Here's how I think the SMS tile should be

[ListenUpGuys]

Here's how I think the SMS tile should be:



Note how more of the message is displayed. In this case all of the message is displayed and so the tile has popped up a tick button so that I don't have to open the messaging hub and close it again.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

I do like this. What about giving the option where you can simply display names of the last people you get a text from in the wide tile, and a counter by the name of there is a new message?

 

[ListenUpGuys]

I do like this. What about giving the option where you can simply display names of the last people you get a text from in the wide tile, and a counter by the name of there is a new message?

Thanks. That's a good idea too. A different tile though

I'm gonna add in a "reply" button as well. That would save three taps per reply.

 

[ListenUpGuys]

Now we're cooking with gas

My philosophy generally with these live tiles is that they should really serve as your portal to your information - rather than that just being a marketing gimmick as I think they are currently.
For example I'd like a news tile with a "next >|" button so that I can actually flick through a couple of headlines without opening an app, or waiting for the tile to flip on its own.

I'd quite like a clock tile for another time zone too. It doesn't seem like that's asking a lot.

And why not let a GPS app show my actual co-ordinates on a live tile - "live" as I'm walking. If the app is tracking my walk anyway, how much extra power can it need to update when the screen is on? And then how about an icon on that tile to start and stop tracking?

I don't mean that to sound like a rant. I just think Microsoft are doing it wrong.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

I wonder if there is an improved SMS app in the store. Perhaps someone could build one just in case MSFT doesn't make changes to the default app during the coming updates...

 

[Sekyal]

I'm new to WP and the SMS is week, pretty plain in fact. None of the other SMS apps I saw in the store seemed any better (all white and I like the darker background). I just wish there were options, but it gets the job done in its current form.

 

[manicottiK]

My philosophy generally with these live tiles is that they should really serve as your portal to your information...

And that's Microsoft's philosophy, too. The live tile provides a place for the app to communicate some data to you and acts as a portal to get into the app.

For example I'd like a news tile with a "next >|" button...
And...a GPS app show my actual co-ordinates on a live tile - "live" as I'm walking.

What you're describing is called Android. Those two examples and the SMS tile above that contains not just a longer message, but also two buttons are examples of widgets. So, what you want is possible, but not on Windows Phone. And it doesn't look like Microsoft wants to head in the direction that you seem to want.

Microsoft has been fairly consistent that they are walking a path between Apple's restrictive world (static square icons with an optional count, semi-multitasking, etc) and Google's unrestrained one (widgets or any size/shape, free-wheeling multi-tasking, etc). Windows Phone wrests control from developers and gives it to users (developers can't change volume because users do that; developers can't initiate a phone call without user permission every time; etc). Windows Phone provides users with a security model that's centered around apps being isolated from one another and from being able to change system settings themselves.

(As a developer, this annoys me a bit because I can think of ways that MS could let my apps have more control without letting me do anything, but I also can understand their concern that users would not understand the finer points and risks that might come with granting an app certain permissions.)

So, if the "free-er, but not free" model isn't what you want, it may be time to rethink the choice of Windows Phone. I am not trying to chase you away (WP needs as many customers as it can get), but Microsoft's Windows Phone philosophy doesn't seem to be changing in substantive ways. Individual details are evolving, but the big picture of a user-centered and secure mobile operating system seems pretty fixed.