Check your bags at the door please, because for some of you this is going to be a bumpy ride.
I think we can all agree on one thing, WP8 isn't perfection, wrapped up in a nice polycarbonate bow. There are certain gripes that everyone has to have. This isn't limited to WP. I hear people complain about their IOS devices and Android devices all the time. "Man my autocorrect sucks" I hear IOS users complain. Don't forget to mention the dismal battery life of so many Android devices. Anytime I hang out with a friend of mine, his phone is always dying, even when I have half of my battery left.
So, the goal would be to pick the stuff that works from each of the OSes and throw them in a blender, right?
In general, this is my take on what WP can learn from its competition.
The basics:
There are more than enough features that WP just doesn't have. People complain about Orientation locks, not enough brightness options, timers, an inability to search SMS and other aspects of the phone, bad voice recognition software, yadda yadda.
For many of these things I don't quite understand why MS didn't take a cue from their already successful contemporaries. IOS added an orientation lock generations ago, and I remember when the update rolled out. I don't think I had ever been more satisfied with my iPod touch. An integrated timer is also something that irks me. As for these little things, all I have to say is, do it, and do it soon MS. People are getting annoyed.
Notifications:
I like notifications on WP, it was one of the reasons I went with the OS from my feature phone. The ability to swipe away a banner that pops up is wonderful. The theme color makes it stylish as well. What I don't like about the notifications in WP8 are their frequency or lack their of, and their ability to go into stealth mode. I have several apps that don't have updating live tiles (Facebook was notorious). I have other apps that don't have updating banners (Swapchat is notorious). Swapchat, for me, is the worst. I have to have it pinned to my start screen, and I can only check my notifications at a glance once every 30 minutes (live tile limitation). It's a bit of a pain. If I enable push notifications I expect them to work.
Microsoft, much to many people's dismay, needs to adopt a notification center, and here's why:
I sleep. I hope you do, too. When I sleep, stuff happens with my phone. I might get a Flyby! or a Snapchat, but if I don't have them pinned I'll never know that it happened.
IOS and Android both have them baked into the OS, and in IOS7, it's better than ever. They get a three part Notification Center. One with all the upcoming appointments, and other notifications for the day, one for a glance ahead, and another one for all their missed updates. I'd like to not miss my updates.
On the flip side, I understand. I don't have too much of an issue with not having a notification center, but I do like the IOS method of holding them on the home screen. If I could just tap a held banner to take me right to SMS I'd be happy, but others are power users or use their phone for business. A missed notification might mean driving an extra hour to meet someone to find out that the meeting was actually called off. That's one reason a notification center would be huge.
In android the notification center is actionable. I could reply to a text with a tap or email with a tap.
Controls: Alright, I'm turning off my wifi, here are the steps I have to take: unlock my phone, tap on the settings wheel, scroll to wifi, switch it off.
IOS7: Swipe up, from anywhere, even the lock screen, and you get a whole set of options. "Turn on or off Airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Do Not Disturb. Lock your screen’s orientation or adjust its brightness. Play, pause, or skip a song. Connect to AirPlay-enabled devices. And quickly access your flashlight, timer, calculator, and camera."
I don’t know what “Airplay” is, and it sounds gimmicky, but the rest sound awesome.
App closing: “But you don’t need to.”
“But, yeah, I do.”
This is the argument I hear all the time. I get that WP doesn’t have any negatives from leaving apps open. Certain apps still drain battery in the background and sometimes I want to start a new instance of the App. I don’t want to pick up where I left off. Okay?
IOS: They’re getting it, and it looks just like ours. (They learned from WP8, why can’t we learn from them?)
Voice Recognition: I can’t say, “play Streelight Manifesto” and have my phone do anything for me. I don’t want a bing search. I want you to open my music, play my artist, and make me happy.
Android: Google Now
IOS: Siri
Microsoft is one of the biggest tech companies; I think a bit of voice recognition isn’t something their Linguists who work on Word should shy away from. Also, It would make more jobs for Linguists J
Typing: I like the keyboard on WP8, but it could be better.
Android: Swype, ‘nuff said.
IOS sucks, though.
Large Software Updates: I'm a bit bored by my phone. It works, but I think that it could improve a lot, but we've had one, very small, update since the release of WP8, and now mum is the word on what the next one will entail or even when it will happen.
IOS: Yearly updates, and big ones, with announcements. This keeps the people happy.
Android: Regular updates, and rooting. People can play with their phones as much as they like.
Overall, I think Microsoft needs to look at these things and see how they can mold them to fit their OS. They don't need to do a full copy-pasta, but looking at the ideas behind items such as the notification center and adapting them to WP8 would be a reprieve for current owners, and a selling point for potential buyers.
