Windows Phone 8.1 updates......

[kaerflog]

I didn't see a thread about this.
New features on 8.1 were announced but the 1 feature I'm most excited about is the background wallpaper on the home screen.
I've been saying for so long that its a simple feature that Windows needed.
Nobody wants to stare at colored tiles on their home screen.
You might think its silly but how many of us change our wallpapers on a constant basis ??
Its more like a picture overlay on the tiles but its a start.
I like to see them give us the option of having wallpapers in the background with transparent tiles.
Oh and the Lumia 930 is a gorgeous phone.

 

[gorcorps]

I haven't changed my wallpaper since I got my phone.

But I agree a bit more personalization would be nice. I'm not sure if you can change the color of the tiles now, but I don't care for the red default I saw on my friend's phone.

 

[TheStu]

I haven't changed my wallpaper since I got my phone.

But I agree a bit more personalization would be nice. I'm not sure if you can change the color of the tiles now, but I don't care for the red default I saw on my friend's phone.

You can change 2 aspects of the color scheme.

Right now your friend has red tiles on a black field (I assume). So, all apps are themed that way, red aspects on a black field. Mail may still be the opposite (red on white, that's how it was with WinMoPho7).

You can change the field between black and white, and the tiles you have many more color choices. I usually switched between green on black and blue on white when I had my HTC Surround.

 

[bearxor]

I was kind of anxiously awaiting it to be blown away by what they were showing. I didn't really feel the need to post a thread about it because I just wasn't that excited.

Cortana is probably the biggest take away. It's what Siri SHOULD be. I suspect Siri will start matching a lot of these features this year.

Everything else is kind of take it or leave it for me. VPN support is fantastic, finally. Now just need to wait for Cisco to release an AnyConnect client.

One of the features mentioned that I do not want is WiFi Sense. Automatically connect to open WiFi networks? Really hope I can turn that off quick, fast and in a hurry. No thank you, Microsoft!

The biggest change, IMO, is the merging of the app model. This is the big step towards combining RT and WP. Look forward to how it pans out in the future.

The biggest bummer for me out of all this was the hardware. We got the Lumia 930, 630 and 635. 635 looks pretty amazing for the price point, I think. Quad-core processor (s400?), LTE, 4.5" screen, though the 854x480 res is pretty weak. All for $189 MSRP, probably hit $150 when it's released. Great replacement for the 520.

The 930 is a great replacement for the 920 as well, so don't get me wrong. Looks pretty great, but was hoping for a Xenon flash.

What I wanted was the Lumia 1030. I wasn't REALLY expecting it but I was really hoping for it. I'm not going to buy the 930 knowing that a 1020 successor is likely right around the corner.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I like the wallpaper, but I guess I was wanting something more traditional, meaning I wanted to see it applied to that black background between the tiles. Great you wouldn't see much of it. This is still good too.

Felt like they went on a little long with Cortana. And it seems like the voice and contextual recognition needs work, but Joe did say it's launching as a beta, the back end is still learning. So it'll get better. I loved the Notebood feature, being able to go in and seeing what Cortana has learned about me and being able to delete things that it might have incorrectly learned. Not sure Google Now has that fine level of control (you can purge everything and start over, but not ideal). I also like those cue cards that provided an easy to see list of thing Cortana could do for me.

I wish the business segment was longer than a blink of the eye. This should be a big selling point for Windows Phone and they mostly just announced Enterprise VPN and MDM support. Was it really lacking these functions until now (holy crap if so)? This seems like a strength Microsoft should really be playing up. If any topic deserved to be over talked about it seems like it should have been this one.

Not really impressed with the Nokia Icon or 930. It looks like a brick, granted the 930 is a more colorful brick than the Icon. But not like the flat sides. Makes the phone look really massive. Maybe it really is massive.

But I'm eager to buy a Windows 8.1 phone once it's ready to test at work. I really want to get our company off the damn iPhones. Have been looking at Android, but it's MDM support seems pretty lame, so I'm really hoping Windows Phone 8.1 is more robust in what I can manage.

