• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Windows Phone 8.1 |OT| Update 1

K

kharma45

Member
Lazaro said:
iOS already has live tile type functionality.

There's the calendar icon which changes everyday.

and the animated clock was introduced in iOS7
iOS-7-Clock-app-icon-moving.gif


iOS also does that perspective thingy.
ezgif-4005175863.gif
Click to expand...

And 3D Touch is enabling widgets on the home screen.

Looking forward to trying iOS 10 when it comes out. My 6S Plus has been a joy to use.
 
L

lastflowers

Banned
brotkasten said:
Like, what would be the reason for Android users to use Edge? I don't think there's a big enough user base to make a port viable, just for password and bookmark sync. Like Windows Phone, the majority of employees would have to use that browser first to see what's missing. And if your oldest Evangelists can't bring themselves to use your browser, why bother?

I'd love to know the MAU for Microsoft apps on Android, with a breakdown per app. Must be interesting.
Click to expand...
pretty much.
 
M

MCD

Junior Member
There are reasons to port Edge to Android/iOS.

One: increase your userbase. Everyone on mobile now. Desktop browsers only won't cut it.

Two: Increase compatibility with mobile sites.
 
C

clav

Member
brotkasten said:
And Android fanboys will be like "omg, we've had this for years. It's called 'widgets' you stupid iSheeple!"

But seriously, I really can't wait for next year's anniversary iPhone. It's clear that they've been holding back this year, to make the anniversary next year really special. Can't celebrate your 10 year anniversary of the mobile revolution with an S-style refresh.
Click to expand...

Return the headphone jack, and I might consider.

There was a reason why I was frustrated with a HTC Touch Diamond.

MCD said:
There are reasons to port Edge to Android/iOS.

One: increase your userbase. Everyone on mobile now. Desktop browsers only won't cut it.

Two: Increase compatibility with mobile sites.
Click to expand...

Yeah. I can see it happening, but now Firefox has the best browser across multiple OSes and mobile devices. No one else can say that since they don't have feature parity.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
MCD said:
There are reasons to port Edge to Android/iOS.

One: increase your userbase. Everyone on mobile now. Desktop browsers only won't cut it.

Two: Increase compatibility with mobile sites.
Click to expand...

I don't think Edge has a big enough market share even on the desktop. It's just not a good browser. The only reason I'm using it on my Surface is because everything else is even worse with touch. And on mobile it's absolutely not essential with way too many alternatives and it doesn't tie into any Microsoft services either.

Hell, it just got support for extensions. Are there even any new extensions to download yet, aside from the 5 or 6 that launched with 1607? What's the issue there?
 
H

hadareud

The Translator
I don't think it's a bad browser, but I agree that at the moment it makes no sense to bring it to other platforms.

It has some neat features and I like its minimalistic approach an lot, but there's still a lot of stuff to work on (stability, compatibility, touch interface etc.) on W10 before they should consider putting resources into porting it elsewhere. I'd like to use it as my main browser on my work machine, but it's just not there yet. Once it is, maybe the user base will go up to make it worthwhile having it on other operating systems.
 
A

Astral/H3X

Member
I *want* to like Edge on desktop, but website compatibility isn't quite there yet. There's too many little quirks that websites have for me to really use it. But, it's pretty and I like the interface, so I'm certainly open to using it primarily once that gets sorted out.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
JaggedSac said:
It works for me, can't say I have any issues with it now that it has the one extension I ever use in any browser.
Click to expand...

I don't have huge issues and I wouldn't call it a bad browser. But from my experience it has a lot of little issues.

  • Copy/paste sometimes straight up doesn't work
  • OneNote web view refreshes the entire page after using the clipping feature, which is super annoying when you're using web apps (Screen Sketch with Windows Ink works much better for that)
  • Web View won't work offline, so no clipping and annotating without an internet connection (very annoying, considering Edge is the default PDF reader)
  • random lockups of pages (e.g. scrolling and selecting text work, but links don't)
  • the Ikea web catalog won't render properly (at least not in portrait) and is pretty slow
  • the UI can still be a bit too small for touch
  • you can't scroll through your tabs like on Firefox
  • no refresh button in the context menu (not terrible, but annoying in tablet mode, because you have to reach all the way up to the button, even worse in portrait)
  • going back and forth between pages takes longer than it should on a SP4 (at least with the swiping gestures)
  • it doesn't save the scaling settings for websites on the next start, e.g. the settings for GAF on 150% and Amazon.com on 125%

That's all I could come up with right now. I understand that these aren't huge issues and some are very specific, but that doesn't make them any less annoying, especially when you're forced to use the browser anyway.
 
