8.1 has stripped away features

[satycool]

Just downloaded 8.1 - and WTF! Its ruined some a key features that made W8 interesting and different, which have made W8 just a bland phone!!
1) Integration of groups/hubs on phone calls - GONE! So you now can't group family, friends, work..etc phone/addresses together!!!!!
2) Social updates on phone calls - GONE! You now have open each individual app as now!!!
3) Photos wallpaper background - GONE! This made W8 so elegant, now its just bland and boring!!!
4) Calendar though improved from previous , still has defaut ALL DAY, and annoyingly REMINDER is always on - this is annoying while slow tedious compared to CAL, Chronos Calendar, Simple Calendar; due to having manually change it every time - esp when you only have a 2hr appointment to put in don't want an alarm reminder. The tile is still useless and bland never showing anything more then 24hrs ahead.
5) Why the hell have they taken away HUBS!!!!

The only real difference in notification and even that seems miles behind iOS and Androids! It seems 8.1 has stripped out rather then added!!!

 

[wpgeek820]

From this update one thing is for sure. Most of the changes were user requested and that's what MS has given us; majority wins. If they feel they've made a mistake they will surely revert things back. And the OS is new compared to Android and IOS. We all know how the notification center in Android/IOS was when it first came out.

Just wait for future builds, the OS will catch up and keep everyone happy. Patience is the key. Keep the bad things aside for a while and see all the goodies that came with WP8.1

 

[wprocks]

Groups an rooms is still there. Am i missing something? Pictures wallpaper is gone but I am okay with it since sorting photos with date and location is much better.
People hub still has social updates. You need to open an individual app for an action on that update. I prefer this because this will make updates to app faster.

Sent from my Lumia 1520 using Tapatalk

 

[undisputed n00b]

Groups an rooms is still there. Am i missing something? Pictures wallpaper is gone but I am okay with it since sorting photos with date and location is much better.
People hub still has social updates. You need to open an individual app for an action on that update. I prefer this because this will make updates to app faster.

Sent from my Lumia 1520 using Tapatalk

The panoramic hubs are part of WP. It made it unique and beautiful and stand out from iOS and android. The people hub has been destroyed. Why did they remove recent contacts? That is extremely stupid. Microsoft souls fire who ever made these decisions. 8.1 is 10 steps forward and 50 steps backwards.

 

[SteggyDad]

I busted noticed this morning when I went to share a WP Central article I couldn't share to Twitter anymore

 

[wrm1]

I am loving many things about this update however, I miss the old cursor, the ability to change my Facebook profile picture from the Me tile, the ability to post to Twitter and Facebook simultaneously, and let's not forget the real games hub.

 

[sundawg#WP]

Not being able to move the cursor around is a bigger pain than I thought it would be. It's nearly impossible to get the cursor in the middle of a word.

 

[Maonsie]

These hubs have been removed in favour of moving the OS forward. Waiting for Microsoft and the WP team to do major core updates is not feasible. Social apps we use change over time. And now, all social apps can integrate themselves into the people app. As well as have further Cortana integration in the future.

These social apps also can now integrate into the photo app. Though I do miss OneDrive being a part of it, this approach does make sense in the long term.

Music and video being separated into Xbox apps that will receive far more support and most likely start integrating further with Windows 8 Xbox video and music apps.

Xbox games being a solitary app purely to manage Xbox profile. Would be nice to see it rebranded simply as 'Xbox' and have local SmartGlass built in.

These changes due depart from the norm, WP7 was built upon the hubs. But I'm happy with the move forward.

 

[Chris_Germany]

The cursor is still working, don't understand your problems. We should be able to uninstall xbox crap....and the ms maps, I use here maps, don't need another

- Tapatalk -

 

[Sheamartin]

My Bluetooth had static prior to the 8.1. It went away for a few calls and now it's back. Didn't have that problem with the 928, but do with the Icon. I've done the unpair, re-pair, soft restart. Anyone else having that problem?

 

[ksj1]

I can move the cursor about with my Nokia 1020 just fine, though it is different than before. Touch the cursor, hold and move it where you would like. It doesn't pop out like it did, but it moves just fine.

 

[WhyFiNYC]

Not being able to move the cursor around is a bigger pain than I thought it would be. It's nearly impossible to get the cursor in the middle of a word.

You move the cursor around by the little dot at the bottom of the cursor - it just doesn't pop in to existence and follow your finger around in the same way that it used to.

 

[KrisJoeEll]

Feature suggestions to:

Get back the old photos hub with beautiful backgrounds.
Do not change Photos Hub style in Windows Phone 8.1 – Feature Suggestions for Windows Phone

Remove games from the apps list.
Remove games from the apps list – Feature Suggestions for Windows Phone

Vote and spread the word if you are interested.

 

[LillWicke]

Just downloaded 8.1 - and WTF! Its ruined some a key features that made W8 interesting and different, which have made W8 just a bland phone!!
1) Integration of groups/hubs on phone calls - GONE! So you now can't group family, friends, work..etc phone/addresses together!!!!!
2) Social updates on phone calls - GONE! You now have open each individual app as now!!!
3) Photos wallpaper background - GONE! This made W8 so elegant, now its just bland and boring!!!
4) Calendar though improved from previous , still has defaut ALL DAY, and annoyingly REMINDER is always on - this is annoying while slow tedious compared to CAL, Chronos Calendar, Simple Calendar; due to having manually change it every time - esp when you only have a 2hr appointment to put in don't want an alarm reminder. The tile is still useless and bland never showing anything more then 24hrs ahead.
5) Why the hell have they taken away HUBS!!!!

The only real difference in notification and even that seems miles behind iOS and Androids! It seems 8.1 has stripped out rather then added!!!

