for the love of.....volume

[failmatic]

I think you miss the point of the UI there. There is a pic of a phone on the tile and the name of the carrier. That itself differentiate the phone dialer from the other tiles. It also shows missed calls. It looks streamline with the rest of the ui, I dont know what more you want from it. IOS has an that looks like a phone, Android too. So does WP as stated above.

Back to topic. Yes WP needs to differentiated volume for media, alert, and notifications. All phones should come standard with that. I agree WP7 isnt doing itself any favors by not having it.

 

[jdd77]

What I mean by the UI demanding involvement is that you wouldn't have much of anything unless you pin things to the homescreen. You don't have a wallpaper or any phone-dedicated core functions. In fact, if you unpin everything..you don't even have a home screen! And I know, your gonna ask why would I wanna do that? but it's just a point Im trying to make.

 

[speedtouch]

Must say I love wp7. I do however have a huge gripe. How in the **** is there not task specific volume settings? 1 volume setting for everything is super weak. How does something this simple continue to be overlooked?

I agree completely. It's so annoying when I have to set my ringer on high to hear it across my home, then when I want to play music through headphones I have to reduce the volume, then when I want to make a call I have to increase the volume a little, and then when I stop using the phone I have to yet again increase the volume to hear the ringer. The volume control scheme on WP7 is atrocious.

 

[oldpueblo]

Sure it'd be nice to have separate volume controls. Do I think it's a pain to raise and lower the volume all the time? No it's actually incredibly simple to do. Pick your battles, for me this one is WAAYYYY low on the list of things I'd like to see.

 

[jdd77]

Sure it'd be nice to have separate volume controls. Do I think it's a pain to raise and lower the volume all the time? No it's actually incredibly simple to do. Pick your battles, for me this one is WAAYYYY low on the list of things I'd like to see.

To some people, media and facebook integration is very high on the priority list... To others, its basic phone functions. On wp7, its easier to check to see if someone likes your facebook status than it is to set the phone to silence & vibrate. I for one would definitely like to see better phone functionality..

 

[oldpueblo]

MS isn't dumb (mostly), there's a reason they didn't just make it "really easy" to toggle a hundred features. One of the things I love about metro is how big the options/buttons are, how easy to hit them it is without having to squint at your phone and be totally precise. Think of the people with hotdog fingers. Where would they put these audio options to toggle off and on? Expand the drop down menu up top so that it covers half the screen? Have more than one icon on it so that people can complain it's too easy to hit silent instead of vibrate and vice versa? They wanted a minimalist design and personally I like it. Believe it or not I bet most people don't switch back and forth between on, vibrate, and silent several hours a day. They put the most common things on the surface, and put the other options beneath. If you can find a way for them to add that functionality in without ending up with buttons and toggles everywhere, then by all means share it with them. I bet they add it if it's a good enough balance. But no I don't want flips and switches and toggles everywhere like in Android, so that I have to be careful where I mash my finger when I'm swiftly navigating the UI.

 

[jdd77]

MS isn't dumb (mostly), there's a reason they didn't just make it "really easy"

Whatever their reasons..I still think a phone is a phone and a basic function like adjusting volume controls should be one of the easiest things to do.

 

[pwaikon]

I agree completely. It's so annoying when I have to set my ringer on high to hear it across my home, then when I want to play music through headphones I have to reduce the volume, then when I want to make a call I have to increase the volume a little, and then when I stop using the phone I have to yet again increase the volume to hear the ringer. The volume control scheme on WP7 is atrocious.

Totally agree! I switched to Lumia from iPhone 4 and it had it's own specific volume setting for ringtone that I could set the volume on a level that I wanted without having to toggle the volumebuttons up and down CONSTANTLY I remember when I got my iP4 back in 2010 the software only had "toggle the volume from the buttons" but after awhile APPLE*GAVE*THE*BETTER*OPTION*TOO! Now iPhone's have two options for ringtone volume (toggle or set level) while Windows Phone with it's modern Mango OS only have one (toggle) which SUCKS btw. Just last week I missed two calls 'cos I had forgotten my Lumia on a low volume level and I didn't hear the phone ring. Luckily they weren't important calls...

The reality is that every day more than once I have to adjust the volume and I have never played with the volume buttons this much with any of my previous phones, its getting really frustrating! I'm praying that Microsoft comes to its senses soon and gives us more options to control the ringtone volume. If they don't I'm afraid that the Nokia Lumia 800 will be my first and last Windows Phone

/Rant over

*sorry, just had to rant :blush:*

 

[TheWeeBear]

Welcome along to WPCentral pwaikon, you just can't beat a good rant.

Hopefully if you stay around until we get some updates, you'll have less to rant about.

Here's hoping anyway.

Windows Phone has so much going for it, but does have a few annoyances as you have discovered.

Hope they don't put you off too much.

 

[pwaikon]

Click to view quoted image

Welcome along to WPCentral pwaikon, you just can't beat a good rant.

Hopefully if you stay around until we get some updates, you'll have less to rant about.

Here's hoping anyway.

Windows Phone has so much going for it, but does have a few annoyances as you have discovered.

Hope they don't put you off too much.

