[Q] Two Tile Apps - Windows Phone 7 General

When I bought my Focus, Att U-verse, Pictures, Calendar and Now were two tile apps. I have uninstalled U-verse, so I was looking for another two tile app. Or wondering how to make the apps I have two tile(ie.Netflix,or a Game I have). I know about the custom live tile app, but figured I'd ask since I only want the apps I have and not some custom images.

Artists from zune also show up as two tiles. I was using lots of artists for spacers before.

Ok 9 months later, I'll ask again are there anymore two tile live apps.

bennyj71 said:
Ok 9 months later, I'll ask again are there anymore two tile live apps.
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Click to collapse
Only native/OEM apps can use double wide tiles.
It is possible to have multi tile apps in Mango, though they are just multiple single sized tiles.

Damn. That's too bad. Want to get rid of the Now tile, but don't like how my homescreen looks without it. Looks like a damn Iphone with all the single tiles.

Related

WP7 notification system is no better than iOS

Before I got my WP7 phone, the general consensus I was getting is that the notification system was better than iOS, yet worse than Android.
Now that I'm using the phone I can't really figure out what exactly is better about the notification system?
Is there some kind of Android-like notification cache that allows you to view recently ignored notifications? As far as I can tell the only improvement over iOS is that the notifications are out of the way (rather than popping up right in the center of the screen) and that they can be seen on the lock screen.
I disagree. I find WP7 to be the best and I think it will only get better with time. Android is too primitive and gets out of control quickly -kind of like Android the OS is.
But I agree, a nice list of recent notifications would be useful.
Sent from my SGH-T849 using XDA App
In what way is it better than iOS?
The only advantage seems to be the lock screen notifications. Aside from that I'm not sure in what way it's better than iOS.
Well I believe the Live Tiles help you with the notifications. If you miss one, it will most likely be on the tile. Yea, it does kinda suck if the app that uses notifications doesn't use the live tile but that's up to the developer. But also sucks that if the application that notified you isn't on your main screen, you won't know. So I understand your frustration. The main notifications you would want are text messages, emails, and phone calls, which you said are on the lock screen. I guess Microsoft will have to grow from there.
For me it's the Live Tiles that does it - they provide instant notification.
The toast notifications on the other hand are really a waste of space if you ask me, they don't stay on-screen for long enough to action. In most cases I'll hear the toast coming in with my phone in my pocket, and by the time I pull the phone out all I see is the notification sliding away to the side - we really need something like Android's system for these.
I was hoping there would be something like Android's notification shade. Some kind of central repository for notifications. It completely changes the way you handle notifications.
I don't find it annoying, it isn't in your face like iOS. Plus, you can't dismiss them in iOS.
The lockscreen notification really does it for me. Since there is a dedicated icon for every notification, I can note where to go.
geoken said:
I was hoping there would be something like Android's notification shade. Some kind of central repository for notifications. It completely changes the way you handle notifications.
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Click to collapse
webOS, their notification system is better than Android's to be honest.
canadariot2312 said:
I don't find it annoying, it isn't in your face like iOS. Plus, you can't dismiss them in iOS.
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Click to collapse
I'm fairly certain you can dismiss it in iOS. On the lock screen you can't dismiss it, but if you get a notification for a text message while using the phone you have the option to reply or dismiss.
geoken said:
I'm fairly certain you can dismiss it in iOS. On the lock screen you can't dismiss it, but if you get a notification for a text message while using the phone you have the option to reply or dismiss.
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Click to collapse
A swipe to the right on the notification bar dismisses them on WP7, it is quite quick.
jz9833 said:
A swipe to the right on the notification bar dismisses them on WP7, it is quite quick.
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Click to collapse
I was just responding to a comment above that was saying notifications couldn't be dismissed on iOS. I wasn't suggesting that notifications couldn't be dismissed in WP7, sorry if it came off like that.
WP7 doesn't interrupt your workflow. The fact that the notification takes over the entire phone when you get one on iOS is ridiculous.
I agree with Android > WP7 > iOS in the notification department.
all windows phone needs is a full down notification system like android has (or perhaps a swipe to a third left screen). on this screen it could show more then just notifications but also a full time line of everything related... phone calls made/received/missed, messages received/sent, calendar appointments, alarms, etc. aggregate them all together into one scrolling view.
though it could be a bit overly cluttered, but would provide for a great way to absorb everything in a time line format on your screen.
