People's app is terrible in Windows 10 mobile, is there anything I can do?

[sickleykey]

People's app is terrible in windows 10 mobile

People's app looks terrible in windows 10 mobile. It feels like a un-finished app and with lots of space wasted. Contact pictures are really tiny, it could have been scaled up without increasing the text/font size. It could have had the favorites contacts option as one of tab with option to dial number without going to profile page. They could show the history for calls, messages, text for each contact. Also call history in the Dialer app could be un-grouped so as to show the duration for each call.

I was looking at the contact app in Android (Samsung Edge Plus) and was really impressed with the UI design. The color popped out and contact pictures were totally identifiable. The contacts were separated by a line which gave it a nice look.

Maybe MS needs to look at the contacts UI of the competitors and then ask a question to themselves which one looks better.

 

[Jon_Rubinstein]

Re: People's app is terrible in windows 10 mobile

Agree. It is terrible. They need to get Linked in to do a WM10 app. None of the Linked in pictures show up in People anymore and neither does the linked in msgs in the Whats New option....

 

[michail71]

Re: People's app is terrible in windows 10 mobile

It is the single worst downgrade (of many) they made to windows phone 10. The people app is a horrible, stinking pile of garbage. It's the worst development effort since Microsoft Bob.

They also pulled contact level notifications out, which was my favorite feature in prior WP versions.

Shouldn't the contact management system be the most important app on a device whos main purpose is communicating with people? It went from being the center of all things communication related to a "dumb list" with animations.

 

[sickleykey]

Re: People's app is terrible in windows 10 mobile

Yes, absolutely - People's app should be the most well designed app in any OS. Its the app where people spend most of their time and which is central to everything in the OS. It was a bad mistake from MS to release an unfinished app like this. Hope they fix the UI soon.

 

[jhoff80]

Re: People's app is terrible in windows 10 mobile

Even just the design is terrible. Using your accent color as the background color is terrible. It's supposed to be just that, an accent.

 

[michail71]

There was a news article on this site the other day by Jason Ward that really highlighted direction MS has taken, My ode to Windows Phone 8 | Windows Central.

The article was spot on but a little overly optimistic. I don' see why MS had to throw away all the good work of their past to make something so sub par and amateur.

 

[anon(3463402)]

Send them some feedback about this. I've done it already.

 

[michail71]

Send them some feedback about this. I've done it already.

And upvote every single feedback on the matter too.

But probably won't do any good though. MS was rather deliberate and purposeful in wrecking the people app.

 

[aximtreo]

Other than that Ms. Lincoln, how did you like the play?

I believe that going from Win 8 to win 10 required more of a rewrite than just porting over. This take time and I'm sure those things you mentioned will be addressed. The past few months have been very busy introducing new OS, hardware and software updates.

I have the 950xl and one of the things I like in WP 8 was the Groupme app. It allowed the use to create groups to send text to. It did not port to Win 10 very well but yesterday, the WP10 People app was updated to include the Groupme function. I mention this just to show that things will improve. Your patience will determine whether that is soon enough for you.

 

[BryceMD]

Re: People's app is terrible in windows 10 mobile

Yes, absolutely - People's app should be the most well designed app in any OS. Its the app where people spend most of their time and which is central to everything in the OS. It was a bad mistake from MS to release an unfinished app like this. Hope they fix the UI soon.

App where people spend most of their time? Seems a bit of a stretch. Honestly I don't even have the app pinned and can't remember the last time I used it on either Win10 Mobile or WP8.1. And never on PC.(Given that it's universal app)

I'm genuinely curious what the functional problems are. From what I remember on iPhone it's just a list of names on a gray background. So, I'm honestly curious what the expectations are. Aside from the OP, which the issues seem to be esthetics and therefor subjective, noone is really saying the problems. Just agreeing it's bad. It's not terribly constructive.

 

[michail71]

Re: People's app is terrible in windows 10 mobile

App where people spend most of their time? Seems a bit of a stretch. Honestly I don't even have the app pinned and can't remember the last time I used it on either Win10 Mobile or WP8.1. And never on PC.(Given that it's universal app)

I'm genuinely curious what the functional problems are. From what I remember on iPhone it's just a list of names on a gray background. So, I'm honestly curious what the expectations are. Aside from the OP, which the issues seem to be esthetics and therefor subjective, noone is really saying the problems. Just agreeing it's bad. It's not terribly constructive.

It is not a stretch. Just because you don't use you your phone in that way doesn't make it not worth while. But you are in luck on WP 10 as it has been reduced what is on an iPhone.

In 8.1 the model was people centric, not app centric. Read this article that I posted above, My ode to Windows Phone 8 | Windows Central.

For instance, I could pin actual people contacts, groups or folders of people to my home screen. I could pin my boss, wife/girlfriend, kids, etc. to my home screen as live tiles. From there any communication to a person or group would get a notification banner. It didn't matter if it was an email from multiple accounts, a text message, voice mail, etc. From there you could open up whatever communication that person sent. You also had a wonderful history of all forms of communication with that person.