Thank you for the Welcome :happy:

When I got my Lumia and discovered this "flaw" I thought to myself: "Am I the only one who finds this stupid?!?" and 'cos I'm by now used to the set-the ringtone-volume-to-a-spesific-level-and-it-stays-there-no-matter-how-much-I-toggle-the-volume-buttons, I cannot make myself accepting WP's way of doing it and say "it doesn't matter" 'cos it does SO*MUCH!

So yeah, that's my biggest gripe about WP7, other than that I find it quite great despite it's few annoyances like you said*and oh yeah, I'm gonna stick around . I'm sure I'm in love with WP7 after it gets some much needed updates

 

[TheWeeBear]

That's the main thing, that you like Windows Phone pwaikon. As I said it has many little annoyances, some users have no patience at all and want it fixed yesterday, but I'm sure we will all be a little happier as updates come in the near future.

Glad you're going to stick around too.

 

[anodynamic]

Now that I've spotted this thread I guess I'll have to add separate headset and speaker volumes to the list. With my Radar I have to push the volume to well above 20 when using the headset, and while playing games with the external speaker I sometimes feel that even 1 can be seem too loud at times.

I think MSFT could give users access to setting of this sort with something like a TweakUI app for WP. That was a great way of giving power users a handy way to fiddle with things in Windows.

 

[ubizmo]

This is an area where WP could learn from BB. It's not a frill. People have specific reasons for wanting various combinations of volume levels.

A smartphone interacts with a human being in certain key ways. You look at it with your eyes, listen to it with your ears, enter text and make it do things with your fingers (and voice). These are core aspects of the user experience. For this reason, it's important to give the users as many options as possible, to tailor the experience to their needs and preferences.

My BB lets me set all kinds of different volume levels for different things, and to create different combinations of settings and assign them to named profiles. I can set the volume in the media player independently of these other settings, and the BB remembers it from one playing session to the next. So I can have a loud alert for text messages, which typically need quick attention, and a much gentler alert for calendar reminders. I have no alert for emails. But there's a "Phone only" profile, and a "Loud" profile where all alerts are cranked up, but none of these profiles affect the media player...nor should they.

I know that MS wants to keep WP as lean as possible, and to resist "feature creep"--at least, I think they do. But this sort of thing is fairly basic, and makes a large difference to the user experience.

The same goes for being able to customize the way text is displayed.

 

[mdameron]

I personally would hate to be toggling different volumes based on whatever app I was in. Needlessly complex.

3 months now with my WP7, I love having just one volume. Actually, I wish I could turn up the keyboard noise. Love that sound.

Also, alarms are always the same volume, even if the ringer is off.

 

[mb-dape]

MS isn't dumb (mostly), there's a reason they didn't just make it "really easy" to toggle a hundred features.

It doesnt has to be really easy. But it has (in my opinion) to be possible. Like a tab named "Advanced" when you go into settings. Or a small button named the same in different sections in the phone where some other options or customization is needed. It wouldnt take up space and it wouldnt be hard for us over 14 years to use it.

Or why didnt the seller tell me I bought at phone aimed at kids and people with hot dog fingers and IQ 50 that doesnt understand the word "Advanced".

 

[mb-dape]

That's the main thing, that you like Windows Phone pwaikon. As I said it has many little annoyances, some users have no patience at all and want it fixed yesterday, but I'm sure we will all be a little happier as updates come in the near future.

Glad you're going to stick around too.

No, it hasnt had to be fixed yesterday, but preferably the same day as I bought what I thought was a competent smartphone, and started to use it at home and in work. I didnt pay for a HTC Titan to be a beta tester.

No offence though, thanks for your help.

 

[mb-dape]

I personally would hate to be toggling different volumes based on whatever app I was in. Needlessly complex.

3 months now with my WP7, I love having just one volume. Actually, I wish I could turn up the keyboard noise. Love that sound.

Also, alarms are always the same volume, even if the ringer is off.

How do you do that since the phone does not normalize the volume? In some apps or games even 1 of 30 is too loud, while in a call I prefer having 30 of 30 to get good sound. I play music at about 15 of 30, etc. I gets annoying since smartphones I have used has got independent volumes for years.

 

[mdameron]

How do you do that since the phone does not normalize the volume? In some apps or games even 1 of 30 is too loud, while in a call I prefer having 30 of 30 to get good sound. I play music at about 15 of 30, etc. I gets annoying since smartphones I have used has got independent volumes for years.

*In a call*, there is only volume 0-10, and it remembers it from call to call. Same thing on a speakerphone. Speakerphone volume is remembered from speakerphone session to speakerphone session. Whatever volume you set while in a call does not affect outside of a call.

*Outside* of a call, the 0-30 scale works for everything else. Music fades away when the phone rings. I'm not sure what the big deal is.

 

[oldpueblo]

Truth is the reason I'm not bothered by it is probably because on my Android device I did have the "thought sounds were off but turns out only one was turned down" thing happen several times. And I interrupted some important meetings/quiet times because of it. That's a potential upside, when it's down you KNOW your phone won't make noise. You don't have to check multiple volumes.

 

[ubizmo]

*Outside* of a call, the 0-30 scale works for everything else. Music fades away when the phone rings. I'm not sure what the big deal is.

And if I don't want my email notification to be as loud as my podcast or my SMS alert, I'm out of luck.

Simplicity is being able to set these things the way you want them once, and then forget about them.

If they don't want to build it into the OS, they should let developers have access to these settings, so they could create a Sound Profiles app.