We need ability to Enable/Disable certain services with the tap of a Live Tile

[DaveGx]

I've wanted this since WP7. Still have not even heard a whisper from MS on this. Especially with some of us experiencing poor battery life and being told to disable this and that when you aren't using it, it sure would be nice to have.

MS has not allowed devs the access needed to create Tiles that we only need to tap to Enable/Disable services like WIFI, Cellular Data, and Location, or even adjust Brightness. If they feel the need is so important to block Devs from doing this, than at the very least MS needs to give us this feature themselves, built in.

A little disappointed why they have yet to address this as in sure its been mentioned to them before.

 

[jsk0703]

You can use this link to submit feature requests for Windows Phone: Feature Suggestions: Hot (18727 ideas)

 

[DaveGx]

Oh I have. And hopefully they see it but I'm sure they've seen similar requests at least a few times in the past couple years. Still, they've not done this. Another feature that really, could it be that hard to do? Do they not have enough people working in the OS dept? They could probably get it done in a day if they wanted to. But that's the thing, with MS you just don't know what their views are on some features. Just like theme colors. Any person with coding experience could've given us the ability to pick a custom color of our choosing in a days time, but they didn't do that either.

 

[johaas]

I wish you could swipe to a separate screen to the left of the home screen that contained switches for WiFi, brightness level, Bluetooth, etc.

 

[Kebero]

There are plenty of apps that do this. I personally use ConnectivityShortcuts. Granted, they take two taps, but it's better than going the long way.

 

[DaveGx]

I wish you could swipe to a separate screen to the left of the home screen that contained switches for WiFi, brightness level, Bluetooth, etc.

That would work too. I dislike having to go through the settings to do this. This should be a one tap feature, and swiping to the left having it there would be okay too.

 

[DaveGx]

There are plenty of apps that do this. I personally use ConnectivityShortcuts.

Not really. You're taken to where they are in the settings. There's no reason why we shouldn't have Tiles/switches on main screen where we could change the setting with just a tap. Especially when it seems some of us have to do this often to get more out of dismal battery performance

 

[lordofthereef]

Not really. You're taken to where they are in the settings. There's no reason why we shouldn't have Tiles/switches on main screen where we could change the setting with just a tap. Especially when it seems some of us have to do this often to get more out of dismal battery performance

I think he more meant to point out that there is a way to get what you want, almost. This option is a **** of a lot better than sifting through settings. It's two quick taps rather than tap, look for something, tap, and tap again. Is it good enough? For you, obviously not. I am much happier with it than without. I agree it would be nice to do it in a single tap than two taps, however there are plenty of other things I would personally rather see implemented first.

 

[iamtim]

I highly doubt that this is on the roadmap for Windows Phone. If it were, MS would have said something or had it in already. To me, it really seems like an opportunity for a 3rd party app, if one doesn't already exist. You should download Visual Studio and give it a shot!

 

[lordofthereef]

I highly doubt that this is on the roadmap for Windows Phone. If it were, MS would have said something or had it in already. To me, it really seems like an opportunity for a 3rd party app, if one doesn't already exist. You should download Visual Studio and give it a shot!

I don't think MS gives permissions for an app or icon to change settings like that. The best we can do is open up to where that setting is located under settings, which we already have.

 

[sym1a1a]

hmmm, swiping left or right for another screen is, to me, to akin to an android or apple devices, however, a long press on tile to bring up options might be a feasible option, personally i really dont want to see WP go the route of the other OS's with multiple screens but thats just my opinion

 

[fifthGear]

hmmm, swiping left or right for another screen is, to me, to akin to an android or apple devices, however, a long press on tile to bring up options might be a feasible option, personally i really dont want to see WP go the route of the other OS's with multiple screens but thats just my opinion

Both swiping left and long pressing a tile to bring up options require two or more taps on the screen to change a setting. Serously, how is this "better" (whatever that word means), or more efficient than a tile that shows current status of a setting and a single touch of it takes you to the setting screen where a second tap on a toggle does the job? Most settings, such as WI-FI are more than just an on/off. Sometimes you want to select a network. I use a settings live-tile solution called "Quick Settings" but there are many others that do the same thing. With WP7.5, where MS started allowing deep pinning, it seems odd that MS didn't include live tile support for the individual settings right from inside the settings app, but that wouldn't have changed thing.

iOS and Android are no more efficient requiring two or more taps to change any setting. What does make WP8 "feel" less efficient is that touching one of my live settings tiles for say WI-FI opens the WI-FI settings screen. Under my WP7 phone, this was sort of slow. On WP8, it's quite quick.

I will admit that one weak point of live tiles is that they are not interactive, while Android "Widgets" can be. There even may be widgets that can toggle things like wi-fi with a single tap (after searching for the home screen that contains that widget). I almost never use my Android devices any more so haven't had any interest in taking the time to search for such a widget.

Moreover, I think that a "single tap solution" could occasionally be at best annoying as it would be too easy to accidentally toggle a setting.

 

[tk-093]

I'll also say check out Connectivity Shortcuts. I tap the WiFi icon and I can then turn off Wifi, or disconnect from a network if I need to or whatever. Sure it's an extra step, but you mentioned you're ok with swiping left to get to a 'toggle' so this is the same thing. No fuss, no muss.

 

[DaveGx]

Then what's wrong with a toggle tile? Either let devs do it or MS needs to. Its a simple solution and I see no reason not to have this option.

 

[sym1a1a]

not to evoke a argument, but I'm really unclear why this is apparently such a big deal to you, i use connectivity shortcuts myself on my start screen, timing it, it took less than three seconds to tap short cut, tap on/off, i even timed going the long route, swipe right for apps list, go to settings, open wifi, toggle on/off and that took 8 seconds, now fifthgear using multiple network settings may have an issue but i dont see your argument other than to nit pic the os, it would seem to me to be a waste of a developers time and money whether its MS or an independent dev, to go to this extent just to save a user 1 tap or 3 seconds, even if you could swipe left and toggle an on/off switch i still dont think it would be faster than using connectivity short cuts for wifi, blutooth, cell data, gps,ect. maybe i'm not understanding your point, are you referring to something else other than the radio antennas?