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Windows Phone 8.1 |OT| Update 1
- Thread starter brotkasten
- Start date
Probably still just 735/830, but I think all phones will just make a jump to WP10 in the fall.
Doesn't make sense, every phone should get every update IMO.
The first thing I did was watch the video review. He seemed pretty stuck on how this wasn't that great of an experience with it being so slow. Wait for the next iteration etc etc.
So I look at the review score thinking they gave it maybe a 6-7 but of course it was verge'd.
As Always, reading the review wasn't any better.
Question for some of you, is it common for Apple to limit the resolution on Macbooks? From what I read it has a 2304x1440 screen that only allows a maximum resolution output of 1440x900? I've never messed or even cared to look at the resolution options on my Macbook.
Yeah, I got update 2 on my 830 as well, lol. It has the settings organized by category.
I want that.
MrGreencastle
Member
I think OS X treats "retina"/high density pixel displays like they're a more typical resolution. 1440x2 * 900x2 is treated as 1440*900. So you get the same amount of screen real estate, but everything looks "crisper". From my testing, Windows 8 didn't do this on my Macbook, so it looked like a 60" screen squeezed into a tiny 13" frame. If that makes any sense at all. I think it's referred to as DPI scaling in Windows Phone and Windows nowadays, though.
Anton Sugar
Member
Sooooo sounds like the update didn't really make W10 any better? That's a bummer.
Gonna make my 635 my daily driver. I should just be able to switch the sim, right?
Gonna make my 635 my daily driver. I should just be able to switch the sim, right?
lastflowers
Banned
yeah
lastflowers
Banned
I don't think the keyboard is supposed to be that way.
MrGreencastle
Member
Under "Project Spartan". Not sure about Outlook, shouldn't it just be the Mail app now?
Also, Spartan is a hilarious regression coming from IE. Maybe the under-the-hood stuff is good, but as of now, the browser sucks. URL bar at top - wtf. Giant bar at the bottom should at least have some tabs or something if they're doing this. But the URL bar should be at the bottom. Seriously. That's honestly frustrating.
MrGreencastle
Member
Yeah, and for those wondering, there's no way this is anywhere close to being ready to use as a daily driver, even for pre-release fiends like me. It's a mess right now.
On a Lumia 920, anyway.
Stick with 8.1 or whatever for now.
On a Lumia 920, anyway.
Stick with 8.1 or whatever for now.
Submit feedback to them regarding the bar. Wouldn't worry about a giant blank space in the UI - obviously that's going away....
I think what they ought to end up doing is just have the bar at the top for people to feel "comfortable" coming from other platforms, and have toggle switch in options to move it back where it belongs!
MrGreencastle
Member
Every other search bar in the OS is at the bottom and has been for years. What about comfort for people who've actually been using the platform. Default is bottom. I agree there should be a switch, but they can toggle it if it bothers them so much. It's getting really irritating Microsoft messing with their own language to the point of it being completely unrecognizable to how it's worked for half a decade now.
lastflowers
Banned
it's some goofy-ass shit. Put the bar on the bottom.
Yep, I agree, but if Microsoft is holding onto some research or opinions that show that people want it on top for some reason it should be there as an option as ridiculous as it works logically.
BeforeU
Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
I want flagship device
I want flagship device
I want flagship device
I want flagship device
I want flagship device
I want flagship device
When?
But seriously anyone got any idea? When we will see it.
I was with my friend earlier and he bought S6. That screen is fucking sexy. We need something better
I want flagship device
I want flagship device
I want flagship device
I want flagship device
I want flagship device
When?
But seriously anyone got any idea? When we will see it.
I was with my friend earlier and he bought S6. That screen is fucking sexy. We need something better
MrGreencastle
Member
My research shows that the whole reason I chose Windows Phone over other platforms is because it had an interface that made the most sense to me and was better than the others. I've been using it for years. Design for people who use your product first, then worry about how you think people who don't even use your product might want it were they to switch. Or else you'll just lose everyone.
