[Fire 29]

I've got one suggestion. Provide more customization for the start screen. One of them could be that; the feature to add one more column of tiles to the start screen first seen on Windows phone 8.1 , the one column actually included either two small square or one big square tiles. Due to this, this feature was only useful for phablets or large screen phones. But if they could add an option to increase only a single column of a small square tile then it could also be useful for small screen phones.

[Keith Wallace]

Actually, my preference for tiles would be a 2x4 option, maybe 1x2 and 2x1 as well. Sometimes, the way I logically group my apps leads to my wanting a vertically stretched tile, not a horizontal one.

[a5cent]

What I liked:

• That the settings menu is finally getting cleaned up. Great!
• The ability to dictate rather than type, anywhere I'd be able to type text.
• That the messaging app is regaining the ability to integrate IP based messaging services, like Skype! Finally! Finally!!!!! Maybe we'll also see Facebook messages back in there...
• Touch Office looks a lot more powerful than I expected it would be, and just as good as I had hoped. This really does look like it might support the scenario, where a docked phone could potentially replace a laptop for casual MS Office work. Great!
• The Power Point presentation on the phone was impressive.

What I did not like:

1)
Practically all the first party apps, including the Touch Office apps, are clearly abandoning the Metro design language. The navigation bar at the top of the screen is the main indicator of this, as it often included a hamburger button and the occasional "back arrow". That's just the most visible change of many however. I'm not a fan. This is why:

• The occasional" back arrow" showing up seems confusing and unnecessary, given that WP has a hardware back button.
• There is already a lot of edge UI originating from the top, and all of it can cover up those navigation controls. Consider Joe's demonstration. What if he had started writing his response to the text message he received, and then realised he needs to check something in a word document? He can't, because the navigational controls are occluded by the interactive toast message. Even the small version of the audio panel that extends from the top edge would cover up half of that navigational strip. How many people will accidentally tap a navigational button, rather than expand the audio panel as they might have intended?
• A result of placing a lot of controls at the top of the screen, is that our hands will spend a lot more time blocking our view. Half the time we'll not even see the effect tapping a control at the top of the screen had, so we'll move our hand out of the way, just to move back again to invoke the next action. We're used to this on iPhones, but not on WP. It was the sum of all these little things, that made WP better. To put it more extremely, why don't we place the keyboard at the top of the screen instead of the bottom. Same reason. If Metro was all about "content over chrome", this is now about "hands over content".

The bottom and right (for right handed people) or left (for left handed people) edges are the best places for commands and navigational chrome. Controls at the top of the screen only work well for things that are used briefly and only occasionally (like volume controls).

2)
It's becoming increasingly difficult to identify particular UI concepts that we could give a name and collectively call a design language. One might say that WP is becoming more "clicky" and less "swipey". I admit that is rather mundane, but collectively, all the little changes leaves me with the impression that WP is losing some of what made it original and lovable. Based on what I saw, I'd also say it looks a lot less "alive".

One example is the command bar in the Touch Office apps. I like that this contains the ribbon, but in earlier releases of WP, we'd have been able to swipe between these ribbons (think of a small pivot control embedded in the command bar). Instead, we tap a button and then tap an entry in a flyout menu. Yes, it's a really trivial thing, but the impression it makes on me is maybe best described with "schizophrenic". Change itself is not necessarily bad, but a lack of consistency, in terms of look & feel, is. The UI seems to be suffering from an identity crisis. It's both swipey and clicky and neither.

I'd love to read MS' internal guidelines for WP UI design. Right now it seems MS is ignoring many of the subtle differences that made WP great. We seem to be headed towards a WP user interface that is characterless and unprincipled in comparison.

Of course, this all comes with the caveat that we were presented very early development releases, where much can still change. But at least based on what I saw, I'm no longer a fan of the WP UI.

[nicfromwales]

I like a lot of what I've seen, but I hate that start screen backgrounds now fill up the entire screen behind the tiles, rather than being able to see a background *through* the tiles, like *windows*. I don't want my phone to look like a PC, and I definitely don't want it to look like iOS or Android. I bought a Lumia because Windows Phone is different.

[MysticForce]

W10FP looks awesome ! I like changes ! I will test It when preview gets available.

[psudotechzealot]

Eh, Okay I guess. I hope they are not planning to release their flagship around the same time period of the LG G4, Note 5 & Iphone 6S(August,September, October time-frame).

