Live Tiles in Andromeda

[mc_razza]

#AskDan

Will the upcoming Andromeda foldable phablet use the now seven-years-old live tiles interface or will Microsoft opt for a different UI?

Cheers

 

[Ronald Conkle]

I could not imagine any other UI no matter how many times it folds, but without titles . . . well there may be other options - ☎.

 

[Neeraj Ashu]

its because of lack of apps not live tiles....***** @bleached

 

[Lagann86]

No. Live tiles are ugly and no one except the most ardent windows phone fans want it.

I'll even go a step further and call it mostly useless. It's nice having it on some apps (photos app) but 99% of apps do not need it. Meaning that 99% of your icons will be static squares that dont do anything besides make the home screen look busy as hell.

Let's not even get into the fact that when i had a Windows Phone, i had to arrange the tiles in the order to make them look aesthetically nice instead of which ones i used more often. Also when i was looking to open an app, it would always take me a while to search for it because live tile home screen is a busy mess.

I'll keep repeating this forever. Live tiles only work on big screens. They never worked on small screens because of the busyness.

 

[Adventurer64]

Yes and with more functionality. Square home 2 launcher has some interesting twists to live tiles, such as the cube tile. It's also cool mixing widgets with live tiles. Unfortunately, SH2 slows done when using too many cubes and widgets. I'm sure MS can take tiles to the next level.

 

[Christian Del Rosario]

yes, very much. and more interaction

 

[darrell reimer]

Yes - Live Tiles make Windows phones look unique! Android and iOS app icons look the same as my old old iPhone 3 way back when...nothing has changed with them. I've currently got my S8+ set up using Launcher 10, to look like my 950 XL start screen...most of the live tiles are working (albeit not as well as the 'real thing'....)

 

[Jochen Trump]

I don't understand how can people like this single coloured ugly square box UI
View attachment 138791

Well, it may also look like this:

 

[Shadow Box]

I dont care anymore. I will not buy any MS devices anymore. MS is an unrelaible company that likes to fxxk its customers.

 

[justjun555]

Microsoft should make live tiles optional. app grid option instead of app list & ability to choose app grid or app list as home screen.

 

[ChrisP1]

I love live tiles, BUT what a lot of complaints here are real complaints. Things is, it's not the idea of the live tile that is the problem. It's the lack of customization. Logos are to bland custom they are mostly white! Yes, so the app developer should be able to upload any app logo. Tile colors are almost all the same and it's bland. Sure, so allow custom colors for each tile and let developers decide what default color their tile should be. Hats to see the app name? Custom size of font and color of the font. It's not a problem of tiles themselves, it's the lack of options. There are apps though that can set a tulle for an app to change the role for that app but you do lose the ability to have the file live then though.

 

[Jochen Trump]

Hmmm, let me comment this:
- For me, my home screen is the screen where I place those apps I frequently use. Not all of them. So it's not a busy mess for me.
- I agree, most of the apps do not need it. But, as I said, this won't cause my home screen look busy as hell, as there are only my favourite apps.
- I do not need to place my tiles so that they look nice. I place them in a way so I can reach them with my thumb. I'm right handed, so my frequently used apps are on the right side of my home Screen. Try this on an iPhone ... won't work.
- If you need to search for the app you want to open, you probably put to many of them on your home screen. Clean up your mess
- And yes, live tiles work on smaller screens. My parents, my parents in law (all of them over 70 years) and me use them. And we love them. I can stick a single contact to my home screen, and it's live tile will show me missed calls, mails ...
- Even a live tile in a subfolder works no matter how big it is

For me, the current version of the start menu in Windows 10 and also on my Windows Mobile Phone are the best I ever used (and I'd be an owner of an iPad and also an iPhone!).

 

[Jochen Trump]

Provide an option to turn them off.

Well, you CAN turn them off :smile:

 

[nilchak]

who knows!

Tiles are still central to windows 10 so it would be odd to totally change the experience, especially if it supports any continuum mode.

My guess is it will be similar to the mobile menu or desktop tablet mode menu.

Edit: I see this is in ask dan!! My answer remains but perhaps he'll let you know his thoughts too!

yassssssssss!

 

[BanditoTR]

Yes. But they do need a big update like having pics with text and being able to go to where the information is displayed. Currently you can't do that in Win10

 

[BanditoTR]

They have to be careful. If they ****ed up with an incomplete OS like they did with Win10 Mobile they won't have a third chance at it.

 

[BanditoTR]

I know. That's pretty much an iOS copy and while it is good for Android and Win10 shouldn't be like that. It should feel different and Windows like.

 

[Martin Plamondon]

Yes. Improved if they want but yes. It's the one thing that keeps me in W10M for now, I think the interface is way more practical and beautiful with live tiles, rows of icons on Android and iOS are so boring...

 

[Lagann86]

I'm guessing you are replying to me.

- You are sacrificing convenience by only putting apps you frequently use.

- Same answer as above

-I don't know how customizable is the Iphone UI is now. I only had Iphone 4 back in the day, but Android home screen is infinitely more customizable than windows phone. You could very well put all your app icons on lower right corner if you want, and they would take much less space than WP smallest squares.

- All square (and rectangles) of different sizes with many the same color with no space between them is called busy no matter how you try to spin it.

- You and your family are in the minority. Iphone rules the old people category.

- How WP handled subfolders was horrible. It would just expand there moving all the other squares and rectangles, without any negative space in between them. Again, making everything so god awfully busy looking.

WP tried to be the OS between Iphone and Android. Turned out to just be a crappier version of Iphone. Android is the Windows of smartphones. Can customize a lot and the Microsoft Launcher for Android is much better than WP UI could ever be. Make no mistake though, i do believe Microsoft pulling back their mobile business was a big mistake. Let's see what they do with Andromeda.

 

[Luis Matthew]

I always thought that making the tiles three dimensional would look very nice for all windows os

 

[scottgx]

Yes!