What Should Windows Phone do with the Leftside Pane of the Start Screen

Llordy

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How can the left pane of the Start Screen be used in Windows Phone?
8_1.jpg

This is a great question regarding the customizability that the OS can potentially offer.


In my opinion, I like the aesthetic design of the OS very much, but I also feel that manufactures may be holding back from jumping unto the Windows Phone bandwagon because they cannot differentiate themselves visually as they can on Android. This seems true to a degree as consumers mostly recognize the experience of respective manufacturers in a visual sense, such as TouchWiz on Samsung devices, Sense on HTC, et cetera.

I would like to think that Windows Phone could offer a compromise here by allowing OEMs to make a custom and unique experience for their consumers in a UI which they can overlay in the leftward side of the Start Screen (i.e. swiping to the left of the Start Screen rather than the right which is current the apps list)

7_Windows-Phone-9-Concept-Features-Transparent-Tiles-431433-3.jpg

That way its more like how PCs and Windows Mobile were differentiated from OEM to OEM.

6_HTCTouchFLO3D21.png 5_windows-mobile-6-5.jpg

How do you all feel about potentially having this sort of customizability? (It might even be open to developers)
6_windows_phone_ui_concept_by_sharkurban-d5jbavj.jpg 7_all.jpg

***Please note that we're not talking about how this will impact the performance of Windows Phone. Just think of it as an ideal, that Microsoft could somehow improve the performance than even on Windows Phone 8***
Be sure to leave a comment sharing your ideas, thoughts and dislikes.
 
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itshimanshu

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I agree with you and your suggestion is awesome but these things will reduce the performance of wp( most probably in low memory devices).
Even with wp8.1 update,performance is not that great that was with wp8.Microsoft want to keep their OS simple.not like Android.
Your concept is making the OS just like android and hopefully it will make the OS buggy.
 

Llordy

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I agree with your point, I think it may hamper the performance for low end devices. But speaking idealistically, I can see the performance of the OS improving with the next version of Windows Phone. Performance now is mostly slow because Microsoft squeezed WinRT into the OS for compatibility with Windows 8.1 and universal apps.
My intention is not to make Windows Phone "like android", but simply a way to attract OEM's to the platform, as well as consumers by offering a means of customization apart from every other Windows Phone, without changing the overall consistency, and fluency of the platform.
 

Llordy

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I agree with you and your suggestion is awesome but these things will reduce the performance of wp( most probably in low memory devices).
Even with wp8.1 update,performance is not that great that was with wp8.Microsoft want to keep their OS simple.not like Android.
Your concept is making the OS just like android and hopefully it will make the OS buggy.

OEM's don't want to have what everyone else has, other wise consumers have no reason to pick their products over the other. That is why Nokia differentiated themselves by offering unique apps and exclusive features. I'm simply offering a way that devices can stand out visually. performance is treated as a separate issue, albeit its impact is duly noted.
 
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Llordy

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Interesting idea but I think you'd find that the first thing new owners would do is uninstall all of the fluff that OEM's add.

That's is why I have made this proposition. before consumers could just uninstall the NOKIA/HTC/Samsung apps for example, and it would just be a Windows Phone with the Microsoft services. Manufactures want to sell their services to the consumer as well as the product, this would be a great way for OEMs to supply their own unique products without harming the consistency, and fluency of the platform.
 

Trevor Wolfe

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They differentiate themselves through hardware and exclusive apps just like the desktop version of windows. We don't need some extra crap bogging down the phone.
 

Donny James

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This could be a place to put quick actions. Lots of times I'm in the middle of an app and I want to send a text. I don't know if here would be the best place for it though. Fast lane would cool though. And it should work since it works on other Nokia low end devices.

Maybe MS could give us the option to put an app we most use there like messaging or note taking. Like a quick app access option.
 

Llordy

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Microsoft should focus on the app ecosystem for OS .

The ecosystem is governed by simple, logical economics: supply and demand. Microsoft need to make the OS more attractive to the consumer, so that the demand for it products will increase, therein stimulating the interest of developers who are targeting those consumers.

