Windows 10 for phones - very basic features required

[tushardhingra]

(for those who are saying they are not concerned, it even concerns you indirectly)

Here is the short story...People do not buy wp because of lack of apps...but some just went to try wp...found even basic features missing...market share remain constant due to new people trying wp and some old switching back to android/ios due to lack of a basic feature that they were used to...sale stores do not stock wp and defend themselves by saying wp is crap...potential customers are lost...developers do not support wp due to lack of users...users further don't go for wp due to lack of apps and features...vicious circle continues and wp dies a natural death...people stuck with laggy droid.

"If you do not use any of the features as infrastructure in your country is very well developed doesn't mean that people in the rest of the WORLD do not need them"

 

[nabeel Madcon]

Yaaa I like it....

 

[tushardhingra]

Adding to my defense ...just name a feature which is not required by you and I am gonna tell why It's a very big deal for people in other regions and user type.

For example...forwarding an email with attachment. Someone in the thread said that it is no big deal. Ok let's see this real situation... You are in the corporate world (or even in general sense)... you received an email with an attachment of around 25MB and want to forward it to a subordinate to go through it. You have a wp sadly and belong to a less developed country...now what you need to forward the mail is first wait until the whole 25MB file is downoaded to your phone...and then you forward the mail...now wp again creates a new mail and attaches the whole 25MB file to it and then send the mail. You just end up using 50 MB of internet and the precious time for just forwarding an e-mail which should otherwise not needed more than 30 secs. on an android device. Now that's a big deal for a large population using emails very frequently !!!

 

[D M C]

I just want a download manager.(like in Android)

 

[Laura Knotek]

(for those who are saying they are not concerned, it even concerns you indirectly)

Here is the short story...People do not buy wp because of lack of apps...but some just went to try wp...found even basic features missing...market share remain constant due to new people trying wp and some old switching back to android/ios due to lack of a basic feature that they were used to...sale stores do not stock wp and defend themselves by saying wp is crap...potential customers are lost...developers do not support wp due to lack of users...users further don't go for wp due to lack of apps and features...vicious circle continues and wp dies a natural death...people stuck with laggy droid.

"If you do not use any of the features as infrastructure in your country is very well developed doesn't mean that people in the rest of the WORLD do not need them"

I think the main issue here is that for many of us in the US, many of those features are antiquated. We might have used them 10 years ago, but we don't have a need for them now.

I have an Android device, but I have no use for Bluetooth file transfer or 3G/4G/LTE toggle. I've had LTE everywhere since 2012. Bluetooth file transfer is slow as molasses, compared to uploading/downloading from the cloud via my home broadband network.

 

[tushardhingra]

I think the main issue here is that for many of us in the US, many of those features are antiquated. We might have used them 10 years ago, but we don't have a need for them now.

I have an Android device, but I have no use for Bluetooth file transfer or 3G/4G/LTE toggle. I've had LTE everywhere since 2012. Bluetooth file transfer is slow as molasses, compared to uploading/downloading from the cloud via my home broadband network.

View attachment 101357

Exactly my point...What about other countries where we do not even have LTE yet...even 3G networks are not stable. The platform has to work everywhere.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Exactly my point...What about other countries where we do not even have LTE yet...even 3G networks are not stable. The platform has to work everywhere.

That's probably a difficult balance to achieve. If a feature that is popular in some countries but not available, the residents of that country might not buy the device. However, if a feature is present that Americans consider antiquated, they might not buy that device because they consider it old-fashioned.

Perhaps, devices need to have those features, but only in certain countries and not in the US.

 

[Lee Power]

Maybe Microsoft could just add all the features requested on page 1 in to the operating & people who don't want to use them just leave each feature switched off.

 

[Dhiren Chavda]

Adding to my defense ...just name a feature which is not required by you and I am gonna tell why It's a very big deal for people in other regions and user type.

For example...forwarding an email with attachment. Someone in the thread said that it is no big deal. Ok let's see this real situation... You are in the corporate world (or even in general sense)... you received an email with an attachment of around 25MB and want to forward it to a subordinate to go through it. You have a wp sadly and belong to a less developed country...now what you need to forward the mail is first wait until the whole 25MB file is downoaded to your phone...and then you forward the mail...now wp again creates a new mail and attaches the whole 25MB file to it and then send the mail. You just end up using 50 MB of internet and the precious time for just forwarding an e-mail which should otherwise not needed more than 30 secs. on an android device. Now that's a big deal for a large population using emails very frequently !!!

 

[hotphil]

Maybe Microsoft could just add all the features requested on page 1 in to the operating & people who don't want to use them just leave each feature switched off.

But then you're into having pages and pages and pages of Settings that not everyone wants. UI/X design is a balance.
Personally, I don't need a page of settings for BT (or, to take it even further, IR) file transfer. I may have used IR 10+ years ago, but not anymore.

 

[PratikMade]

But then you're into having pages and pages and pages of Settings that not everyone wants. UI/X design is a balance.
Personally, I don't need a page of settings for BT (or, to take it even further, IR) file transfer. I may have used IR 10+ years ago, but not anymore.

