Win 10 in Tablet mode is horrible

[High Heels]

I agree, that the W10 tablet mode is horrible compared to W8.1 experience. It seems to me, that MS is going to do the same mistake they did with W8 but opposite way.

In W8 they forced desktop users to use touch optimized UI and pissed most of them, even the hard core MS fans. And in W10, they are going to force tablet users to use some kind of semi-desktop-semi-tablet UI, which is not good either way.

Most of the tablet users use the tablet for content consumption and basic tasks like emails, social networks and media activities (watching movies, listening music or watching pictures). As far as we can see from W10 TP (and I think it is not going to dramatically change in RTM) this kind of tasks are completely crippled - most noticeable is Internet browsing experience. Why the hell anybody would like to use small and tiny controls on IE or Spartan browser.

And why they are going to kill charm menu is beyond my imagination.

 

[anon(5335899)]

I agree, that the W10 tablet mode is horrible compared to W8.1 experience. It seems to me, that MS is going to do the same mistake they did with W8 but opposite way.

IMO this is not the case. WIN8 did not force the use of touch optimised UI unless you qualify the change from Startmenu to Start Screen as such (which I would not). The desktop was not hidden or made to work better/optimised for touch at all. In fact the Desktop in WIN8 is quite a bit better than the WIN7 experience.

In WIN10 they actually REMOVED the touch UI and replaced it with a 'open full screen on/off' switch with a fancy name..

 

[Paolo Cardelli]

Created an "Improve Tablet Mode" request on Windows.uservoice.com

Please cast your VOTE -> HERE too!

Thank you

 

[michail71]

Created an "Improve Tablet Mode" request on Windows.uservoice.com

Please cast your VOTE -> HERE too!

Thank you

Excellent ideas there but I don't suspect they'll do any of that. I guess the rumor was it was causing bugs. Hopefully Win 10 UD 1 will do this. But that will be after all the Surface users start complaining about the upgrade.

Even as primarily a desktop user I'd say they took the Windows 7 direction a little too far.

 

[Nicholas Veal]

Really?
It seems like the Tablet mode is good so far though (I think it is).

 

[Paolo Cardelli]

Really?
It seems like the Tablet mode is good so far though (I think it is).

Are you serious?
Did you ever used 8.1 Start Screen on a Tablet?

Take a look at this official Discussion about how bad is W10 "Tablet Mode" right now...

 

[Rasetech]

I dont get whats the problem with the new start menu, it is the same as in 8.1 plus the section on the left side with the shortcuts.

 

[jhoff80]

I dont get whats the problem with the new start menu, it is the same as in 8.1 plus the section on the left side with the shortcuts.

It's not even close. Instead of swiping for 'all apps', there's a small button. Instead of 'all apps' taking up the whole screen, it takes a tiny list with small touch targets. There's no semantic zoom for jumping to a certain app. They've made it a slower process to rearrange tiles. You can't disable live tiles per app (not so much a touch-related difference, but it is still something different). And then yes, it also has the hideous menu on the left side.

Leaked screenshots show it's getting worse too. They're putting the power button right next to the all apps button. Because a button you need to touch all the time right next to the button to turn the device off is a great idea on touch devices, right? :angry:

 

[Jas00555]

OMG, THEY'RE NOT GOING TO IMPROVE THE TABLET UI!!! They don't have time to fix anything and it's going to rtm any day now! JAS00555, YOU'RE *WRONG* WHEN YOU SAID THERE'S TIME LEFT TO FIX IT

http://m.windowscentral.com/leaked-windows-10-build-10056-shows-improvements-tablet-mode-more

 

[jhoff80]

Despite your condescending strawman response, nobody said that they weren't going to do minor tweaks. What they're not going to do, and what they don't have time for is the major overhaul that tablet mode in Windows 10 STILL needs. And it's pretty clear that they still just don't get it at all. Like I already mentioned, whose bright idea was it to put the POWER button right next to the All Apps button? That's a terrible decision for touch.

 

[anon(5335899)]

OMG, THEY'RE NOT GOING TO IMPROVE THE TABLET UI!!! They don't have time to fix anything and it's going to rtm any day now! JAS00555, YOU'RE *WRONG* WHEN YOU SAID THERE'S TIME LEFT TO FIX IT

Leaked Windows 10 build 10056 shows improvements to tablet mode, more | Windows Central

It's all cosmetics. There is no substantial fix for the main issues we see with touch right now. The status bar is still always on and can't be hidden in tablet mode. The idea of putting all apps and power button right above each other is a clear sign they really do not have a clue.