 

[sgrinavi]

I don't care about wallpaper, I like the solid blocks. More interested in extended hardware support and cooler toys. If the iphone6 & ios8 is meh the 930 will probably be my next phone.

 

[crashtestdummy]

I wish the business segment was longer than a blink of the eye. This should be a big selling point for Windows Phone and they mostly just announced Enterprise VPN and MDM support. Was it really lacking these functions until now (holy crap if so)? This seems like a strength Microsoft should really be playing up. If any topic deserved to be over talked about it seems like it should have been this one.

Yeah, not only did it lack those features but also EAP-TLS/TTLS, which meant that I couldn't log into my work's secure WiFi. It seemed really stupid to me, as they should be way ahead of Apple and Google in catering to business users, but were instead behind.

Not really impressed with the Nokia Icon or 930. It looks like a brick, granted the 930 is a more colorful brick than the Icon. But not like the flat sides. Makes the phone look really massive. Maybe it really is massive.

I like it, both because it's truly different (except for the iPhone 5C, who else makes bright-colored phones?) and because it's easily recognizable, giving it instant brand recognition. I do wish they'd push up the resolution and memory of their lower-end phones a bit, but even at 480x800, the low resolution on my 521 isn't all that noticeable. The bigger issue with it is contrast, which the 630/635 will be better at.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I don't think it's so much that I dislike the Icon/930 (despite referring to it as a brick). It's just I think the 920 is such a beautiful phone, it's a shame they are going away from that look.

 

[gorcorps]

Nokia just announced the first phone for Windows Phone 8.1. Meet the Nokia Lumia 930. It'll be available in starting in June for about $600 before carrier subsidies. Think of this as the Lumia Icon for the whole world—except the United States.

...Nokia CEO Stephen Elop made it clear that the Lumia 930 would hit Europe, and appears Nokia's strategy for the United States will focus on new Lumia devices like the recently released Icon

per Gizmodo

So... does that mean the US is screwed out of this phone? The Icon is Verizon only, so it's worthless to a large chunk of users.

 

[InfiniteLurker]

I don't think it's so much that I dislike the Icon/930 (despite referring to it as a brick). It's just I think the 920 is such a beautiful phone, it's a shame they are going away from that look.

Agreed - I was hoping for a phone that would compel me to upgrade from my red 920. I'm hopeful that there will be additional new WP8.1 hardware announced by Nokia later this summer. And, while I know it's not gonna happen, if it could be on AT&T and have Qi wireless charging, I would be ecstatic.

 

[Red Storm]

I like that picture overlay, looks way better than the plain colored tiles. A standard wallpaper wouldn't really make sense given how much space the tiles take up.

 

[gorcorps]

I like that picture overlay, looks way better than the plain colored tiles. A standard wallpaper wouldn't really make sense given how much space the tiles take up.

Agreed

Wallpaper in the tiles is the only thing that makes sense

 

[kaerflog]

I like that picture overlay, looks way better than the plain colored tiles. A standard wallpaper wouldn't really make sense given how much space the tiles take up.

But what about having wallpapers in the background and having the tiles transparent. I wanted to see if that would work.

 

[kaerflog]

I don't think it's so much that I dislike the Icon/930 (despite referring to it as a brick). It's just I think the 920 is such a beautiful phone, it's a shame they are going away from that look.

The phone isn't any bigger than co.parable phones with 5" screen.
Its smaller than a M8 and a tad wider and thicker than a Nexus 5. Lumia phones have always been heavier.

 

[InfiniteLurker]

Well according to this, the Lumia 930 won't have glance. I could deal with going back to wired charging before giving up glance. So, for me, it's either go with the monster 1520, or wait.

 

[Belegost]

But what about having wallpapers in the background and having the tiles transparent. I wanted to see if that would work.

That's what it does.

 

[pantsaregood]

This makes me despise American carriers even more.

I currently have a Lumia 920 on AT&T, but I'm thinking of upgrading.

AT&T Lumia 1520? No wireless charging without a PMA shell - not only do I not want to have to put a shell on my phone to use wireless charging, but all of the chargers around my home are Qi.

