This OS is in desperate need of a 2nd home screen.

[N8ter]

I carry my smartphones everywhere and most of my posts come from a Tapatalk client. I think you can figure that out.

Who is "everyone, " btw?

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk

 

[BostonSammy]

By "everyone", I mean every person.

By "bias", I mean "a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation".

Just because everyone doesn't view the notifications issue the same, doesn't mean that most of us can't get along.

I think the point of these discussions is to see what others think so we can learn from each other and influence each other in a respectful manner.

 

[mprice86]

I'd love to know how a discussion about home screens got so personal over a notifications system.

Some people like the way it is, some people think it needs to change; the same is true of pretty much everything in life. How about getting back to discussing ideas of how it could be changed?

Personally I liked the idea someone else gave, on having other buttons under the arrow. I would take it one step further though and have them quite well spaced so you could press one or press and swipe and it would take you to the corresponding screen.

While perhaps a little more horizontal real estate would be nice (they could change it to be more like the Windows 8 Start Screen), I think it's pretty good the way it is. Unlike with android and iOS, I've not found the need to install many apps as the OS has most functions built in so I'm not fighting my way through a stack of software to find what I want.

I have no doubt that at some point there will be a folder style option for stacking tiles, I am also sure though, that it wont be included until it's better than what iOS and Android are offering for folders; which is functional but pretty horrible.

 

[Dave Blake]

We all have an opinion in this thread in our lives and in everything we do. My opinion is this thread started as a good debate on something some think needs improving. Do we need a second home screen? That is the topic of this thread the topic is not who has an opinion. Below this post will be on topic additions to the thread or they will be removed. I suggest everyone review the form rules and keep in mind that insulting other forum members is against forum rules.

Dave

 

[Big Supes]

Big Supes, sorry if what I say upsets you to the point where you need to change it..didnt think it was that bad..

I was only kidding around - hence the wink smiley. It was merely to show you how very different the two statements are. I respectfully move on as per Dave's post. I just didn't want you to think I was upset or had a problem.

Anyway, I pinned the me tile to my home screen and I think it's a lousy excuse for a notification system. At first I thought it was cool when I got a fb like but quickly grew tired of waiting for it to flip. Also Im not too keen on having a picture of myself on my home screen..

I agree that the tile takes a while to flip sometimes. It would be nice if the pause was decreased by 10%.

I disagree that it's lousy. Even at it's worse (being lazy), I can routinely click it, swipe to the right and it loads up any notifications and 'what's new' from 4 different social networks. I can also check in or post an update to all these different platforms from this one single feature. That's not lousy... that's pretty effin cool.

My picture on the home screen never really bothers me, although most of time my Facebook profile picture isn't one of me, anyway.

 

[BostonSammy]

I do agree with another home screen, but it has to be different than the main screen in order to continue differentiating WP in a good way from iOS. I already through out the idea of the screens (1) the main screen for all square tiles (2) the alphabetized app list as it is today (3) a screen to the left for all rectangular tiles. This could also give developers the option of offering square tiles, rectangular tiles or a choice.

Another thought for the third screen, is a metro style list of favorites like on Zune. The list could include favorite apps, websites, people, groups, songs, artist, etc. It would just be in a list form instead of more tiles. It would be great for apps that don't need a live tile.

 

[1jaxstate1]

Evidently you are not getting the picture. Toast notifications only are up for about 5 seconds. Notifications that are insides app that are not at the top often go unseen. The list of notification inside the "me" tile, is for facebook/twitter/Linkden(sp). With over 40,000+ apps, if you can't see a need for a central notification center, or some type of WP7 loyalist, that can't see the problem with this due do your unrelenting love of the OS.

Let's recap... windows phones have toast notifications, live tile notifications and a list of notifications inside many apps, including a running list inside the me tile.

There are clearly not enough ways to view notifications

What do people do when they are sleep at night and you get some type of notification. Assuming you guys are not sleeping with your phone. Do you really get up and check for missed alerts?

People sound like Steve Jobs saying "Your holding it wrong", when you say people should put their "notification" using apps at top. Didn't know you had to use to phone a certain way for it to be useful.

 

[1jaxstate1]

Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles walking down the street at midnight can see that the notification system is the worst out of the four major OSs. Can't see why others can't. People just tend to defend what they are "fans" of.

Because everyone that isn't obviously biased like you has come to that pretty common sense uaability-related conclusion.

The notification system in this OS is extremely lacking.

I guess all you do on your phone play on twitter and Facebook, though.

Do me a favor and ignore me so I don't have to entertain your rhetorical questions.

I'm arrogant. You're bitter and ignorant. Which is worse?

