I've been using windows 10 for the past day and here are my general thoughts and some bugs found (working through submitting each through windows feedback as well)
Update 1:
Last Update (2/17):
I think that's enough testing for me, I will be reverting to 8.1 when I get a chance in the next few days. Looking forward to hearing about new builds to check out down the road.
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UPDATE: I still have the below opinion on UI/UX, even with more use over the last couple days. However, I took notice of the OneDrive app recently. It uses both the updated design language and the gesture based pivot. Because the pivot pages are all visible, this would also translate to a point and click use. I wonder if that UI will be employed in more places...
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Day 1 rant below:
My biggest issue in these (very very vey) early days...is with the changes in UI principles. I've withheld judgement until now...thinking that I just have to try these new apps first. Well, we're now able to see the ideas from all those screenshots in actual practice. And it is not pleasant. In just a short time, I'm getting increasingly frustrated with having to use the phone two-handed unexpectedly. This is mostly to reaching up to the top left of the screen to hit the hamburger icon. But it happens in other cases as well (Cortana search categories, or other "options" displayed at the top of the screen). I guess I don't really care if it's a hamburger icon or 3 dots... (although 3 dots had the advantage of a low vertical profile that could be expanded on swipe). The larger concern is the placement...and how using this functions in practice can best be described as awkward.
Is it just because I've been using windows phone since WP7 that I'm stuck on this? (I came from a Galaxy S before that, so this is pre-burger days).
I hope that pivots, gestures, and bottom screen placement of actions makes a return. Realistically...I'm not sure that they actually will. Regardless of how the icons look...it's these key usage scenarios that drive how efficiently we interact with the device.
I'm dreading the band-aid that comes along with this, like a gesture to "shrink the whole screen for one handed use so that you can reach that hamburger button we intentionally put in a bad location"...ala iPhone 6 plus...
I'm sorry, I tried to keep emotions in check, but I lost it with this last point. Feeling sorry for thinking the people in the comments were over emotional nut jobs when screenshots were being release...because I think they may have been right all along. Here's hoping that continued feedback is well received, and that we see some great improvements along the way during these previews.
(I've also been testing windows 10 on a SP3 the past month...and man...it is starting to look bleak for those of us that "bought 100% into" the Metro UI, but great for desktop users and fans of other platforms. We're sadly outnumbered, and MS has to understandably follow the money...ultimately the mass population didn't buy into Metro. There's still time, I feel like there's a happy middle ground that hasn't been found yet...)
- The new apps, like file explorer and photos run very well (smooth). I understand that functionality is a work in progress..but they are a good start.
- Keyboard - Missing long hold for numbers in top row (I feel like this was a commonly used shortcut (?), hopefully this makes a comeback)
- Keyboard - Meh on the "nub", I suspect it's most useful in office apps during editing. I'm a bad use case for this. The carrot is easier to control in simple texts and emails for me. Heavy mobile Office users might enjoy this a bit more. If you don't need it though, it's not in the way...so I'm all for having this as an option!
- Notifications - Generally all welcomed "refinements" and added functionality, good job!
- Cortana - Removed music search, and music search history functionality. This is a big loss for me, I pretty much only use cortana to search web, local, images, and for music search. The other "assistant" functions are nice, but I feel are at times gimmicky...it hurts to lose a key search function that I relied on. It was integrated nicely to the OS and Xbox Music...so while we can use other apps...the cortana approach was simple and integrated.
- Cortana - Visually, I don't like the accent colored search box ("meh" on the grey horizontal lines as well). I appreciated the "cleaner" look of the old cortana more
- Cortana - Search results are messy...I'm not sure what the direction is here? I see buttons for the different search categories? But they don't all fit on screen? ....I miss the pivot UI to just swipe between categories...more on this below. For now, chalk it up to early build I think.
- Settings - Nice! Finally organized...works well
- Performance - *update* As others have reported, a hard reset following the upgrade brings back smooth performance/transitions
- Visual - not a fan of the flash of full screen accent color before launching an app...it's a bit jarring...it almost looks like a glitch...in fact I guess I'm not sure if this is intentional or not...basic black would be fine. [Edit: This may not be a visual element in the transition effect, but rather a bug as some are alluding to in other threads. It may just be coincidence that blue matches my accent color]
- Bug - Living images are not playing back, neither previously taken living images, or newly captured. [Edit: I tried copying back all of the images and related living image files after the reset, then went to the camera settings and hit "fint photos and videos shot with nokia camera", but this did not resolve
- Bug - Playing a video from IE does not launch the full screen player. It loads a screen with a web player in the middle of it, zoomed out a bit. Clicking the full screen button is also buggy, I end up with a crop of only 1/4 of the video. (Suspect this is all due to the transition period from IE to Spartan)
- Recently Installed List - in the App List is "ok" I guess...but I don't get much utility from it...I just clear the list and move on.
