Future of windows phone

[Laura Knotek]

I had a bigger issue with them not being interactive. They are actually quite dumb. They don't show relevant data much. And when you tap a Live Tile to open the app, they do just that; open the app. They should open the app directly to what is showing on the tile.

I guess I was spoiled by Android widgets.

I agree. More often than not, Live Tiles were dead and failed to update. I don't have that problem with Android widgets.

 

[TechFreak1]

I think that material design icons of newer Android versions look great. They add some depth to the icons and make them easy to find. Tiles are like looking at an advertisement page in a newspaper. I find it hard to find things sometimes and am forced to turn off live tiles and try to keep things monotone. And when you keep things monotone you are simply seeing white icons with white text. Why do you think people love the transparency feature on the windows phones? It adds a bit of depth to the flat design. Tiles could be made better and have a lot of room for customization from icon sets to even different shaped tiles. Ms could create something that allows real themes to be applied with one click from the store. And there could be paid licensed themes and user themes.

See the problem is that windows actually has an amazing notification center it makes live tiles completely useless. I pull down the action center and have all my information nicely categorized by app. Widgets aren't even that popular in android and my own anectodal experience is that people on ios that i know don't care for them. Again this is my own experience. Just like you have your own views on tiles.

I remember tiles very well from those days of free AOL discs.

View attachment 138625

I remember the AOL disks... used to get a stack of them every single week along with freeserve and compuserve cds. At one point they even shipped out floppy disks... :grin:.

The reason why we are having this debate about live tiles stems from the fact live tiles along with iconography have not evolved much since Wp7. Other than addition of a tile size, the move of the arrow from the side of the screen to the bottom of the screen, tile transparency and tile folders in terms of start screen changes.

The material design of Android is whether you like or not is based on similiar design concepts of the Metro design language, bar the use of tiles.

Tiles do have some customisable options albeit added a little late they are still there, however one option that would have gone a long away is giving the user choice in pinning a transparent tile or not as opposed to leaving it upto developers.

In regards to shapes, there were different shapes in the early preview builds but they were removed unfortunately.

The icon sets, true that would have given alot more customisability and user freedom. Microsoft at that time was very stringent on having base experience across the board hence why some WM6.x phones couldn't update to Wp7 - the reason why they didn't have the three dedicated buttons thus there would be no base line experience across the board. However they over reacted and lapsed the restrictions too much hence why OEM's just chucked out phones with nonsenical buttons or using the same buttons as on their android phones.

In regards to tile placement, if you find information hard to find then you have the option to pin less tiles or use large tiles and increase the display scaling should wish. Or have no tiles at all and just have app list and the notification centre. No one is making anyone to pin apps on the start screen, it's your phone, customise it how you want.

Lastly that AOL image, I see what you're doing lol - you are using base iconography to shape your argument whilst ignoring key multiple facts - some of which have been outlined above.

However when discussing design, you need to understand your own bias otherwise any design discussion based on biased principles will have fundamental flaws.

I have one question for you, have you used windows phone 24/7 as a sole device for work - writing contracts, conducting financial transactions and personal usage - listening to music, social apps etc?

 

[kbagrows]

I'm beginning to think Android with the Windows launcher is currently my best bet.

That's what I use (also moved on from my 950XL) and it really works well. Take your time with your search.... I am using a LG V20, and the camera is not as good as the XL. IMO, that is the only downgrade. I really love the MS Launcher!

 

[anon(50597)]

That's what I use (also moved on from my 950XL) and it really works well. Take your time with your search.... I am using a LG V20, and the camera is not as good as the XL. IMO, that is the only downgrade. I really love the MS Launcher!

Seems like a lot of people have moved to this and enjoy the experience.

 

[ManofGod1000]

Seems like a lot of people have moved to this and enjoy the experience.

I personally cannot stand adding a launcher on top of another launcher. It just slows the phone down and forces you to do things a specific way. (At least that was my experience.) It took me months to finally settle on a setup that would work for my on my Android phone and I have not bothered with trying other launchers since.

Single page of icons, reddit's and scripture of the day. Calendar to the left, email to the right and that is it. If I need anything else, swipe up to go to the all apps list and open what I need, which is rare and why I put my most used stuff on a single page.

 

[anon(50597)]

I personally cannot stand adding a launcher on top of another launcher. It just slows the phone down and forces you to do things a specific way. (At least that was my experience.) It took me months to finally settle on a setup that would work for my on my Android phone and I have not bothered with trying other launchers since.

Single page of icons, reddit's and scripture of the day. Calendar to the left, email to the right and that is it. If I need anything else, swipe up to go to the all apps list and open what I need, which is rare and why I put my most used stuff on a single page.

Not for everyone, but glad people have choices.

 

[kaktus1389]

Well looks like that the future of Windows 10 Mobile is pretty dead as the only thing we will be getting is security updates.

 

[anon(50597)]

Well looks like that the future of Windows 10 Mobile is pretty dead as the only thing we will be getting is security updates.

Don’t use the “dead” word or you’ll get attacked!
It has many meanings, and I agree with what you’re saying, but others will proclaim as long as they can use their device it’s not dead. I understand their perspective also.
One thing we know for sure, no new updates except security.

 

[kaktus1389]

Don’t use the “dead” word or you’ll get attacked!
It has many meanings, and I agree with what you’re saying, but others will proclaim as long as they can use their device it’s not dead. I understand their perspective also.
One thing we know for sure, no new updates except security.

Don't get me wrong, I plan to use my 950 as long as it will function decently. If I say dead it means no new features or hardware and thanks for warning me, but I am capable of defending myself. I understand their position too, but the fact is we are not getting any new features or hardware so if it makes it easier for some people for the sake of precision, let's just say then that it is still going to be usable until developers are keeping their apps on the creators update SDK .