Android-Oh, I'll just unlock the phone, slide my laggy lock screen, wait for the page to pull up entirely, slide down the notification bar, oh what's that? a text? ok, ill pull up the app via that notification and wait for it to load. Way too many taps for me if its quicker on another os... and like others have said, iOS just encompasses too much of the screen.
The Gate Keeper said:
all windows phone needs is a full down notification system like android has (or perhaps a swipe to a third left screen). on this screen it could show more then just notifications but also a full time line of everything related... phone calls made/received/missed, messages received/sent, calendar appointments, alarms, etc. aggregate them all together into one scrolling view.
though it could be a bit overly cluttered, but would provide for a great way to absorb everything in a time line format on your screen.
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Click to collapse
I definitely second this one. Another screen for the notifs would be brilliant.
Let's say there is a notification on the live tile. Then, after another notification comes, does the one that was there before go away?
LIVE tile notifications not working.
Recently all the apps that have LIVE tile notification have stopped working on my WP7.
These include Beezzapp, Flixster and WeatherBug - they haven't worked for over 3 weeks now. The pre-installed notifications still work.
Anyone else been experiencing the same problem?
sameerabedi said:
Recently all the apps that have LIVE tile notification have stopped working on my WP7.
These include Beezzapp, Flixster and WeatherBug - they haven't worked for over 3 weeks now. The pre-installed notifications still work.
Anyone else been experiencing the same problem?
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Click to collapse
weatherbug I've experienced, gone back to the weather channel app. Got rid of beezz, decided sesmic was better. Flixster isn't on my home screen so I can't comment.
You guys make it seem like WP7 saves notifications (I'm talking about toast notifications here, the ones appearing at the top of your screen) until you "action" them (either by tapping it or sliding it to the side) - is this really how it is supposed to work because it doesn't for me.
Let's say I have my phone locked on the desk next to me and a toast comes thru, all that seems to happen for me is - screen turns on, displays the notification at the top and unless I touch the screen it turns back off within a few seconds. If I then go on to turn on the display again the notification is gone.
The same happens if the phone is unlocked, with the screen on, when receiving a toast - the notification is displayed for a few seconds but unless I tap it or slide it to the side it disappears itself within a few seconds.
For example, I have toasts activated in Beezz, but I hardly ever get to see the notification because in the time it takes me to get to my phone (it may be in my pocket or behind me) the notification is already gone. At which point I can only guess that it was a Twitter mention/message, tap Beezz, wait for it to load the feed and tap mentions/messages.
Are you all saying it works differently for you guys? If so, is there a setting somewhere? Cause I'm seeing this behaviour on three different devices.
z33dev33l said:
Android-Oh, I'll just unlock the phone, slide my laggy lock screen, wait for the page to pull up entirely, slide down the notification bar, oh what's that? a text? ok, ill pull up the app via that notification and wait for it to load. Way too many taps for me if its quicker on another os... and like others have said, iOS just encompasses too much of the screen.
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I don't see how it's any faster one WP7?
First off, most Android phones have LED's for notifications so you're already a step ahead.
Secondly, you can see the notification bar while you're on the lockscreen in Android so that matches WP7's lockscreen icons. WP7 has an advantage were the lockscreen notifications give you more info (i.e. number of emails and calendar appointment) but Android makes up for it by allowing third party apps to push notifications to the notification bar and by extension the lockscreen.
Finally, once the phones unlocked I don't see where WP7's advantage is. In WP7 I now need to go in and individually click on the icons of the various apps to check my email or texts or missed calls. This is no different from Android except Android will let me pull down the notification shade which will give me handy shortcuts to all the apps with notifications. If you think the extra action of pulling down the notification shade is such a tremendous waste of time you can simply skip it and just tap the email icon or messaging icon, at which point the amount of actions you've taken is exactly identical to what you would have done with WP7.
geoken said:
I'm fairly certain you can dismiss it in iOS. On the lock screen you can't dismiss it, but if you get a notification for a text message while using the phone you have the option to reply or dismiss.
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Click to collapse
Blah, I was using iOS and the notification system is kind of bad on the lockscreen.
Apparently BlackBerry OS is similar to Android's approach. Android's notification system, although cool, still can't hold a candle to webOS. I don't want a notification system that takes up the whole screen.

