What do we actually want out of the next big WP update?

[ag1986]

The pre-emptive stuff can be learnt behaviour. Here's an example. WP8 would need an option in Settings for me to choose which days are "work days" and which are not, with different do not disturb settings for each.

The other pre-emptive behaviour would be more location awareness. Geofenced To Do reminders is an obvious one. But how about location aware Calendar appointment reminders - the phone known where you are, where you have to be, and uses a travel time estimation algorithm to warn you "you really should be setting off, pal".

So basically Google Now? It is aware of work days and weekends, as well as firing location-aware appointment reminders, plus other things like package tracking and flight reminders.

 

[ag1986]

As a developer of the Pebble Watch Pro app I want the following so that WP8 users can have a better smart watch experience:
1) Ability for 3rd party apps to run continuously in background (not the every 30 minute tile updates).
2) Access to incoming phone call, SMS and email information to send on to the watch.
3) Better control over music under the lock screen.
4) Better Bluetooth API support for additional profiles and Bluetooth 4.0/LE.

"You can't have it because security. And battery." is the usual response...

 

[tgp]

This...

I don't want a "notification centre" that copies Android

Then this????

The other pre-emptive behaviour would be more location awareness. Geofenced To Do reminders is an obvious one. But how about location aware Calendar appointment reminders - the phone known where you are, where you have to be, and uses a travel time estimation algorithm to warn you "you really should be setting off, pal".

So a notification center that copies Android isn't OK, but this is? Google Now is all about pre-emptive behaviour, and it does exactly what you've described here. The Geofenced To Do reminders are pretty nice. You can set a reminder to "Get milk the next time I go to Walmart" and when you pull in to any Walmart, the reminder will pop up. The reminder can of course also be time or specific location based. Google Now also tells you when you'd better be leaving for an appointment, taking even traffic into consideration.

The pre-emptive stuff can be learnt behaviour. Here's an example. WP8 would need an option in Settings for me to choose which days are "work days" and which are not, with different do not disturb settings for each. The phone then analyses the log and spots that I first unlock it at certain times of the day on work and non work days, and that I check the weather, a news app and Facebook after that first unlock. So wouldn't it be good for the phone to pre-emptively grab the weather forecast, the main news headline, and a summary of my FB newsfeed posts since DND started, and stick them on the activity log ready for me when I wake up?

This would be pretty cool!

 

[AndyM72]

Well, it is not an exact copy of Google Now. The issue I have with Google Now is it is a cloud service, all the processing is done on Google's servers - firstly you need connectivity (not a given), and secondly you are giving Google a load of info about you that they can data mine. I have a huge problem with this. What I'm suggesting is all done on device. With the MS-Nokia buyout going through, the offline maps ability will be part of "vanilla" WP8.1, and the maps already have additional "layers" of data, like Points of Interest. The travel time estimation could be fed by an additional data layer (chop the world up into a grid, and then rate each grid square by traversal time). Then the estimate system could work out all the grid squares a point to point line passes through, sums the traversal times and uses that to work out when to alert you to get off your ****. Like I said, it's just an estimate.

 

[jmerrey]

Notification center.