(Official) What WP needs to succeed

[josephtd]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

I was rightfully redirected to this thread form one I posted today. I am a bit amazed at the attitude of some of the posters here regarding the insane gaps in basic functionality of Windows Phone 8. Yea, I have had several iPhones(Org, 3G,4), I've gone back to Symbians (E71, recently E6 for the **** of it) from time to item and back in the day used both Blackberry and Windows Mobile(Can you say Treo?), but I don't recall any of them being as seemingly slick and completed flawed at the same time. WP8 is truly a conundrum. Let's not talk about the App support.

- VPN Support
- Improvements to contacts (tone customizations, etc)
- The litany of issues with volume controls - even Apple finally fixed that
- custom tones
- general lack of customization period, notice I listed no android above, so I am not looking for that level of tinkering, but come on..

Granted several of these objections come from me trying to hack together solutions on this 920 for which apps exist for the rest of the world. I guess I turn this into a pass down phone as I have been living a love-hate relationship with this thing since November.

I really don't really understand how in the current age of smartphones WP8 is defensible.

 

[Onerunjunior]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

I'd really like to see the ability to save photos from anywhere with a long press. The biggest issue I have is no being able to kill apps in any form, I've had many times where Rowi was acting really weird, and the only way to get it to stop was to reboot my 920. Really annoying to have to do all that to kill an app because of annoying behavior. The biggest omission is the complete lack of sound customization, how they can release a mobile OS that is missing a feature that has been around for ~10 years in absolutely incredible. Custom sounds for everything is a feature that is unforgivable if missing. The worst thing of all is the utter garbage of a media playback app. The music app is horrible. Absolutely horrible. Shame because I wanted to replace my iPod with my 920, but that's never going to happen as long as the music app is so utterly useless.

 

[rhodri22]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

I mean, different people have smartphones for different reasons. For you, it's obviously functionality, but for me, I want some artistic creativity as well. Why so abrasive to that idea? It's not for people like you, it's for people like me. Don't like backgrounds? Then leave the background blank. Easy. Done.

Once again, Microsoft clearly don't think it matters to lots of people, and therefore it's not a vital feature. If it was, then lots of people would be screaming for it, like they are for Instagram.
If at all, this feature will come once WP has been able to sustain itself in the market, and Microsoft is looking for the minority groups of people (artistic in this case) to please.

In other words, it's not relevant, because it's an 'I want feature' rather than an 'I need feature'.

 

[dba415]

Still not up to par with iOS or Android

Windows Phone has pros but overall it's still not as good an os as IOS or android.

Notifications are terribly managed. If you get a text message, you get one small bar at the top of the phone, and you can't even read the entire message without having to open up the app. I've never had an Android phone so I can't say how it works there, but on iOS you can see the entire message just off your lock screen, and it STAYS on the screen after. I'm sure similar functionality is on Android.

Live tiles, while in theory, is pretty good, is NOT as good as a pull down notification center that Android and iOS has. In any app, you can see your notifications in one spot. In windows phone, you must exit an app and go to the home screen. Furthermore, in order to see in any detail about all your notifications, you have to make every app a double wide tile, which no one does.

Music player is poor. I listen to music on my phone a lot, and the iOS one is great. WP version is simply not as good. I heard the Android one stinks, but you can download a bunch of third party ones that I'm sure are pretty good.

Multitasking, still barely qualifies as multitasking. Can't delete apps from running.

No Siri/Google Now like service.

And of course, app catalog does not compare to android/ios

Microsoft has had a while to implement some things, like a true notification center, true multitasking that makes sense, and a google now/siri like feature, why haven't they?

 

[anon(157335)]

Re: Still not up to par with iOS or Android

My understanding is that MS said they ran out of time trying to get a notification center included in WP8. Based on that I'm assuming we'll see something down the road, maybe with the next big OS update. If not, there are a couple of developers working on their own notification centers; WPCentral will post news of their release when they are ready I'm sure.

Siri? No thanks. I'm sure some people would have a use for a virtual assistant, but personally the voice control options do what I need them to do. I also have Maluuba installed, though I haven't tried it yet.

As for multitasking, in iOS you double tap the home button to bring up a list of your recently used apps; in WP8 you press and hold the capacitive back arrow button to do the same. I have no issues switching between multiple apps or closing down apps that I don't need open anymore. What more do you want?

 

[Ludwig1976]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

I really don't really understand how in the current age of smartphones WP8 is defensible.

