Is a notification center really necessary!?

[igoramadas]

I've seen some people complaining that WP8 doesn't have a notification center like Android or iOS. But... are they really necessary? Aren't the Live Tiles a different and maybe better approach to notify the users?

I think we should chase developers to properly start using the Live Tiles. If something is important to me, I will definitely pin it to my start screen and any pending actions / requests / messages will be easily seen there. Missed calls are shown on the call tile. Same for emails, messages, facebook and whatsapp. If there's something about to happen on my calendar, it also gets shown there.

I mean not only the notification counter (usually a number on the top right of the tile) but also its details, which are shown on the back side.

Why would someone need a notification center on Windows Phone? I personally don't think so.

 

[oolzie]

IMO, yes. While live tiles are great, I'd still like to have a place to look at all notifications quickly and easily. In some cases I have tiles pinned at their smallest size, so you only get a number. Being able to swipe left or down to get a quick list of everything without tapping tiles/apps would be nice, quick and convenient. Also, the swipe left or down for that notification center would fit the OS perfectly.

 

[tk-093]

Must... resist... urge... to... post.. on... another.... Notification Center..... topic.....

Can't resist........

Yes, some people want one... Microsoft has pretty much said there will be one but they ran out of time. If you don't want to use it, you probably won't have to.

 

[ousooner314]

Live tiles are useful in their own right, but a notification center serves an entirely different purpose. A live tile can offer a quick-glance update for each app. A notification center will have the ability to gather push notifications and updates for all supported apps - even ones that are not pinned to the Start screen. This actually would supplement the live tiles and toast notifications we currently have, and I think it's a much needed feature.

 

[jdevenberg]

You are correct about live tiles, but I do not think they replace a notification center, they should supplement one. For example, I don't want to have to pin every turn based game I download to my start screen, but if I don't and I don't see my notification (like if the phone is in my pocket or I am at work), then I have to go and open every single game to see if it is my turn or not. If Windows Phone had a notification center, all these notifications would show up there. For example, I play Words With Friends, Words By Post, and Draw Something. Your Xbox Tile doesn't show notifications and I don't like pinning games to the Start screen, so I have to periodically open each of these three apps to see if I have a turn waiting or not.

People with multiple email accounts may also like a notification center. For example, I have an old Gmail address i don't use anymore. I don't like unified inboxes, so I don't use that. I almost never get emails at the Gmail account so I don't want to have a tile pinned for it, but my grandparents and a few other older relatives who aren't very computer savvy (so I don't want to burden them with having to edit contacts) still email me on it periodically. It would be great if there were a notification center to show me I had emails in that account instead of me having to remember to check it since I use it so rarely that an email can easily sit there for a week or more without me remembering to check it.

 

[TonyDedrick]

Why would someone need a notification center on Windows Phone? I personally don't think so.

Because someone wants it and it kills no one to have choices.....

 

[jdevenberg]

Because someone wants it and it kills no one to have choices.....

Tell that to the baby ducks that die every time someone suggests a Windows Phone Notification center. Every day some one brings it up, and every day baby ducks die. The connection is obvious.

 

[Big Supes]

If toasts were logged in the Me tile, I would say there is absolutely no reason for a notification centre....

 

[jdevenberg]

If toasts were logged in the Me tile, I would say there is absolutely no reason for a notification centre....

If toasts were logged in the Me tile, that would BE a notification center. Also I agree.

 

[nokiafan99]

I guess WP8 needs to notification center. It's good to have all your notifications in one place. I personally wouldn't mind it. All more reasons to love WP8 and L920 :winktongue:

 

[shinygerbil]

I would like a "toast rack" for all those toasts we miss and have no idea where they came from. I understand that not everybody needs one - and actually I don't desperately need it, I just think it'd be nice - but other people have to understand that just because they don't need it, that doesn't mean we should all have to make do without it.