P.S. Good job on toting down the disrespect. By now I'm used to being called names by platform warlocks. No skin off my back

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk

 

[Dave Blake]

Not in defense of anything here OS or other wise but I don't have a need for an intrusive notification system. Having to open a page to clear notifications from apps like weather channel or USA today is one of the reasons I don't like Android. Who want to have to be clearing notifications from a bunch of non essential apps. If I have time and I am looking at the screen then I will pay attention to the 5 second pop up if not I want it to go away. In this way it is my opinion that WP has it rite. Everything else that I do need and want to make sure I don t miss I staple to the screen. MHO

 

[jdd77]

The flashing notification light could be utilized in a MUCH better way than it is now on wp7. When the battery is low, there's a continuous red flashing light until the phone dies. When you miss a call, there's a green flashing light but it's very short lived. WHY isn't there a continuous flashing light to notify you of messages, notifications, alerts or updates?... If it takes awhile to scroll around to see where you have notifications, at least you would be alerted to check. This bugs the crap outta me that wp7 doesn't do this.

 

[power5]

I carry my smartphones everywhere and most of my posts come from a Tapatalk client. I think you can figure that out.

Who is "everyone, " btw?

Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk

Yes, I can tell. Now you do know there is a setting in tapatalk, boardexpress to disable the signature, right? Reminds me of the beginning of the iphone era when I got multitudes of emails saying "sent from my iphone"..... Started to bug me. Like I have any idea what a SGH-T959 is anyway.

Not targeting you, BTW. Anyone with the default sig from board express is on my list.

Not in defense of anything here OS or other wise but I don't have a need for an intrusive notification system. Having to open a page to clear notifications from apps like weather channel or USA today is one of the reasons I don't like Android. Who want to have to be clearing notifications from a bunch of non essential apps. If I have time and I am looking at the screen then I will pay attention to the 5 second pop up if not I want it to go away. In this way it is my opinion that WP has it rite. Everything else that I do need and want to make sure I don t miss I staple to the screen. MHO

Simple fix for that would be a clear all notifications button.

I do not have a big issue with the notifications though. I think it could use some more work, but its not horrible either. Though I just came from a 3G iphone which was basically the same as WP7 for notifications. Scan for little numbers indicating something needs attention.

 

[Rhody#WP]

In my opinion, adding a notification screen would be fine if it's unobtrusive. I wouldn't use it, but I can see the point of it. Adding horizontal real estate to the main home screen would be fine too. That would actually fit more with the Windows 8 design and the Xbox dashboard. If you think about it, the main home screen is kind of like a hub with two spokes: the main screen and the apps list. There would be nothing wrong with extending the hub to include a wider main screen or another spoke for notifications.

The thing that worries me is the mentality that WP needs fixing because it's not like Android. Clearly, if you are a power user, you will want WP to be more like Android with widgets, customizability, notifications, etc. But then again, if you're a power user who wants all that, why not just get an Android phone. I don't want MS to make WP more like Android to the detriment of those of us who like it the way it is.

I, for one, don't want to be inundated with notifications from a hundred apps. If it's not an important phone call, text message, or email, then my world won't end if I miss a notification.

 

[fisci]

Not in defense of anything here OS or other wise but I don't have a need for an intrusive notification system. Having to open a page to clear notifications from apps like weather channel or USA today is one of the reasons I don't like Android. Who want to have to be clearing notifications from a bunch of non essential apps. If I have time and I am looking at the screen then I will pay attention to the 5 second pop up if not I want it to go away. In this way it is my opinion that WP has it rite. Everything else that I do need and want to make sure I don t miss I staple to the screen. MHO

exactly!

That's how I feel as well...

Text tile, phone, me and email are pinned up top so I see the important stuff right away.

It works fine for me

 

[Big Supes]

Yes, I can tell. Now you do know there is a setting in tapatalk, boardexpress to disable the signature, right? Reminds me of the beginning of the iphone era when I got multitudes of emails saying "sent from my iphone"..... Started to bug me. Like I have any idea what a SGH-T959 is anyway.

Not targeting you, BTW. Anyone with the default sig from board express is on my list.

Just my 2 pence...

I've intentionally left both my email and board express signatures 'on'. The reason being is because I feel they serve a purpose. It clearly shows the person you're communicating with that you're away from a computer.

 

[power5]

Just my 2 pence...

I've intentionally left both my email and board express signatures 'on'. The reason being is because I feel they serve a purpose. It clearly shows the person you're communicating with that you're away from a computer.

Could always just tell them you are away if needed. I would rather do that than have my customer decide what I can and can not accomplish because I am away from my desktop at the moment.



There are lots of settings (more than iOS) that can be turned on or off in WP. A notification center could easily be one of those things. So if a toast pops up it mirrors that information into the notification center. If its turned off, it just doesn't get recorded into the center and no harm.