htc sense clock or clocktile in wp7 !

hey,
if someone would like a clock tile like the htc sense or a big clock tile like the htc hub, too. pls vote !
http://windowsphone.uservoice.com/f...4049-livetile-with-a-clock-like-the-htc-sense
best regards ahlMAR
No,sense not, it is ugly and it is eating the system memory to much. Sense belongs to android.
no complete sense only the clock as a tile
It is not possible the policy of microsoft does not allow it.The producer can not adjust the today screen.
ahlMAR said:
hey,
if someone would like a clock tile like the htc sense or a big clock tile like the htc hub, too. pls vote !
http://windowsphone.uservoice.com/f...4049-livetile-with-a-clock-like-the-htc-sense
best regards ahlMAR
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I could vote on that. I'm out of votes. But I have been curious why there isn't any live tile clocks. I've looked and looked and there aren't any that I see.
Lets hope MS implements this.
MartyLK said:
I wish I could vote on that. I'm out of votes. But I have been curious why there isn't any live tile clocks. I've looked and looked and there aren't any that I see.
Lets hope MS implements this.
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Click to collapse
It's just not possible. At least not for third party developers. Live tiles refresh every half hour. Wouldn't make any sense for a clock, would it?
This isn't a request for a third party app based on the current version of the OS, it is a request to improve the OS so that such tiles could be developed.
Responding with "it's just not possible" could be applied to every request that has been submitted. Isn't that the whole point of the requests?
RoboDad said:
This isn't a request for a third party app based on the current version of the OS, it is a request to improve the OS so that such tiles could be developed.
Responding with "it's just not possible" could be applied to every request that has been submitted. Isn't that the whole point of the requests?
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Click to collapse
It wasn't in response to the request made by the OP. It was in response to MartyLK pondering about the fact that there currently is no clock live tile available.
dkp1977 said:
It wasn't in response to the request made by the OP. It was in response to MartyLK pondering about the fact that there currently is no clock live tile available.
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I knew there had to be something like that going on. But I didn't know about the live tile limitation. Maybe MS may make the system where certain functions can have varying refresh rates. Like every minute for clocks. (without second hand)
Isn't it enough with the clock on the lock screen or in the HTC Hub in addition to the top task bar
Sent from my T7575 using Board Express
theman60625 said:
Isn't it enough with the clock on the lock screen or in the HTC Hub in addition to the top task bar
Sent from my T7575 using Board Express
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Click to collapse
The taskbar clock is too small and the HTC hub clock is inside the super slow loading hub, would make a quick glance not possible. A nice analog tile clock would be a small amount of visual enhancement and provide a quick time alert while doing others things on the phone. Actually it would be cool to be able to quickly bring up the tile clock at any time while inside other apps.
Are you all high?
There is a live tile clock. It isn't the best looking thing in the world but it works and it's free.
Analog Clock Live Tile
nobnut said:
Are you all high?
There is a live tile clock. It isn't the best looking thing in the world but it works and it's free.
Analog Clock Live Tile
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Click to collapse
Sweet! Thanks for the heads-up.
EDIT - Eh...not really a viable live tile clock. It doesn't keep up with the time.
Good idea , but it isn't time for MS to unlock WP7 like MS 6.5, since it isn't completed yet.
I hope Sense will come like,manila.exe on WM 6.5.
Sent from my HTC Eternity using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
The Analog Clock Live Tile referred here DOES NOT WORK. It does show the time but only just at the exact time you pin it to the start screen. As soon as this is done that time is frozen! The minute or second hands are not moving. I stared at it for about fifteen minutes and it stayed at 10:30 when it should have gone to 10:45. So it's really useless. I unpinned it because it does not give me the correct time. I hope the creators of this app do something about this.
sanctemichael said:
The Analog Clock Live Tile referred here DOES NOT WORK. It does show the time but only just at the exact time you pin it to the start screen. As soon as this is done that time is frozen! The minute or second hands are not moving. I stared at it for about fifteen minutes and it stayed at 10:30 when it should have gone to 10:45. So it's really useless. I unpinned it because it does not give me the correct time. I hope the creators of this app do something about this.
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Click to collapse
From what I understand, live tiles update only every 30 minutes. That's why a live tile clock isn't viable. Any live tile clock will be limited to displaying the correct time only every 30 minutes.
The guys are right, don't get me wrong, I miss the clock but it would not work as the live tiles only update every 30 mins. or so like the guys said. I know that on the battery meter app you have to tap on it and then it updates to the correct percentage on the live tile, A clock would simply be like way off.
Well... what I'm doing to keep up the clock after unlock is running HTC Hub in the background (that's the only app left running in the background).
When HTC hub is running simply tap windows menu hotkey, then after u done what you should - tap back at the "start" and HTC hub will appear. After you lock and unlock HTC hub will remain open with the clock and weather...
Thats the simplest way for now to have that clock after waking up device
kristoff_sz said:
Well... what I'm doing to keep up the clock after unlock is running HTC Hub in the background (that's the only app left running in the background).
When HTC hub is running simply tap windows menu hotkey, then after u done what you should - tap back at the "start" and HTC hub will appear. After you lock and unlock HTC hub will remain open with the clock and weather...
Thats the simplest way for now to have that clock after waking up device
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Click to collapse
Well if you can get it to work that would be awesome, and you can count me in. So do you have a beta version that we can download?
sinister1 said:
Well if you can get it to work that would be awesome, and you can count me in. So do you have a beta version that we can download?
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Click to collapse
What beta? Just do what he described. oO Start the app, back out of it by using the home button and then do whatever you want to do. Now before you send your device to sleep (hit the power button) just tap and hold your back button. Choose the HTC hub again and THEN lock your device. When you unlock it again, HTC hub will be displayed again.

