Microsoft need to step up and do something worthwhile with the lock screen.

[Jcmg62]

I'm asking this as someone whose spent money on apps that are designed to enhance the lock screen (lock temp and awesome lock in particular). Both are really good apps and this should not be seen as a criticism aimed at the developers of those apps. They've done the best they can, given the limited programmable flexibility available on the lock screen.

And that's where my frustration begins......I really, really cannot see the point in the lock screen. It's what I'd describe as a "dumb page" i.e. It adds no intrinsic value to the software or hardware that makes up your phone.

I'll use the Awesome Lock app as my case-in-point. Here's an app that allows you to view news headlines, weather updates, calendar events, reminders, stocks and currency market updates, even the daily Dilbert comic....all on your lock screen. Sounds great. BUT.....you cant interact with any of that information. You see a news headline you're interested in.....you need to unlock your phone and search for that news on the web or through a news app. You want more info on a stock or share price? Well, your not going to get it by tapping on the lock screen share price info. Nope, you'll have to search for information on that share online.

This is just plain annoying. On my iPad, any alerts or information on the lock screen can be fully interacted with. If a news headline appears, you swipe it and your taken to the full article, either on line or through the app that generated the headline.

So, if the best the lock screen can do is throw up some info that you cant do anything with unless your prepared to go looking for it elsewhere, my question is this; why do we have a lock screen at all?

If you pick up your phone, there's every chance its because you want to do something with it. So why not double tap the screen and be taken straight to the home screen. Why be navigated to a page that has no intrinsic value other that the odd pretty bing picture. Its just pointless.

There's a lot Microsoft could do to make the lock screen really interactive and far more interesting, but for now, in its current form, it only serves as a barrier to you opening your phone quickly.

 

[12Danny123]

I think swiping left could bring up Cortana. Which will provide Google Now- like info. same with the start screen. swipe left to reveal info on weather, maps etc

 

[Jcmg62]

Hey Danny, that would be a good start.

Wouldn’t it be great if users could interact with the lock screen; a news headline flashes up, you touch or swipe it and bang....you’re instantly redirected to the news source, either in an app or on the www. Same for weather feeds, stocks, calendar, facebook.......the possibilities are endless.

You have a missed call, it appears on the lock screen, you swipe the screen and your taken to the callers address book page, to either call, message or email the person back.

You swipe right for kids corner, left for contacts, up for calendar, down for email.....whatever, these could all be totally inter-changeable, and can be set up based on the shortcuts the user wants.

The glance screen.....why is it only set up for portrait viewing?? How about this; you turn the phone to landscape position and the glance screen clock turns too....and goes into an alarm clock mode!! Why not??

Sorry, I’m getting carried away here, but there’s soooooo much that can be done, if Microsoft lets it happen....

 

[Dadstar0410]

Hey Danny, that would be a good start.

Wouldn?t it be great if users could interact with the lock screen; a news headline flashes up, you touch or swipe it and bang....you?re instantly redirected to the news source, either in an app or on the www. Same for weather feeds, stocks, calendar, facebook.......the possibilities are endless.

You have a missed call, it appears on the lock screen, you swipe the screen and your taken to the callers address book page, to either call, message or email the person back.

You swipe right for kids corner, left for contacts, up for calendar, down for email.....whatever, these could all be totally inter-changeable, and can be set up based on the shortcuts the user wants.

The glance screen.....why is it only set up for portrait viewing?? How about this; you turn the phone to landscape position and the glance screen clock turns too....and goes into an alarm clock mode!! Why not??

Sorry, I?m getting carried away here, but there?s soooooo much that can be done, if Microsoft lets it happen....

I have a better idea: all the quick status icons can be swiped up to bring up the corresponding application, and the detailed status can be double tapped. Swipe down to access camera, left for Kid's Corner, and right for Cortana. It's perfect

 

[manicottiK]

my question is this; why do we have a lock screen at all?

Here are several reasons:
1) To give the user very quick access to essential summarized information (time, date, one long notification, up to five tile counts), even if the phone wasn't on the Start screen when the screen turned off.
2) To be able to present that essential information outside of the security provided by a PIN. (Our business doesn't let users turn off the PIN if the user syncs our email because the email may contain medical information that needs to be protected. If the user wants to avoid our security settings, he or she also needs to avoid carrying around copies of our email data.)
3) To have a place to show fun photos. People love sticking photos on their phones, but the Windows Phone Start screen isn't a good place for them because the tiles cover almost all of it.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the API available to developers can't be improved. I'd like the ability to have several "detailed" notices on screen instead of just one. I'd like to be able to specify a picture and some text as separate layers so that I can update one without impacting the other.

