(Official) What WP needs to succeed

[Jazmac]

Re: Skype sucks!

Yeah, it is very very bad, needs lots and lots of work.

What do you say it needs work on?

 

[Optiplex330]

Re: Skype sucks!

Skype has an update today and for today, my Skype's notification seems to work flawlessly. Hopefully it stays that way always.

 

[anony_mouse]

Re: Skype sucks!

I had to remove Skype from my Windows 8 PC because it wanted to merge my Skype and outlook.com accounts. I don't want to do this, for good reasons. I assume future versions will also demand to merge the accounts. Does this mean I can never buy or upgrade a Microsoft product again? Nice one Steve!

 

[Panathas]

-Notification center, some days ago i again got a notification but could not look on the phone.... this notification is still missing....
-Separate volumes, this is a must have!! What did they think when they implemented it this way?? And has the guy still his job??
-Cool features like Google offers (e.g. Google Now or swype keyboard), generally, MORE cool features, give us Cortana, give us something "cool"! A smartphone is a life-style device, not a PC from the 90's.
-Notifications in glance screen (this comes in one month)
-VPN
-More NFC stuff, with my android phone i could tap it on a NFC and bluetooth turned on + music player started playing, why are such easy actions not possible with WP8?
-3 columns on smaller screens!! Why not giving us the choice? The user is stupid MS right?? -.-
- More information about which app drains my battery that much and which exactly uses the internet
- Destroy and burn the "other storage", or at least let us clean it manually....
- File manager, sometimes it IS useful!

So, MS, just do it and all will be fine.

 

[QwarkDreams]

My first "smartphone" was an HTC Magic with Android 1.5. At that time the device felt like it had big potential but also like it was still in development.
After three Android devices with this feeling of "it's still a beta" I switched OS. An iPhone was too expensive so I got my first WP8 device (a nice Lumia 925) and I have to say: it kinda feels the same. It's on the right way but there are all those little things that not really bother, more like take away the smoothness.

For example the settings: MS said they were arranged according to how common they were used. But why are they so split up? Why not put everything thats display-related under "display" or everything with sound (volume, ringtones, equalizer,...) under "sound". There are lots of points in the settings that can be pooled in topics.

Task switcher: ok, it's on the way with GDR3 but why not earlier?

A notification center would be nice. We get "toasts" and can see a few of the notifications on the lock screen (maximum of 5) but an area where you can see all notifications altogether (just like the notification bar/center in Android/iOS) would be very nice and take away some of the frugal feeling.
If Apple can copy it from Google, why not MS?

File explorer: what would be Windows without a proper file explorer? In order to delete files you either need to have an app to open it in first place or have access to the storage via a pc.

Smart dial: ok, we can find contacts through clicking the letters and choose the right one, but what if we want to see if there is a number that matches one of our contacts? There are apps like RapDialer but come on....something like that should be included in the stock app.

There are plenty of other things like the ones I mentioned and if I remember them I shall edit this post.
But if MS and Nokia, HTC, etc. get it together and provide us with efficient updates (not just hot fixes) WP can be on the way to becoming a real threat for iOS and Android or at least a real alternative.

Edit:
Fusing the store regions would be nice too. Ok, you can switch regions in the settings and get access to apps that aren't usually available in your regional store but it would be nice if you didn't have to switch back an forth all the time.

Different color for system tiles: not that a big deal but it would make the "home" page a bit more clear.

Stock apps that don't need to be replaced by 3rd party apps: Bing serch is standard with Windows but why not give users the choice of search engine? Bing News should be an equivalent to other news apps, not something you know you need to replace if you want to get decent news.
I know, I know, MS and Google aren't best pals but neither are Google and Apple and they get decent apps (like Google Search, Maps, GMail, Google Authenticator,...).

WP Store: get your ****z together with the "similar" category! Facebook, WhatsApp, etc aren't similar to foto apps! It's like there's no regulation at all, just take a bunch of (popular) apps and tag them as "similar". This was the thing that annoyed me the most in the early days of Android. I just hope MS can fix it like Google did and make it less of a mess.

 

[1jaxstate1]

Re: Skype sucks!

Do I need to get an Android phone to get a Skype app that works properly. It's **** on my 8X. It only rings mynphone about 40% of the time when someone calls. And I can't get it to stay running in the background.

 

[taymur]

Re: Skype sucks!

What do you say it needs work on?

First of all, speed. it must get faster. as fast as people hub for example.

then, calling should have different levels of quality, meaning if im on a bad connection, it shouldn't keep on hanging up, it can just lower the call quality to adapt to bandwidth.

