appropriate app and share it freely , also can be accessed through Desktop windows). that will solve 90% of my problem

thats correct.... even if there is no file manager this could really suite most of the users

 

[lloydfoulds]

I am amongst other things, a gas engineer. I download manuals frequently in PDF and I have hundreds of them. I would like to rename them, put them into group folders by manufacturer, etc. To me this is a normal requirement of any PC and lets face it, the win 8 phone and android are now miniature pc's. A file manager is needed.

 

[vish2801]

dude... just download a pdf from internet in mobile and try sharing or attaching it..... then you will understand

He'll tell you to use Skydrive. Double Facepalm. What's the use of internal memory or sd card if I have to use skydrive for this purpose. And who's gonna waste data behind this cloud integration again and again. In countries like India, we don't have public wi-fi hotspots and even unlimited 2G data plans lol, leave aside 3G.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

 

[vish2801]

I am amongst other things, a gas engineer. I download manuals frequently in PDF and I have hundreds of them. I would like to rename them, put them into group folders by manufacturer, etc. To me this is a normal requirement of any PC and lets face it, the win 8 phone and android are now miniature pc's. A file manager is needed.

Some people here will tell you to buy a lappy for computing, not a smart phone.....

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4

 

[z33dev33l]

When you open up a full file manager, you create easy access to system files, when you open up access to system files, you invite piracy and lag into the system. When you invite piracy and lag into the system, we become as bad as android.

 

[csjjjjjjjjjjj]

When you open up a full file manager, you create easy access to system files, when you open up access to system files, you invite piracy and lag into the system. When you invite piracy and lag into the system, we become as bad as android.

When you make slippery slope arguments, you invite death of the WP8.

Most of us don't need or want full access to system files. We're okay operating behind a secure API. We already have secure APIs (Office hub, SkyDrive, Media hub), but they're fragmented. Media hub lets you read/write to SD memory, but limited to media files. Office hub lets you read/write local files (and read/write these files from PC via USB), but limited to phone memory. Skydrive lets you read/write files, but limited to the cloud.

Allowing a user to 'save-as' from IE to a secure API (like SkyDrive) does not break security or introduce lag. It's no worse than allowing some random app to automatically open the poor file.

 

[Dheeraj Sukumaran]

When you open up a full file manager, you create easy access to system files, when you open up access to system files, you invite piracy and lag into the system. When you invite piracy and lag into the system, we become as bad as android.

BUT they could restrict access to system files and provide access to atleast all libraries right? currently 3rd party users cannot access video library in the phone, for example, if a wifi sharing feature is developed as an app, it has limited functionality since only photos and music can be accessed, and as i mentioned before, the inability of whatsapp to save or send audio and video from collection

 

[marcomura]

You don't need a file manager on WP OS.

I'm glad you know better than me what I need.

 

[rebornempowered]

I do this from where it is easy to do (a PC o my Surface RT) and then put them in a folder on SkyDrive. I can't imagine how tedious doing all that renaming and moving would be on a touch screen.

 

[rebornempowered]

I am amongst other things, a gas engineer. I download manuals frequently in PDF and I have hundreds of them. I would like to rename them, put them into group folders by manufacturer, etc. To me this is a normal requirement of any PC and lets face it, the win 8 phone and android are now miniature pc's. A file manager is needed.

I do this from where it is easy to do (a PC or my Surface RT) and then put them in a folder on SkyDrive. I can't imagine how tedious doing all that renaming and moving would be on a touch screen.

 

[darksantacruz]

I agree with you, MS should develop a basic feature like a file manager, I want to be able to attach any file to an email, I want to manage files on SD card etc, denying this is to be a ******...

 

[Mahdi Ghiasi]

Here, some people (mostly in Europe and USA) are saying that they don't need a file manager, while me and some other people (mostly in developing countries) are saying that we need it.

And the funny thing is, some of those people that don't need file manager are saying to us that "you don't need a file manager, I know!". I wondered if they read what we say or not? we don't have very fast or unlimited data connection.
In my country, Iran, even my home wifi is not unlimited, and its speed is 1 megabits per second, facepalm. my mobile operator is only providing 2G, because 3G is exclusive to one operator for the next few years, and their coverage is not good. double facepalm.
In India, Pakistan and other developing countries, things might be better than Iran, but I'm sure that it's not as good as South Korea, Europe and America. not even close. :|

 

[Ktysai]

I agree with you, MS should develop a basic feature like a file manager, I want to be able to attach any file to an email, I want to manage files ...

Nicely said!

 

[Geddeeee]

I'm glad you know better than me what I need.

You're welcome....

 

[Gabriel Camuso]

The fact is: We have a real problem here. I will use as an example my personal experience.

