let's talk about how intergration sucks in Windows Phone 8

[qudahamohammad]

call me shallow, call me stupid, tell me that I should've bought an iPhone, tell me that I belong to iMore. Here, I am just stating my opinion, not hating on WP8 (or WP7).

I bought my Lumia for the integration, it seemed like a "wow" killer feature for social addicts like me and I also bought mine for the offline GPS with HERE Maps but that's a different case.

So I unboxed my phone, ran the setup and everything was smooth. The first thing I did was obviously, running to my People hub to sync my Facebook and Twitter accounts. I told my sister to send a message on Facebook so I can test the messaging application with Facebook chat but I didn't get the message. weird, huh? I thought that I configured my Facebook in a wrong way so I ran to WPCentral to check for solutions for my problems and apparently everyone had it and some Windows Phone users told me to look for alternatives like ICQ and IM+. So what's the difference between my "high-end" Lumia 920 and my old E72 Symbian? I was frustrated from searching at alternatives in Symbian and now I'm looking for alternatives in Windows Phone? oh and, at least Symbian had an official application for Facebook. Not complaining but if one guy, Rudy Huyn, can make a fully-functional Instagram client in a month or two, why can't Microsoft make a fully-functional Facebook for Windows Phone in about the same time period? (I'm in poor need for notifications from the app not the Me tile.)

The frustration continues with Twitter in the people hub, you cannot favorite tweets (seriously?), it doesn't notify you about who retweeted or favorited your tweets, and there's no reply threads (you cannot see which tweet the person replied to). But we get a functional Twitter application made by Twitter, it's waaay better than the integrated one with lacks of some features such as deleting DMs and the real-time notification doesn't count, for ex. if you got 4 mentions on Twitter, it notifies you about the 4 mentions as soon as they arrive but the notification count is one. (and please, do not take the official Twitter application complaint as a complaint about Windows Phone. I know Windows Phone has nothing to do with that.)

and oh, one last thing. when will they update the Facebook logo in the People hub tile and e-mail + accounts in settings?

so for Microsoft: if you cannot fix your problems, do not advertise them to the people. I am very very very disappointed.

sorry for the text wall and my bad English.

 

[AngryNil]

Why are you under the impression that there is no Facebook app for Windows Phone?

 

[iamtim]

Basically, social integration allows you to integrate your Facebook/Twitter/whatever accounts into the People hub so you can see your contact's updates there. It is not a replacement for dedicated Facebook/Twitter/whatever apps which will of course have much more functionality (although, my understanding is that the corresponding WP8 apps kinda suck). Aside of the Facebook chat stuff (which, from what I understand, is buggy), the stuff you're asking for exceeds the scope of the People hub and its integration features.

I don't use dedicated apps, I find the integration to be perfect for me. But were I a social networking "power user" like you seem to be, yeah, I'd be frustrated too.

Have you tried the Facebook and Twitter apps? I know a lot of people here use both; the People hub for basic social networking stuff, the apps for the more advanced features.

 

[jmerrey]

I use the people hub and me tile for quick posts, views, check-ins, etc. These are not meant to replace the full featured apps. You might try using them in conjunction with each other. It's actually quite wonderful to go into the contact card of someone you follow on twitter and see all their posts, plus it's an easy way to mention someone. You can also create a group of contacts that might be related, pin that group to your start screen, and create a mini "app". For example, your favorite soccer team's players. Get creative!

If you need instant twitter notifications from an app, try Rowi. As far as needing notifications from the Facebook app, not the me tile, I'm not sure what the difference is, but I do know that Joe B tweeted that they were working hard on that part of the FB app.

 

[iamtim]

You can also create a group of contacts that might be related, pin that group to your start screen, and create a mini "app".

Which is actually a pretty cool feature. You know, for what it's worth.

 

[qudahamohammad]

here's my home screen guys. I use the applications. Facebook doesn't send notifications and Twitter's notification count is always stuck on one.

 

[Edward Woodward1]

View attachment 41060

here's my home screen guys. I use the applications. Facebook doesn't send notifications and Twitter's notification count is always stuck on one.

the facebook application is getting an update in coming weeks to fix the notifications, however, twitter tile count works perfectly fine for me, not sure why you get stuck on 1

 

[iamtim]

here's my home screen guys.

Nice. I've always wanted to try the white background, but I've heard it's a battery drain.

I don't know what to tell you about the Facebook and Twitter apps; like I said, I don't use them. I've read other people here having problems with the notifications, you might want to search around the forums a bit. You might also want to try other apps, too.

 

[Boris Lozac]

Nice. I've always wanted to try the white background, but I've heard it's a battery drain.

It is for Amoled screen, for LCD it should be no different then black.

 

[WanderingTraveler]

Nice. I've always wanted to try the white background, but I've heard it's a battery drain.

I don't know what to tell you about the Facebook and Twitter apps; like I said, I don't use them. I've read other people here having problems with the notifications, you might want to search around the forums a bit. You might also want to try other apps, too.