A way to continue the call even if the network changed from wifi to cellular and vice versa (im on a mobile, this is expected)

i hate the Loading../ Resuming screen..

when you get a call, you are greeted with the beautiful slide up, answer decline thingy, then you get out of that experience to a black resuming...page, and then you are in a different UI of roundy things!! we are WP, we love squares, we hate rounds. lol

profile picture quality, i have no idea why is it this bad.

when im texting, the last thing i sent keeps getting behind the keyboard, why!? and i think there is no correction for text.

im sure there is more, thats what i remember for now. i use Skype on a daily basis, i get these aalll the time.

 

[geoghotas]

I want to advice ms, lumia nokia

I WANT TO ADVICE MS, LUMIA NOKIA
Make a folder moveable, rename detail copy from phone to sd/sd to phone and multiple pictures selection unlimited for bluetooth and no choice to select multiple video selection in camera roll and there is no option to send video songs through Bluetooth and much more have really fix yet.

 

[Cryio]

Re: I want to advice ms, lumia nokia

I WANT TO ADVICE MS, LUMIA NOKIA
Make a folder moveable, rename detail copy from phone to sd/sd to phone and multiple pictures selection unlimited for bluetooth and no choice to select multiple video selection in camera roll and there is no option to send video songs through Bluetooth and much more have really fix yet.

Learn how to write properly first. It's a chore going through your nonsense

 

[colinkiama]

-Notification center, some days ago i again got a notification but could not look on the phone.... this notification is still missing....
-Separate volumes, this is a must have!! What did they think when they implemented it this way?? And has the guy still his job??
-Cool features like Google offers (e.g. Google Now or swype keyboard), generally, MORE cool features, give us Cortana, give us something "cool"! A smartphone is a life-style device, not a PC from the 90's.
-Notifications in glance screen (this comes in one month)
-VPN
-More NFC stuff, with my android phone i could tap it on a NFC and bluetooth turned on + music player started playing, why are such easy actions not possible with WP8?
-3 columns on smaller screens!! Why not giving us the choice? The user is stupid MS right?? -.-
- More information about which app drains my battery that much and which exactly uses the internet
- Destroy and burn the "other storage", or at least let us clean it manually....
- File manager, sometimes it IS useful!

So, MS, just do it and all will be fine.

People need to be posting this in uservoice!

 

[tgp]

Re: Skype sucks!

Do I need to get an Android phone to get a Skype app that works properly. It's **** on my 8X. It only rings mynphone about 40% of the time when someone calls. And I can't get it to stay running in the background.

Maybe this will explain why:

 

[colinkiama]

It needs a notification app that has a live tile that shows all notifications. However how many can be viewed at a glance depends on the size of the live tile.

 

[1jaxstate1]

I disabled "battery saver mode" and rebooted my phone. Skype has been working almost flawlessly. Might want to give it a try if you're having problems receiving calls and other notifications.

 

[guillams]

I disabled "battery saver mode" and rebooted my phone. Skype has been working almost flawlessly. Might want to give it a try if you're having problems receiving calls and other notifications.

I use it btw, I just say that it need a lot of work to be a Microsoft own services!

 

[1jaxstate1]

It needs an update for sure. My little suggestion worked for a day or so, now its being non functional alot,again

I use it btw, I just say that it need a lot of work to be a Microsoft own services!

 

[jomarr]

Play counts for music geeks (like me)

 

[rusty_sim]

I've only used skype once but I was able to successfully videocall a friend in china for ~45 minutes no problem.

Using a L820 with Amber.

I would like to see the VIZ manga app come to WP.

 

[sundevil1982]

I recently switched from my iPhone 4s to a used Lumia 822 since I wanted to try it out without being stuck on a contract. I must say that windows phone definitely has the potential to be better than android or ios, as far as the basic operating system goes. However, the apps are pretty bad in comparison to both platforms. Hopefully Microsoft can fix this before the iPhone 6 is released or I'll be switching back.

 

[AdamHunterATC]

Disclaimer: I haven't read this entire thread, so I'm sure I'm repeating a lot of what others have said.

My next upgrade is on July 4 (perfect timing for Independence Day sales here in the US!), and here are the things that WP will need to do to keep me (in no particular order):

1. Notification Center. Yes, Live Tiles are great, but they just can't always do the job. It's really annoying when my phone vibrates, and I check it 5 minutes later only to find that I have no idea why it vibrated. I don't know which app prompted the toast notification. It's the same issue iOS had before Apple added Notification Center. It's very annoying.

Rumors have Microsoft adding one via swiping from the top. I really hope that's not the case, as that seems like a blatant rip off from Android/iOS. It also doesn't seem to mesh well with the OS design. I don't see why it'd be hard to simply swipe to the left from the Start Screen. Makes more sense in the Modern UI design.