I am a student, so, I hugely use my Windows Phone to help me in all sort of student stuff. I use a lot the office + pdf app to view and edit my important documents, there are things that we really should have, and I will list some of then:

1. An unified place to put all kinds of files. Why? Though the way we have is great to use, having the recent files, we should be able to view then in a unified way!

2. Sort my office + pdf + some specific image files in a way I can easily use. Why? Having the section control is a perfect way to organize the stuff in a beautiful way. I can have a place to put the Geography audio record and the photos for my work, and a philosophy to put some pdf text and so on...

3. Take my emails + downloaded files and be able to treat then as a NORMAL FILE. Why? Email attachments are files too!

4. Be able to set an app as the default to open a kind of file. Why? It's really annoying to be asked what app should open a kind of file. Plus, this way we will have a bigger variety of apps that support some files, including things like zipping and unzipping that really works.

5. A more comprehensive way to share my files using Bluetooth/emails etc... Why? I can't even send a document to a friend using bluetooth! And we shouldn't worry about the app having to support sharing files.

The Windows Phone doesn't give us an SOLID way to do some tasks. A simple task like sending a file through Bluetooth is confusing and sometimes not possible. What is being asked here is not an access to the file, in fact it is pretty pleasing that we can stick our WP in the PC and manage some files on it. It is only being asked that this same file management we get on PC could be done inside our phone, having then some adds like a download and email attachment folders. It is not being asked a way to access the system files. Remember: There are people that use their smartphone to some kind of serious stuff and they really need this feature. Having the ability to control your files wont at all compromise the security of the system if done right! And, what's the point of saying windows phone is the office phone if we even can't even control our files?

I like my Windows Phone, and I think it is the best mobile system with all it can do. But it needs some features that the people that know Windows will recognize, and features that people in general will need. If we really want that windows phone can be a really strong platform that appeals to everyone, it have to give users and developers some functions that appeals to everyone. You see... I'm tired to see apps saying in their descriptions "We don't have this functionality cause of the platform", and things like file accessibility is one of the mains lack.

And, even in the perfect world where everyone have access to full speed internet at any time, skydrive lacks of things that only local storage can provide. And face it: We don't live in the perfect wolrd where we can access internet at any time.

 

[brunoadduarte]

The simple fact that we can't send an Office file as an attachment directly on an e-mail is idiotic. Specially when the alternative requires so much horsing around... Uploading to Skydrive - a service that not everyone uses or may not want to use - creating the link and finally writing the e-mail. Attaching files is one of the core objectives of sending most e-mails for any person and they castrated it. As much as I like WP, this is inexcusable.

I'm not opposed to having a unified folder (albeit organized) for our files and accessing it as needed by each app. For the likes of a power-user/dev, I agree that a more robust option could/should be available, but I'm not sure as to system folders access.

 

[OzRob]

I am a student, so, I hugely use my Windows Phone to help me in all sort of student stuff. I use a lot the office + pdf app to view and edit my important documents, there are things that we really should have, ...

I completely agree. There are quite a number of things in WP8 that we really should have.

The Windows Phone doesn't give us an SOLID way to do some tasks. A simple task like sending a file through Bluetooth is confusing and sometimes not possible...

I completely agree. There are some basic things that are currently simply not possible with WP8

I like my Windows Phone, and I think it is the best mobile system with all it can do...

And this is the bit that I don't get. Why do you like your Windows Phone if it doesn't do all the things you want and need it to do? I like the Windows Phone UI and its smoothness and fluidity, but it simply doesn't do stuff I want it to do. That's why I went back to Android for day-to-day use. And now I can do all the stuff I want to do, rather than wistfully hope that Microsoft will one day get around to adding this stuff to WP. Perhaps when GDR3 or 8.1 or whatever comes out and these basic things have been address I'll fire up my beautiful Lumia 720 and be able to do more than just admire its fluid OS and make a few phone calls. There are phones around today that will do all the things you mention, but none of them are based on the Windows Phone OS.

 

[darksantacruz]

The fact is: We have a real problem here. I will use as an example my personal experience.

I am a student, so, I hugely use my Windows Phone to help me in all sort of student stuff. I use a lot the office + pdf app to view and edit my important documents, there are things that we really should have, and I will list some of then:

1. An unified place to put all kinds of files. Why? Though the way we have is great to use, having the recent files, we should be able to view then in a unified way!

2. Sort my office + pdf + some specific image files in a way I can easily use. Why? Having the section control is a perfect way to organize the stuff in a beautiful way. I can have a place to put the Geography audio record and the photos for my work, and a philosophy to put some pdf text and so on...