Don't even get me started on Hamburger menus and Ellipses lol. Windows Phone is turning into a cheap Android Froyo clone by the day. I need to write a huge mega rant and submit it to their feedback. I've been on this platform since Day Zero and not even the Zune through to Xbox Music debacle made me shake my head this hard. They went from beautiful, to acceptable, to questionable, to downright unusable (exaggeration, but that's how I feel as a Windows Phone user right now with regards to their implementations, I understand it's a pre-release but come on).
José Mourinho
cocknose
But surely one could argue that designing for their users is the reason the platform has so few of them?
MrGreencastle
Member
José Mourinho;159672958 said:
Backwards. The design is the only reason they have ANY users. Because it surely ain't due to the wonderful app ecosystem.
MrGreencastle
Member
How do I go back from an email? I can't "swipe in" from the left like you'd expect and there's no hamburger menu at the top to bring in a menu. Pressing the back button closes the app, but the state is saved so opening it back up just brings me back to the email. Why is there no settings/ellipses bar at the bottom?
There's buttons and dials everywhere. What ever happened to "content not chrome"? It's flat, yeah, but it's such a regression
I'm going to reserve my judgment until at least RC1 though, because this build has me pulling out my hair at this point lol
I'm not convinced it's as behind as you think. The main issues are app related, and why would, for example, the Photo App need six months to fix.
I've been playing around with this build on my old 820, and may write up some impressions after a while longer of play.
José Mourinho
cocknose
Sideward. What I said amounts to the same thing as you have just said only we're coming at it from different angles. That is, the design probably is the reason the platform has any users, however, the other side of that coin is that same design that lured those users is probably the same design that turned off the vastly larger group of uninterested potential users.
But it's 3 am here, so maybe I'm talking nonsense.
BeforeU
Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
Lets me put it this way. The app ecosystem sucks because there are less users, and there are less users because app ecosystem sucks. Its a full circle.
I think changing the design around is the only card Microsoft have left now. That and tight integration with the Windows 10 devices.
They are going for a same look across all their devices.
NeOak
Member
WINDOWS 10 on Lumia 820 first impressions. Main phone is 1520.
Accounts:
Okay, I am confused. Is accounts still system-wide?
There’s the option in Outlook – as well as the People App. However, it’s separate, and I saw no option in Settings to add a “universal” one.
I also couldn’t add a second Outlook account, which is more of a bug, and I am not sure I want to point out bugs here because it’s early code and it’s not indicative of the OS changes. I’ll keep them at a minimum.
System Wide UI:
Biggest issue is all the Title Bar nonsense. I have always on status bar now AND right below that I get a, for example, PEOPLE app bar, and it looks…. ridiculous, and cluttered, and ugly, and please get rid of it. I would prefer a swipe down status but I know that’s not possible with the notification center, so the app Title Bar has got to go. File Explorer is the worst here, what’s the point of the address path on a 2 inch wide screen, haha, it just ends up being crazy ridiculous.
Project Spartan:
Let’s just assume for agreements sake they will put that address bar on the bottom. I think they obviously will since the first feedback notification pop up I got was in regards to asking me what I thought of the placement, LOL.
What’s most interesting to me is the Spartan scrolling mechanism. It feels very iOS/iPhone. Not at all like Windows Phone prior. Not sure I like it, but it still seems to scroll faster than iOS, but not sure of that since I have no iOS device to directly compare (just going off memory here). I wonder if this will be a system-wide change, or just a Spartan thing?
Additionally not liking the grey address bar, it seems to blend in and it looks rather nasty.
Other browser improvements are there in spades despite the, for now, slower rendering speed and general Spartan glitchiness! Images now render properly on mobile sites!!! No more low resolution blurry pictures on every single site you visit! Yay!! Certain things also work faster than IE11 on a 1520, so the new renderer shows some very promising speed improvements.
Outlook:
This is a big improvement over the old email app in my opinion. It’s just as unresponsive and glitch as many of the new apps at the moment, but design wise it looks pretty nice, and things are more accessible.