2. Settings Toggles. It took Apple 6 years to add this, so I'm not too bothered by it. But it would be great. It could also be included by swiping to the left from the Start Screen.

3. Voice Assistant. This is rumored to be the "Cortana" feature in 8.1. I really hope it happens. And it needs to be as good or better than Siri/Google Now.

4. Fix the "Loading" and "Resuming" screens. Most of the time this screens are short-lived, but sometimes they stay on the screen for 5+ seconds before the app appears. That disrupts the continuity of the OS. Even if the app does need to "load" or "resume", find a prettier way to do it.

5. Fix the back button. The back button is so inconsistent between various apps. Will it go backward in the app? Will it close the app and take me back to the Start Menu? Who knows?!

6. Separate Volume Levels I hate that the same volume I have set for the ringtone is the same volume for music is the same volume for notifications is the same volume for videos.

7. The Little Things. This is a mobile OS in 2014, and I can't search for events in the calendar? Really? Nor do I have a week view in the calendar? I can't attach Office documents directly to an email? There isn't a built-in stopwatch/timer? C'mon, Microsoft.

In my opinion, Windows Phone 8.1 will be the "make it or break it" point for the OS. It needs to either bring the OS up to par with Android or iOS, or it's going to start losing the small marketshare it has gained. They can't rely on the L52x series for marketshare anymore when phones like the Moto G are coming out.

 

[Frustrated8888]

Windows Phone Frustrations

Hey everyone,

I came from the iPhone 4 and wanted to switch because of the lack of options and versatility that iPhone. As Windows is usually better about customization, I was excited to get my Windows Phone. Plus it has great hardware.

My god, I didn't think Windows saw Apple's success and started doing the same limiting BS but even more so. I didn't think I would have even more issues trying to customize my phone. It's ridiculous to the point of the silly.

The lack of app support is nothing short of crippling. It means that if you have an issue with the browser or any apps, you're basically out of luck. Oh yea, there aren't any browsers except for IE. I have no idea how that happened. But there are several minor issues with IE that become crippling because of bad implementation. Like for instance you can't access your favorites with a single button. Seriously, I have this massive screen, but apparently the designers of IE felt it was too terrible to use two rows for the menu. It's a joke. There's a single customizable button, so I guess if I never needed to refresh (???) I could make it convenient to access my favorites?

That's a minor issue, but there's also no Back button. That's kind of a massive functionality problem. There's a back button for the phone, but depending on your previous actions, this can send you back to the home screen or the Tabs screen. So if you're wandering around say, facebook (because the facebook app is pretty crappy), you'll actually sometimes find that it is impossible to go back without simply re-navigating to the page. It's especially true if you go back and forth between your email and browser. I didn't even know it was possible to design a browser with that kind of problem. It's impressive if nothing else.

I have a Nokia phone, so it came with a nice Nokia music app. There's an XBox music app, but as far as I can see, that can't play music that's actually on the phone itself (although now it seems to have merged minds with my Nokia app so it can). I don't have nor want an XBox, so maybe there's some magical functionality I'm missing here. Syncing the music from my computer to the phone was actually very easy thanks to Windows Media Player (which is a fantastic program), but then I found issues just playing the music. Because there's not even Windows Media Player for the phone. lol, windows doesn't even support their own phone. So I've relied on the Nokia music app, which is a joke. I've never seen something try SO hard to browse local files. It takes forever, and even crashes! It crashes just looking at files that are stored on the phone. I've never seen that before.

But it's got a great screen and such, so maybe it's good for watching things. I enjoy watching Twitch.tv a lot, so let's try streaming (with an unofficial app, of course). I found out that it can't play twitch natively from IE, which I was not expecting. But there's a bigger problem here. iPhone's have a single real button that can shut off the video, and you can even set it to 'hold' so that it doesn't do that. My Nokia? No such luck. If you press any of those three fake buttons at any time while watching something, you just have to navigate allllll the way back. Oh, and it doesn't save your place, so you'll just have to press that forward button a bunch if it was a youtube video. Oh yea, and there's no 'hold' switch to disable button pressing either. Good luck with that.

Oh and one of those buttons brings up a Bing search page, which serves as a nice reminder that windows is just trying to force me to use Bing. What kind of evil corporate overlord came up with that one? Go away. Stop putting corporate BS on my phone when there are serious functionality gaps. (Oh, and as an aside, the apps for Windows 8 desktop are also a joke. They're just the normal programs for desktop with gimped functionality.) I don't know what happened to Windows. But this is certainly not the design I was expecting. This is more the design I would expect from a Chinese knockoff of Apple.

So I have a contract for my Windows Phone because I let my two months go by. Even so, I suppose I could go back to my iPhone 4. At least that's more than a glorified camera.