My Gripes with WP7

[narrow-minded]

I'm a new WP7 user (with a Mangoed Trophy), and I really love the OS. However, I have some gripes about the OS that I was wondering if there are any work-arounds for (homebrew or otherwise...).

Disclaimer: I've owned all 5 of the major North American smartphone OS's. So I probably will compare with them.

1. WP7 doesn't save drafts for Messaging. If I start typing something, but then go to the start menu to do something else, the message isn't waiting for me to finish when I get back. All of the other OS's do this. Am I missing something?

2. IE utilizes the phone's back button to go back a page in the browser. This is fine, except that if I'm out of IE for awhile and come back to it, it doesn't work. I open it, hit the back button and it instead takes me back to the start screen. Lame. Is there a way to go back a page in this situation?

3. The Calendar is probably the most disappointing part of the OS to me. There is no week view, and it lacks the ability to set an end date for recurring events. That's just ridiculous. That's a basic thing that even most feature-phones have.

4. Another Calendar thing... you can't designate which calendars the Live Tile shows. I like to have my wife's calendar available in the app so I can see her schedule, but I don't want it to show on the Live Tile. Oh well. Tough cookies.

PLEASE don't get me wrong. I love the OS, and I'm going to stick with it because I love the people-centric attitude it has. But these are very glaring issues for me. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

 

[Coffee]

good post.

1. depends on how you do it. while there is no 'save', I can start a message, go to the start menu, and then use multi-tasking to go back and it's there. If you restart the text application, then yes, it's gone.

2. same thing - multi-tasking keeps everything in memory, but restarting the app may kill the back button.

3/4. Yes, the calendar needs work. i mostly use the phone calendar for viewing, and do my calendar editing online when at home/office.

 

[jim_h]

Think the browser's 'back' navigation is weak? Try looking for 'forward'.

A 'week' view would be nice; there's a 'month' view but, sadly, the text is too small to be actually read. Nice looking grid of squares and numbers though.

 

[Winterfang]

About IE, you can just use the recent button, it will take you to your history. I don't know about the calendars, I just use it to see the date.

 

[Jazmac]

Drafts in messaging. I wasn't aware drafts are created at all but I'll accept that you've seen it before. I generally do a copy then paste whatever I wrote if I have to leave the message for any reason out of habit... because I don't want to retype all that stuff.

Browser back button. It could save the pages as it happens on the desktop but browsers isn't MS strongest suite IMHO. Hasn't been since the IE vs Netscape wars.

Calendar I never have a problem with. Not sure why there is no week view. Might be one of those nice to have features but I guess I never look at weeks like that. I view the month or agenda. I expect there will be third party calendars to come along before long. BTW, there is a calendar called "week calendar" in the market.

 

[Coffee]

the calendar issue is valid since Outlook's calendar does have a week view (which is really the only view I use on the desktop). Microsoft needs to be consistent.

 

[theman60099]

Think the browser's 'back' navigation is weak? Try looking for 'forward'.

A 'week' view would be nice; there's a 'month' view but, sadly, the text is too small to be actually read. Nice looking grid of squares and numbers though.

ur on the prowl again, using recent is just as good as going back or forward and there's an agenda view which shows all appointments at a glance. wish people would stop complaining about that. so another down vote for u

 

[narrow-minded]

ur on the prowl again, using recent is just as good as going back or forward and there's an agenda view which shows all appointments at a glance. wish people would stop complaining about that. so another down vote for u

Why is it wrong for anyone to complain about that? It's a legitimate complaint. I previously had an Android phone, and it had Week view. I used it all the time. It was probably my favorite view. Being able to see an entire week is very useful sometimes.

 

[jimski]

In IE, you can tell it to save each page as a new tab.

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[aximtreo]

A solution to your problem

Why is it wrong for anyone to complain about that? It's a legitimate complaint. I previously had an Android phone, and it had Week view. I used it all the time. It was probably my favorite view. Being able to see an entire week is very useful sometimes.

I believe I can answer all your questions and put you out of your misery at the same time. Seriously, I will trade my Verizon Samsung Fascinate for your Tropjy even up. I sold my Trophy and have regretted it to this day. If interested, PM me and we can talk.

 

[Pete C]

I'm sorry I just don't get the gripe over the lack of a browser back button. We don't need a browser back button now that we have app switching. If you leave IE and do something else, use the app switcher to select IE and you can use the back button to navigate to the previous page. If you are looking to do that a day later, just use the "recent" option on the browser menu to go back.

 

[theman60099]

Why is it wrong for anyone to complain about that? It's a legitimate complaint. I previously had an Android phone, and it had Week view. I used it all the time. It was probably my favorite view. Being able to see an entire week is very useful sometimes.

I am downvoting u. it is an illegitimate complaint because agenda view shows all upcoming short term appointments in a list. I should know because I have it and use it all the time.

 

[1jaxstate1]

Why do people always say "we don't need this..." if it's a valid complaint from someone else. I'd like to see a back and forward option. The back arrow is inconsistent. Some apps, it'll take you "back" sometimes it'll take you to the previous used app or home screen.

 

[theman60099]

Why do people always say "we don't need this..." if it's a valid complaint from someone else. I'd like to see a back and forward option. The back arrow is inconsistent. Some apps, it'll take you "back" sometimes it'll take you to the previous used app or home screen.

why are people high strung on going back and forward? if it doesn't work then use recent or use tabs.

 

[Coffee]

Of course not having a week view is legitimate, it's a normal view used in countless calendars including Outlook's, and is the most informative for work.

Agenda view is fine but isn't shown in calendar form. It's not a show-stopper, but it is a missing feature.

If we didn't have month view, would that be a valid complaint? Why not just use Agenda View for everything?

 

[1jaxstate1]

I don't see where anyone is strung on back/forward. It's a gripe, a justifiable one. The original poster didn't seem pissed that it didn't work, just a feature he'd like to see.

I'd like to have gchat, yahoo, and AIM service added. Does that mean I'm strung on having it, when I can just go by IM+? No.

why are people high strung on going back and forward? if it doesn't work then use recent or use tabs.

 

[Pronk]

why are people high strung on going back and forward? if it doesn't work then use recent or use tabs.

Unless you are 100% satisfied with WP7 as it is now and will never update your phone again because you have no requirement for *any* extra features, tweaks, revisions etc then this is an absurd and indeed hypocritical line of thinking. Just because you're happy to use workarounds (and having to use a recents list to go forward IS a workaround - especially as an older, inferior version of the software used to have it), or don't have any personal need for a tweak or feature doesn't mean anyone else who wants it has no grounds for asking.

Are you going to write to Microsoft and complain that their site asking what people want to see in WP7 is pointless because it already does everything? If not, then you might want to lay off the whole "disagreement is unacceptable" thing.

 

[theman60099]

well what en cojos is the big deal about it when agenda view shows the same info? just seems ridiculous to complain about it

 

[scottcraft]

I think we all have things we would like to see changed. That doesn't mean we are nitpicking or hate the platform by any means. Different things are more important to different people.

Sent from my Windows 7 phone using Board Express

 

[fernandez21]

wow, I thought the whole "why do you need this feature that is available on other platforms, you can just do this work around which isn't as intuitive nor practical.So stop complaining about my perfect preferred platform" attitude was exclusive to apple fans.

Anyway, I totally agree with the op on those gripes, along with stereo bluetooth not working for video, no auto rotate lock option, and the podcast options (there is no auto delete heard podcasts and not syncing with zune.