Things that annoy me in WP8 on HTC 8X

[George P Global Moderator]

A notification center is already in the works but didn't make it in time for WP8. I expect to see it in the next major update along with other options to keep the more power user types happy.

[Josh_LosAltosHills]

I'd like all complainers to go back to their previous OS. Ive see many threads saying WP8 doesnt have this, or this annoys me. Sell your WP and just go back to iOS or Android.

[yeoo_andy_ni]

I have to say I will agree to disagree. Yes, I can see annoyances, but I guess I'm just not the avid phone users that other people are. Therefore I put up with the quirks and shortfalls.

Although one thing does grate; no custom IM/email/Facebook alerts

[Steven P. Administrators]

It's good to know that a notifications screen is on the way. It would be awesome if we could customize alerts per app as well. I have been able to tone down Facebook notifications (even though the push notifications don't appear to work half the time) but other apps like wordfeud (words with friends for example) alert just like an sms would! If you have a few different games with many people going, then that just becomes incredibly annoying.

edit: oh whatsapp also decides to vibrate (alert) only when you are opening the message.. duh! as in: sound alerts properly, but vibrates the phone (if you have that enabled) when you are already in the whatsapp list and go to open the new message, so kind of redundant.

[+Elі Subscriber²]

edit: oh whatsapp also decides to vibrate (alert) only when you are opening the message.. duh! as in: sound alerts properly, but vibrates the phone (if you have that enabled) when you are already in the whatsapp list and go to open the new message, so kind of redundant.

Yeah, that has been happening with whatsapp since WP7, but I think this is a problem with the notifcations implementation with some apps, as others notify just fine, I might be wrong though, and yes I agree that custom notification alerts besides being able to pick custom sounds for just the ringtones (like others have said) would be a good improvement too.

I think the current problem is that many apps have been quickly ported to WP8 from 7 without developers making sure everything works, but I think things will improve as new versions of the apps are released.

[BajiRav]

It's good to know that a notifications screen is on the way. It would be awesome if we could customize alerts per app as well. I have been able to tone down Facebook notifications (even though the push notifications don't appear to work half the time) but other apps like wordfeud (words with friends for example) alert just like an sms would! If you have a few different games with many people going, then that just becomes incredibly annoying.

edit: oh whatsapp also decides to vibrate (alert) only when you are opening the message.. duh! as in: sound alerts properly, but vibrates the phone (if you have that enabled) when you are already in the whatsapp list and go to open the new message, so kind of redundant.

I think whatsapp itself is buggy as hell. I do get toast alerts with sound but if I am streaming something (twit.tv mainly) or playing mp3s - whatsapp takes over the player for no reason and I have to go back to the music player/streaming apps to resume playback. weird.

[micro]

The back button acts just as it would if you were in a browser. So if you've been navigating to different pages in an app and hit back, it will take you back to say the main page of the app etc, if you hit back from the main page chances are the last place you were was not in the app so it closes the app. ETC The back button functions the same ALL the time, it goes back.

[George P Global Moderator]

If you want to go to different apps just hold the back button down to bring up the app switcher and then go to where you want to. It's what I do now because just hitting back over and over will end up closing apps I want to keep open.

[cope]

Seriously Microsoft, all the search button does is open Bing? Worst implementation of a hardware button yet, it also adds unnecessary bloat to the UI as a Search icon is needed in individual apps as well.

A nice tip, atleast for IE on WP8: If you select some text on a web page, and then click the 'Search' button, bing will search for the selected text :)

[Dashel]

I disagree with the OP on all accounts, except for the yucky button placement and feel on the 8X.

-Search button does a lot more than 'open Bing'

-Back button is consistent, it takes you back within an app then exits it. (The change of IE tab behavior in 7.5 is the only thing that is worse now in regards to this)

-A preference item, pretty minor

-I still don't get the need for a notification center at all, thats what Tiles/toasts are for

-Of course the keyboard is dynamic

-Its a vertical screen

-If they keyboard is up, suggestions are up (Unlike Win8 for example, annoying) Where exactly are you that you aren't getting them?

[Steven P. Administrators]

Yeah I discovered you can exit programs by hitting back until you can't go back anymore, shame you can't choose which programs to leave running in the background from the task switcher, it also seems like an odd thing for "task management" hopefully they improve on it to allow per app management from the task switcher (which would be cool)..

[FiB3R]

With WP8, is it possible to make the phone automatically go into silent mode at a given time?

[Subhadip]

Hardware Search button in the very first Windows Phone 7 was contextual, which received a ton of complaints. So they linked it to Bing services in Windows Phone 7.5 with the contextual search made soft. I like it how it is, including the soft in-app search button, but I would like to see Windows 8 style global search added to Bing that searches the phone and its apps in addition to all the Bing services.