M

maeh2k

Member
Edge, like IE, isn't really a browser people actively seek out --- it's simply the default. On other platforms, it would be fighting an uphill battle with most of its desktop users unlikely to stray from the respective default browsers.

Then again, there aren't a lot of people who install a third party keyboard or launcher, either. Wouldn't hurt to offer a browser as well and push it as the default next to Office through deals with OEMs.
 
J

JaggedSac

Member
brotkasten said:
I don't have huge issues and I wouldn't call it a bad browser. But from my experience it has a lot of little issues.

  • Copy/paste sometimes straight up doesn't work
  • OneNote web view refreshes the entire page after using the clipping feature, which is super annoying when you're using web apps (Screen Sketch with Windows Ink works much better for that)
  • Web View won't work offline, so no clipping and annotating without an internet connection (very annoying, considering Edge is the default PDF reader)
  • random lockups of pages (e.g. scrolling and selecting text work, but links don't)
  • the Ikea web catalog won't render properly (at least not in portrait) and is pretty slow
  • the UI can still be a bit too small for touch
  • you can't scroll through your tabs like on Firefox
  • no refresh button in the context menu (not terrible, but annoying in tablet mode, because you have to reach all the way up to the button, even worse in portrait)
  • going back and forth between pages takes longer than it should on a SP4 (at least with the swiping gestures)
  • it doesn't save the scaling settings for websites on the next start, e.g. the settings for GAF on 150% and Amazon.com on 125%

That's all I could come up with right now. I understand that these aren't huge issues and some are very specific, but that doesn't make them any less annoying, especially when you're forced to use the browser anyway.
Click to expand...

Those tablet based things do sound like a pain. My browser usage is probably about as simple as it can get.
 
P

Paganmoon

Member
maeh2k said:
Edge, like IE, isn't really a browser people actively seek out --- it's simply the default. On other platforms, it would be fighting an uphill battle with most of its desktop users unlikely to stray from the respective default browsers.

Then again, there aren't a lot of people who install a third party keyboard or launcher, either. Wouldn't hurt to offer a browser as well and push it as the default next to Office through deals with OEMs.
Click to expand...

Edge, (like IE was) is the browser of choice for me.
 
L

LukasTaves

Member
H3XAntiStyle said:
I *want* to like Edge on desktop, but website compatibility isn't quite there yet. There's too many little quirks that websites have for me to really use it. But, it's pretty and I like the interface, so I'm certainly open to using it primarily once that gets sorted out.
Click to expand...

For most of what I visit it works fine, but there are some really annoying ones.

The most obvious: What's up with typing on facebook? It often messes everything, specially when it auto corrects or when you type a suggestion using the on screen keyboard.

Even on redstone typing is very weird on edge in general, for instance on mobile moving the cursor on neogaf is a pain in the ass. What I don't get is why do they need so many different "typing engines". Typing on edge is different from any other app, and on the mail app it's even more different that even the cursor is changed...
 
H

hadareud

The Translator
H3XAntiStyle said:
Yo what's wrong with Chrome?? Works for everything I throw at it.
Click to expand...

It's a horrendous resource hog. Eats up battery and RAM like nothing else. Privacy issues are questionable, too.

Feature and functionality wise, it's great. Still the only browser that does proper application shortcuts that stay in their own window as well, which is why it will remain my main work browser for the foreseeable future.
 
C

clav

Member
For desktop, Chrome is fine although some professionals prefer Chromium.

On mobile, Chrome on iOS is skinned over the existing Safari engine. Chrome on Android doesn't have features from desktop like extensions.
 
P

PodcastFips

Member
So I wanted to get rid of my iPhone 6 before it further drops in value (iPhone 7 announcement in 5 days).

I was able to find a buyer and decided to get a used Lumia 630 for 30€ until the Surface Phone is out.

Turns out they fixed that Insider Preview hole to upgrade to Windows 10, and there is no way to hack yourself to Windows 10 with this device. WP Internals does not support the 630 and there also seems to be no other way to edit the registry to force the update to show.

Welp, looks like I need to carry on a few more months with the iPhone.
 
C

clav

Member
Why would you want Windows 10 on a 512 MB RAM device?

I thought MS stopped supporting those devices after 10586?
 