The things you mention is not an OS thing, nothing has been stripped.
The things you mention are related to the uppdating of the "system" apps.
DP8.1 is a core uppdate which means that everything is there for devs to access, so they can test and verifiy the funktions of their apps. WP8.1 is more module built than before and all the "system" apps like E11, emali, xbox-game-musik-video, calendar, and so on, can be uppdatet separately without the need for the OS to be updated.
For a fully user experience to be there even all the system apps must be uppdated and that is what is going to happen till the release of the user version of WP8.1.

:smile:

 

[SteggyDad]

Not being able to post to more than one social site at once is a pain. MS thought removing this was a good thing?

 

[EpicIncognitO]

Have to say I somewhat agree.

1. I really miss the ME tile as the facebook app is damn slow, I rarely open it, now I have no way to get access to notifications fast. I could also change my profile picture via that , so yet again a great feature gone. ( I have the ME tile right now but I am sure after a hard reset it will be gone as features are missing).
2. The games pinned in the app list just pisses me off.
3. I am not sure that I should do with the file picker, it just does one thing move to phone memory or vice versa. Microsoft when are you gonna give us options to move to other folders or rename?
4. The photos hub background, yes I do miss it. But I can live without it.
5. The main confusion here is do I now want transparent tiles or flipping ones?

 

[Jazmac]

I'll be ok. Hang in there op.

 

[meddyrainzo]

The panoramic hubs are part of WP. It made it unique and beautiful and stand out from iOS and android. The people hub has been destroyed. Why did they remove recent contacts? That is extremely stupid. Microsoft souls fire who ever made these decisions. 8.1 is 10 steps forward and 50 steps backwards.

With all the things WP8.1 has added, you call it 50 step backwards because you don't have pictures at the background of your picture hub?
It made WP unique, yes, but that isn't a key feature.
So from your "50 steps backwards" statement, youre implying that its better to have:
-A phone that has fb integrated...a very very downgraded version of fb that can never be upgraded(unless you have an entire OS update)...the Windows me version of fb than a phone that allows not just fb and twitter, but other 3rd party apps to group themselves and all your contacts into one hub for easy access?
-A phone that cant even group calls properly (if a friend calls you 3 times, his name shows up 3 times on your phone app) than one that groups calls, has a speed dial function and has a "change to Skype" function.
-A phone that has a voice assistant that can hardly do anything than one that can even recognize when youre at home, one that can remind you to tell your friend something when next the friend calls..?
-A phone that has very limited customization to the startscreen to one that can let you use any picture you want on your startscreen
-A phone that has IE10 over one that has IE11(in private browsing, IE11 desktop sync(one of my favorite features), unlimited tabs, reading mode)
-A phone that has the music and video hub baked in the OS so its impossible to update it until the ENTIRE OS gets updated over a phone that has its music, video and games hub updated periodically whenever bugs and complaints are found
-a phone that has picture at the background of your picture hub(yay) but has no area for finding missed notifications over a phone that has your notifications arranged in one place where you can get it with a single swipe? (Yes, you will say there are live tiles. So anytime I forget my phone, I have to manually scroll down my entire startscreen, open up every app that shows a notification count and manually check all the notifications....you can see where the notification center comes in handy)

I can go on and on.

 

[MFROG5]

I think the "post simultaneously" will return. I think that when the apps are updated to 8.1, they will be integrated with the feature. It seems that only Facebook is up to date with the other apps soon to follow. However, I'm saddened that the messaging app has been reduced to SMS-only texting.

EDIT: After playing around a bit more, simultaneous-posting is not currently enabled. I really, really hope this comes back! After all, it was showcased in the Windows Phone Challenge videos and was very useful. I also hate how when posting an update from the Me tile, the FB app has to open.

 

[MFROG5]

With all the things WP8.1 has added, you call it 50 step backwards because you don't have pictures at the background of your picture hub?
It made WP unique, yes, but that isn't a key feature.
So from your "50 steps backwards" statement, youre implying that its better to have:
-A phone that has fb integrated...a very very downgraded version of fb that can never be upgraded(unless you have an entire OS update)...the Windows me version of fb than a phone that allows not just fb and twitter, but other 3rd party apps to group themselves and all your contacts into one hub for easy access?
-A phone that cant even group calls properly (if a friend calls you 3 times, his name shows up 3 times on your phone app) than one that groups calls, has a speed dial function and has a "change to Skype" function.
-A phone that has a voice assistant that can hardly do anything than one that can even recognize when youre at home, one that can remind you to tell your friend something when next the friend calls..?
-A phone that has very limited customization to the startscreen to one that can let you use any picture you want on your startscreen
-A phone that has IE10 over one that has IE11(in private browsing, IE11 desktop sync(one of my favorite features), unlimited tabs, reading mode)
-A phone that has the music and video hub baked in the OS so its impossible to update it until the ENTIRE OS gets updated over a phone that has its music, video and games hub updated periodically whenever bugs and complaints are found
-a phone that has picture at the background of your picture hub(yay) but has no area for finding missed notifications over a phone that has your notifications arranged in one place where you can get it with a single swipe? (Yes, you will say there are live tiles. So anytime I forget my phone, I have to manually scroll down my entire startscreen, open up every app that shows a notification count and manually check all the notifications....you can see where the notification center comes in handy)

I can go on and on.

I think the main point is that what they've added is, for the most part, all positive. But it's the features they removed which are troublesome. Why should an update remove features that distinguished WP from its competitors? For instance, you can't simultaneously post to several social media apps at once (and without opening the apps). This was heavily showcased in their Windows Phone Challenge advertisements.

Yes, the FB integration was not full-fledged but it was never meant to replace an app. It was there to provide the social functionality immediately, albeit simpler. The concept of "hubs" is almost done away with (to many WP users' dismay).