Your turn - 8 things that Microsoft needs to fix in Windows Phone 8 right now.

[Sam Sabri]

Daniel just posted a really great editorial on what needs to be fixed right now in Windows Phone 8. He picked the top 8 issues that are most pressing for Windows Phone.
Read the article here.

For the lazy:

1. Notification Center
2. Universal Search
3. Instagram
4. 'X' to Close Apps
5. Better Xbox Gaming
6. Folders
7. Independent volume and profiles
8. Fix Xbox Music and Video

Do yourself a favor and read the article so you can see the logic behind those concerns. In the meantime, I want to ask you what are some issues you want Microsoft to address right now?

One thing I'd love to see is tighter integration between all my devices: Xbox, Windows 8 devices (Desktop/laptop/Surface) and my Windows Phone gluing the whole experience together. For example bookmarks between my laptop and phone should sync, my browsing history should also sync between any device I use IE on.

Your turn What do you want in Windows Phone 8 right now?

 

[iamtim]

1. VPN
2. VPN
3. VPN
4. VPN
5. VPN
6. VPN
7. PhoneFactor
8. Instagram

All the other issues both reported here in the forum and in that article are non-issues to me.

 

[Al_2]

1. Separate media/ringer volume - I guess I've gotten used to changing it all the time, but I'd rather not have to!
2. Better email attachment options (i.e. can attach Office docs/pdfs etc from within the email app.
3. Custom SMS tones for specific contacts
4. A proper stock calendar where I can see the entries in the month view
5. Close app feature in multi-task screen
6. Ability to search SMS
7. Ability for the keyboard to save my email address (this would save so much time!)
8. Finger seek in music/video

 

[ballanda]

I actually think the article nailed it perfectly. Well done, WPC!

I only want to see instagram so people stop whining about it. I couldn't care less about other people's blurry photos.

 

[tositem]

All the 8 up above, and:
+ brightness slider
+ when you're in home screen and hit the 'back button' please don't take us to the background-running apps
+ background image for the home screen & app list (at least we're given the options)
+ blinking Windows button/logo as 'additional' notification
+ Path
+ that
+ is
+ all!

 

[Alex Spams]

Hi,

1 - Path
2 - a button to cancel a text field (for example at the opposite of the past button).
3 - podcast: I need a real app to manage my podcasts
4 - allow to do more than one action with NFC

 

[squire777]

Daniel just posted a really great editorial on what needs to be fixed right now in Windows Phone 8. He picked the top 8 issues that are most pressing for Windows Phone.
Read the article here.

For the lazy:

1. Notification Center
2. Universal Search
3. Instagram
4. 'X' to Close Apps
5. Better Xbox Gaming
6. Folders
7. Independent volume and profiles
8. Fix Xbox Music and Video

Those 8 are pretty much the ones that I want to see happen too. Even though I don't need a notification centre or Instagram I understand the importance of them to the platform.

I had an idea for the notification centre. A swipe to the right from the main screen takes you to the app list. So how about a swipe to the left gives you a list of all your notifications ( others have thought of that as well).


If Daniel or the other WPCentral guys are going to be at MWC then can you please bring these up with any MS guys that might be there. They need to listen to the users more instead of being so rigid in their views for the platform.

 

[Sam Sabri]

Dan and Jay will both be at MWC. You know they'll bring it up

 

[paras chugh]

fm radio

vpn

usb on the go (connect controllers and stuff)

file explorer

use xbox avatar as phone assistent like siri instead of tellme

blink windows button for notifications

 

[jmerrey]

Less focus on jessica alba, cam newton, and smoking other phones; more focus on developers and apps. Period.

 

[dkp23]

1) Notification on ME Hub. Get everything on there and let us touch the notification and take us to the proper app like messaging, email, people hub for FB/Twitter. Also allow to show some brief summary of the message too. Simple. Add notification icons on top in addition to what we see in the tile too

2) Fully Integrate Skype and not in APP form. Skype messenger needs to work like a messeging service on the device like how we see texts and facebook chats. Get it on there, contacts need to be added up with skype information like before, and skype video option needs to be available if you call somebody normally that also has skype. Being able to use front facing camera or switch to back camera needs to be there too.

Get Skype into the OS, period, fully integrated, no compromise, no shortcuts, not betas. Get it there. Fully integrated skype that works well will be a huge factor in growing the market especialy for those people that communicate internationally. It is a no brainer. MS is missing out on a huge opportunity right now

3) Rotation lock

4) Full backup restore. Restore everything as is. Some settings do not restore, getting tiles config restored as well.

5) Attach any type of file from the email app and able to attach multiple files at a time

6) Forward button on IE10

7) Purchase videos through phone and can watch on any device. Whether purchased through xbox, phone, or surface/pc. One purchase 3 screens.

8) Allow notifications like messaging app to show multiple messages. Meaning if i have a large messaging tile and i receive a text. I can see the text, but only shows the last text. Allow it to shuffle between a limited number of unread messages .

 

[GraemeT]

In no particular order:

Folders (basic stuff)
File Manager (basic stuff)
SD card not just limited to media (64GB of pictures?)
Independent volumes (I might want my alarm to be louder than anything else)
Customizable alerts (basic stuff)
Screen brightness below the present Low (before I'm blinded)
People user-defined field names (MS, my cat could have done this if you'd asked it)
Not such a rubbish calendar (it's okay but could I choose the default view?)
Homepage on IE (basic stuff)

 

[dkp23]

Can somebody explain the need for VPN on mobile devices as simple as possible?

