Is the Tiles UI Ugly? How Does People Like It?

[Slovenix]

MixView Tiles!!!
Nuff said.

Still wondering what exactly that means

 

[Praxius]

Still wondering what exactly that means

Um yeah I thought it might have been an app..... Nope

 

[Ma Rio]

I think the UI would look better, if they had a design more like this https://windowsphone.uservoice.com/forums/101801-feature-suggestions/suggestions/7438894-beautiful-stand-out-os-design-concept... It is really beautiful and could give window phone the push it needs to gain users

Have you posted one post on this forum that doesn't contain the link to your concept?
I get it..self-promotion and all that, but cool it. Not that I'm having a problem with it, or telling you what to do, but chill dude.

 

[hooutoo]

The Blatant Truth

The Blatant Truth

At this point it doesn't matter what anybody says, myself included. The public spoke with their wallets. Metro tiles and by extension Windows phone have been a complete failure. Market share/sales is the only way a "for profit" company measures the success of it's products. For those of you that are die hard phan boys is just doesn't matter, market share rules! You have only to look at the Windows 8 reviews and there are plenty of them to know that the metro tiles concept also damn near took down the Windows desktop franchise. If you don't believe either the review or the sales figures of Windows 8 then just ask yourself: Why is MS giving a free copy of Windows 10 to almost everybody? It certainly appears they're trying to stop any further desktop market share erosion.

If it weren't for MS's very very deep pockets windows phone would have been gone 2-3 years ago and it still may.

 

[Elitewolverine]

You tell me, tiles are what you make of it. If you think you cannot rearrange them for something different then the tile concept in 10 is gone. Here is what my 1520 looks like...

 

[Elitewolverine]

Re: The Blatant Truth

The Blatant Truth

At this point it doesn't matter what anybody says, myself included. The public spoke with their wallets. Metro tiles and by extension Windows phone have been a complete failure. Market share/sales is the only way a "for profit" company measures the success of it's products. For those of you that are die hard phan boys is just doesn't matter, market share rules! You have only to look at the Windows 8 reviews and there are plenty of them to know that the metro tiles concept also damn near took down the Windows desktop franchise. If you don't believe either the review or the sales figures of Windows 8 then just ask yourself: Why is MS giving a free copy of Windows 10 to almost everybody? It certainly appears they're trying to stop any further desktop market share erosion.

If it weren't for MS's very very deep pockets windows phone would have been gone 2-3 years ago and it still may.

I'll bite, more than not i have heard sales people talk bad about windows phone before a customer even sees the tiles. Windows 8 for a vast majority of the market is all they needed, people just didnt like change. As well live tiles are not going away in 10 desktop, get over it. Next, free, because it's two biggest competitors, give it away for free. A unified OS is the ultimate goal. And if that means taking a billion dollar hit over a 5yr buy in period that a normal OS would take, vs an instant upgrade to get 1 billion+ devices on the latest OS, to run unified apps that will instantly boost windows phone app count. Then you sir have no clue how powerful 1billion devices is. Google likes to tout this holy grail number and Windows can tout that number over night, while android needed 8+yrs to get that number and countless throw away 50 dollar phones (not so much in the desktop market).

 

[Kevin Rush]

I'll bite, more than not i have heard sales people talk bad about windows phone before a customer even sees the tiles. Windows 8 for a vast majority of the market is all they needed, people just didnt like change. As well live tiles are not going away in 10 desktop, get over it. Next, free, because it's two biggest competitors, give it away for free. A unified OS is the ultimate goal. And if that means taking a billion dollar hit over a 5yr buy in period that a normal OS would take, vs an instant upgrade to get 1 billion+ devices on the latest OS, to run unified apps that will instantly boost windows phone app count. Then you sir have no clue how powerful 1billion devices is. Google likes to tout this holy grail number and Windows can tout that number over night, while android needed 8+yrs to get that number and countless throw away 50 dollar phones (not so much in the desktop market).

I agree. The "Windows Phone" tiles and UI is innovative, amazing, and actually easy to understand and use. Poor communication marketing by Microsoft was the biggest problem. They didn't relentlessly communicate the incredible ease and value.

 

[HeyCori]

You tell me, tiles are what you make of it. If you think you cannot rearrange them for something different then the tile concept in 10 is gone. Here is what my 1520 looks like...View attachment 103149

1: That's super fresh
2: Sometimes less is more

I love the tile UI. Adjustable tiles is one of the biggest reasons I choose WP over other OSs with a static grid of apps. The UI has only gotten better over time thanks to the numerous ways to customize the screen. However, it can get very ugly, very fast. I used to struggle tying to make everything look coherent, which is hard when there are 30 apps on the screen and they all have different colors and sizes.

Eventually, I realized that less is more. Thanks to the fabulous app drawer, I don't need to stuff my home screen. Once I realized that, the possibilities just opened up. First I unpinned any app that didn't have a transparent tile. And then I made good use of the #tileart app and background image.