Right now developers are hardly in some sort of "consortium", agreeing to develop bad apps for the OS. Rather the economics guides developers' actions. If you're making X amount of money from an app, you can spend Y amount of resources on that app's development. It is not likely that developers are going to spend more resources than they receive on an app and live happily ever after.

Microsoft has done a lot to stimulate the growth of the market, like how governments do, they subsidies app development, and inject money/resources into the system to increase spending on apps, and stimulate developer growth. But in the end The OS 'needs to be more attractive to consumers, so that in turn, there will be more consumers buying apps, and in turn, more developer interest to develop apps.

Furthermore, as a side note, developers make some poor apps (not all) because the tools and APIs that are available to Windows Phone are not as versatile relative to other Oses. iOS and Android have set a standard, and developers have gotten accustomed to making apps according to this standard. It is very difficult for Microsoft to come along "late to the party" and expect to set a new technical standard. Often times when developing for Windows Phone, the policies and available APIs of the OS do not allow developers to do the same things they do on Android and iOS, and they are forced to be making work-arounds, rather than optimising their apps (take the situation with VLC for Windows Phone for example).
If Microsoft pumped out a plethora of the necessary tools and APIs similar to that of the competing platforms it would greatly impact the app quality, and fluency in the store. Some may argue that this will just turn the OS into Android/iOS; I say, as the perpetual under-dog that Windows Phone is it can't afford to reinvent the wheel, it needs to catch-up and then refine it's experience in its own unique way.

In an analogy, iOS and Android are like Russian and the USA: both are super-powers with great experience, And then Microsoft is like North Korea, the metaphorical "new kid on the block" trying to bark out orders, begging people to take it seriously. Without great influence it is futile to try to set a new standard when no one is obligated to do so, and when they were doing fine without doing so in the first place. Windows Phone fans, its sad to admit it but we are the minority here, and we can't afford to have our cake and eat it too.
 
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Scouseman

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I personally can't think of anything to do with the leftside pane. That's one thing I found annoying on Android, the endless sideways scrolling and lack of organization. All I need is the home screen and my app list, and you can always pin apps to your start screen.
 

colinkiama

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I think it should be used as a desktop(not like on the pc obviously) basically it's a grid of icons like android and iOS but it's accesible on the left. There should also be a way to set this view by default so people used to iOS and android can use this and people who wanna be different can use the live tiles. That's what windows 9 is all about. Giving the customer choice.
 
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Llordy

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They differentiate themselves through hardware and exclusive apps just like the desktop version of windows. We don't need some extra crap bogging down the phone.

This is very true. we don't need anything right now that can "bog down" the operation of Windows Phone right now. That is why I have labelled this is an ideal rather than a demanded feature. My suggestion is one of differentiation that is visual on the OS level itself, similarly how people can tell what kind of phone they're using just by how it looks as they use it, eg. Sony, Samsung, LG, Hwawei, BLU, etc. Nokia has become synonymous with Windows Phone, and in a way has become Windows Phone.

All I'm offering is option and choice, just like when some people wanted the option to get an extra column of tiles of tiles whiles others didn't. choice allows different people to get want they want out of the same thing. We as Windows users can have the arrogance of Apple: no compromises, and then later shamefully be forced to conform to what everyone else is doing .
 

Llordy

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I personally can't think of anything to do with the leftside pane. That's one thing I found annoying on Android, the endless sideways scrolling and lack of organization. All I need is the home screen and my app list, and you can always pin apps to your start screen.

I hated that about Android too, that's why I removed all those useless homescreens and widgets and kept about two homescreens with my most used apps, and useful widgets.

What I like about Windows Phone is that Microsoft gives me what I need, listens to what else I need to be productive, all without dumping (*cough* Samsung *cough*) useless features that are not going to help me in the long run, but will just slow me down in the mean while; similar to US nuclear weapon practices: "Don't need it, or want to use it, but spends billions to keep more than even necessary, on the rare chance that I need to use it".
 

WanderingTraveler

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You're telling me that after all this time, you'd want a better N9 with a newer OS?
Why didn't you say so earlier?

Nah, just kidding, but I could see a third screen being used for multitasking ala-MeeGo.
 

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