What android features would you like to see in WM10?

[Laura Knotek]

I'm not sure which OEM Android launchers provide landscape home screens. Stock Android does not. I have a device that runs stock Android, but I use Nova Launcher for landscape home screens.

 

[a5cent]

^ the people asking for that aren't thinking it through.
That works for home screens where all icons are the same square shape and size, and are arranged on a grid. Assuming our live tiles aren't all squares, there's simply no way to automatically transform a vertical start screen into a horizontal start screen without making a complete mess of tile placement. It would just be a jumbled mess.
The only way that could work is if live tile size and placement remained unchanged, and only their content was rotated, but that would require every app to support that capability... unlikely.

 

[libra89]

^ the people asking for that aren't thinking it through.
That works for home screens where all icons are the same size and are arranged on a grid. Assuming our live tiles aren't all squares, there's simply no way to automatically transform a vertical start screen into a horizontal start screen without making a complete mess of tile placement. It would just be a jumbled mess.
The only way that could work is if live tile size and placement remained unchanged, and only their content was rotated, but that would require every app to support that capability... unlikely.

And considering that some of these apps haven't been updated in years, it would probably never happen.

 

[damonator98]

^ the people asking for that aren't thinking it through.
That works for home screens where all icons are the same square shape and size, and are arranged on a grid. Assuming our live tiles aren't all squares, there's simply no way to automatically transform a vertical start screen into a horizontal start screen without making a complete mess of tile placement. It would just be a jumbled mess.
The only way that could work is if live tile size and placement remained unchanged, and only their content was rotated, but that would require every app to support that capability... unlikely.

Had this same idea today. That's the only way if you don't want to make mess

 

[mkKozak]

^ the people asking for that aren't thinking it through.
That works for home screens where all icons are the same square shape and size, and are arranged on a grid. Assuming our live tiles aren't all squares, there's simply no way to automatically transform a vertical start screen into a horizontal start screen without making a complete mess of tile placement. It would just be a jumbled mess.
The only way that could work is if live tile size and placement remained unchanged, and only their content was rotated, but that would require every app to support that capability... unlikely.

You're wrong. It is easy to do. On desktop Windows you have groups of tiles. You could have them in Phone too.
More and more UWP apps support continuum by aplying adjustable size feature to them. It could be done exactly the same way on the home screen. The groups that are beneath, could just occure next to already visible group.
Making this feature is just an act of will. What bothers me is, how apps list could look. Maybe kind of like in W8.1

 

[tgp]

I'm not sure which OEM Android launchers provide landscape home screens.

The stock Android launcher supports landscape home screens as of about two weeks ago. There was a big update in the middle of January which added that feature. 3rd party launchers have done it for awhile.

 

[a5cent]

You're wrong. It is easy to do. On desktop Windows you have groups of tiles. You could have them in Phone too.
More and more UWP apps support continuum by aplying adjustable size feature to them. It could be done exactly the same way on the home screen. The groups that are beneath, could just occure next to already visible group.
Making this feature is just an act of will. What bothers me is, how apps list could look. Maybe kind of like in W8.1

Yeah, you're not thinking it all the way through. Either that, or you'd be happy with rather arbitrary tile placement.

 

[colinkiama]

Re: What android features you'd like to see in WM10 ?

USB OTG function in WM10 would be a great addition

Transferring files, audio, movies, pictures, etc from and to the phone would be a breeze if the WM10 had the USB OTG feature.

This is actually available on the Lumia 950/950 XL

 

[colinkiama]

Re: What android features you'd like to see in WM10 ?

In response to original post:

1) ability to do more in the background
2) better clip board
3) IR remote
4) ability of the browser to display all of the internet, not just some parts
5) unlimited windows (not just 7)

There was a time we had 14 windows and that slowed down windows 10 Mobile. They still left the 14 apps in the background though. That's why some apps magically come back from the dead when you press that back button sometimes when when you think you've closed every app in the multitasking screen.

 

[Luta Dacian]

Google play

 

[damonator98]

Google play

That would destroy consistiency between UI and app interface, but considering that we're in great need of apps, that'd help for some time.

 

[mkKozak]

Yeah, you're not thinking it all the way through. Either that, or you'd be happy with rather arbitrary tile placement.

You're right with first placement. But if they can save tile placement right now, then what's the problem with saving second one for landscape? None.

 

[a5cent]

You're right with first placement. But if they can save tile placement right now, then what's the problem with saving second one for landscape? None.

That is of course possible, but it would require us to configure and manually maintain the placement of each tile on two start screens. Anytime we add, remove, resize or move a tile on the vertical start screen, we'd in most cases want similar adjustments to occur on the horizontal start screen as well. People are rarely methodical enough to manage such "duplications" consistently, nor should they have to be. What you're suggesting is a maintenance nightmare, meaning half the time users would rotate their device only to discover that the tile they are interested in simply hasn't yet been adequately positioned on one or the other start screen layout, which largely defeats the purpose. This would also be the only UI I'm aware of (in any app) that couldn't automatically decide how to best derive a horizontal layout from a vertical layout without continual/repeated user configuration.