3. Take my emails + downloaded files and be able to treat then as a NORMAL FILE. Why? Email attachments are files too!

4. Be able to set an app as the default to open a kind of file. Why? It's really annoying to be asked what app should open a kind of file. Plus, this way we will have a bigger variety of apps that support some files, including things like zipping and unzipping that really works.

5. A more comprehensive way to share my files using Bluetooth/emails etc... Why? I can't even send a document to a friend using bluetooth! And we shouldn't worry about the app having to support sharing files.

The Windows Phone doesn't give us an SOLID way to do some tasks. A simple task like sending a file through Bluetooth is confusing and sometimes not possible. What is being asked here is not an access to the file, in fact it is pretty pleasing that we can stick our WP in the PC and manage some files on it. It is only being asked that this same file management we get on PC could be done inside our phone, having then some adds like a download and email attachment folders. It is not being asked a way to access the system files. Remember: There are people that use their smartphone to some kind of serious stuff and they really need this feature. Having the ability to control your files wont at all compromise the security of the system if done right! And, what's the point of saying windows phone is the office phone if we even can't even control our files?

I like my Windows Phone, and I think it is the best mobile system with all it can do. But it needs some features that the people that know Windows will recognize, and features that people in general will need. If we really want that windows phone can be a really strong platform that appeals to everyone, it have to give users and developers some functions that appeals to everyone. You see... I'm tired to see apps saying in their descriptions "We don't have this functionality cause of the platform", and things like file accessibility is one of the mains lack.

And, even in the perfect world where everyone have access to full speed internet at any time, skydrive lacks of things that only local storage can provide. And face it: We don't live in the perfect wolrd where we can access internet at any time.

 

[darksantacruz]

The fact is: We have a real problem here. I will use as an example my personal experience.

I am a student, so, I hugely use my Windows Phone to help me in all sort of student stuff. I use a lot the office + pdf app to view and edit my important documents, there are things that we really should have, and I will list some of then:

1. An unified place to put all kinds of files. Why? Though the way we have is great to use, having the recent files, we should be able to view then in a unified way!

2. Sort my office + pdf + some specific image files in a way I can easily use. Why? Having the section control is a perfect way to organize the stuff in a beautiful way. I can have a place to put the Geography audio record and the photos for my work, and a philosophy to put some pdf text and so on...

3. Take my emails + downloaded files and be able to treat then as a NORMAL FILE. Why? Email attachments are files too!

4. Be able to set an app as the default to open a kind of file. Why? It's really annoying to be asked what app should open a kind of file. Plus, this way we will have a bigger variety of apps that support some files, including things like zipping and unzipping that really works.

5. A more comprehensive way to share my files using Bluetooth/emails etc... Why? I can't even send a document to a friend using bluetooth! And we shouldn't worry about the app having to support sharing files.

The Windows Phone doesn't give us an SOLID way to do some tasks. A simple task like sending a file through Bluetooth is confusing and sometimes not possible. What is being asked here is not an access to the file, in fact it is pretty pleasing that we can stick our WP in the PC and manage some files on it. It is only being asked that this same file management we get on PC could be done inside our phone, having then some adds like a download and email attachment folders. It is not being asked a way to access the system files. Remember: There are people that use their smartphone to some kind of serious stuff and they really need this feature. Having the ability to control your files wont at all compromise the security of the system if done right! And, what's the point of saying windows phone is the office phone if we even can't even control our files?

I like my Windows Phone, and I think it is the best mobile system with all it can do. But it needs some features that the people that know Windows will recognize, and features that people in general will need. If we really want that windows phone can be a really strong platform that appeals to everyone, it have to give users and developers some functions that appeals to everyone. You see... I'm tired to see apps saying in their descriptions "We don't have this functionality cause of the platform", and things like file accessibility is one of the mains lack.

And, even in the perfect world where everyone have access to full speed internet at any time, skydrive lacks of things that only local storage can provide. And face it: We don't live in the perfect wolrd where we can access internet at any time.

 

[minus365]

I am sure, there will be many things fixed and added in next WP update. We just ned to stay patient and hope MS is listening to us, the WP users. I would love to see mothly updates coming out, but considering WP is just a part of the whole ecosystem and any development is being done in wider consequences, I can understand it takes some time and udpates cannot come out on more frequent basis.

Back to topic, File Manager would be nice addition for sure, but it deffinitely needs to be done in a way doesn't affect OS security. Personally, I would be perfectly fine if I could organize my photos to the folders. Possibility of one more folder downloaded content (online content, email attachments, etc) should be enough.
Then if there would be 4 fixed folders (Office, Music, Photo, Downloaded) all hubed under 1 Live Tile, where I cuold easily organize my data, I would be happy and wouldn't need anything else.