All we got in WP 10 are photos that roll around and a UI slapped together like it was a rushed afterthought.

 

[920Walker]

Re: People's app is terrible in windows 10 mobile

Circles for people, squares for things, although people are now treated as things.

 

[buddy007]

Re: People's app is terrible in windows 10 mobile

I totally feel the op, the UI is terrible in the people app. Social integration is implemented very badly. I miss the "me" tile. I miss the lovely tile layout for groups. It's been reduced to just a list now. Man how the hell can anybody suck so bad as MS? It's beyond big bang theory.

 

[michail71]

I've been very vocal and detailed on the Insider's feedback. However, I feel this direction to simplify the OS offerings and make it more app centric was taken on purpose.

I have no need for continuum. So with all the things I've loved gone from the OS and the app gap I have to wonder what my next platform will be.

Being with MS on the phone side can be like being in a constant experiment of new today gone tomorrow functionality.

 

[jasongw]

Re: People's app is terrible in windows 10 mobile

I agree. Windows 10 Mobile is so awful it pushed me to Android after 5 years of being an unapologetic Windows Phone fan. What I realized in the switch is that everything I hated about Windows 10 mobile are things Microsoft aped from Android: the idiotic hamburger menu located in literally the furthest possible position to reach with your thumb; items hidden behind menus that used to be just a swipe away; tiny text. The only saving grace on Android is that it runs MUCH faster even on identical hardware. My LG Gflex 2 has almost identical specs to the 950 XL, yet in every benchmark and every video comparing the two (or other phones with the same hardware), the 950XL gets *smoked* by the Android equivalent. There's no way that's the fault of the 950's hardware, it's the software.

And there's no excuse for it, NONE. Years ago, Microsoft brashly challenged Android and iOS devices on the basis of speed, and won far more often than not. The "Smoked by Windows Phone challenge" was fantastic and proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Windows Phone was a force to be reckoned with. Now? It's a joke.

 

[jasongw]

Exactly. Every time you turn around, Microsoft guts Windows Phone and it actually LOSES features. Tab sync between PC and mobile? Gone. Easy, intuitive navigation? Gone. Clean, high contrast app design that's easy to use and read? Gone. Deep integration of social services into contacts, email and messaging? Gone. Blazing fast speed that smokes the competition? Gone.

Microsoft is solely responsible for ruining Windows Phone.

 

[Praneel D kiD]

Re: People's app is terrible in windows 10 mobile

Contact full history! Gone.

 

[Lee B]

Re: People's app is terrible in windows 10 mobile

For instance, I could pin actual people contacts, groups or folders of people to my home screen. I could pin my boss, wife/girlfriend, kids, etc. to my home screen as live tiles.

So is it true that you can't pin people on a live tile to your home screen in WM10?

That has been one of my absolute favorite features in 8.1 and it's a place where Windows has a real edge over Android and iOS. Unless they're planning to bring it back in a future update, I'm really puzzled why they'd kill that functionality.

 

[sickleykey]

Exactly, they released un-finished Edge. I have an IP camera system installed which did not have a Windows app, but it worked perfectly on the internet explorer probably because it supported plug-ins. Now it does not work on edge. I understand that edge is faster and re-written, but until it was feature complete, they should have allowed both IE and Edge to co-exist, atleast on the Windows mobile. Same is the case with Tabs sync. It was so easy to find the same pages open on mobile which you were browsing on PC. Wake up Microsoft. Atleast give us one release each month with most requested features and prove the WaaS (Windows as a Service) concept.

 

[cracgor]

I agree. Windows 10 Mobile is so awful it pushed me to Android after 5 years of being an unapologetic Windows Phone fan. What I realized in the switch is that everything I hated about Windows 10 mobile are things Microsoft aped from Android: the idiotic hamburger menu located in literally the furthest possible position to reach with your thumb; items hidden behind menus that used to be just a swipe away; tiny text. The only saving grace on Android is that it runs MUCH faster even on identical hardware. My LG Gflex 2 has almost identical specs to the 950 XL, yet in every benchmark and every video comparing the two (or other phones with the same hardware), the 950XL gets *smoked* by the Android equivalent. There's no way that's the fault of the 950's hardware, it's the software.

And there's no excuse for it, NONE. Years ago, Microsoft brashly challenged Android and iOS devices on the basis of speed, and won far more often than not. The "Smoked by Windows Phone challenge" was fantastic and proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Windows Phone was a force to be reckoned with. Now? It's a joke.

I think you are confused. Android is unstable with fragmentation and only some phones updated and others waiting on updates. Android I also slow. And live tiles...i know right. That will be WM10.1, replace live tiles with static boxes you can click. Genius!

The changes to a people app are just a symptom of a sickness.