International Lumia 1520? LTE doesn't function on AT&T due to AT&T choosing to use unusual bands.

International Lumia 930? Same as above - no LTE. No hope of an American version, as Verizon has exclusivity on the Lumia Icon.

 

[Nebor]

AT&T stripping the wireless charging out of Nokia phones is a travesty. I'd have the 1520 otherwise, but like you said the LTE wouldn't work. I currently have the 920 as well.

 

[bearxor]

International Lumia 1520? LTE doesn't function on AT&T due to AT&T choosing to use unusual bands.

I can understand your frustration, but I don't think it's fair to say AT&T "choose" to use unusual bands for LTE. That's specifically what the FCC freed the 700mhz band up for. If they had freed up the extra AWS spectrum that they have now earlier, AT&T probably would have went AWS for LTE.

 

[notposting]

You can add Qi charging to the Att version of the 1520. Just takes disassembly, soldering, prayers, goat sacrifice, etc.

Apparently they couldn't get 1080p AMOLED displays with the built in memory required for Glance. Personally I would take an Icon with a 768p panel and Glance, microSD slot, and a Xenon flash, but since they didn't check with me first (what were they thinking?!) I'll stick with my 928.

 

[Tom]

Here's what I found stupid about Windows 8 tiles..

During one of the big winter storms, one of my larger tiles kept telling me that one thing people in Pittsburg would go outside for was to get cigs.

That's one of the problems with the internet. 99% of it is useless crap, including things like Facebook and Twitter.

But Windows crams the uselessness in my face.

 

[InfiniteLurker]

Here's what I found stupid about Windows 8 tiles..

During one of the big winter storms, one of my larger tiles kept telling me that one thing people in Pittsburg would go outside for was to get cigs.

That's one of the problems with the internet. 99% of it is useless crap, including things like Facebook and Twitter.

But Windows crams the uselessness in my face.

Isn't that more a result of you giving that app and tile with the 'useless crap' valuable screen real estate by pinning it and with a large tile rather than the fault of Windows Phone or Windows 8? Just unpin it, or make the tile smaller - you're not forced to have it on there.

 

[Bateluer]

Isn't that more a result of you giving that app and tile with the 'useless crap' valuable screen real estate by pinning it and with a large tile rather than the fault of Windows Phone or Windows 8? Just unpin it, or make the tile smaller - you're not forced to have it on there.

Windows Phone works best with a single page or two of tiles. Any more, and it just becomes a cluttered mess of infinite downward scrolling. On my Lumia, I have a couple large tiles pinned that I use regularly, and they do spam useless crap pretty much all the time. It makes you not want to use Facebook, Twitter, news sites, Skype, or anything else that's going to have a constant stream in the tile.

 

[InfiniteLurker]

Windows Phone works best with a single page or two of tiles. Any more, and it just becomes a cluttered mess of infinite downward scrolling. On my Lumia, I have a couple large tiles pinned that I use regularly, and they do spam useless crap pretty much all the time. It makes you not want to use Facebook, Twitter, news sites, Skype, or anything else that's going to have a constant stream in the tile.

For properly developed apps (like Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc.), that's configurable too - just go into the settings for the apps you don't want to update the live tile and shut it off, or just the parts you don't want to know about.

 

[Belegost]

For properly developed apps (like Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc.), that's configurable too - just go into the settings for the apps you don't want to update the live tile and shut it off, or just the parts you don't want to know about.

This and choosing the size and placement of tiles appropriately for the usefulness of the information. If the tile is routinely feeding useless information, maybe it's a "below the fold" tile, or not even a tile at all (I don't have a tile for Facebook) also think about whether you need a full width tile for it, currently the only full width tile I use is for messaging, and before I took it off my phone I had one for my work email. I use small tiles for weather, phone, weave, photos, and battery widget, everything else goes tiny.

Of course everyone has their own preferences, but I feel like the design is flexible enough everyone should be able to get the useful information in front of them and useless stuff out of sight.