If Windows Phone is the "phone reinvented around me" then I'd like some say in what it does

 

[gsquared]

If some people want that then fine. Let a third party developer create one and MS concentrate on the core OS and their service offerings. That is how MS has operated for years with the full Windows OS. That approach benefits everyone.

 

[jaj324]

I say YES! The icons in iOS have a little notification but there is also a consolidated notification screen.
Sent from my Blue AT&T 8x using Board Xpress

 

[igoramadas]

You are correct about live tiles, but I do not think they replace a notification center, they should supplement one. For example, I don't want to have to pin every turn based game I download to my start screen, but if I don't and I don't see my notification (like if the phone is in my pocket or I am at work), then I have to go and open every single game to see if it is my turn or not. If Windows Phone had a notification center, all these notifications would show up there. For example, I play Words With Friends, Words By Post, and Draw Something. Your Xbox Tile doesn't show notifications and I don't like pinning games to the Start screen, so I have to periodically open each of these three apps to see if I have a turn waiting or not.

People with multiple email accounts may also like a notification center. For example, I have an old Gmail address i don't use anymore. I don't like unified inboxes, so I don't use that. I almost never get emails at the Gmail account so I don't want to have a tile pinned for it, but my grandparents and a few other older relatives who aren't very computer savvy (so I don't want to burden them with having to edit contacts) still email me on it periodically. It would be great if there were a notification center to show me I had emails in that account instead of me having to remember to check it since I use it so rarely that an email can easily sit there for a week or more without me remembering to check it.

I won't disagree but I think differently. For your examples I guess the notification center would solve problems that could be better handled elsewhere. If you have a mailbox which you're not using anymore, it would be better having its emails forwarded to your new email address, right? The notification center is not solving the problem, just making it less annoying to you. Forwarding is damn easy with all major email services.

The games, I'm not playing any but as you said the Xbox doesn't show notification counts and it should. The possibility is already there, it's up to Microsoft (or the game developers, not sure in this case) to properly implement it. And on the back of the tile it could display your current game turns.

There's a valid point for apps that are not pinned to the start screen. I'm particularly not thrilled about it because I'm using all the apps I have installed almost on a daily basis. So if it's not on the start, it's not very important, and if it's not important I don't mind being notified about something a few hours or even days after it has happened. The less information being thrown at me, the better - but that's just me.

I'm not against a notification center, my point was that in the vast majority of cases the Live Tiles do the same job. I think if one is deeply missing it, it's just because he's used to having one on iOS or Android.

 

[odin09]

The one thing that I actually like about my wife's iPhone is that when you press the power button you get that list of notifications. I didn't care about this issue much but now I want it.

 

[jmerrey]

again?!?

Not all apps have live tiles that indicate their notifications. If you miss the toast, it's gone forever. MS obviously thinks we need one, they were working on it and didn't have enough time to finish it.

 

[lordofthereef]

Live tiles are a form of notification. But look at iOS, which got notification center with iOS 5 release. It too had number "bubbles" for how many notifications each app had. Right now, live tiles will, at best, show you the first couple of words in the latest email or text you received. There is no list. There is no information to quickly see the last five things that came through. For those that don't get multipl texts, calls, and emails coming in an hour, this is great. For those that rely on these things, especially for work, it is less than optimal. I would love to have a notification center where I can quickly see everything that came through while I was away from the desk, respond to the things important to me, and clear the rest of the notifications in one tap.

 

[hopmedic]

We need a notification center so that we can be backward compatible with people coming from phones that have notification centers, and so that WP can become as bloated as Windows became by its need to be backward compatible with software that was written 20 years ago...........

 

[boobertoober]

What about a webos dashboard design. Or something similar?
For those that don't know of its beauty, here is a YouTube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNo27k4Yq4s

 

[bjbaylor]

I would like one, like others have said live tiles are nice but an all in one notification center would be ideal.

It doesn't have to be intrusive just a nice swipe to the left from the start screen would be enough.