Is Windows Phone becoming android?

[Mohit Jain4]

Is it only me or on the wp central app, while viewing forums, u can either jump to first page or to the last page, cannot view the posts in between those pages????

Update : apparently i didn't tried to swipe, well thanx for reading

 

[dennisfang1]

There are two different kind of WP users, those who fell in love in WP7 and those who came after. I am of the former. There was so much thought put into its design and the result was very eye-opening in terms of what a UI can be/look like. I keep the different iterations of metro designs that still inspire me to make the UI of my apps the best they can be because of this attention to details they promoted and still promote in the design section of the windows phone dev center. I'm not a designer but they helped me a lot for being consistently preaching the same design aspects (grid, animation, content over chrome, don't be afraid of whitespaces, etc)

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Unfortunately everything radically changed in WP8.1. You can actually see irregularities in almost every first party app designs as if they came from different groups. They probably are but in previous versions of WP, the choices of font sizes/weights, margins, animations are all consistent let it be the music app, the store, the people hub, the photo hub, the game hub. Now I look at my Lumia 920 and wished Satya fire everyone working on the XBOX Music and Facebook app. The capitalization of Store annoys me a lot (xbox games, music, podcast are all small letters. WTH Microsoft?). Some apps still uses the old "turnstile" animation while others already changed to the new animation. I can't follow a trend where anything and everything goes. It doesn't reflect the One Microsoft vision at all.

Sadly the new vision for WP is not about the design differentiation anymore (RIP metro) but more like "We have that app too". I can see that they are trying to get some market share from Android but I can't be happy with the state that WP8.1 is in right now as I can't lie to myself that I still like Windows Phone like I used to. But we don't have much choice do we? iOS or Android? I guess iOS is better in terms of aesthetics but developing for iOS is a pain in the back.

Your response was very eloquent and well delivered, and i completely and utterly agree with you. We loved the consistent layout, margins and fonts of all the apps, we loved the white space which some called "wasted space." I loved windows phone for its design, and now it's gone,

 

[MikeSo]

Except for the love of gigantic headers that the OP expresses, I a agree with all of it. WP8.1 has taken everything that made WP unique and thrown out out. I still find it to be great, but it's lost its quirks - for good and for bad. I really wish MS had improved the hubs instead of abandoned then. And with the notification center, I think developers will be even less inclined to spend time on live tiles, a fantastic concept that never lived up to its promise.

 

[Vishnu Hs]

Adding features is fine, but they're loosing focus, and are thus neglecting what WP was about, what it stood for and what we loved about it. Lets face it, we bought a Windows Phone for its gorgeous UI design, the beautiful typography, its smoothness, the hubs, the live tiles, the integrated experience, and they are compromising on all of them in the search of apps and features

You are absolutely correct in this aspect,simplicity and uniqueness were two aspects that made me move to a windows mobile,but now..........

 

[MikeSo]

I find it hard to believe that people are complaining about WP evolving. Yes, evolving. If I had a nickel for every post complaining about iOS being stale I'd be on my private island smokin' a Churchill and sippin' some Jack. You can't have it both ways, either remain in a perfect state and become stale or evolve. I'd also like a nickel for every complaint about the lack of a notification center. I think most of the changes have been for the better and necessary for wider acceptance.

I do agree about the speed of WP8 and I've been one of the louder voices on these boards regarding WP7 being faster and smoother. But there's no going back. WP7 didn't sell well and change was necessary. Do we like them all? No, but it's better than ending up like webOS. I, for one, don't want to be a part of a dead OS relying on a small but dedicated group of fans for support.

People aren't complaining about it evolving. People are complaining that the essence of the feel of the OS is being sacrificed in search of the app-centric model that the other OS's use.

Of course, 8.1 is barely out yet, and I for one find tons of little things in it that are improvements, so there is hope. And people do like apps, apparently.

 

[jonahtrav]

I'm not so sure about the two types of WP users statement ..before and after... but for Windows phones to gain more market share and survive there had to be some changes.. with that said I thought the hubs were cool but now making a playlist in music isn't a giant pain and so there are upsides also.

 

[Maaz Mansori]

I'm not so sure about the two types of WP users statement ..before and after... but for Windows phones to gain more market share and get better there had to be some changes.. with that said I thought the hubs were cool.

