Is there something wrong with the startscreen background?

[pedmar007]

Why do I never see whenever an article is written that the WP pic never shows the new start screen background feature on WP, it's always a pic of WP8 and not WP8.1 with a background on the startscreen. Why always show the "old" and not the "new"? How can you get people looking,asking ?s if you're always highlighting the PAST!!

 

[gpobernardo]

Why do I never see whenever an article is written that the WP pic never shows the new start screen background feature on WP, it's always a pic of WP8 and not WP8.1 with a background on the startscreen. Why always show the "old" and not the "new"? How can you get people looking,asking ?s if you're always highlighting the PAST!!

I presume you're referring to the transparent tiles?

The Windows Phone website has at least two images of Windows Phones showcasing the new start screen image customization feature. However, further down the page, you'll see five Windows Phones, four of which show the "old" start screen without the background image (the other one, a Lumia 1020, showcases the monstrous camera rather than the screen). Further research shows that there is a mix between screens that show the "new" start screen customization and those that seem to have the "older" screen.

I don't think there's something wrong with the "new" start screen, but it might rather be a question of preference. Some people, like me, like the custom start screen background image, but I can not just set "any" image as my background since certain images appear to be cluttered and distracting, making my transparent tiles unreadable. So, I have carefully selected and aligned my background image, at the same time arranged the layout of my transparent tiles and folders to give me the user experience I want. However, some people may not be as meticulous as I am and for this reason they may prefer to have the metro solid-colored tiles rather than the transparent tiles.

I guess the reason you're seeing more articles that show the "old" start screen image is because the author of that article most likely wanted to emphasize whatever text was being displayed on the tiles in that image, rather than the singular start screen customization feature of the phone.

Bottom line: If all photos of Windows Phones had transparent tiles, then those who prefer simple, solid-colored tiles - which was one of their selling points - might be discouraged from it. On the other hand, if all photos of Windows Phones had solid-colored tiles, those who look for start screen image customization (i.e. an iPhone user) might be discouraged from it. With these, sales are up with some modest growth.

 

[alex athanasopoulos]

What you have said is way to far from truth. The new start screen has been shown many many times. The usually use images with polygons or with faded colors. If you check more careful the articles you will see that. In my opinion transparency was one of the best features we got, along with live folders (wp8.1.1 developer preview) and Cortana.