What WP8.1 feature that you believed would arrive, but didnt?

[Aashish Chokhani]

We are all enjoying the Preview of WP8.1. Before the preview came up, there were a number of rumours that went about suggesting what features WP8.1 would have. Heck, even the leaked SDK led us to a big bucket list getting us all excited on whats to come. Then the preview came and we got to experience it all 1st hand with the same glee that a child gets when enjoying a new super toy.

However, I am sure that there were a number of features that we were looking forward to due to the rumours, the SDK leak or purely our interpretation on the basis of the limited information that was available. What were / are these features? How about taking turns explaining what you were expecting to see, but didnt turn up?

A request to everyone replying is that please restrict your comments to features that were actually rumoured or easy to (mis)interpret for WP8.1. Please do not make this thread a list of features that WP should have to compete with the likes of Android and the rest. Am sure there are different threads for that.

 

[Aashish Chokhani]

I'll start this off with one of mine - Ghost Notifications.

The initial descriptions led me to believe that certain type of notifications would go directly to the notification centre without a sound or banner, while some would make a sound and show as banners. I thought it would be possible for developers to implement these 2 types of notifications within the same app.

E.g. Theoratically, within Facebook, important notifications like friend requests, messages, wall posts would show up as banners and sounds whereas the less important ones (reply to a comment, tags, etc.) would just silently go to the notification centre and I would see them the next time I view the notification centre. This would allow me to instantly view and act on the important type of notifications within the app and leave the remaining notifications within the app for later.

However as it turns out, it is only possible to set ghost notifications at app level and the setting would apply to all the notification types of the app i.e. I can set it for facebook as a whole, but not for certain kind of notifications within Facebook.

I understand that configuration at that level would require a lot of user involvement, which generally goes against the principle of simplicity. But I was disappointed that its not even something that a developer can implement - if they wish to

 

[Ma Rio]

File Manager & USB OTG;
IDK why it left out, but I'm pist about it. Best two features that WP needed, and nope..I hope they implmement it later.

 

[coasters]

Gapless Playback. But I'm starting to believe it may be hardware limitation...

 

[Draganta]

Wipe startscreen to right to clear all tile notifications, but it is not a big deal.

 

[ratsttam]

re-sorting of the app list. Mainly the ability to have a "frequent" section at the top, then the rest in alphabetical order like normal.

 

[Elutherios]

View gifs through text messages. My friend can on her iPhone. :/

 

[ntice_521]

1. Some organization of app list (e.g. categories). People are complaining about games being in the app list. Well, this is 100% logical and how it should be, games ARE apps, not some foreign substance. But a simple alphabetical view doesn't work well if you have lots of apps.

2. Maps on SD card as a standard feature. Yes, we can use "lumia storage check beta", but why isn't it a normal thing? Especially since you can put everything else on SD now including apps.

 

[mariusmuntean]

Complete VPN support: meaning L2TP, PPTP at least.
USB Tethering

 

[brain box]

USB OTG and an integrated file manager

 

[Tumultus]

Disabling the navigation letters in the ALL APPS list. I really hate them. Now they're there permanently, no matter how few apps you have installed.

 

[xerox13ster]

Double tap to lock/turn off. OTG

 

[Aalok05]

Slide right on live tile to clear it ( mark it as read )

 

[Draganta]

Disabling the navigation letters in the ALL APPS list. I really hate them. Now they're there permanently, no matter how few apps you have installed.

You like to search for apps? Even in a short list, I often had to search a lot.

 

[ntice_521]

Another one: real brightness setting (low/medium/high sucks)

 

[wphashan]

1.Charge while phone is turned off
2.option to remove contact picture
3.tethering (usb/bluetooth)
4.USB OTG

 

[CGA1]

Disable the search button, I don't know how many times I've hit that damn thing accidentally.

 

[eMike]

Email attachments!!!

 

[coolraoul]

Yes, email attachment is the major part needing quick amelioration imo.
It should be easy to attach multiple documents of different kinds to an email, that is a basic but necessary function especially if you boast about Office and enterprise productivity!

This is my only major nuisance with WP since the awesome 8.1.

 

[lsmachado]

How about having a way to delete the original sender's info and everyone else's email address on the sender's distribution list when you want to forward an email? If there is already a way to do this, I haven't found it.