How bad is tablet mode for Windows 10?

[Salokinos]

In a pinch this is how I feel so far:
?Windows 7 equaled great desktop UI, but horrible (and obviously not designed) for touch.
?Windows 8, a great tablet UI, but with serious deficiencies (more like unintuitive UI) for desktop/ non touch users.
? Windows 8.1 brought many grew changes for both tablets/ touch screen devices and non touch screen devices. It isn't perfect by any means but they seemed headed in the right direction.
? Windows 10 has a great desktop. The decisions here seem on the money, but what happened to that fantastic touch UI? There are so many issues so far that I cringe using it in tablet mode. For example: Snapping two apps side by side is now much less intuitive, having a blank desktop while tablet mode seems pointless, getting to all applications is cumbersome and not nearly as slick as windows 8.1. Cortana search (I know its still Beta) is far inferior to the hero and start screen search. I loved being able to swipe in from the left to switch programs. Now I get this grid of thumbnails representing my open apps, it isn't horrible, but you have to touch this tiny x to close each thumbnail, why can't we swipe down to close them like in windows phone 8.1? There are some things I like: Making desktop and modern (store applications) behave the way, and i do like the notification center as well the idea behind continuum mode or whatever it is called, I just hope that it gets a lot more touch friendly before the final release, so that I will enjoy my surface as much as I did in the past.


I'm just wondering if anyone else feels this way. Am I alone my opinion? Please forgive the spelling/ grammar errors. I've typed this on my Lumia 1520 on a quick break at work.

Cheers,
Niko

 

[Coreldan]

I rolled back to 8.1. pretty soon, the tablet/touch side of things was so heavily lacking at this point.

I think 8.1 is really close to perfection, all they would have to add is some choices for people (like if they want to use an old style start screen, just let them tick a box for it).

 

[anon(5335899)]

It was very clearly announced touch is _very_ early and rough in the current TP. And frankly, desktop is not much different from 8.1 or 8 really. Only exception is the start menu which I personally do not care for anyway.

 

[hagjohn]

It's more like 7.10 than 10. From what I've seen of the TP, touch mode is going to suffer. Start screen has the start menu in it. The start menu is a mess. The new icons for the os are absolutely horrible looking. Possible task bar when in tablet mode. What was nice about 8.x was it's simplicity, it's cleanliness ... and from what I see of 7.10, so far and it's early so it could change, it's a cluttered mess.

 

[anon(5335899)]

I assume you read my response and are aware of what MSFT has been very clear about? Or are you just hitting reply to get your pointless, biased and uninformed 2cts in..?

 

[nmercy]

I do hope they make the tablet mode more like Windows 8/8.1 though I do fear that they'll go so anti-8 that they'll trash the good things about 8.

As has been said, this is an early look at it and continuum mode basically just says "hey, we do plan to make the tablet/desktop experiences different but we're not ready to show you that."

I would expect the next build or the one after that to have the full tablet mode actually implemented as it should be fairly similar to the phone version in terms of look and interaction... especially if the reports of June RTM are correct.

 

[anon(5335899)]

I would expect the tablet experience to be more like the phone, yes. This would actually make sense and IMO will certainly be an improvement and provide a solid and consistent UI and UX across touch form factors. If this means the start screen on phones will also rotate depending on the position of he phone that would be even better.

 

[hyperthermia]

omg yes i hate the win 10 tablet mode interface too. the best way to fix this is to hide the taskbar and the start menu and yet make it available when a forced swipe is made. pulling the tiles to the right should bring out the start menu and a bottom edge swipe should show the taskbar at autohide. fast app switching is also more efficient in the touch mode and the way we open two windows side by side. you can keep those grid of open apps on the desktop mode. i respect the desktop improvements to make it more friendly to users but the tablet mode should be a real tablet interface and not desktop with programs/apps maximized. i wanted to update my surface pro 3 but its a tablet first for me and i just cant accept that design. windows 8.1 minus the desktop plus apps should have been the best mobile os. and while waiting for those apps to come we dont need to settle for a maximized desktop to use a windows tablet.

 

[Coreldan]

My biggest problem at this time (since touch still isnt nearly finished, I almost hope its more like "barely started") is that they butchered snapping and the mouse shortcuts from Windows 8. I want to cycle through stuff by clicking the top left corner, I want to be able to see the "modern alt tab screen" from there too. I want to close modern apps by dragging em down too. More importantly, I want to snap like I used to be able to, one of the best features of Win 8 for me. The new "improved" aerosnap is something, but far inferior.

 

[anon(5335899)]

I sure hope you are using the feedback tool to let MSFT know what you think?!

 

[Coreldan]

I did write it somewhere, but it seemed a bit hard to do/use/give feedback, but it's a while ago already so I dont remember why I felt that way. It's a bit of a dilemma cos in a way I would like to actively participate in trying to shape Win 10 so that I would want to use it too, but using it at the moment is so excruciating that I cant get myself to use it. At the same time I'm pretty sure the things I'm hoping for will never happen, though.