I'm sure that other devs and users can think of more things. A key issue for MS is going to be to honor the security that a PIN provides, if the user has a PIN. I don't see Microsoft doing something that would worsen their ability to see into the enterprise market, particularly as BlackBerry continues to implode.

 

[Kevin Rush]

I think, we need more active live tiles to be allowed and all the live tiles need to update more often. Some should be animated. Maybe we could start with having a tap gesture on a flipping tile, cause it to flip.

Hopefully we'll see some of these happening as new phones get faster, have much more memory, and data is cheaper.

Best Wishes for our future Windows Phones.

 

[ajansari]

Microsoft could do what the OP asked without compromising the pin/security system. With Apple devices, I can right swipe on a notification and it will ask me for my pin first, and once I've keyed that in, it will take me directly to the source of the notification, whether it's a news story, missed call, email, etc.

I share in the OP's grievance.

 

[Dadstar0410]

Microsoft could do what the OP asked without compromising the pin/security system. With Apple devices, I can right swipe on a notification and it will ask me for my pin first, and once I've keyed that in, it will take me directly to the source of the notification, whether it's a news story, missed call, email, etc.

I share in the OP's grievance.

Microsoft in part already does that. Try changing a lens with your camera while your phone is PIN-locked, and try sharing a photo you just took through the viewfinder when your phone is PIN-locked. They just need to implement this feature elsewhere.

 

[Dadstar0410]

I always wanted the text on the lock screen to be different font colors.

 

[DennisvdG]

I think swiping left could bring up Cortana. Which will provide Google Now- like info. same with the start screen. swipe left to reveal info on weather, maps etc

why "swiping left" when we have a beautiful search key which I rarely ever use, Cortana should definitely be on the search imo

Not saying they should get rid of bing but I'm sure they can integrate it nicely

 

[EchoOne30]

This is flawed android thinking. The "lock screen" came about so that if your phone turned on, it wouldn't start opening programs in your pocket. Adding interactivity to a lock screen means it is no longer a lock screen... it's now just another home screen.

My wife has a gs3. From the lock screen she can swipe down the notifications, or open apps. So... how is it a lock screen?

There is zero value to making things interactive. What comes next? If only there was a PRE lock screen that would prevent pocket operation. You open that, get to the lock screen, then open that to get to the home screen. Wait, what if the pre lock screen had some functionality?

You see where I'm going with this. Wait don't forget to add multiple trays of launchers.

 

[hipsterbot]

the pre lock screen is called a glance screen

 

[Moiz Mian]

This is flawed android thinking. The "lock screen" came about so that if your phone turned on, it wouldn't start opening programs in your pocket. Adding interactivity to a lock screen means it is no longer a lock screen... it's now just another home screen.

My wife has a gs3. From the lock screen she can swipe down the notifications, or open apps. So... how is it a lock screen?

There is zero value to making things interactive. What comes next? If only there was a PRE lock screen that would prevent pocket operation. You open that, get to the lock screen, then open that to get to the home screen. Wait, what if the pre lock screen had some functionality?

You see where I'm going with this. Wait don't forget to add multiple trays of launchers.

I agree, at some point it does just become another home screen. But look at the iOS implentation. It's designed as a first glance at your notifications. And it allows you to interactively shortcut yourself to the source of that notification. It's still a lock screen since you have to swipe the app icon to open it anyway. With a little creativity, Microsoft should be able to come up with something nice.

 

[OzRob]

This is flawed android thinking. The "lock screen" came about so that if your phone turned on, it wouldn't start opening programs in your pocket. Adding interactivity to a lock screen means it is no longer a lock screen... it's now just another home screen.

I think this is flawed Windows Phone thinking. Adding some functionality to the lock screen makes a lot of sense. The catch is to only add functionality that doesn't degrade the point of the lock screen, which as you say is to stop inadvertent activation of phone apps. You may argue that Android allows too much functionality to be added to the lock screen, but that's not a reason to not look at what functionality should be added to the lock screen in Windows Phone.

Personally I think a 'swipe' function for Cortana goes too far, but I think the lock screen should definitely by more configurable.