[pedmar007]

Think of what MS is doing in a WWE context. First we have the Champion = PC, then he loses the belt and now looks to become the Tag Team Champions = PC + Tablet, and with that partnership going full steam ahead -> Intro of W10 OS, after that's accomplished we see another potential partner for a Survivor Series triple threat match = introducing the W10 for mobile and before that match occurs we see how first the PC operates alone, then the Tablet, then the PC+ Tablet, then intros the Mobile and when all three are on the same page we then hear the announcement for the SURVIVOR SERIES TRIPLE THREAT MATCH = When we will have W10 for our mobile devices ready for DL hopefully before Xmas!!

[Fire 29]

Think of what MS is doing in a WWE context. First we have the Champion = PC, then he loses the belt and now looks to become the Tag Team Champions = PC + Tablet, and with that partnership going full steam ahead -> Intro of W10 OS, after that's accomplished we see another potential partner for a Survivor Series triple threat match = introducing the W10 for mobile and before that match occurs we see how first the PC operates alone, then the Tablet, then the PC+ Tablet, then intros the Mobile and when all three are on the same page we then hear the announcement for the SURVIVOR SERIES TRIPLE THREAT MATCH = When we will have W10 for our mobile devices ready for DL hopefully before Xmas!!

What was that?!!

[faisalbaba]

Phone insider come after super bowl but what is super bowl

[Fire 29]

Phone insider come after super bowl but what is super bowl

It's a special bowl to eat noodles 🍜.

[nicfromwales]

Phone insider come after super bowl but what is super bowl

No ordinary bowl.

[Shaz2012]

There is a flash player installed on windows RT, I'm sure this will be the case with windows 10, but will it also be installed on the phones?

[tiziano27]

I'd love to read MS' internal guidelines for WP UI design. Right now it seems MS is ignoring many of the subtle differences that made WP great. We seem to be headed towards a WP user interface that is characterless and unprincipled in comparison.

Of course, this all comes with the caveat that we were presented very early development releases, where much can still change. But at least based on what I saw, I'm no longer a fan of the WP UI.

Old metro had some good stuff, some problems, but surely It wasn't consistent with anything else, importantly It wasn't consistent with the PC UI. So, WP was isolated with an unfamiliar UI.

Consistency with the PC is the biggest drive behind these changes.

[a5cent]

Old metro had some good stuff, some problems, but surely It wasn't consistent with anything else

It doesn't need to be consistent with anything else. It should strive only to be consistent with itself!

Metro (no need to call it "Old Metro", as this is no longer Metro) is a UI design language that was conceptualized to work well on small screens. Such a UI can never be the same as the best possible UI for a large screen. You'd have thought MS learned their lessen when they tried to bring Metro, that was designed for small screens, to W8 which is used on large screens. That didn't go well. This is the exact same mistake in reverse.

MS needs to be consistent in three ways:

1. The design language used on devices above 8" needs to be consistent within itself
2. The design language used on devices below 8" needs to be consistent within itself
3. And MS needs a consistent approach to mapping the different concepts between those two worlds (generally moving the ribbon down into the command bar is one example, which by itself already makes the point that it can't possibly be 100%consistent)

The question is which parts of Metro are worth keeping, because they simply work better on small devices. This is where MS is making mistakes. Maintaining design consistency across completely different devices just for the sake of consistency isn't worth anything. That's just counterproductive and asking for trouble. It's better to have design languages specifically tailored/optimized for the devices they are predominantly used on.

W10M isn't even consistent within itself at this point. Like I said, it's both clicky and swipy and neither. Add in all the existing apps and any semblance of consistency goes out the window.

[anon(8150199)]

Phone insider come after super bowl but what is super bowl

An American football 🏈 match, usually at the end of January.

[RaRa85]

It doesn't need to be consistent with anything else. It should strive only to be consistent with itself!

Metro (no need to call it "Old Metro", as this is no longer Metro) is a UI design language that was conceptualized to work well on small screens. Such a UI can never be the same as the best possible UI for a large screen. You'd have thought MS learned their lessen when they tried to bring Metro, that was designed for small screens, to W8 which is used on large screens. That didn't go well. This is the exact same mistake in reverse.

MS needs to be consistent in three ways:

1. The design language used on devices above 8" needs to be consistent within itself
2. The design language used on devices below 8" needs to be consistent within itself
3. And MS needs a consistent approach to mapping the different concepts between those two worlds (generally moving the ribbon down into the command bar is one example, which by itself already makes the point that it can't possibly be 100%consistent)

The question is which parts of Metro are worth keeping, because they simply work better on small devices. This is where MS is making mistakes. Maintaining design consistency across completely different devices just for the sake of consistency isn't worth anything. That's just counterproductive and asking for trouble. It's better to have design languages specifically tailored/optimized for the devices they are predominantly used on.

