To Universal App or Not

Windows Phone 8.1 brings a host of improvements. Most notable and consumer facing among them are the Action Center, Cortana, improved start screen, all the Senses etc. But the feature that might end up being the most useful to the users without them even knowing is the introduction of Universal Apps, the compile once and run on all devices apps. Since its introduction, there have been a lot faster app additions to both Windows and Windows Phone store. Previously you’d have to wait for developer to do both separately, if ever; but now cool apps from Windows store appear on Windows Phone store simultaneously, and vice-versa.

So what’s not to like?

The problem with Universal Apps are a bit low level. Literally. While they make great sense for indie developers and even bigger publishers to take advantage of it to maximize their usage of resource allocation, Universal apps are all managed code apps, and will always be slower than their native cousins. Improvements to platform itself will keep bringing down the performance hit associated with managed code, but a gap will remain. So while these apps are very good, and even desirable in cases like TV apps and the likes, if an app requires maximum performance possible, developer probably should stick to native apps.

Especially if the developer is Microsoft itself.

It’s downright depressing to see a loading screen on a first party app. I don’t want to see a loading screen on my music app. Ever. Not a resuming screen either for that matter. I don’t want to see those screen on my podcast app, on my videos app. These are core functionality app, and people try them, a lot. If a platform loyalist like me is outraged by it, think how someone trying it in a store would feel! An iPhone or top end Android devices will be there to rescue from the terror that is loading screen. That cannot be too great for the already tiny Windows Phone market share.

So dear Microsoft, you have the resources. Please use it to kill those loading screens. Universal apps are great, and should help Windows Phone a lot in coming days. But don’t use it on places where it will bring more harm instead. There are places for it, first party pre-installed apps is not among them.

Devil Is In The Details

There have already been plenty of reviews of Windows Phone 8.1. This is obviously not a review. Just a list of details, major or minor, only doable by someone who regularly uses the OS.

Good:

• Keyboard now suggests/offers emoticons!
• Updated boot animation is good.
• Updated icon for outlook account and exchange.
• Parallax implementation is good.
• Does call grouping in call history.
• Map nicely integrates POI from Foursquare. More important stuff appears first when zooming in.
• More tiles across the device spectrum.
• Manual checking of app  updates.

Bad:

• Xbox music sucks. SLOW.
• Slower performance.
• Podcast app has no browsing.
• Outlook account is still called Hotmail.
• Office apps not updates one bit.
• Still no contact picture in call history.
• Setting still a mess. No icons.
• Transit direction is not using the transports’ (either of bus and train) names to denote them (NYC), only the direction.
• No need to give that pop-up when I check for app updates.

Neutral and Time Needed:

• Cortana sports integration is woefully incomplete.
• Worsened battery performance.
• Worsened memory management. IE is unloading tabs too frequently.

I want to see:

• Cortana to have batch operations. (Turn off all alarms, Move all alarm forward by 3 hours, )
• More options for Action Center quick actions.

These all may seem pretty small time stuff to a lot of people, but a lot of these small stuff can get in the way of a great experience. So here’s hoping someone is paying attention somewhere.

Chrome Sucks

Or probably WebKit.

I have always felt weird while using the beloved Chrome browser, but could never put a finger on it why. The closest I got was there is something in it’s mouse behavior that’s off. And today I discovered it is indeed a mouse behavior, and I have pinned what it is.

As you’d guess, I am a mouse user. I scoff at people who boasts Apple machine’s “superior” trackpads. For all subjective and objective reasons I can muster, mouse >>> trackpad. So, if mouse doesn’t feel right, nothing feels right.

On to the point. You know how every mouse (that’s made in this millennium) has a scroll wheel, and how scrolling that wheel takes you a bit up or down in a webpage, when I scroll one “notch”, all browser goes from point A to point B, as they should. My issue with Chrome is with how it handles this particular action. Both Internet Explorer and Firefox goes from point A to B in a smooth manner, you can almost follow the movement. But, Chrome and Opera, both now WebKit based, goes from point A to B in an instant. This creates a very jarring effects. More so if you do a lot of reading like I do. I could not test Safari for the reason of it no longer being available for Windows.

I have always maintained that how a browser feels to use is way more important than how “fast” it is. And this is just one of those. The ironic part is, this makes Internet Explorer my secondary browser over Chrome.

Laundry List for Windows

Microsoft has been enjoying an almost monopoly in enterprise and consumer computing for almost as long as personal computers has existed. But as Android and iOS gains popularity, Microsoft needed to take necessary measurements.