Me too.
Some people told me "Ok, WP misses a lot of basic features, but hey! It now has a shared kernel with W8/RT and MS had to convert it! WP will grow in future, be patience!"

And how this should make me happy when I miss a call due to lacking of separate volume or when I miss a text message due to lacking of repeated notifications? I don't care about the future, I miss calls NOW :-/

 

[Gaichuke]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

I mean, different people have smartphones for different reasons. For you, it's obviously functionality, but for me, I want some artistic creativity as well. Why so abrasive to that idea? It's not for people like you, it's for people like me. Don't like backgrounds? Then leave the background blank. Easy. Done.

It serves no purpose to give people option to make bad choices, not even if they want them. It might even hurt WP platform when people that haven't yet seen a Windows Phone get to see one where someone has put a bad picture of their cat as a background for the Live Tiles and it looks like crap. Not that they can tell that the picture is of a cat, since Live Tiles are blocking most of it anyway.

 

[abel920]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

Okay, I take everything back! No more whining about backgrounds! This app SOLVED everything for me!

http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...st-custom-tile-launches-third-party-apps.html

Sorry for the annoyance!

 

[Narse77]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

I think everyone needs to remember that WP8 is still very very new. iOS and Android have had years to get to where they are and still do not have some of the features that WP8 has. It may be because I have been working IT for close to 20 years and I understand how it takes time to mature. A new product as complex as a operating system will never have everything everyone wants at release that's just impossible given the complexity of modern computing hardware. If WP8 does not suit your needs you have many options. I for one love the fresh approach MS has brought the mobile and desktop world.

 

[CamiKitti]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

Having to use data for Group Messaging. Although, I think that this may be more of a smartphone thing since the iPhone probably does the same thing. I only have 200 mb, so I can't waste much for group messaging.

 

[Ludwig1976]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

I think everyone needs to remember that WP8 is still very very new. iOS and Android have had years to get to where they are and still do not have some of the features that WP8 has.It may be because I have been working IT for close to 20 years and I understand how it takes time to mature. A new product as complex as a operating system will never have everything everyone wants at release that's just impossible given the complexity of modern computing hardware. If WP8 does not suit your needs you have many options. I for one love the fresh approach MS has brought the mobile and desktop world.

It isn't a question of IT or modern OS complexity. It's just business. If they give you the perfect phone, you'll never buy a new one.
However, WP8 doesn't lack "everything everyone wants", it lacks basic features, there's a huge difference.

 

[E Lizzle]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

I think everyone needs to remember that WP8 is still very very new. iOS and Android have had years to get to where they are and still do not have some of the features that WP8 has. It may be because I have been working IT for close to 20 years and I understand how it takes time to mature. A new product as complex as a operating system will never have everything everyone wants at release that's just impossible given the complexity of modern computing hardware. If WP8 does not suit your needs you have many options. I for one love the fresh approach MS has brought the mobile and desktop world.

I see this argument from time to time and it doesn't really work. MS has been in the phone OS market far, far longer than any other OS vendor. They've had years and years and years to get this right. That they've had to completely rewrite the OS two times now is their own internal issue. And the fact that WP 7.8 and WP8 look and function virtually identical even though they are running two entirely different OSs furthers the idea that this isn't an OS issue, it's a suite of missing functionality that sits on top of the OS. MS has had years to develop this suite. Why didn't they do it? It's not an overall corporate priority. In order for WP8 to succeed, it has to be a real priority for MS at the highest levels of their organization.

 

[btgusto]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

Unified app store with w8 and a unified message center.

 

[truthsforme]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

All I ask for is at least Hulu plus app. That seriously can't be too much to ask for. And for goodness sake can they please update THEIR Sudoku app. That thing takes ages just to load a small grid with numbers.

 

[MikeSo]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

I still don't understand how my old "dumb phone" LG Lotus (which is a freaking AWESOME phone, btw) had so much better BASIC cellphone functions than my Lumia 900 does.

On that, I could change not only the ringers for each contact, but the VIBRATION type for each contact, so I knew who was calling just by the type of vibration it was (I rarely use the ringer). It did of course allow me to set the volume differently for ringer, talk volume and music.
How is it even possible that the Lumia (and as I understand it all WP phones) have ONE volume control for all sounds. That's insane. You couldn't even sell a flip phone in 2003 that had that.