I know having just transparent tiles might not work for everyone, but there's no reason to stuff the screen. If you're having trouble making the UI work for you, then start by simplifying it. You can come up with something truly amazing and personal. That's the hard sell, to convince someone in the store of the possibilities when all they see is a random collection of tiles. Of course the tiles looks ugly. They haven't made it theirs yet.

 

[vish2801]

The UI wasn't upto mark until WP8.1 & now in Windows 10, the background picture & transparent tiles makes it more beautiful. The latest leak shows minimal gap between tiles makes it more appealing. I'm glad MS did this, it should be there since 8.1 but better late than never. My next phone will certainly be a good mid range Windows Phone.

 

[chalx]

IMO, main reason for WP bad reception is the absolute contrast between live tiles and rest of the system. We have colorful, joyful start screen and completely hollow ad depressing rest of the system. Black menus are so deeply black and white option is so childish and basic. IDK, for me, WP menus are ideal for eink readers but not for hi tech, hi color devices with large screens.

 

[Kevin Rush]

IMO, main reason for WP bad reception ... .

Don't confuse and mistake the fact that most people don't know the Windows Phone UI even exists, and most of those that do, have no real honest experience with it, for justification for hating it or aspects of it. Most of the "bad reception" that does exist, is poor marketing and poor partner deals by Microsoft and other factors. History is full of stories of excellent ideas first introduced and not widely known, and then becoming successfully adapted over time (sometimes by competitors).

If you believe one aspect of one feature is responsible for Windows Phone not being well known, I would ask you to maybe step back and take in the bigger picture.

Best Wishes.

 

[Torontonian22]

Re: The Blatant Truth

I'll bite, more than not i have heard sales people talk bad about windows phone before a customer even sees the tiles. Windows 8 for a vast majority of the market is all they needed, people just didnt like change. As well live tiles are not going away in 10 desktop, get over it. Next, free, because it's two biggest competitors, give it away for free. A unified OS is the ultimate goal. And if that means taking a billion dollar hit over a 5yr buy in period that a normal OS would take, vs an instant upgrade to get 1 billion+ devices on the latest OS, to run unified apps that will instantly boost windows phone app count. Then you sir have no clue how powerful 1billion devices is. Google likes to tout this holy grail number and Windows can tout that number over night, while android needed 8+yrs to get that number and countless throw away 50 dollar phones (not so much in the desktop market).

This is where i don't totally agree with you. Desktop users and laptop still represent roughly 70% of the windows users. Unfortunately, these people don't actually use apps. Therefore, giving them W10 will not change anything. Unified apps or not, if people with keyboard/mouse/trackpad don't use the apps, the devs won't follow. People who actually need apps are tablet users and phone users. We know how bad wp is doing and the surface is apparently doing incredibly well but there's no numbers to back up MS words... the main windows base doesn't care about apps. They either have full fledge applications or a full fledge web browser giving them acess to web apps that are more powerful then the apps... and that are optimized for their keyboard/mouse instead of a weird hybrid interface that's not optimized either for touch or mouse but that sits in between without knowing what their true purpose is.

forcing devs to develop an app that has to be compatible with mouse and touch is not the way to do it. If it was that revolutionnary, more devs would already start developping unified apps instead of removing their apps for good. I use w10TP and it's great but i never open the apps on my desktop because i don't need them and they're awkward to use. I only use apps on my surface pro...

People need a good reason to change their habits. Getting W10 won't make them use apps if they don't need them and if the tiles don't evolve to actually become more than just a snapshot of what's going on. And if they don't own a windows tablet or a wp on the side, the only advantage of unified apps disappears. Therefore, i'm not that optimistic about W10 changing the world. But i may be wrong and hopefully i am.

 

[gerzhwin]

Re: The Blatant Truth

Desktop users and laptop still represent roughly 70% of the windows users. Unfortunately, these people don't actually use apps. Therefore, giving them W10 will not change anything. Unified apps or not, if people with keyboard/mouse/trackpad don't use the apps, the devs won't follow. People who actually need apps are tablet users and phone users. We know how bad wp is doing and the surface is apparently doing incredibly well but there's no numbers to back up MS words... the main windows base doesn't care about apps. They either have full fledge applications or a full fledge web browser giving them acess to web apps that are more powerful then the apps... and that are optimized for their keyboard/mouse instead of a weird hybrid interface that's not optimized either for touch or mouse but that sits in between without knowing what their true purpose is.

I get your point, but running e. g. the same fully fledged calculator on your PC, tablet, phone, IoT thing and whatelsenot can be as compelling as finally using them on the desktop. BUT (as always) Microsoft has to advertise these--new--things properly!