W10M isn't even consistent within itself at this point. Like I said, it's both clicky and swipy and neither. Add in all the existing apps and any semblance of consistency goes out the window.

Just make sure you submit your feedback to the Insider program. If they are as serious about hearing from the end user and making adjustments where possible, your opinion might make a difference.

[tiziano27]

It doesn't need to be consistent with anything else. It should strive only to be consistent with itself!

Metro (no need to call it "Old Metro", as this is no longer Metro) is a UI design language that was conceptualized to work well on small screens. Such a UI can never be the same as the best possible UI for a large screen. You'd have thought MS learned their lessen when they tried to bring Metro, that was designed for small screens, to W8 which is used on large screens. That didn't go well. This is the exact same mistake in reverse.

MS needs to be consistent in three ways:

1. The design language used on devices above 8" needs to be consistent within itself
2. The design language used on devices below 8" needs to be consistent within itself
3. And MS needs a consistent approach to mapping the different concepts between those two worlds (generally moving the ribbon down into the command bar is one example, which by itself already makes the point that it can't possibly be 100%consistent)

The question is which parts of Metro are worth keeping, because they simply work better on small devices. This is where MS is making mistakes. Maintaining design consistency across completely different devices just for the sake of consistency isn't worth anything. That's just counterproductive and asking for trouble. It's better to have design languages specifically tailored/optimized for the devices they are predominantly used on.

W10M isn't even consistent within itself at this point. Like I said, it's both clicky and swipy and neither. Add in all the existing apps and any semblance of consistency goes out the window.

People reject UI changes even if they improve things, you have to force them to change, this can be done in the enterprise, you install a new software and the employees have to use it. In the consumer market this can't be done.

So familiarity is really important, a product that works differently gets a immediate negative response. If Windows and the dominant mobile platforms use commands at the top, It's good idea to do the same, even paying a small cost in efficiency.

[a5cent]

People reject UI changes even if they improve things, you have to force them to change, this can be done in the enterprise, you install a new software and the employees have to use it. In the consumer market this can't be done.

So familiarity is really important, a product that works differently gets a immediate negative response. If Windows and the dominant mobile platforms use commands at the top, It's good idea to do the same, even paying a small cost in efficiency.

That point I will grant you. I'm just not sure how important that is anymore. Even if WP was an iOS or Android clone, and did everything just a little bit better, it still wouldn't be enough to gain much market share. People are generally just happy where they are and without a very specific need, they have no reason to switch, particularly not to something that is pretty much the same as what they already own, just with different colours and less apps.

At this point what WP needs is a game changer (maybe Hololens?). Something a lot of people find highly desirable that would make people willing to look past the app gap. That is the only thing that will lift WP out of it's market share and app gap misery. If WP can do that, they will also easily get people to look past the slightly different UI. At least that's my take, but yeah, I could be wrong...

[a5cent]

Just make sure you submit your feedback to the Insider program. If they are as serious about hearing from the end user and making adjustments where possible, your opinion might make a difference.

Liking the post might also help it get some attention ;-) There are some MS people lurking amongst us :-)

[iXesh]

According to me the update is good, but still if there is any limitations on it then it is worse for me.
And i dont think MS has fixed the limitations.
And UI, if user is new then it is good for him, if using windows phone for long time then he may be crying!

[Ebuka Allison]

According to me the update is good, but still if there is any limitations on it then it is worse for me.
And i dont think MS has fixed the limitations.
And UI, if user is new then it is good for him, if using windows phone for long time then he may be crying!

Putting it mildly. The UI is what happens when you take guidelines as vague suggestions

[Roderick Aspiras]

Who cares? Smartphones are so 90's. Welcome holograms!

[jasqid]

From the bits I saw yesterday... Not impressed. I feel like since Nadella came in he's doing everything he can to push me away from WP. Verizon too.

[edshred]

Exactly. I'd be horrified if there were sweeping changes to the UI as I love it. I'm keen to see added functionality, but am keeping my fingers crossed that the UI doesn't change too much.

[aximtreo]

From the bits I saw yesterday... Not impressed. I feel like since Nadella came in he's doing everything he can to push me away from WP. Verizon too.

Sorry you take it so personally. I for one, am very impressed and excited from what I've seen and read so far.