The evolution of Live Tiles

Hey guys, just wanted to spark a convo and how you think MS can or will evolve the Live Tiles. I beleive they will get boring after a while. They should spice them up with some different transitions and movement. Will there ever be a change to the way our tiles are setup and viewed? How can they keep the homepage interesting, innovative, and quick for the user without following the footsteps of the grid format?
937dytboi said:
Hey guys, just wanted to spark a convo and how you think MS can or will evolve the Live Tiles. I beleive they will get boring after a while. They should spice them up with some different transitions and movement. Will there ever be a change to the way our tiles are setup and viewed? How can they keep the homepage interesting, innovative, and quick for the user without following the footsteps of the grid format?
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Click to collapse
Make all of the tiles animated, including phone, Internet, mail, and basically all of the defaults. It doesn't have to do anything useful, just look cool.
937dytboi said:
Hey guys, just wanted to spark a convo and how you think MS can or will evolve the Live Tiles. I beleive they will get boring after a while. They should spice them up with some different transitions and movement. Will there ever be a change to the way our tiles are setup and viewed? How can they keep the homepage interesting, innovative, and quick for the user without following the footsteps of the grid format?
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Click to collapse
I'm curious why you think they would get boring. Live Tiles are just a way for an app to display information, they are only as boring as the apps that are using them.
I would like to see support for apps to use doublewide tiles though, and perhaps animations (like the people, music, and other stock apps have) instead of static images. We really just need more APIs and multitasking.
Imagine stuff like the following
1. Check-in tiles that automatically update when your friends are checked in nearby or there is a popular place, deal, etc
2. Traffic apps that show a near-live map on a tile
3. Exercise apps that show a near-live counter of calories burned, miles run, or speed
There is a lot that can still be done, IMO.
Screw the animations. How about useful information.
Instead of a simple number how about the phone tile show who called?
How about the messages and email tile showed the messages or detail.
Because right now they're basically huge ass icons with numbers.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
PG2G said:
I'm curious why you think they would get boring. Live Tiles are just a way for an app to display information, they are only as boring as the apps that are using them.
I would like to see support for apps to use doublewide tiles though, and perhaps animations (like the people, music, and other stock apps have) instead of static images. We really just need more APIs and multitasking.
Imagine stuff like the following
1. Check-in tiles that automatically update when your friends are checked in nearby or there is a popular place, deal, etc
2. Traffic apps that show a near-live map on a tile
3. Exercise apps that show a near-live counter of calories burned, miles run, or speed
There is a lot that can still be done, IMO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like your ideas, you got something going there, we can build off of that, reason i made this thread to reflect on ideas as such
They look and work fine for me.
vetvito said:
Screw the animations. How about useful information.
Instead of a simple number how about the phone tile show who called?
How about the messages and email tile showed the messages or detail.
Because right now they're basically huge ass icons with numbers.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
These ideas should definately be implemented, I totally agree
falconeight said:
They look and work fine for me.
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Click to collapse
They work for me well also but im thinking 5-6 years down the road, how will they change this will they keep the metro look or how can they improve on what we have is my question? Scrolling can sometimes be a pain especially when you have tons of stuff pinned.
How about specific hubs like how they have in the marketplace for categories, Depending on what category you download from it will go to that hub to help minimize the amount of scrolling. Jkust a thought. Kinda like how iOS takes a icon and its several similar apps in the one icon
937dytboi said:
They work for me well also but im thinking 5-6 years down the road, how will they change this will they keep the metro look or how can they improve on what we have is my question? Scrolling can sometimes be a pain especially when you have tons of stuff pinned.