Yeah, I don't fall into either category. I bought the Samsung Focus on its release date; same with the Lumia 900 and 920. I don't mind the UI changes; I'm actually indifferent. The white space didn't really bother me but now that it is gone I see the benefit of putting more on the screen. A very slight delay in opening the music, video, or games app is a fair compromise to having regular updates.
Overall I find 8.1 a very welcome improvement but I'm not saying WP 8.1 is perfect. There are a few things that bother me a little. The inclusion of games in the main app listing causes a lot of clutter; it's a minor thing though and I think there may be an option to hide them in a future release. The Facebook app needs to be more stable, especially now that the OS relies on it for integration. The latest release seems to crash often. Also there should be an option to use Bing search as before without having to disable Cortana. It could be as simple as hitting the search button and then another icon to open Bing search.

 

[TonyDedrick]

Because people asked for it? That really isn't a very good reason for me at all. One of my favourite quotes is from steve jobs who said, "The customer doesn't know what they want, you have to show them," and I believe that is so true with design. I have been reading forums where people are requesting everything from different fonts to custom backgrounds in the os. It turns out, we aren;t graphic designers, we have no idea what looks good and what doesn't work.Microsoft limited what we could do to stop us from ruining our UIs and for good reason (have you seen what some people have done to their android phones?). And now MS has given up and now look at the mess we're left with

I don't get why anyone would care what someone else's phone looks like. And this OS is hardly a mess. Yeah, some features are not up to par. And MS is hopefully working patching up these issues.

 

[TonyDedrick]

Yeah, I don't fall into either category. I bought the Samsung Focus on its release date; same with the Lumia 900 and 920. I don't mind the UI changes; I'm actually indifferent. The white space didn't really bother me but now that it is gone I see the benefit of putting more on the screen. A very slight delay in opening the music, video, or games app is a fair compromise to having regular updates.
Overall I find 8.1 a very welcome improvement but I'm not saying WP 8.1 is perfect. There are a few things that bother me a little. The inclusion of games in the main app listing causes a lot of clutter; it's a minor thing though and I think there may be an option to hide them in a future release. The Facebook app needs to be more stable, especially now that the OS relies on it for integration. The latest release seems to crash often. Also there should be an option to use Bing search as before without having to disable Cortana. It could be as simple as hitting the search button and then another icon to open Bing search.

Pretty much with you on everything. I got a Focus a few months after release and while I enjoyed WP7, there was no denying some changes and improvements needed to be made. I think for the most part, those changes have been for the better

 

[Jazmac]

"So it is with a heavy heart that I have to announce that after using WP8.1 for about a month now, I have to say that everything that I loved about the OS back in 2011 is gone, and is now replaced a hugely buggy, ugly, laggy and a generally unpleasant OS that represents a badly skinned Android, a far cry from that unbelievably slick OS from not long ago, to prove my point, I would point out everything that everything that I loved about the OS has either been undermined, or has simply been removed all together."

I stop reading when you said this. This comment simply proves something I've read others comment in these forums that Windows Phone 8.1 developers preview is NOT for the faint of heart, its understudies and wanna be ZDnet level troll bloggers who have not a clue about what "developer preview" is all about.

Suggesting that this is becoming android because you didn't quite comprehend to what extent 8.1DP would go is just beyond insulting. If you did not want to experience the excitement, joy and pain a developers has to deal with or assist in what a developer is working towards then my friend, you should stay in the lane designated for you. Windows Phone 8.ZERO. Leave the advanced processes with the risk takers and the better equipped among us and when that bridge is built for you, merge in.

 

[MikeSo]

"So it is with a heavy heart that I have to announce that after using WP8.1 for about a month now, I have to say that everything that I loved about the OS back in 2011 is gone, and is now replaced a hugely buggy, ugly, laggy and a generally unpleasant OS that represents a badly skinned Android, a far cry from that unbelievably slick OS from not long ago, to prove my point, I would point out everything that everything that I loved about the OS has either been undermined, or has simply been removed all together."

I stop reading when you said this. This comment simply proves something I've read others comment in these forums that Windows Phone 8.1 developers preview is NOT for the faint of heart, its understudies and wanna be ZDnet level troll bloggers who have not a clue about what "developer preview" is all about.