Even for my desktop PC usage, I'm seriously considering sticking to Windows 8.1 unless they change ALOT about how Windows 10 works now. I dont like the idea that I'd stick to an old OS when I can upgrade for free, but it feels more like a downgrade, once again, UNLESS things radically change.

 

[anon(5335899)]

There's a specific app installed with the TP to provide feedback, how hard can it be. Frankly anyone moaning and complaining about anything and not provide feedback IMO should be ignored. If you can spend the time to complain but not to provide the feedback to MSFT you are not really interested in getting this product better.

 

[JamesDax]

Well we won't know until the finished product is release. As it is now in this pre beta tech preview, it certainly could be better and it most likely will be as MS tweaks the OS based off the user feedback they get from this pre beta tech preview. Personally, I don't think it's that bad.

 

[JamesDax]

I did write it somewhere, but it seemed a bit hard to do/use/give feedback, but it's a while ago already so I dont remember why I felt that way. It's a bit of a dilemma cos in a way I would like to actively participate in trying to shape Win 10 so that I would want to use it too, but using it at the moment is so excruciating that I cant get myself to use it. At the same time I'm pretty sure the things I'm hoping for will never happen, though.

Even for my desktop PC usage, I'm seriously considering sticking to Windows 8.1 unless they change ALOT about how Windows 10 works now. I dont like the idea that I'd stick to an old OS when I can upgrade for free, but it feels more like a downgrade, once again, UNLESS things radically change.

​Nothing hard about the user feed back tool. Sounds to me like you shouldn't have installed this tech preview in the first place.

 

[hlov]

Mate, it's crape, feel exactly the same as you, they are ruining the touch UI. it looks like Metro IE is out and it's their best browser ever. I don't use any of the streaming apps cos the websites work pretty well on it.
I will stay on W 8.1 and WP 8.1

 

[nmercy]

Mate, it's crape, feel exactly the same as you, they are ruining the touch UI. it looks like Metro IE is out and it's their best browser ever. I don't use any of the streaming apps cos the websites work pretty well on it.
I will stay on W 8.1 and WP 8.1

They most likely will just have the apps reskin themselves when they go between desktop and tablet mode in continuum. Continuum most likely sets a flag so this should be possible... I also imagine that when that flag gets flipped things will also act a lot more like 8.1 does now, they just haven't implemented it yet.

 

[dandrayan]

It's still lacking features and pretty buggy on my Dell Venue 8 Pro, so I've found myself avoiding Tablet Mode. I can't display the menu or use the minimize and close buttons because of a bug that hides the menu bar. I've filed feedback on everything I've found and strongly encourage everyone else to do the same through the built-in Windows Feedback app. Describe your issues in detail and submit screenshots to Microsoft!

 

[rory753]

the win10 TP is really for desktop at this moment, and not really for tablets. I wouldn't install on my primary device if it was a tablet/sp2. I do like seeing the progress they've made in some of the areas. for instance, the camera app is the same as the lumia camera app. we now actually have a word/excel/powerpoint that's meant for tablets. powerpoint is really cool, since you can create a drawing board during a presentation. I'm still pretty hesitant to use it for my work, but I really want this capability. there are things lacking, though, but its a preview. you're suppose to find fault with it and report it to msft. that's the whole point.

in fact, why are you commenting here, and not to msft?

 

[Toni76]

It looks like a lose-lose situation for Microsoft. They cannot please everyone. Now all the desktop users are going to be happy, and the people that liked Windows 8/8.1 will complain.

 

[Skamath]

In a pinch this is how I feel so far:
?Windows 7 equaled great desktop UI, but horrible (and obviously not designed) for touch.
?Windows 8, a great tablet UI, but with serious deficiencies (more like unintuitive UI) for desktop/ non touch users.
? Windows 8.1 brought many grew changes for both tablets/ touch screen devices and non touch screen devices. It isn't perfect by any means but they seemed headed in the right direction.
? Windows 10 has a great desktop. The decisions here seem on the money, but what happened to that fantastic touch UI? There are so many issues so far that I cringe using it in tablet mode. For example: Snapping two apps side by side is now much less intuitive, having a blank desktop while tablet mode seems pointless, getting to all applications is cumbersome and not nearly as slick as windows 8.1. Cortana search (I know its still Beta) is far inferior to the hero and start screen search. I loved being able to swipe in from the left to switch programs. Now I get this grid of thumbnails representing my open apps, it isn't horrible, but you have to touch this tiny x to close each thumbnail, why can't we swipe down to close them like in windows phone 8.1? There are some things I like: Making desktop and modern (store applications) behave the way, and i do like the notification center as well the idea behind continuum mode or whatever it is called, I just hope that it gets a lot more touch friendly before the final release, so that I will enjoy my surface as much as I did in the past.


I'm just wondering if anyone else feels this way. Am I alone my opinion? Please forgive the spelling/ grammar errors. I've typed this on my Lumia 1520 on a quick break at work.

Cheers,
Niko

For some gr8 points that you make have you given feedback to MS? I am sure they will consider the swipe down to close in tablet mode.