But still you can use that IR for remote apps.

 

[hotphil]

It's probably too much detail, but all my AV, home automation, CCTV etc have IP controls - no need for IR with modern kit.

 

[psiu_glen]

There is no need to be defensive. I would welcome these features, but I still wouldn't use 90% of them. I've done Bluetooth file transfer and it's painfully slow. So I could only imagine multiple file transfers.... Which is why I use cloud storage instead. The same could be said with email attachments.

I use the BT & NFC file transfer between phones, and while it's not instant, it's definitely faster than uploading, then waiting for the cloud service to digest everything, then downloading (and hoping quality remained constant).

 

[psiu_glen]

It's probably too much detail, but all my AV, home automation, CCTV etc have IP controls - no need for IR with modern kit.

Cool, I'll go chuck my TV out with the garbage this week because it doesn't have IP control - wait...

I would love IR control, then I could flick the TV on and then switch right to the Roku remote.

Might not need that anyMote Kickstarter I backed anymore with IR on a device.

 

[psiu_glen]

Also, considering India has more than a sixth of the people in the world, I think they get a voice whether some here like it or not.

 

[abangfadli]

If you want a phone with lots of 'options', why not go to Android? Android has loads of 'options' for anything and everything.

Oh my, I certainly did not need most of the feature OP posted hence I'm just quoting the first and second point.

and for the most part, people won't need most of the things you mentioned above. However if their primary market is India and other similar countries with lack of advanced infrastructure, then maybe they should look at it

So where do you think the market of WP should be? US? Europe?
If yes, then do know why WP market is still 3% or something?
Because MOST people in the world is in developing country (India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand). Microsoft should really accommodates the basic needs from the people in these countries.

No, I'm not talking about launchers, icon set, etc. I'm desperately needing the 3G signal lock. Because when 2G is stronger than 3G then WP will choose 2G. But using 2G, loading Google/Bing homepage would take forever. That's why I would love to use 3G even though it will drain battery more often. I think lot of people in these countries need it also (noting how it became the first point from the OP)

But remember, WP is all about not having too many settings to confuse the user

I agree with this. Too many unnecessary settings will confuse the user. But basic one? I don't think so.

 

[Athull]

That's probably a difficult balance to achieve. If a feature that is popular in some countries but not available, the residents of that country might not buy the device. However, if a feature is present that Americans consider antiquated, they might not buy that device because they consider it old-fashioned.

Perhaps, devices need to have those features, but only in certain countries and not in the US.

Almost all android phones have a 3G/4G force toggle and a synchronous BT files transfer(even the latest 5.1 running on my Nexus has it).
By the logic in the post Americans should then find android old-fashioned and they should be buying WP which actually don't have them but we all know that's not the case.
And just to put something into perspective the fastest download speed in India barring two or three Metro cities is just 1MBps and that too is unreliable and limited to a few GB before its pulled down to 2g speeds for the rest of the month. And WiFi hot spots are a myth in most areas in India barring some cities.

But then you're into having pages and pages and pages of Settings that not everyone wants. UI/X design is a balance.
Personally, I don't need a page of settings for BT (or, to take it even further, IR) file transfer. I may have used IR 10+ years ago, but not anymore.

You urself said u never use BT then why would u care about the amount of settings under BT? It will only show up when the BT section is opened which u won't be doing?

Most excuses of here for not having these features are about things getting complicated for people who don't use them in US or Europe. But u must know that there are a lot of stuff present in WP that Asian users doing use either(most cloud related stuff, video streaming services etc..) and they don't complain about it as they simply ignore it.
And people must also remember android offers all these things since years and continue to offer them. Android being already dominant in developed countries and showing no signs of slowing down which leaves only countries like India were people are still transitioning from feature phones(mostly Nokia) to smart phones for WP to grow. This is why its important for MS to implement all the necessary features that are relevant India and the neighboring countries were WP is enjoying great success and almost 10%+market share thanks to Nokia image but if they don't want all those users leaving next year as they plan to upgrade due to lack of these features then WP will have no space to grow...

 

[Paul1266]

It seems counter intuitive to ask manufacturers to retro fit out of date features into new technology. How about lobbying the powers that be in those areas to actually improve the network? Whether that be network providers or government. Asking for these things seems like abject surrender to crap service and shifting the blame to a manufacturer when they are not the problem.

 

[tushardhingra]

It seems counter intuitive to ask manufacturers to retro fit out of date features into new technology. How about lobbying the powers that be in those areas to actually improve the network? Whether that be network providers or government. Asking for these things seems like abject surrender to crap service and shifting the blame to a manufacturer when they are not the problem.

Well may be because it is quite simple to ask Microsoft to adjust according to the scene than asking each and every government and telecom companies in the world to adjust themselves so that windows phones could get stable 3G/4G connection

 

[Paul1266]

...and by 'the scene' you mean your scene. Let me know how you get on with that 'simple' task of getting Microsoft to bend to your will and engineer like it's 2009 again...