 

[jfa1]

Not in defense of anything here OS or other wise but I don't have a need for an intrusive notification system. Having to open a page to clear notifications from apps like weather channel or USA today is one of the reasons I don't like Android. Who want to have to be clearing notifications from a bunch of non essential apps. If I have time and I am looking at the screen then I will pay attention to the 5 second pop up if not I want it to go away. In this way it is my opinion that WP has it rite. Everything else that I do need and want to make sure I don t miss I staple to the screen. MHO

My humble opinion agrees with you BigD5!

 

[Billone]

Since 1) I'm new to WP7, and 2) I don't have all of the services turned on (facebook, twitter), can I ask the group to lay out all of the apps & integrations that one could get a notification from? Also, please list 1) whether or not there's a live tile that indicates (by a number? or otherwise) when there are notifications/messages that haven't been "seen" (this is different than unread, right?); 2) whether or not there's any count indicator (of unseen messages) on the locked/initial screen (the one that you see when you first turn the phone) on; and 3) whether or not a popup/toaster is used.

I'll start with what I know:

> Email - Live tile count: yes, Lock screen count: yes, toast: ?? (I only sync once every 15 minutes)

> Text messages - Live tile count: yes, Lock screen count: yes, toast: yes

> Phone calls - missed call: Live tile count: yes, Lock screen count: yes, toast: no, *also: green flashing indicator

> Phone calls - voice message: Live tile count: yes, Lock screen count: yes, toast: yes

>Marketplace (app updates): Live tile count: yes, Lock screen count: ???, toast: ???

There's a method to my madness: I'd like to get the full picture of what all the possible messages and notifications are and what interfaces WP7 currently provides to each. I'm not struggling with notifications right now, but like I said, I don't have everything turned on, so I want to know what I'm missing.

Thanks in advance!

 

[N8ter]

Could always just tell them you are away if needed. I would rather do that than have my customer decide what I can and can not accomplish because I am away from my desktop at the moment.



There are lots of settings (more than iOS) that can be turned on or off in WP. A notification center could easily be one of those things. So if a toast pops up it mirrors that information into the notification center. If its turned off, it just doesn't get recorded into the center and no harm.

The only time a notification goes to notification center in ios is if you ignore or miss the toast. If you tap on it to open that app no notification goes there. Microsoft can easily do the same.

And to someone above. You don't have to be a power user to want a decent notification system. I dunno why people are still using the power user crutch to excuse usability and functionality deficiencies.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

 

[Matthew Mazzenga]

What do people do when they are sleep at night and you get some type of notification. Assuming you guys are not sleeping with your phone. Do you really get up and check for missed alerts?

People sound like Steve Jobs saying "Your holding it wrong", when you say people should put their "notification" using apps at top. Didn't know you had to use to phone a certain way for it to be useful.

Steve Jobs??! Now that's a low blow!

But seriously. Yes, I actually do check my phone when I get up in the morning to see if there are any missed calls/messages/whatever. I keep those tiles pinned toward the top of the Start screen, because I want them to be the first things I see when I unlock the phone. It takes me about 5 seconds to check for that info...taking into consideration the time it takes to unlock my screen, and the fact that I'm a little slow first thing in the morning.

Now I'm not saying you can't use the phone however you want, BUT....I do think this is how Microsoft intended it to be used. And before someone spouts off, NO I don't work for MS or know anyone who works for MS, so NO I don't have solid proof of my statement....but it does seem to be the idea that was put out there when the OS first started being talked about. You pin your most used apps to the Start screen, in the form of a live tile. This was a concept that I liked and it was one of the reasons I decided to try the OS out in the first place. And so far, it has worked well for me.

But again, that's just me. If you need something more, then I sincerely hope Microsoft hears your pleas, and answers accordingly. Just as long as you getting what you want doesn't interfere with how I prefer to use MY phone.

Good luck to ya.

 

[N8ter]

Yes, I can tell. Now you do know there is a setting in tapatalk, boardexpress to disable the signature, right? Reminds me of the beginning of the iphone era when I got multitudes of emails saying "sent from my iphone"..... Started to bug me. Like I have any idea what a SGH-T959 is anyway.

Not targeting you, BTW. Anyone with the default sig from board express is on my list.



Simple fix for that would be a clear all notifications button.

I do not have a big issue with the notifications though. I think it could use some more work, but its not horrible either. Though I just came from a 3G iphone which was basically the same as WP7 for notifications. Scan for little numbers indicating something needs attention.

It's a Samsung Vibrant. The T-Mobile USA Galaxy S variant that runs Android 2.2/FroYo.

I tend to post mostly from that and my iPod Touch because the Tapatalk clients on Android and iOS are better than BoardExpress on WP7.