Unless MS does something to steer the ship right, NOW, I will love to read the eventual book about how the decisions about Windows Phone brought the giant to its knees. I guarantee there is so much turmoil in MS over the future of the company regarding mobile vs PC that superstorm Sandy seems like a breeze in comparison.

 

[jomarr]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

Playcounts, playcounts, playcounts!

I may be a geek but I work on a weekly music chart and post it on a forum every week. My iPhone keeps track of what I listen to with iTunes. I can do that with last.fm on my Windows Phone but the scrobblers does not really scrobble every song. It has it's errors thus making my chart inaccurate which is not the case with syncing my iPhone with iTunes. It's a bummer they replaced Zune for Xbox Live.

But, I will still be trading my iPhone to a 920. I have an iPod classic and I think it's better for that music player to be more active than being stuck in my room.

 

[krishna6233]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

Custom ringtones
Sound profiles
File Manager
Fm radio
Installing apps in memory card
notification center

These re the things tat is holding me back to buy a Lumia

 

[fjays]

No "select all" option in Windows Phone Desktop App

I absolutely can't believe this.. of course I could already write a considerably list of things my former symbian phone could do or do more easily that the Nokia 820 can't. I'm already an Akruto Sync user to sync without the cloud. Now Nokia Suite used to do a very nice job of syncing between the N82 symbian phone and a chosen directory on the PC. The latest "preview 3" of the WP Desktop App finds all the photos on my PC and tries to make me put them on the phone. Then, if I want to move the photos from phone to PC, it wants me to ..wait for it.. SELECT THE PHOTOS ONE BY ONE! Like what kind of ridiculous oversight is it to not have a "select all" checkbox?!?!

The ongoing gaping holes in WP functionality is approaching tipping point, my days with the device are numbered.. damn pity the old Nokia Suite won't work with Windows Phone 8, sounds like that Zune was better too..

The other highly annoying thing is it insists in invoking itunes every time I start it up. I'm only now and then wanting to sync the music too..

Furthermore, it gives you now choice for the destination directory for your photos.. .

 

[Jupast]

Re: No "select all" option in Windows Phone Desktop App

Yikes, almost as annoying as the size of that font fjays.

But yes, having to select things one by one in the sync software is rather ridiculous. I gave up using it.

 

[weareinfinite]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

I want a lot of the same things other people have mentioned:
-Notification center of some kind
-Faster access to WiFi/bluetooth/data/airplane mode/etc. settings (like swiping left from the home screen for notifications and one-touch toggles for settings)
-Closing apps from the switcher
-Separate volume controls
-Universal search
-Better voice commands (I would like at least some map/direction search functions and calendar entries... I would actually use those.)

I also want some features from Android. I played around with a Nexus 4 the other day, and I started lusting over some of the things you can do with it.
-For one thing, widgets are great. If live tiles had more functionality, I wouldn't be jealous of widgets. As an easy example, if the frickin' ESPN ScoreCenter app actually gave me accurate live scores for my favorite teams, that would be full of win. On the Nexus 4 I plopped an ESPN score widget on the home screen and was scrolling through the current NCAA basketball scores thinking, damn, I wish my 920 could do this.
-Similarly, I would like a news tile that actually cycles through a bunch of headlines and snippets instead of just showing one or two headlines (maybe if the tiles could flip more than once or something.. I know that doesn't make total sense).
(Here's an idea along these lines: what if you could double tap on a tile to activate/highlight it and then "scroll" through content on that tile, like headlines, scores, etc.?)
-I also think it'd be nice to have at least the -option- for the medium-sized tiles for the phone, mail, and messaging to show me more content than a simple count. Scroll through the subjects of my new emails or flip over and tell me who messaged me or something. Why should the double-wide tiles have all the fun? The only double-wide I have pinned is CNN. They take up too much space for my taste.
-I like the new ability to swipe over to a widget from the lock screen, like email, SMS, etc. Then I could swipe over and quickly glance at my new emails without having to open my mail app.
-Swipe typing.. That seems like it can be handy.
-I also think I would frequently use a one-tap Google search bar on my home screen. That seems like such a useful feature. I know we kind of have that with our dedicated search button, but I'd like it if the keyboard came up and my phone was ready to search with just one tap. (I know the Bing photos are beautiful and MS wants to show them off and all, but it seems silly to me to have to press the search button and then tap the search field.)

All in all I really like my 920, and with some of these improvements (and Instagram, I guess.. Sigh) I think Windows Phone could really take off.