The white background is sort of a battery drain, unless you use Office and OneNote all the time.

As for the notifications, I've learned to just disable them and get done with it. Besides, while I often use Facebook, U rely on the web version to get things done.

 

[Fiona M]

question about integration: Will it drain my battery? I only use apps to access social media.

 

[Boris Lozac]

I've still not created that MY profile or whatever. Don't want people who play with my phone to so easily see tweets and stuff, see no point..

 

[iamtim]

Will it drain my battery?

For my part, I have seen NO battery issues with the built-in integration. When I was running an early beta of the Microsoft Facebook app, I did see some drain on the battery especially when uploading pictures. But I haven't seen that using just the integration.

 

[rockstarzzz]

Some excellent responses guys! OP, integration doesn't suck. Integration does what it is meant to do and how it is advertised - taken from Windows Phone Features (United States) - it is always how we interpret things wrongly and expect way too much that makes us unhappy.


[h=2]"All your people and all the ways you keep them close[/h][h=3]PEOPLE HUB[/h]Windows Phone is the only phone with a People Hub, where you’ll find your contacts, kick off conversations (phone, text, IM, email), check out your friends’ latest posts and photos, get to your Rooms and Groups, or even make a Skype call right from a contact card."

 

[qudahamohammad]

Some excellent responses guys! OP, integration doesn't suck. Integration does what it is meant to do and how it is advertised - taken from Windows Phone Features (United States) - it is always how we interpret things wrongly and expect way too much that makes us unhappy.


[h=2]"All your people and all the ways you keep them close[/h][h=3]PEOPLE HUB[/h]Windows Phone is the only phone with a People Hub, where you’ll find your contacts, kick off conversations (phone, text, IM, email), check out your friends’ latest posts and photos, get to your Rooms and Groups, or even make a Skype call right from a contact card."

ummm, yeah, but my point was that it's not often updated and some activity doesn't show in the feed.

IM doesn't work with me (and with a lot of people on WPCentral)
Not all activity shows, Foursquare check-in comments never show.

And the whole advertisement is shortened, you can do plenty of things on People hub like changing the profile picture on Outlook/Facebook, checking in and posting and more, I guess?!

 

[lonbraj]

OP is right. Integration in WP sucks badly and I shouldn't even exist w/o an API that allows developers to integrate their apps. Even MSFT doesn't have those APIs apparently.

Social apps upgrade really fast and relaying in a integrated solution will only slow them. Think about it, Facebook chances their apps and webpage frequently and MSFT can't keep the pace because it requires them to update the entire system.

Other problem is that MSFT doesn't have access to full Facebook APIs, so they are very limited. The same might be true to Twitter and their token system.

Integration is slowing Windows Phone.

 

[kamikaze80]

OP is right that messaging is an issue in WP8. missing notifications for FB chat is a common issue. gmail chat is not baked in at all (nor is there a good app for it). and out of all the popular multi-platform msging apps, whatsapp is the only one that works.

 

[spazzmeister]

You mentioned the solution yourself, if you're a networking power user change the OS. Otherwise your in for a bumpy ride.

 

[rockstarzzz]

ummm, yeah, but my point was that it's not often updated and some activity doesn't show in the feed.

IM doesn't work with me (and with a lot of people on WPCentral)
Not all activity shows, Foursquare check-in comments never show.

And the whole advertisement is shortened, you can do plenty of things on People hub like changing the profile picture on Outlook/Facebook, checking in and posting and more, I guess?!

People Hub isn't supposed to update in background. It is your phonebook. Your phone book is updated everytime you open it. Other wise People Hub has no point updating in background. It brings ALL posts and updates from everyone in your network. I have filtered about 70% of my Facebook contacts yet WP will push their feed as well like I said, ALL posts. Foursquare isn't integrated into the phone as far as I am aware. So am not sure why would you expect any Foursquare comments in your phone. IM yes it has been patchy for most of us and the reason being the current set up is such that BOTH users must be online. On other platforms the chat app allows offline messaging too. So if you or your friend had patchy 3G the chat will still push. However, not on WP. However, you can still send your message to your friend even if you are offline or they are offline. Only thing that's not happening here is their reply coming to your phone if you are offline or if they are offline.

OP is right that messaging is an issue in WP8. missing notifications for FB chat is a common issue. gmail chat is not baked in at all (nor is there a good app for it). and out of all the popular multi-platform msging apps, whatsapp is the only one that works.

GChat will NEVER be integrated in WP. If you want a Google experience you need to buy Android - that's how Google rolls. With upcoming roll out where Skype gets integrated into the OS, I really doubt we will need anything else on phone to communicate.

 

[jmerrey]

OP is right that messaging is an issue in WP8. missing notifications for FB chat is a common issue. gmail chat is not baked in at all (nor is there a good app for it). and out of all the popular multi-platform msging apps, whatsapp is the only one that works.

I've been using the paid version of IM+ for over a year. It works perfectly for me.