(Official) What WP needs to succeed

[aximtreo]

Voice assistant & speech-to-text in any text box, comparable to Google Now or Siri. I can't believe how lazy MS has been with their voice implementation.

In this particular case, MS doesn't control the OEM's where as Apple makes both the hardware and software; i.e. total control. Google doesn't make a phone but does control the Nexus line.

When MS starts making the Surface phone, you will see more variety and control.

 

[firstness]

In this particular case, MS doesn't control the OEM's where as Apple makes both the hardware and software; i.e. total control. Google doesn't make a phone but does control the Nexus line.

When MS starts making the Surface phone, you will see more variety and control.

I thought one of the features of WP8 was that it was free from carrier interference like the iPhone. All carriers can do is install some apps which you can easily remove. Updates to WP8 are even controlled by Microsoft. From what I can see MS is fully to blame for the poor voice features in WP8.

 

[derek533]

Text re-flow in the browser damnit!!

 

[luckyhillkop]

Anyone know, do the notification alerts still trying to make you go deaf by blasting at full volume when you're talking on the phone?

 

[Vheissu]

Notification Center
It seems that this is something they wanted to do but couldn't in time for launch so if that is a deal breaker for anyone maybe hold off switching till WP8.5. Personally I have no need for a unified notification center especially with the addition of the resizable tiles. Also 1 thing i never understood is why it's so hard to just open messages or email to look at a message, if you don't have long enough to open an app how can you even read a message?
Call Control
As far a call blocking goes on Verizon you can block any number you want on their website portal, not sure if this is the same for every carrier, but it has always worked well for me.
OS Support
Daniel talked about this in his review of WP8 He talks about how WP7 was built on the Windows CE kernel which is like ancient, and how they needed to make the switch to the NT kernel which is what Windows 8 is built on. So not only does that really help the development side by having so much shareable code for the Windows/WP teams it allows 3rd party developers to also share code. So even if a dev isn't interested in making a WP app but they do need to make one for Windows 8 there is little reason not to make it for WP because they can reuse so much of the code. So now that WP is built on the current kernel rather than the legacy one you can feel safe that there wont be a change for a while. I encourage you to check out Daniel's post because he's a lot smarter than me and explains it a lot better

 

[WasteSomeTime]

I hear them when im talking on the phone but they are not a big deal. I like that there is a notification. Maybe they should make make an on / of switch for that.

Also I want an orientation lock. Why doesn't WP have this? Its such a basic feature.

Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express

 

[lordofthereef]

Call Control
As far a call blocking goes on Verizon you can block any number you want on their website portal, not sure if this is the same for every carrier, but it has always worked well for me.

For those that simply want to block a number, this works great. I am speaking being able to block certain numbers at certain times. Same for texts. Let's say I don't want texts or calls ringing or buzzing my phone while I sleep. But I also want people to be able to reach me in an emergency. The way Apple handles this is your phone is effectively silent, unless that caller calls back within 2 minutes.That is the type of functionality I am calling for.

OS Support
Daniel talked about this in his review of WP8 He talks about how WP7 was built on the Windows CE kernel which is like ancient, and how they needed to make the switch to the NT kernel which is what Windows 8 is built on. So not only does that really help the development side by having so much shareable code for the Windows/WP teams it allows 3rd party developers to also share code. So even if a dev isn't interested in making a WP app but they do need to make one for Windows 8 there is little reason not to make it for WP because they can reuse so much of the code. So now that WP is built on the current kernel rather than the legacy one you can feel safe that there wont be a change for a while. I encourage you to check out Daniel's post because he's a lot smarter than me and explains it a lot better

Is the kernel switch the only reason why WP7 devices aren't getting WP8? That is to say, is the hardware physically incapable of running WP8? If that is the case, that is good news (although still a bit of a blunder for the brand, IMO).

 

[lordofthereef]

Anyone know, do the notification alerts still trying to make you go deaf by blasting at full volume when you're talking on the phone?

This is an issue with iOS as well. If I forget to toggle my vibrate switch when I am on a call and an alert pops through it's not a good experience.

I thought one of the features of WP8 was that it was free from carrier interference like the iPhone. All carriers can do is install some apps which you can easily remove. Updates to WP8 are even controlled by Microsoft. From what I can see MS is fully to blame for the poor voice features in WP8.

