While browsing the back button works fine, but if I go back to the start screen and then open IE again I lose all page history and the back button takes me to the start screen instead of the previous page. And no forward button.
The Internet Explorer UI is the most braindead part of Windows Phone and to me demonstrates a complete disconnect from users. You can "favourite" these little code snippets to navigate forwards and backwards if you absolutely need to:
Code:
javascript:history.back()
javascript:history.forward()
Setting it to open the desktop version of sites barely ever works. This is especially annoying when I use google as the default search.
That's most likely the fault of the sites. Most should have a link to switch to the desktop version, or even a special URL to do so (favourite these). As for the default search, I believe that has to do with the search being passed through a mobile URL. Microsoft would have to change the search URL here - should ideally provide a mobile and desktop option.
On my iPhone I had a "Work" contact that had all my conference call #s with custom labels saying which employee/meeting they represented.
Create groups.
I keep getting these contacts with no picture for them even though there is only one contact without a picture.
You can select the picture.
I know you can just swipe from the top to see these icons, but just show them all the time or let me choose to do that.
Conscious, controversial design decision that I personally agree with (pretty rare). Status bars are the most ugly parts of mobile interfaces, and seriously, go observe "regular" user. They won't be constantly checking their WiFi or something, and the icons pop down when there's something notable (location being used, lost cellular connection).
Why can't these be disabled, or let you put in an amount of time that you have to touch the icon to activate it (Hold it for 1 second)?
Bad idea to be disabled, since 2/3 of them are crucial for navigation. The back and home buttons have long press functions, but I still agree with you. I'd like to see a "media mode" option so when you are watching videos or playing games, the buttons all go long-press (or have something lame like a confirmation popup).