Suggesting that this is becoming android because you didn't quite comprehend to what extent 8.1DP would go is just beyond insulting. If you did not want to experience the excitement, joy and pain a developers has to deal with or assist in what a developer is working towards then my friend, you should stay in the lane designated for you. Windows Phone 8.ZERO. Leave the advanced processes with the risk takers and the better equipped among us and when that bridge is built for you, merge in.

What does this have to do with this thread? WP8.1 is released already. It's sold on the new phones that came out last week. This has nothing to do with the phrase "developer preview".

 

[heickelrrx]

Actually I don't mind bring some android feature to wp. As long as our data encrypted like now. The thing that make me fall with wp isn't just the metro UI style, unlike android wp 8 device didn't have performance gap for their device. The price are reasonable and the app much safer than google play. Even wp has less app than it competitor the way the os work lot more efficient than other which make battery last longer. Wp seriously uncommon OS in my school in fact they most using bb/andro/apple phone. My phone may lot diffrent than my friend but when they borrow it they says
Wow cool phone it must be expensive. In fact it way cheaper than their phone lol

 

[fatclue_98]

People aren't complaining about it evolving. People are complaining that the essence of the feel of the OS is being sacrificed in search of the app-centric model that the other OS's use.

Of course, 8.1 is barely out yet, and I for one find tons of little things in it that are improvements, so there is hope. And people do like apps, apparently.

I must have misread the OP because the author is complaining that WP is "becoming Android" and that the original design language has strayed. This is not a complete reboot as was the shift from Windows Mobile to WP7, this has been a slow, methodical change to make improvements based on user feedback. By definition, Windows Phone has evolved from 7 to 7.5 to 7.8 to 8 and now 8.1. The increase in developer activity as well as overall market share indicates that Microsoft is on the right path.

 

[S640]

I can only hope that the designers stick to the vision they laid out rather than chase the whims of the public. If they stick to their vision it will be fine, if they don't have the willpower to resist all the people clamoring for all the "features" that competing OSes have then it'll slowly but surely turn into those other platforms. There's a reason that design-by-committee is never mentioned in a positive light.

 

[Michael Kozak]

With all this talk about market shares, evolution of a platform, and needing to understand a developers plight ... It is what it is ... And ultimately the consumer will decide if MS is really an alternative to IOS and Android ... or just another OS like the others, and remain in third place.

Stay tuned.

 

[psudotechzealot]

No it is not, I wish people stop saying that.

 

[CamiKitti]

Except for the love of gigantic headers that the OP expresses, I a agree with all of it. WP8.1 has taken everything that made WP unique and thrown out out. I still find it to be great, but it's lost its quirks - for good and for bad. I really wish MS had improved the hubs instead of abandoned then. And with the notification center, I think developers will be even less inclined to spend time on live tiles, a fantastic concept that never lived up to its promise.

I never realized people complained about the big headers! It never bothered me. What bothered me is the lack of the organization in the settings. The Action Center is nice, but it still needs other settings like cellular. I don't have a lot of data per month, so I need a quicker way to turn it on and off other than pinning the cellular tile to the screen.

 

[go1020]

Yes, that "Store" thing is annoying. Also, I'm not sure why there's no consistency between system apps and hubs, including email about the font style, size, etc., when it comes to the header, for example.

 

[TonyDedrick]

Yes, that "Store" thing is annoying. Also, I'm not sure why there's no consistency between system apps and hubs, including email about the font style, size, etc., when it comes to the header, for example.

Unless my eyes can't see subtle differences, all the headers look pretty much the same on my phone. The only difference being some are all lowercase and some start with a capital

 

[MikeSo]

I can only hope that the designers stick to the vision they laid out rather than chase the whims of the public. If they stick to their vision it will be fine, if they don't have the willpower to resist all the people clamoring for all the "features" that competing OSes have then it'll slowly but surely turn into those other platforms. There's a reason that design-by-committee is never mentioned in a positive light.

I don't know if they will. Remember the awesome new download and sharing model that Xbox One was supposed to have, only to be abandoned when some loudmouths complained that they wouldn't be guaranteed to be able to resell all disks? Microsoft listened, unfortunately...