[jayblazer]

I have no experience with window phone. I have had android and currently have ios but I'm looking for something new. I have been reading and doing research and now I have a question about notifications. I keep reading that the live tiles only update every half hour. Doesn't seem so "live". My question is will the phone notify me when I get a text or email as soon as it comes through?? I would hate to think that email only gets pushed every half hour.

[jayblazer]

That title should read "future wp owner with a simple ?"

[ret18057]

You'll get notified, but if you don't have it on you when it pops...see the other 213 threads on the lack of a notification option. No big deal for some, really big deal for me. My only REAL substantive complaint about the phone so far, coming from an S4.

If you used XDA, the audience here is much smaller, so answers to questions do get answered, but not always with the speed and specificity you get at XDA...so hang tough...

[jayblazer]

That's what I meant there are lots of threads about it so it worries Me. When you say have it on when it pops do you mean turned on or like do you mean awake like screen lit up?

[mtiede]

Notification and tiles are slightly different things. Tiles generally show some kind of information, like how many unread emails you have or how many people are waiting to continue playing some game with you or what the current weather is.

Notifications are one time messages, like "you just got an email" or "a tornado is headed your way".

If a notification comes in while the phone is powered up (even if the screen is turned off) the screen will come on briefly and show the message and may vibrate or make a sound.

If you miss a notification message, the tile will still most likely indicate that there is information for you, but, of course, it all depends on how the app is designed.

Tiles refresh pretty frequently, but again, it depends on the app and sometimes what makes sense.

Hope this helps.

[mtiede]

I just checked my email refresh rate and I have it set for every 15 minutes in the settings.

[xandros9]

I have no experience with window phone. I have had android and currently have ios but I'm looking for something new. I have been reading and doing research and now I have a question about notifications. I keep reading that the live tiles only update every half hour. Doesn't seem so "live". My question is will the phone notify me when I get a text or email as soon as it comes through?? I would hate to think that email only gets pushed every half hour.

third party apps generally update every 30 minutes

but texts and emails are notified upon arrival depending on your settings. So Yes.

[JBConforti]

Tiles update immediately, as said above if you get a text/email etc a ribbon at the top will show up saying "so and so texted you" you can tap that and itll take you to the app. If you don't see it or don't tap on it your live tile will show that you have a notification. I've attached a screenshot of my home page. I have 1 hotmail email and one snap that needs to be checked. From what I understand, pretty similar to IOS.

[mtiede]

My Office 365 mail gets immediate notification. As soon the mail hits Outlook, I get notified and the tile is updated.

I REALLY like how windows phone works.

My only nagging complaint is seeing advertisements of apps for "your iPhone and Android" devices and not having windows too. Especially since I am a developer and know how relatively easy it is to make the apps (once know how) so it is particularly maddening.

[DustinRyan]

My tiles update immediately when I get anything on Facebook, Twitter, texts, WhatsApp, anything that adds a number. Other apps also display other information whenever it happens. I've never seen them delayed or only update periodically on my end. And I've never changed any settings to modify live tile refresh times.

[ret18057]

try this:

Windows Phone Guide: how to move from Android to Windows Phone | How to | Softonic

[manicottiK]

Another thing about tile updates: tiles can be updated by the phone itself or by a server.

Since you have an iPhone, you know that a server can push a notification to your phone and update the count "badge" shown on the app's icon. In Windows Phone, the notification would be one form of push and updating the tile would be another. Unlike on iOS, the tile update can do lots more than just change the badge number. A pushed tile can change the title, color, icon, and text on the tile. These can happen in real time as frequently as the server wants to push out updates.

However, many apps don't have companion software running on a server somewhere to push out updates. Some apps (like weather and battery monitors) need information that the phone knows and that no server does (like where the phone is at any time or how full its battery is). Those apps use a feature called "periodic tasks" (shown in the Settings app as "background tasks"). The periodic tasks run briefly about every half hour. They typically update tiles, but don't have to (that is, maybe they just want to download or log some information, doing nothing to tiles).

In an app that I'm responsible for, we use both server-push tiles and client-pull tiles. The server always manages the "count" shown on the tile and the client manages everything else (icon, title, up to three lines of text). A count change (along with a "toast" notification) is sent by the server as needed IF the user has turned on push notifications, but the other information is updated only every 30 minutes IF the user has turned on periodic tasks. (Some users don't use periodic tasks because of concerns about battery life. Given that the task can run for no more than 30 seconds every 30 minutes and can't use more than about 11 MB of memory, they typically have minimal impact.)