Microsoft to Add Split-Screen Multitasking and Actionable Notifications to Windows Phone

prasath1234

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Thanks for info.anyway splitscreen won't help for my 4.3 inch device lumia 820 user here.:thumbup::D:rolleyes:

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YanivC

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Why do we need split screens on a phone? Im either replying to emails or navigating or listening to music, but 2 at once?! I think people are losing focus on what the phone is supposed to do. I would much rather see perfectly sandboxed background running tasks so that we can have apps talk to each other without concern. Android is on the right track with it, but the execution is horrible and causes more lag than anything else.
 

Silviu Bogusevschi

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Why do we need split screens on a phone? Im either replying to emails or navigating or listening to music, but 2 at once?! I think people are losing focus on what the phone is supposed to do. I would much rather see perfectly sandboxed background running tasks so that we can have apps talk to each other without concern. Android is on the right track with it, but the execution is horrible and causes more lag than anything else.

We neither know how it will be implemented, nor if it will even be.

In certain cases it might be useful, but again only for big-screen devices.
 

colinkiama

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Why do we need split screens on a phone? Im either replying to emails or navigating or listening to music, but 2 at once?! I think people are losing focus on what the phone is supposed to do. I would much rather see perfectly sandboxed background running tasks so that we can have apps talk to each other without concern. Android is on the right track with it, but the execution is horrible and causes more lag than anything else.
But when it does work on android it works well. Really useful. Remember that WP doesn't lag like android does. Also look how windows 8.1 does multitasking. We need as much features as possible. It makes our os more approachable to different audiences. The average power user would love this.
 

a5cent

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We need as much features as possible. It makes our os more approachable to different audiences.

This is wrong. The result of such an approach is a huge mess of an OS that nobody enjoys using, and which is too complicated to be approachable by anyone but nerds.

What an OS needs is a strong focus on a few main usage scenarios that are complete and as polished as possible, with a good resistance towards feature creep. Just as with apps, at some point (which we've reached with WP8.1) it should be about quality more than quantity. It's better to do a few things really well, than to be a jack of all trades and master of none, which is always the outcome of an "as many features as possible" approach.

That said, split screen will be coming. Most of us knew this since the day it was announced that the next version of WP would also be a tablett OS and replace RT in that role. It will likely be very similar to metro's snap feature.

This is also the answer for those who feel MS is trying to copy some gimmicky Samsung feature. That isn't true. It's about tablets, and since it will also run on phones, it will be available there too. If it were only for smartphones, MS really would have more important features to consider first.
 
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colinkiama

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This is wrong. The result of such an approach is a huge mess of an OS that nobody enjoys using, and which is too complicated to be approachable by anyone but nerds.

What an OS needs is a strong focus on a few main usage scenarios that are complete and as polished as possible, with a good resistance towards feature creep. Just as with apps, at some point (which we've reached with WP8.1) it should be about quality more than quantity. It's better to do a few things really well, than to be a jack of all trades and master of none, which is always the outcome of an "as many features as possible" approach.

That said, split screen will be coming. Most of us knew this since the day it was announced that the next version of WP would also be a tablett OS and replace RT in that role. It will likely be very similar to metro's snap feature.

This is also the answer for those who feel MS is trying to copy some gimmicky Samsung feature. That isn't true. It's about tablets, and since it will also run on phones, it will be available there too. If it were only for smartphones, MS really would have more important features to consider first.
I thought windows phone was about being personal, if there aren't features that make it approachable for every user then It's not personal is it. Also why is Android on top then? It's a bloody mess that is complicated so many tech geeks love it however why is the average consumer using it as well if it's soo complicated?
 

a5cent

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I thought windows phone was about being personal, if there aren't features that make it approachable for every user then It's not personal is it. Also why is Android on top then? It's a bloody mess that is complicated so many tech geeks love it however why is the average consumer using it as well if it's soo complicated?

Hey Colin

We're possibly using different terminology. I don't know what you're referring to when you mention a "feature that makes an OS approachable". In my view that is a bit of an oxymoron, because an OS with fewer features is usually far more approachable than an OS with many. An approachable OS is one that has a low learning curve, is intuitive, simple, direct and to the point. Overloading an OS with features/flexibility/options works counter to that. I wouldn't consider Windows very approachable, and neither is Android. 99% of users deal with those OSes "inapproachability" by ignoring most of their features, and developers try their best to support that (by hiding ignorable stuff behind "advanced" buttons, etc).

Anyway, yes, WP wants to be a personalize-able OS. However, not every possible feature you might think of furthers that goal. For example, features like VPN, eye scrolling, or a fingerprint sensor don't make a device more personal, whereas features like configurable live tiles, theme colours and backgrounds do. I didn't say that WP shouldn't become an even more personal OS. What I did say is that MS must choose a few areas where WP aims to excel, and personalization may be one of those areas. However, WP shouldn't try to be all things to all people, which is exactly what your "as many features as possible" approach attempts to achieve. That is what I'm objecting to.

Android is not the market leader due to its hodgepodge of features, or at least that isn't even close to being the main reason for Android's success. More importantly, MS won't ever win against Android by trying to cram even more features/options into WP. Why? Because like I said, 99% of people are already ignoring the majority of Android's features, and WP offering those people even more to ignore won't convince anybody. The only people who'd get excited about MS going feature ballistic with WP are folks like us, but even most of the tech press would turn it around and instead criticize MS for making "yet another overcomplicated computing device".

WP must stay streamlined and simple (which is in itself somewhat of a differentiator), but at the same time it must gain one or two killer features that are easily marketable. Features only WP has. Something it does extremely well, and which a lot of people want. Those things must be highly polished and heavily marketed. Those signature features must be leveraged to give WP a personality, and everyone needs to know what they are. Like I said, it's about being excellent at one or two things. That will get more attention than being as good as Android in most things. This late in the game, even being slightly better than Android at most things won't cut it. WP would still be viewed as an also-ran.

That's why I say that at this point, WP needs to be all about the quality rather than quantity of features, and one or two of those features need to be really special. Without that, I don't see WP going anywhere.
 
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a5cent

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a5cent
- Cortana is one killer feature. What is the next?

:smile:

I'm not yet convinced that Cortana actually is that, but I think you are right that MS does see it as that first killer feature, or more likely, that they suspect it will become that first killer feature eventually.

At the moment however, it's still to easy to put Cortana in the same drawer as Google Now and Siri. There are a lot of little details about Cortana which I do think make it better than the competition, but the problem is it's not instantly recognizable as better. To most people, it will be just another talking assistant. If you can't demonstrate on television within 10 seconds something that WP does obviously and unquestionably better, it's probably not useful as a marketing tool, and Cortana doesn't really fit that description, at least not currently.

I'd love to take a shot at your question, but maybe we can find another thread where that discussion is more appropriate.
 

prasath1234

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Ms has to advertise wp feature live tile and make live tile more intuitive rather than advertising office.nd off course Cortana heavily.
From Windows phone
 

charlie2128

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Microsoft needs to keep bring new features to make sure we catch up to Android and iOS but in our way of doing things with the same polish finish. Hope fully now that they are making there own phones, there Microsoft ecosystem will grow stronger and bigger, with universal apps and features. This would make people who own windows computers more likely to choose windows phone and so by owning a greater stake in the phones and so more big names to apps.

For split screen on my 930, mmm might be a bit two small but they might be able to make it work, they need to make sure it is a success and to the same standard of the rest of the OS.

Any sign of 8.2/ 9??
 

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