I think the poster you are quoting was speaking of what MS said. Basically they are allowing for those who want voice control to code it into their own apps. I think the way Android and iOS do it is far superior. It is built into the OS and devs are able to use what is already there if they want.

I use speech to text quite a bit. It is something that will be sorely missed on WP8.

Come on, just get over it and delete the whole damn thread. This should only be a problem if you have something to hide from someone. Removing single messages so the gf doesn't see? Deleting the whole thread might look suspicious if she uses your phone once in a while eh?

I can think of times where being able to mass delete a handful of lines would be nice. I tend to text links back and forth that sometimes I want to keep, while I don't necessarily want the entire conversation stored. It's not a deal breaker, but it is a feature that every other phone on the market has. I don't think it's an unreasonable request. Remember, the more feature rich the OS, the more heavily it becomes adopted.

 

[Martinspire]

One thing that is unclear to my why they haven't added it yet is profiles. And by that i mean enable or disable wifi/bluetooth/set to vibrate/etc based on location or user preference.
Something that phones had a few years back and i believe iOS and Android both have it, is that if you set that you want to enable wifi when you get home or enable bluetooth when i'm in the car would be very nice. I now have to manually set it on/off and turn down the volume when i get at work. Would be nice if they added such a thing. Of course i could do it with NFC in the future, but why make it so difficult to do this stuff? Its the on of the few parts i feel that the platform is lacking. Next to the big-time games everybody is playing on other platforms and the customizing sms or set its volume.

 

[maverick786us]

Apart from features already mentioned in this thread I miss

1) Smart Dialing
2) Music Sharing on Bluetooth
3) Using whole MP3 file as a ringtone
4) Profiles and making custom profiles
5) Separate Volume controls for each application (calling, music etc)

 

[Satchef1]

Location-based alerts added to Rooms would be fantastic. I'm in the supermarket and my phone fires out an alert to tell me that my GF has added a shopping list to Rooms, reminding me to get milk.

I'd also like the ability to send texts automatically, based on calendar events (e.g. Birthdays). It would save me a lot of hassle - despite the fact that people's birthdays flash up on the calendar, I still forget to acknowledge them. If my phone could automatically text them, that problem would be no more.

As an amalgam of the two, lets say the calendar knows I finish work at 5, but I'm still there at 5:30. I'm obviously running late. It would be great if my phone could automatically send a text to the GF (or the relevant person if there's a calendar event scheduled straight after work) to tell them I'm running late.

This is all within the realms of possibility, and it would make the smartphone an essential in my life (apps etc are nice-to-haves - not yet is a smartphone essential to me). In Rooms, Microsoft already have the underpinnings of something great. Location-based actions would just be an extension of that (and something that turns Rooms in to a real USP).

 

[Ayush_WP]

Location-based alerts added to Rooms would be fantastic. I'm in the supermarket and my phone fires out an alert to tell me that my GF has added a shopping list to Rooms, reminding me to get milk.

I'd also like the ability to send texts automatically, based on calendar events (e.g. Birthdays). It would save me a lot of hassle - despite the fact that people's birthdays flash up on the calendar, I still forget to acknowledge them. If my phone could automatically text them, that problem would be no more.

As an amalgam of the two, lets say the calendar knows I finish work at 5, but I'm still there at 5:30. I'm obviously running late. It would be great if my phone could automatically send a text to the GF (or the relevant person if there's a calendar event scheduled straight after work) to tell them I'm running late.

This is all within the realms of possibility, and it would make the smartphone an essential in my life (apps etc are nice-to-haves - not yet is a smartphone essential to me).

That are some briliant ideas there!

 

[Ayush_WP]

Make a folder is missing. Having a live folder that will show updates of all apps in the folder, on the homescreen, will be pretty cool.

 

[Ayush_WP]

Need to clarify. Can you make music playlists in wp8 now?

 

[zephyrwala]

I just wish the app development rapidly increases for WP8 and by next year WP8 should have all major apps and should have exclusive release before the other OS

 

[astraith]

Disclaimer: Emotions tend to get heated when comparing OS's for whatever reason. I am simply looking to compare features, or lack thereof, to give myself, and perhaps other users insight on whether or not to go with WP8 and what they may (but hopefully may NOT) be missing.