 

[MSFTisMIA]

Eventually, here's what I'd hope to see:

1. The Lenses idea applied to some other stock apps. For example, having Calendar + app add the add the additional functionality into the native Calendar app itself.

2. Edit playlists on the phone itself.

3. Ability to store maps on SD card.

4. Improved metadata for Music...nothing annoys me more than an album I bought on Amazon not being recognized by Xbox Music and I don't get the artist picture.

These in the grand scheme of things are nice additions but on the smaller side. Right now, I'm for most of Daniel's suggestions.

I guess Instagram is really hard to make a 3rd party client for. I'm surprised no one to a shot at that....

 

[a5cent]

Can somebody explain the need for VPN on mobile devices as simple as possible?

Google is your friend. Try this. :smile:

Also, what people here actually mean is mVPN, not VPN. Try this.

 

[travisel]

http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/

@WMC Windows Phone 8.1 OS update to be shown! Lets hope they have more then 8 new features!
I hope they bring back all the features they had already in WM6.5 that would be my 12 I mean 8 things like to see.

 

[NickMon68]

• Option in Xbox Games to only show achievements for WP games not all types of achievements (PC, Xbox, web, Win8 )
• Play next podcast in the set if one exists..If you have 2 podcasts for say WP Central after the 1st the next unplayed one starts...
• Center the music cover art on the playing screen and just tidy the whole thing up
• Complete Calender rewrite, make it use all screen space and support rotation better

 

[a5cent]

@Daniel Rubino

Daniel just posted a really great editorial on what needs to be fixed right now in Windows Phone 8.

I think you got this right on almost all counts. I would disagree only with the 'X' to close apps" feature. This is my reasoning:

1)
One of the main philosophies behind WP, is that having to micromanage the technical aspects of a device (like RAM or CPU resources) is evil. The OS goes to great lengths to ensure it can manage these aspects entirely autonomously. Users should just forget about it. Adding this feature suggests precisely the opposite. It flies in the face of what WP is meant to be. It is also guaranteed to reinforce preconceived notions about how a smartphone should be used, particularly in former Android users who will feel compelled to continue micromanaging app lifespans on WP. It's akin to WP developing a dissociative identity disorder, and none of us want that, right? ;-)

2)
Very few in the WP community actually feel an urge to micromanage app lifespans. As evidenced by the majority of comments on Microsoft's uservoice site, this feature is really about dealing with a horrid UI design flaw in IE. After having browsed the web, closing IE can require half a gazillion interactions with the physical back button. It's awful. But I ask you this. Is there not something fundamentally fishy about adding features to the OS, in an attempt to correct a design flaw in mobile IE? Even worse, might that not also encourage others to develop apps with the same horrid design flaw (huge backstacks)?

3)
There are better alternatives:

• What about adding an "exit" entry to IE's app menu?
• What about having IE recognize a gesture to instantly exit it?
• Why not separate the concepts of web-page-navigation and WP-task-navigation by adding a "backward navigation" button to the app bar, and let a single tap of the physical back button instantly return us to wherever we were before having entered IE?

I would prefer the last solution, but I think any of those suggestions makes more sense than the "X' to close apps" feature, as it solves the problem at its source, in IE.

Note: I would also move the address bar to the top of the screen (have it drop down just like the status bar on the start screen), to make room for 'backward navigation', 'forward navigation', 'tabs' and 'favourites' buttons on the bottom app bar, but that is an entirely separate issue.

4)
The back button typically returns us to the previous page or app. This navigational technique often breaks down when using mobile IE, due to the need to spam the back button. If our goal is nothing more than to return to previous app, then the "X' to close apps" feature can only be thought of as a very cumbersome workaround (at best). Calling up the task switcher (tap & hold), finding IE in the task list (potentially multiple swipes), closing IE (tap), finding the previous app in the task list (more swipes) and resuming it (tap) is quite a few steps. That is much worse then the solution I suggested in (3) which would require nothing but a single short tap of the back button. IMHO that is a more natural fit and closer to the spirit of WP than the "X' to close app" feature.


I don't know. Maybe you wouldn't mind taking this to Microsoft at MWC instead of the "X' to close app" feature suggestion. What do you think?

Your turn What do you want in Windows Phone 8 right now?

I would refer you to AngryNil's excellent compilation of WP's greatest omissions, or as he calls it "[REF] Possible OS Improvements"

 

[MSFTisMIA]

It would be nice that when you click on "Store" while in the Music Hub it opens to the "Music" section of the Store and not the default Store home page. I mean, when you're in the Games Hub and click on Store it opens right to the Games section. Fair is far, no?

Also, how about from the home screen a swipe to the left brings up the notification center? When kids mode is active, make notification center password protected? That way you can still see the stuff on lockscreen and the kid's swiping around doesn't remove an important notification.

 

[iamtim]

Can somebody explain the need for VPN on mobile devices as simple as possible?

I work in an IT department. We use Spiceworks for tracking inventory and support requests. Spiceworks runs on our internal network and does not have an external presence. With a VPN connection to my corporate network, I can bring up Spiceworks to address tickets if I'm not in the office (or on my computer at home), which is necessary sometimes.

My iPhone 4S allows for VPN connections, so I have to carry it as my main phone (there's also a Spiceworks app for iOS so I don't have to use a browser, but that's a minor, minor point). My Lumia 820 does not allow for VPN connections, so I can't use it as my main phone.