If you have anything else you think Microsoft should learn from it's competition, post away.
I think we can all agree on one thing, WP8 isn't perfection, wrapped up in a nice polycarbonate bow. There are certain gripes that everyone has to have. This isn't limited to WP. I hear people complain about their IOS devices and Android devices all the time. "Man my autocorrect sucks" I hear IOS users complain. Don't forget to mention the dismal battery life of so many Android devices. Anytime I hang out with a friend of mine, his phone is always dying, even when I have half of my battery left.
So, the goal would be to pick the stuff that works from each of the OSes and throw them in a blender, right?
In general, this is my take on what WP can learn from its competition.
The basics:
There are more than enough features that WP just doesn't have. People complain about Orientation locks, not enough brightness options, timers, an inability to search SMS and other aspects of the phone, bad voice recognition software, yadda yadda.
For many of these things I don't quite understand why MS didn't take a cue from their already successful contemporaries. IOS added an orientation lock generations ago, and I remember when the update rolled out. I don't think I had ever been more satisfied with my iPod touch. An integrated timer is also something that irks me. As for these little things, all I have to say is, do it, and do it soon MS. People are getting annoyed.
Notifications:
I like notifications on WP, it was one of the reasons I went with the OS from my feature phone. The ability to swipe away a banner that pops up is wonderful. The theme color makes it stylish as well. What I don't like about the notifications in WP8 are their frequency or lack their of, and their ability to go into stealth mode. I have several apps that don't have updating live tiles (Facebook was notorious). I have other apps that don't have updating banners (Swapchat is notorious). Swapchat, for me, is the worst. I have to have it pinned to my start screen, and I can only check my notifications at a glance once every 30 minutes (live tile limitation). It's a bit of a pain. If I enable push notifications I expect them to work.
Microsoft, much to many people's dismay, needs to adopt a notification center, and here's why:
I sleep. I hope you do, too. When I sleep, stuff happens with my phone. I might get a Flyby! or a Snapchat, but if I don't have them pinned I'll never know that it happened.
IOS and Android both have them baked into the OS, and in IOS7, it's better than ever. They get a three part Notification Center. One with all the upcoming appointments, and other notifications for the day, one for a glance ahead, and another one for all their missed updates. I'd like to not miss my updates.
On the flip side, I understand. I don't have too much of an issue with not having a notification center, but I do like the IOS method of holding them on the home screen. If I could just tap a held banner to take me right to SMS I'd be happy, but others are power users or use their phone for business. A missed notification might mean driving an extra hour to meet someone to find out that the meeting was actually called off. That's one reason a notification center would be huge.
In android the notification center is actionable. I could reply to a text with a tap or email with a tap.
Controls: Alright, I'm turning off my wifi, here are the steps I have to take: unlock my phone, tap on the settings wheel, scroll to wifi, switch it off.
IOS7: Swipe up, from anywhere, even the lock screen, and you get a whole set of options. "Turn on or off Airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Do Not Disturb. Lock your screen’s orientation or adjust its brightness. Play, pause, or skip a song. Connect to AirPlay-enabled devices. And quickly access your flashlight, timer, calculator, and camera."
I don’t know what “Airplay” is, and it sounds gimmicky, but the rest sound awesome.
App closing: “But you don’t need to.”
“But, yeah, I do.”
This is the argument I hear all the time. I get that WP doesn’t have any negatives from leaving apps open. Certain apps still drain battery in the background and sometimes I want to start a new instance of the App. I don’t want to pick up where I left off. Okay?
IOS: They’re getting it, and it looks just like ours. (They learned from WP8, why can’t we learn from them?)
Voice Recognition: I can’t say, “play Streelight Manifesto” and have my phone do anything for me. I don’t want a bing search. I want you to open my music, play my artist, and make me happy.
Android: Google Now
IOS: Siri
Microsoft is one of the biggest tech companies; I think a bit of voice recognition isn’t something their Linguists who work on Word should shy away from. Also, It would make more jobs for Linguists J
Typing: I like the keyboard on WP8, but it could be better.
Android: Swype, ‘nuff said.
IOS sucks, though.
Large Software Updates: I'm a bit bored by my phone. It works, but I think that it could improve a lot, but we've had one, very small, update since the release of WP8, and now mum is the word on what the next one will entail or even when it will happen.
IOS: Yearly updates, and big ones, with announcements. This keeps the people happy.
Android: Regular updates, and rooting. People can play with their phones as much as they like.
Overall, I think Microsoft needs to look at these things and see how they can mold them to fit their OS. They don't need to do a full copy-pasta, but looking at the ideas behind items such as the notification center and adapting them to WP8 would be a reprieve for current owners, and a selling point for potential buyers.
If you have anything else you think Microsoft should learn from it's competition, post away.
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