There is no real improvement here, it's still just a full screen Start Menu and it's still not a touch optimised UI/UX. Sure, it's an improvement over the previous build and I would not have expected anything else. But as far as the UI/UX goes this is what we'll be stuck with for WIN10 and it's a major step back from the 8.1 experience. I just re-installed 8.1 on my tablet and there's just no comparing the two versions, 8 is so much better.

 

[anon(5335899)]

Despite your condescending strawman response,

There will always be people who choose to deliberately counter any reasonable arguments or discussion with a lot of screaming and shouting and attempts at bullying people in to staying quiet. It is what it is and these folks are everywhere.

Your points are obviously correct and make perfect sense. That is not something the people who are here just to stir the pot would understand or even care.

 

[swanlee]

I just want to reiterate something, even in tablet mode metro apps do not open in FULL SCREEN mode, they open maximized with the taskbar at the bottom.

This got me today as I was using the VMWARE Horizon app to connect to a work VDI and then RDP into my work pc and the RDP session through the VDI did not correctly render in full screen until I hid the taskbar, once taskbar was gone the rdp session correctly rendered a full screen rdp session with no scroll bars.

This damn taskbar has to go in tablet mode as it will cause alot of issues when using metro apps that expect a full screen available to them.

 

[Narse77]

This taskbar at the bottom is one of my biggest issues with Windows 10 on tablets. I HATE IT. I also can't understand why Edge doesn't support swipes for back and forward like Win 8 did or why it uses tabs at the top instead of the great way 8 and 8.1 handled tabs. MS One step forward two steps back

 

[jdballard]

This taskbar at the bottom is one of my biggest issues with Windows 10 on tablets. I HATE IT.

I take it having the task bar auto-hide isn't either doesn't work at all or it doesn't work well as a work-around? (I haven't tried it, but I don't really mind the taskbar.)

I also can't understand why Edge doesn't support swipes for back and forward like Win 8 did or why it uses tabs at the top instead of the great way 8 and 8.1 handled tabs. MS One step forward two steps back

The swipes were a nice gesture. Maybe they'll be added back in?

 

[Narse77]

I take it having the task bar auto-hide isn't either doesn't work at all or it doesn't work well as a work-around? (I haven't tried it, but I don't really mind the taskbar.)



The swipes were a nice gesture. Maybe they'll be added back in?

I am getting used to it but would much prefer it not being there. The problem with hiding it is anytime I tap or scroll towards the bottom it pops up. To me it's just a waste of screen space in tablet mode. Also I want it always visible in desktop mode and hiding it just to go to tablet mode is just annoying.

 

[swanlee]

I am getting used to it but would much prefer it not being there. The problem with hiding it is anytime I tap or scroll towards the bottom it pops up. To me it's just a waste of screen space in tablet mode. Also I want it always visible in desktop mode and hiding it just to go to tablet mode is just annoying.

Autohide taskbar is a glitchy mess currently. It also hides the taskbar on the desktop, it syncs this setting across PC's unless you turn off themes sync and it sometimes doesn't pull up like you want it to.

I refuse to upgrade my main tablet until the Taskbar issues is worked out and I'm able to use a web browser that give me a Metro IE touch like experience.

I do not understand Why MS could not have given us the choice of these in the Tablet Mode settings area.

Hide Taskbar in Tablet mode on/off
Allow full screen web browsing in Edge on/off
Allow swipe forward/back for page navigation in Edge on/off
Allow swipe through open apps on/off


These options could be added to the Tablet mode area and help greatly improve Tablet use and not effect MS's direction with Win 10.

4 easily implemented user configurable options would pretty much fix Win 10 for me.

 

[Narse77]

You pretty much summed up my feelings exactly. The only reason I have not went back to 8.1 on my Surface is the Xbox streaming. I use it when my wife watches movies or Netflix etc. with that I have a way of playing all my consoles without the TV. Vita for the PS4, Xbox App on the Surface and the Gamepad on the Wii.

 

[jdballard]

I am getting used to it but would much prefer it not being there. The problem with hiding it is anytime I tap or scroll towards the bottom it pops up. To me it's just a waste of screen space in tablet mode. Also I want it always visible in desktop mode and hiding it just to go to tablet mode is just annoying.

I can understand that. It would be nice if there were an option "Never, ever, ever show the taskbar in tablet mode. In desktop mode a) always show it, b) auto-hide it.

I guess I'm lucky that it doesn't bother me but can appreciate the nuisance it is if you never want to see it.

 

[Narse77]

It's not so much that I never want to see it. Its more that I think its a waste of space.