- Bug - Picture browser crashes often. i.e. trying to select a photo for lockscreen or startscreen background. Keep trying and it works eventually.
Update 1:
- Performance - Phone get's noticeably warm on extended calls; not "hot", just "warm"; this did not happen with my L830 on Win8.1 (Heat focused at top left of phone) (Still true following hard reset)
- Visual Bug (?) - I noticed the ugly thick accent color border (similar to what is there in the cortana search box, in other areas, notably when I use the file explorer picker for email attachments. It looks out of place whenever I see it...so I'm now thinking this may be a bug as opposed to an intentional visual element...
- Networking - Cellular reception seems fine. I feel like my WiFi signal strength weaker at further ranges than it used to be...unconfirmed though.
Last Update (2/17):
- Bug - I sometimes get a flash of another screen when waking up my phone; i.e. this morning the notifications screen flashed before being shown my lock screen.
- Bug - When you first drop the notification drawer, I can see a bottom slice of the next row of quick buttons for a second. Then they disappear.
- Significantly reduced battery life. I typically would charge my phone every other night. My battery is now dead in one day, off of the charger around 7:30am, and dead by around 8-9pm.
- I do like the new start screen background option, and am happy to hear that the old transparent tile option will also be back in a future build. It's nice to have that user choice to personalize the device.
- I don't play many games, but noticed that Age of Empires: Castle Siege fails to launch in this build. I have not had any other issues in my other commonly used apps.
- Settings Visual - Organizing the settings is nice, but it needs some improvement visually. I would prefer the icons to be more in line with the current design language (unless that's changing?). They currently have a "wireframe" like look, whereas other icons in the OS are heavier. Currently it's only shown in black with a cyan accent. I'm assuming the user theme would take over in later builds.
- Bug - Cannot launch screenshots full screen in app listings
I think that's enough testing for me, I will be reverting to 8.1 when I get a chance in the next few days. Looking forward to hearing about new builds to check out down the road.
---------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: I still have the below opinion on UI/UX, even with more use over the last couple days. However, I took notice of the OneDrive app recently. It uses both the updated design language and the gesture based pivot. Because the pivot pages are all visible, this would also translate to a point and click use. I wonder if that UI will be employed in more places...
---------------------------------------------------------
Day 1 rant below:
My biggest issue in these (very very vey) early days...is with the changes in UI principles. I've withheld judgement until now...thinking that I just have to try these new apps first. Well, we're now able to see the ideas from all those screenshots in actual practice. And it is not pleasant. In just a short time, I'm getting increasingly frustrated with having to use the phone two-handed unexpectedly. This is mostly to reaching up to the top left of the screen to hit the hamburger icon. But it happens in other cases as well (Cortana search categories, or other "options" displayed at the top of the screen). I guess I don't really care if it's a hamburger icon or 3 dots... (although 3 dots had the advantage of a low vertical profile that could be expanded on swipe). The larger concern is the placement...and how using this functions in practice can best be described as awkward.
Is it just because I've been using windows phone since WP7 that I'm stuck on this? (I came from a Galaxy S before that, so this is pre-burger days).
I hope that pivots, gestures, and bottom screen placement of actions makes a return. Realistically...I'm not sure that they actually will. Regardless of how the icons look...it's these key usage scenarios that drive how efficiently we interact with the device.
I'm dreading the band-aid that comes along with this, like a gesture to "shrink the whole screen for one handed use so that you can reach that hamburger button we intentionally put in a bad location"...ala iPhone 6 plus...
I'm sorry, I tried to keep emotions in check, but I lost it with this last point. Feeling sorry for thinking the people in the comments were over emotional nut jobs when screenshots were being release...because I think they may have been right all along. Here's hoping that continued feedback is well received, and that we see some great improvements along the way during these previews.
(I've also been testing windows 10 on a SP3 the past month...and man...it is starting to look bleak for those of us that "bought 100% into" the Metro UI, but great for desktop users and fans of other platforms. We're sadly outnumbered, and MS has to understandably follow the money...ultimately the mass population didn't buy into Metro. There's still time, I feel like there's a happy middle ground that hasn't been found yet...)
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Hah...but for now, I'm just sharing my opinion. Which will for sure have just as many people on the opposite side of that opinion.
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