Biggest news ever for this app is you can finally email FULL RESOLUTION PHOTOS! How many years have I waited this……..
Photos App:
Can’t really give impressions for this since it barely functions. It gathers all my OneDrive pics by default which I assume will really slow things down (might be a data chomper too?) I like that I can see image properties just by swiping down on an open image, but it’s very very basic stuff. If you’re going to have this, why not show at least basic EXIF for photos? Also this stuff gets cut off the side of the screen (bug?) Zooming is also glitchy, but at the same time it has this iOS/iPhone sort of inertia just like Spartan scrolling. Points to this being system wide I imagine, what do you all think? Also, pics are really low res when displayed to fit on screen. (Again, to me this is a bug, but on the other hand this kind of thing has existed in WP in some form since the beginning, so there’s no way to know. Remember the low bit-depth thing in WP7?)
People App:
I feel this looks nice…. But there’s some mind boggling UI stuff here. Why is my contact list 40% of the screen? What is the point of having a giant letter on top that doesn’t go away till I get to the following letter? I mean…. I am on my ‘D’ contacts, so obviously I am on my D contacts, so why put the giant D there!?
Settings:
They are nested now, and while it may look more organized, I feel there’s a disconnect due to the fact that you press on something, and maybe 3 nested options appear on top, and your back button is all the way on bottom. I know this sounds… almost petty (?), but it just feels off to me. Also, this whole ‘app’ is super glitchy still. Not worth mentioning? I am not sure, I mention it because I never found the Win8 PC Settings app to be anything worthwhile or useable.
Messaging:
Not using this with a SIM card so can’t test but I am liking the look of the initial view. Not liking the paper airplane (?) send icon. Don’t get it. Is it trying to be cutesy?
I am digging it for the most part, I feel WP needed some changes, but I hope it keeps its personality and gets cleaned up UI-wise.
Accounts:
Okay, I am confused. Is accounts still system-wide?
There’s the option in Outlook – as well as the People App. However, it’s separate, and I saw no option in Settings to add a “universal” one.
I also couldn’t add a second Outlook account, which is more of a bug, and I am not sure I want to point out bugs here because it’s early code and it’s not indicative of the OS changes. I’ll keep them at a minimum.
System Wide UI:
Biggest issue is all the Title Bar nonsense. I have always on status bar now AND right below that I get a, for example, PEOPLE app bar, and it looks…. ridiculous, and cluttered, and ugly, and please get rid of it. I would prefer a swipe down status but I know that’s not possible with the notification center, so the app Title Bar has got to go. File Explorer is the worst here, what’s the point of the address path on a 2 inch wide screen, haha, it just ends up being crazy ridiculous.
Project Spartan:
Let’s just assume for agreements sake they will put that address bar on the bottom. I think they obviously will since the first feedback notification pop up I got was in regards to asking me what I thought of the placement, LOL.
What’s most interesting to me is the Spartan scrolling mechanism. It feels very iOS/iPhone. Not at all like Windows Phone prior. Not sure I like it, but it still seems to scroll faster than iOS, but not sure of that since I have no iOS device to directly compare (just going off memory here). I wonder if this will be a system-wide change, or just a Spartan thing?
Additionally not liking the grey address bar, it seems to blend in and it looks rather nasty.
Other browser improvements are there in spades despite the, for now, slower rendering speed and general Spartan glitchiness! Images now render properly on mobile sites!!! No more low resolution blurry pictures on every single site you visit! Yay!! Certain things also work faster than IE11 on a 1520, so the new renderer shows some very promising speed improvements.
Outlook:
This is a big improvement over the old email app in my opinion. It’s just as unresponsive and glitch as many of the new apps at the moment, but design wise it looks pretty nice, and things are more accessible.
Biggest news ever for this app is you can finally email FULL RESOLUTION PHOTOS! How many years have I waited this……..