The Metro Modern design language is in my opinion Microsoft’s doorway to dominating next generation of computing. But as it stands, compared to the desktop environment, it is still woefully lacking. This post is intended to be a “laundry list” of tweaks I believe Microsoft needs to do on Windows for a improved user experience.

Windows Desktop

Add podcast support into Windows Media Player. OR Update Zune.

Desktop can get Metro Interface elements like this.

Internet Explorer zoom settings should be independent of the Metro IE.

Desktop apps should be able to integrate with charms bar too. Do more than just screenshot share.

Mature “Journalists”

A fine example of how some tech journalists behave on the face of criticism about how biased and an uninformed they sound. To be fare the OP did write something objectionable, but not one editor had the decency to face any of his point.

If this what the next generation of tech journalists are like, we are gonna have some very bad time. These people are supposed to be actual journalists, not some arm chair CEO like me!

Surface Dimension I Want

Update: I shoud have done this when Surface Pro 3 was released. I am so glad people at Microsoft saw this issue the same way I did. No, I don’t think they saw this blog post and re-though Surface’s diemensions. But I am glad anyway, because the point is to get 3:2 aspect ratio on hybrid devices.

I did some research on what I want for a Tablet’s dimensions.

Best aspect ratio in my opinion is 3:2
3:2 or 1.5 is the average of 4:3(1.333) and 16:9(1.667)
A happy middle ground of portrait and landscape.
Proposal: 1920:1280

Surface’s Dimensions:
Height: 1080/208=5.1923″
Width: 1920/208=9.2308″
Diagonal: Sqrt(5.1923^2+9.2308^2)=10.59092290265584 -> Verified
Screen area: 5.1923″ *9.2308″ =47.9291 inch2

Microsoft’s Next Boss

On the wake of the news that Microsoft is acquiring Nokia, I believe its safe to bet that Stephen Elop is going to be appointed the next CEO of the software giant. He was already one of the most anticipated person, but him leaving Nokia to lead Microsoft would have left Microsoft in a bad strategic position. But now that Elop is back, with Nokia (as we knew) with him, everything falls into right places.

Laundry List for Windows

Microsoft has been enjoying an almost monopoly in enterprise and consumer computing for almost as long as personal computers has existed. But as Android and iOS gains popularity, Microsoft needed to take necessary measurements.

The Metro Modern design language is in my opinion Microsoft’s doorway to dominating next generation of computing. But as it stands, compared to the desktop environment, it is still woefully lacking. This post is intended to be a “laundry list” of tweaks I believe Microsoft needs to do on Windows for a improved user experience.

Windows Desktop

Add podcast support into Windows Media Player. OR Update Zune.

Desktop can get Metro Interface elements like this.

Internet Explorer zoom settings should be independent of the Metro IE.

Desktop apps should be able to integrate with charms bar too. Do more than just screenshot share.

Majestic Elop

Some people like him, some don’t, some think he is a Trojan Horse planted by Microsoft. I however am firmly in the first group. I believe as a CEO he’s been great to Nokia, and his decision to go with Windows Phone will turn out to be one of the best in years. But those are more complex issues, out of scope for this particular post.

This post is for this, just look at him being majestic! (image by TheVerge)

 

He looks totally awesome!

Real “Issue” With Windows 8 Start Screen

It will NOT come as a shocker. Not to most people anyway. This will sound condescending, but sometimes you have to be that way to say that need be said. The issue is quite simple really, that is people are dumb. Maybe not funny movie dumb or sitcom dumb, but dumb nonetheless.

With Windows Vista, Microsoft introduced a feature called Start Menu Search, or more commonly known as Start Search. With this you could hit start button, on your keyboard or on the taskbar, and start typing what you need and Windows would present the desired object in front of you. Now note that, when I say “commonly known “, I mean people who are least bit versed with Windows. In my experience, the vast majority of Windows user simply do not use this feature. They still launch a program the same way they used to with classic Start Menu since Windows 95 days, by browsing it. So when they are presented with the Start Screen of Windows 8, they no longer know how to do that in here as there is no longer a button shouting “All Programs”, which I will admit Microsoft’s fault. But that button issue withstanding, when I and many other people simple start typing to get to what we need, most people immediately dismiss the Start Screen. You may call it Microsoft’s fault, and I’ll admit it partly is, but mostly it’s just that people are stupid. It has been more than 7 years Start Search has been available to Windows users, how more time do these people need?

Get on with the program already!