 

[CapoFantasma97]

Re: The Blatant Truth

This is where i don't totally agree with you. Desktop users and laptop still represent roughly 70% of the windows users. Unfortunately, these people don't actually use apps. Therefore, giving them W10 will not change anything. Unified apps or not, if people with keyboard/mouse/trackpad don't use the apps, the devs won't follow. People who actually need apps are tablet users and phone users. We know how bad wp is doing and the surface is apparently doing incredibly well but there's no numbers to back up MS words... the main windows base doesn't care about apps. They either have full fledge applications or a full fledge web browser giving them acess to web apps that are more powerful then the apps... and that are optimized for their keyboard/mouse instead of a weird hybrid interface that's not optimized either for touch or mouse but that sits in between without knowing what their true purpose is.



forcing devs to develop an app that has to be compatible with mouse and touch is not the way to do it. If it was that revolutionnary, more devs would already start developping unified apps instead of removing their apps for good. I use w10TP and it's great but i never open the apps on my desktop because i don't need them and they're awkward to use. I only use apps on my surface pro...



People need a good reason to change their habits. Getting W10 won't make them use apps if they don't need them and if the tiles don't evolve to actually become more than just a snapshot of what's going on. And if they don't own a windows tablet or a wp on the side, the only advantage of unified apps disappears. Therefore, i'm not that optimistic about W10 changing the world. But i may be wrong and hopefully i am.

People with Windows 8 dont care about apps because they force to use the Metro Start, which is a pain with the mouse, or fill like a crazy the bar.
Also, apps are launched fullscreen.
But what now? People don't even need to navigate to find programs, they may just open the store and type what they want, and this works for most of what they would need.
The apps will work just like any other window of any program, letting people use apps with the desktop.
Also, the main important reason of unified apps is to facilitate the devs work, and use the same stuff everywhere, whenever.
What if you are doing something on the PC/tablet, and need to go out for some reason? Just grab your phone and continue! And viceversa.

 

[Kevin Rush]

People with Windows 8 dont care about apps because they force to use the Metro Start, which is a pain with the mouse, or fill like a crazy the bar.
...

I disagree, discussing the PC operating system, (not the Windows Phone OS) I think, people with Windows 8 on their PCs and tablets are smart and use all their desktop software just as they always have. They also have the added feature of being able to use MODERN apps occasionally. No big deal. Just an added feature. The metro start screen and the Task Bar are essentially, just icons. Click on them to start them. Just like icons on apple, goggle, and Windows 7.

I don't know what a crazy the bar is.

Best Wishes.

 

[Elitewolverine]

Re: The Blatant Truth

This is where i don't totally agree with you. Desktop users and laptop still represent roughly 70% of the windows users. Unfortunately, these people don't actually use apps. Therefore, giving them W10 will not change anything. Unified apps or not, if people with keyboard/mouse/trackpad don't use the apps, the devs won't follow. People who actually need apps are tablet users and phone users. We know how bad wp is doing and the surface is apparently doing incredibly well but there's no numbers to back up MS words... the main windows base doesn't care about apps. They either have full fledge applications or a full fledge web browser giving them acess to web apps that are more powerful then the apps... and that are optimized for their keyboard/mouse instead of a weird hybrid interface that's not optimized either for touch or mouse but that sits in between without knowing what their true purpose is.

forcing devs to develop an app that has to be compatible with mouse and touch is not the way to do it. If it was that revolutionnary, more devs would already start developping unified apps instead of removing their apps for good. I use w10TP and it's great but i never open the apps on my desktop because i don't need them and they're awkward to use. I only use apps on my surface pro...

People need a good reason to change their habits. Getting W10 won't make them use apps if they don't need them and if the tiles don't evolve to actually become more than just a snapshot of what's going on. And if they don't own a windows tablet or a wp on the side, the only advantage of unified apps disappears. Therefore, i'm not that optimistic about W10 changing the world. But i may be wrong and hopefully i am.

Well after the announcement it makes your whole point very moot.

Web apps, win32 and .net apps are now all windows store compatible. Size of the store apps are now upped to a 150GB limit (photoshop requires 4).

Basically instead of me having to wade through 4 or 5 pages to find a download link, i go through the store. The company now has a better search and even tools do do updates through the store even on win32 apps.

So over night they have made the store the best way to get apps in the coming years, bar none.

 

[colinkiama]

IMHO, the tiles filled with a single color without border are quite ugly and I hate it.
I'm not sure whether MS has made some investigation how does people like it? E.g., how many people like it and how many dislike it?
My point is not malicious. I just hope windows to be more successful and attractive.

Remove all your tiles and you will get a super quick app launcher. Tap the alphabet tile to jump to any letter you want or press the search button to search for the app you need to use. It's a nice solution if you don't want a start screen

 

[jojoe42]

Remove all your tiles and you will get a super quick app launcher. Tap the alphabet tile to jump to any letter you want or press the search button to search for the app you need to use. It's a nice solution if you don't want a start screen

I'm actually interested to see this, could you post a screenshot?

 

[Dark_Shroud]

I love my live tiles and will never use iOS or Android for personal devices as long as MS is still in this game.

I don't even need to open my various apps because the tile gives me the info I need/want. Hell even the start screen can be configured for this to a degree.

 

[colinkiama]

I'm actually interested to see this, could you post a screenshot?