Photos App:
Can’t really give impressions for this since it barely functions. It gathers all my OneDrive pics by default which I assume will really slow things down (might be a data chomper too?) I like that I can see image properties just by swiping down on an open image, but it’s very very basic stuff. If you’re going to have this, why not show at least basic EXIF for photos? Also this stuff gets cut off the side of the screen (bug?) Zooming is also glitchy, but at the same time it has this iOS/iPhone sort of inertia just like Spartan scrolling. Points to this being system wide I imagine, what do you all think? Also, pics are really low res when displayed to fit on screen. (Again, to me this is a bug, but on the other hand this kind of thing has existed in WP in some form since the beginning, so there’s no way to know. Remember the low bit-depth thing in WP7?)
People App:
I feel this looks nice…. But there’s some mind boggling UI stuff here. Why is my contact list 40% of the screen? What is the point of having a giant letter on top that doesn’t go away till I get to the following letter? I mean…. I am on my ‘D’ contacts, so obviously I am on my D contacts, so why put the giant D there!?
Settings:
They are nested now, and while it may look more organized, I feel there’s a disconnect due to the fact that you press on something, and maybe 3 nested options appear on top, and your back button is all the way on bottom. I know this sounds… almost petty (?), but it just feels off to me. Also, this whole ‘app’ is super glitchy still. Not worth mentioning? I am not sure, I mention it because I never found the Win8 PC Settings app to be anything worthwhile or useable.
Messaging:
Not using this with a SIM card so can’t test but I am liking the look of the initial view. Not liking the paper airplane (?) send icon. Don’t get it. Is it trying to be cutesy?
I am digging it for the most part, I feel WP needed some changes, but I hope it keeps its personality and gets cleaned up UI-wise.
Fixed the ridic people app UI
Before:
After:
brotkasten
Member
I don't like the new contextual menu, you can't just swipe up and open it like before. You have to touch these tiny 3 dots at the corner to open it... (it's even worse on Project Spartan because the bar is taking a lot of space at the bottom of the screen, for just 3 non-ergonomic dots)
Done! I'm sorry, I was wondering how I could resize the images.
Done! I'm sorry, I was wondering how I could resize the images.
Took Xbox Music a year to fix. I hope the new apps don't have the same experience. (ship with a bad experience, take months to get to an acceptable level).
brotkasten
Member
The difference is that the apps are universal this time. One .appx for all platforms. They're developed by the same team and the moment the app improves on the desktop or tablet side, he same code gets carried over to the mobile side. That's how it's supposed to be, at least, with having just one executable and all that.
PetriP-TNT
Member
Holy crap, I tried it before with my laptop but it only had Win8.1 home edition and forgot about it... I have had a PC with Windows 8.1 Pro for 5 months now but didn't remember the thing until today but...
Remote Desktop on Windows Phone <--> Windows 8.1. is craaazy. It works so well it's ridiculous! Now I just need to figure something productive to do with that.
Remote Desktop on Windows Phone <--> Windows 8.1. is craaazy. It works so well it's ridiculous! Now I just need to figure something productive to do with that.
Apparently every reviewer seems to think it's 'the future' with its small size, low weight, and fanless design -- but then they don't like its lack of power, and reduced battery life compared to the MBA, which are direct results of its small size, low weight, and fanless design... Everything's a trade-off and it takes Apple to know that at some point in the future, batteries might get better and processors might get more efficient.
Opus Angelorum
Member
When I tap a name in the contact list, it shows the contact information, in the call history, there's a little contact icon to the right, that brings you to the contact information, instead of calling the contact.
That's on 8.1, but I'm sure it was the same on WP8.
Steelyuhas
Member
Installed the new build, tough to make comparisons as I installed it on a 635 and my daily driver is a 1520, but that said it's still pretty damn rough. The Desktop looks like it's heading nicely down the home stretch (especially with some of the updates in the 10056 build that leaked yesterday), but this feels months behind.
Interface isn't final yada yada, but oof is some of it not looking good.
Interface isn't final yada yada, but oof is some of it not looking good.