WP8 was most certainly a platform release rather than a features release, moving to Windows NT, while features hardly advanced from WP7.5. It is interesting to notice that many of your complaints are missing features which are all part of Windows 8. I am sure they are coming - including Notification Center which has been confirmed. Personally, I don't need it, the toast/live tile system is way more elegant, but I can understand how it would be helpful for power users running dozens of apps. I am very pleased with the overall experience with WP8, and the minor missing gaps/apps will be filled in short order. (Remember Android in the early days?)

[Dashel]

Yeah I discovered you can exit programs by hitting back until you can't go back anymore, shame you can't choose which programs to leave running in the background from the task switcher, it also seems like an odd thing for "task management" hopefully they improve on it to allow per app management from the task switcher (which would be cool)..

You can choose easily, just use the Win key if you need to check something else. You need to let go this whole idea of manually managing the closing of apps. That way it naturally closes those apps that you generally done with. I'm OCD so I get the 'need to close stuff' but you really don't need to bother. Holding Back is a task switcher, not manager.

[vcfan]

Most of these things are things you might complain about now,but that's because they aren't normal to you. Once you spend time with the phone, these feel natural,and using another phone will get you annoyed that things don't act like windows phone.

[+Elі Subscriber²]

Most of these things are things you might complain about now,but that's because they aren't normal to you. Once you spend time with the phone, these feel natural,and using another phone will get you annoyed that things don't act like windows phone.

Totally agree, I find interacting with Android on my Samsung Galaxy Player so annoying, feels hard to navigate while in WP8 everything feels so smooth and natural to navigate.

[George P Global Moderator]

The one thing that I want to see on my 8X though is the camera scene presets that are on the Lumia 920. You know, the indoor, outdoor, nighttime etc that you can manually select that aren't there on the 8X.

Other than that I'm really happy with my device. Any other updates to the OS MS makes are a bonus imo.

[FiB3R]

I'll take that as a no, then.

[Steven P. Administrators]

I'll take that as a no, then.

I don't think you can no, I haven't found anything like it on mine anyway.

[FiB3R]

Bugger. I was really hoping they would have added that little feature by now.

[Daedroth]

I've bought a HTC Windows Phone 8S and had it for about 3 weeks now, and so far I'm really liking the phone. I've found some pros and cons about both the phone and operating system (that I can remember from the top of my head at the moment).

Pros:

1) The music quality using Beats Audio through a decent pair of headphones is excellent, much better quality than the iPod Touch 2nd Generation that the phone has replaced.

2) Quick operating system, doesn't feel sluggish

3) Office and OneNote applications are really good

4) Excellent keyboard

5) Love the customisable start screen

6) Good clear sound from speaker when calling someone

7) Like how you can add/remove photos/videos/music by drag and drop from Windows Explorer

Cons:

1) Sometimes the phone crashes when you swipe up to unlock the phone (where you enter the pin to unlock).

2) The Windows Phone application for Windows 7 is simply terrible.

3) Xbox Music is somewhat confusing to use, regarding creating playlists, etc.

4) Lack of official Google apps is annoying, as I don't really like having it integrating into the phone

5) Facebook chat can't be used while in battery saver

6) Bing button...it's so easy to press and so annoying when you do, as it pauses what you're doing and opens Bing

7) Multiple tabs - Apparently there are only two ways to close all your open tabs...

a) Hold the back button until the tab screen opens, select your tab and keep pressing back until you are back at the home screen

b) Keep pressing back for absolutely ages until you can't get past the home screen (Very annoying if you've been on many websites on Internet Explorer, as you have to go back through the all)

[jakem1]

b) Keep pressing back for absolutely ages until you can't get past the home screen (Very annoying if you've been on many websites on Internet Explorer, as you have to go back through the all)

The easiest way to quickly close IE is to tap on the ellipses, tap on Tabs, close all open tabs and then hit the back button to close the browser. It's a bit clunky but it beats hitting the back button an indefinite number of times while you go back through your browsing history.

Of course there's not really any reason to close all your open apps because they're not using any resources when they're in the background.

[BajiRav]

1) Sometimes the phone crashes when you swipe up to unlock the phone (where you enter the pin to unlock).

I don't own a WP8 device yet but this doesn't feel normal. I think you should get it replaced if that sometimes turns into once a day or once a week.

[Daedroth]

I don't own a WP8 device yet but this doesn't feel normal. I think you should get it replaced if that sometimes turns into once a day or once a week.

My partner has one too, and hers also crashes sometimes when unlocking.

[Sangeetha Nair]

Hi... Can anybody help me out with my vibration issue pls... I reallyy wanna get rid of the vibration while typing , Back Start and search buttons