Let's face it. The informed shopper compares the OS first, then perhaps the hardware, and then makes a purchase. It is not uncommon to hear any one OS to be compared to another. There were a few features that I don't *think* WP8 has incorporated yet that I wanted to bring to light. Please feel free to confirm or correct me, and add to this too. Feel free, also, to add features that WP8 has that others might not.

Lacking:
SMS sound customization per contact (I don't believe the same is true with ringtones?)

Notification center: While live tiles are wonderful, there doesn't seem to be a way of notifying the user of a specific alert unless there is a live tile for it. Furthermore, even WITH said alert, the user still has to tap the live tile, effectively opening the app, to see what the alert was for. This is less than optimal in multiple cases, such as emails, texts, etc. Not only do I not know who is texting me (in the case that I am getting multiple texts "simultaneously"), I can't see the texts easily, to decide whether or not they are worth my time now, or later.

Call control - I can't block numbers, or simply make the device not pull alerts during certain hours. Android has had this for quite some time (through third party control) and iOS just got it with their "do not disturb" option.

Support - I didn't know what else to call it... but saying it lacks support is a gross overstatement. What I mean here is that WP7 was essentially "dropped". I am sure people here will argue that 7.8 is coming, etc., but 7.8 is not 8.0. While that may be an easy pill to swallow for those who got WP7 devices around launch, and have enjoyed many updates since, it's less easy for those who have picked up a WP7 device within the last year or less. The Lumia 900 is a good example of this. A flagship device with a virtual EOL in about half a year. Yes, I know, 7.8! But app development won't be nearly the same for those devices as it is for 8.x devices, and who knows if they will see much of anything past 7.8. o the question is, do we worry about Microsoft "reinventing" the OS every two years? I feel like that hurts the brand

Excelling:
Live Tiles - I know I just shared some gripes about notifications, but the info it does give you is very good.

Social Networking - Ties in with live tiles (a bit). But this is probably where WP excels the most over the rest. Why? Because it wasn't an afterthought, like it was with those other OS.

Desktop OS integration - This remains to be seen, but after using windows 8 for a little while, I am confident that WP8 will tie in extremely nicely. They were made for each other. No other OS can come anywhere close.

Just to let you know, WP8 does allow you to see previews of texts,, if you have the tile being at it's largest state. I would be, as well, if you have multiple texts it wouldn't just show one or a number, but cycle through them. And probably the same for emails. As well, i heard call blocking is a feature, but we won't know until we have the phone. But battery saver mode does stop all applications besides text and calls.

I think labels is missing from WP8, for email. And choice in apps. Other than that, i don't really notice because there are things i want that WP8 does and Android doesn't.

 

[aubreyq]

Need to clarify. Can you make music playlists in wp8 now?

I'm not sure about that, however what I'm sure about is that there are a TON of complaints about how music and podcasts are handled by Xbox Music and WP8. Looks to me like MS really screwed up, here.

 

[Xplode22]

Need to clarify. Can you make music playlists in wp8 now?

I'm almost positive that I saw a screenshot showing someone making a playlist directly on their Win8 phone.

 

[sid.g]

Few more things

Of the many things that you guys have pointed out here, there are a few other things which I sorely miss at times.

1. Somehow if I can unread an email, same should be allowed for messages. Sometimes my important messages (such as details abt a flight) get lost in the hoard of messages.

2. Searching of messages: How I wish I could just search a term and find out that long lost message which I am desperately scrolling to find.

3. Native calendar search functionality

4. More than 3 modes of brightness settings.

5. Not sure if it is there already, but I would want the marketplace to improve. Let me search by trending, top rated, top downloaded, top downloaded in 7 days etc....

6. Ability to access corporate email. My company's mail can be accessed over iPhone and other andriod phones, but not on my Windows Phone (tango). It seems that windows lacked some security policies... Is it there yet in WP8? If yes, then yay, I wont have to be red faced in front of my friends when I say I cant sync corporate email (and that too when our company uses Microsoft Office clients and web email client).

These are some of my gripes.

 

[DaveGx]

Microsoft really needs to come forth and openly ask what we want in the next update. Clearly, there are plenty of things missing that many of us would like to see. Most, shouldnt really be difficult to do at all. It's just a matter of them getting the message.