P

PodcastFips

Member
claviertekky said:
Why would you want Windows 10 on a 512 MB RAM device?

I thought MS stopped supporting those devices after 10586?
Click to expand...

My work phone is also a 512 MB device updated to Windows 10 via the preview hole, and it's performing quite good. I can't stand 8.1's looks and the fact, that by the time I'd get my new phone, 8.1 is probably a dead place.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
Nexus phones are like 0-12. I wouldn't put my faith in them.

Edit: how about that Samsung patent to use both Android and windows phone? Take my money Samsung.
 
K

kazinova

Member
The 5X is not a great device.

I'm a couple months into the switch and I would warn against getting it. The battery life is horrendous (it sits on my desk plugged in AT ALL TIMES) and I don't really run many apps.

Also, it crashes constantly and slows to a complete halt occasionally. Mostly when I want to take a quick picture. I miss my 1520...

OH, AND THE MOST OFFENSIVE THING! When I run the directions on Google maps the phone cannot do anything else. ANYTHING. Need to check a webpage for information on the event you're driving to currently? TOUGH NOOGIES. Did someone call you while this is going on? HOPE YOU DIDN'T WANT TO ANSWER THAT CALL.

If the eventual Surface phone isn't interesting I'll be getting an iPhone. And I hate iOS. That's how annoying my Android experience has been.
 
T

this_guy

Member
kazinova said:
The 5X is not a great device.

I'm a couple months into the switch and I would warn against getting it. The battery life is horrendous (it sits on my desk plugged in AT ALL TIMES) and I don't really run many apps.

Also, it crashes constantly and slows to a complete halt occasionally. Mostly when I want to take a quick picture. I miss my 1520...

OH, AND THE MOST OFFENSIVE THING! When I run the directions on Google maps the phone cannot do anything else. ANYTHING. Need to check a webpage for information on the event you're driving to currently? TOUGH NOOGIES. Did someone call you while this is going on? HOPE YOU DIDN'T WANT TO ANSWER THAT CALL.

If the eventual Surface phone isn't interesting I'll be getting an iPhone. And I hate iOS. That's how annoying my Android experience has been.
Click to expand...

I use Android (last Windows phone was the Nokia 925) and got rid of the Nexus 5x after a month. Battery life wasn't great and performance was really subpar. Swapped out to the Moto X Pure, which uses the same chipset (Snapdragon 808) and performance has been much better. With the Nexus 5x I had to reboot the phone every few days or it would really bog down.
 
K

kazinova

Member
this_guy said:
I use Android (last Windows phone was the Nokia 925) and got rid of the Nexus 5x after a month. Battery life wasn't great and performance was really subpar. Swapped out to the Moto X Pure, which uses the same chipset (Snapdragon 808) and performance has been much better. With the Nexus 5x I had to reboot the phone every few days or it would really bog down.
Click to expand...
Same, I restart this phone all the damn time. I didn't restart my phone on the fast ring this much.

Outside of the app gap I've really come to appreciate how much better WP is than Android. I wish MS would just port the whole damn Android store and be done with it.
 
T

this_guy

Member
kazinova said:
Same, I restart this phone all the damn time. I didn't restart my phone on the fast ring this much.

Outside of the app gap I've really come to appreciate how much better WP is than Android. I wish MS would just port the whole damn Android store and be done with it.
Click to expand...

I always liked the Windows Phone homescreen/launcher the best but the app gap is too much.
 
S

Steelyuhas

Member
lastflowers said:
;_;
Click to expand...

lol


----------------

RE Android/Nexus: I'm not excited to go to Android by any means, but it seems like less and less of a choice. I'd love for MSFT to somehow mount a comeback on mobile, but there's very little reason for devs to spend time and money on the platform right now.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
I love the Band 2 data but notifications on it are way too spotty, even with my 950. Plus syncing takes too long. Ready to dump it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

The Verge: Microsoft wants to make the Xbox app the home of PC gaming
Platform 2 3 4 5 6
294
10K
Gamezone replied
Windows 11’s new gamepad keyboard lets you type with an Xbox controller
4
745
Magic Carpet replied
The "Bing Wallpaper" app is malware
Business
1
443
Trogdor1123 replied
Microsoft rolls out Windows 24H2 update
2 3 4
176
15K
MadchesterManc replied
[The Verge] Microsoft and Google are fighting over the future of Xbox
36
3K
lh032 replied
Top Bottom