This is the opposite of "it just works".

 

[sheldon cohn]

Basically I want to decrease the app gap, I like the Windows phone, but feel some of the apps
being created should be available for the Windows phone. Microsoft should have a tech team
working on apps creation.

 

[damonator98]

Basically I want to decrease the app gap, I like the Windows phone, but feel some of the apps
being created should be available for the Windows phone. Microsoft should have a tech team
working on apps creation.

Agreed ! For me it basically is main and only real drawback of wp/wm.

 

[DCTF]

On Android, I use a 3rd party app called Pushbullet which is also installed to my PC. When I'm at my PC, my phone's activity can open pop-ups in the corner of my screen allowing me to send and receive SMS/Whatsapp/Facebook Messenger etc, push files remotely, be alerted to phone calls and so on. It has shared copy-and-paste, so I can copy text on one device, pick up the other and paste it there. All of this happens in just a couple of clicks: very fast, very easy. This is just one of many apps that make my Android phone and PC feel more unified. Windows and Windows Phone need to be strongly bonded like this, or more so. The Start Menu is so much like a Windows Phone that for a while I wondered if MS might allow WP users to configure a second Windows button on the desktop to bring up a copy of their phone with all of its functions.

In the OS itself, I really like having three panels, with my main phone face and then a swipe to take me left to a pane of opened widgets (much like having Live Tiles), or right to a ton of app icons. If I don't like that, I can have a big scrollable app list in a panel, or fill the main pane with responsive widgets if I want, or just slim it down to one or two panes. Nova Launcher offers a huge amount of control, and the range of launchers has become a big strength for Android now. I can see why MS would like a fairly strict design language for its phones, but frankly it hasn't stopped users from making eyesores with it. Maybe they ought to open it up now for users to have as much control as they have over their home PCs. The classic Windows 10 look can still be the default and the one that gets pushed in advertising, but if it sells more phones to allow people to really control the look (and, perhaps more importantly, if it persuades other manufacturers to come out with their own distinctive Windows Phones like they do with Androids) then maybe that's to everyone's benefit.

Everyone needs to look at Drupe and think about incorporating what they've done into the phone OS instead of a dialler. The way you open it, the way it's always there everywhere you go, the way you can drag a contact onto an app icon and immediately open up a conversation with that person... it's one of the most impressive things I've seen in my short time on Android, and I think WP is uniquely well positioned to make that kind of feature fully mesh with its OS.

 

[Mad Cabbie]

Yeah, you're not thinking it all the way through. Either that, or you'd be happy with rather arbitrary tile placement.

May I be so bold as to say that MSFT have probably looked at that? It would be fine and dandy on a phablet or xl derivative, but like you, I see it as a mess with tiles. Icons, as on a desktop, would be fine, but then you lose the uniqueness of windows phone? Wouldn't you end up with something that, by another name, would just be another droid wannabe. I love the live tiles. You don't really need to stare at the screen to tap what you want. It becomes second nature. I know top right is outlook. The rest, Cortana can deal with. And she does it well. Anything else, I've got to deal with is notified by my band. Sorry for the ramble.....

 

[a5cent]

^ Obviously, you can say whatever you want, although I'm not sure how bold your statement really is. I think the horizontal start screen idea is so darn obvious that it would be far bolder to suggest that MS' hasn't yet considered (and discarded) it.

 

[Deepak]

My list may or may not be including features unique to Android. These are just the very basic features a competitive OS must have.

1. Default apps.
2. Installing both legit and patched APPX files from the File Explorer with a progress dialogue.
3. Open source at least the start screen, action center, volume bar and navigation bar.
4. Customizable keyboard skin.
5. Animated widgets on lock screen and start screen.
6. Option to switch between vertical scrolling start screen or horizontal (like pages on Android).
7. Power menu with Restart option when holding Power button.
8. YouTube.
9. Brightness slider.
10. Alarm volume.
11. Open apps directly from lock screen like camera and Groove.
12. More features in Action center like download/update progress with percentage, Groove (media) control.
13. Native font support.
14. Offline (SD card/external storage) phone backup.
15. Defer updates.

 

[Mad Cabbie]

^ Obviously, you can say whatever you want, although I'm not sure how bold your statement really is. I think the horizontal start screen idea is so darn obvious that it would be far bolder to suggest that MS' hasn't yet considered (and discarded) it.

I was concurring with you I agreed with what you said, but it would be short sighted by MSFT if they hadn't looked at it. Oh, hang on, it's MSFT we are talking about here isn't it