How about specific hubs like how they have in the marketplace for categories, Depending on what category you download from it will go to that hub to help minimize the amount of scrolling. Jkust a thought. Kinda like how iOS takes a icon and its several similar apps in the one icon
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Click to collapse
I dotn think they will change it, because its a smartphone , with tiles, icons ect. i dont know in any way how else they can change it , without rendering the phone functions useless
IMO, wp7 UI is already an evolution from IOS and android. this is where the best it can get.
many years ago, during the nokia symbian early 2000s days i used to yearn for a phone interface which runs like those nice flash websites u see on the net, almost half a decade later, we have it now - WP7. This is the closest u can get .
Another possibility i see , are those maybe in windows phone 8 , we will see those widgets , floating widgets like weather which may pop up when u unlock on the start screen
stuff running on the lock screen ,
overall i only see a a possible change in looks in the future, maybe 3D tiles or customizable widgets, tiles , ability to choose to display what u want to see on the tile
falconeight said:
They look and work fine for me.
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Click to collapse
As I agree with you as of not but, the color selection is lame, I want to customize my phone a little. Right now besides using a hack to change or add colors, there is no way to really do that.
I would like to see some type of texture or something to jazz up the tiles a little.
They work great now but, just need a little tweaking in my eyes...
Magpir said:
I dotn think they will change it, because its a smartphone , with tiles, icons ect. i dont know in any way how else they can change it , without rendering the phone functions useless
IMO, wp7 UI is already an evolution from IOS and android. this is where the best it can get.
many years ago, during the nokia symbian early 2000s days i used to yearn for a phone interface which runs like those nice flash websites u see on the net, almost half a decade later, we have it now - WP7. This is the closest u can get .
Another possibility i see , are those maybe in windows phone 8 , we will see those widgets , floating widgets like weather which may pop up when u unlock on the start screen
stuff running on the lock screen ,
overall i only see a a possible change in looks in the future, maybe 3D tiles or customizable widgets, tiles , ability to choose to display what u want to see on the tile
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its called HTC Sense 3.5. Its stunning.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
LexusFman said:
Make all of the tiles animated, including phone, Internet, mail, and basically all of the defaults. It doesn't have to do anything useful, just look cool.
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Click to collapse
I cannot disagree more. WP7 metro is about simplicity and information. It looks good because it's no flare, all business. Leave themeing to the modding community (whenever we get past the rooting stage that is). The best thing for microsoft to do is increase tile functionality without jeopardizing the 'ease of use'.
My one idea is; implement the option, per app, to have a new pinned tile go either to the top, or to the bottom. For example, notes and to-do could auto pin to the top, everything else to the bottom. That way if I want something on top, I don't have to scroll down to find it, then drag it up.
Or maybe 'pin tile' should bring up a zoomed out edit screen, you tap twice where you want the tile.
Another thing; that black empty space on the right. Make it into a scroll bar, so you can navigate faster.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
vetvito said:
Its called HTC Sense 3.5. Its stunning.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
hmm HTC sense for android is fat and not that good. (Interesting that Sense for WinMo had more functionality and was much better... but I digress.) What's more, android's widgets aren't that great either. The whole point of android initially was widgets, but now I have an app that I use and a separate dedicated widget, for the same function and purpose, for nearly everything. I had a newsreader app, and since the author never bothered to make a widget, I had to go find a widget. Or I did that, until I realized that widgets were useless. None of them mesh together, a lot of them take up a lot of space and offer very little functionality, they slow down your phone and eat your ram.
Now with wp7 and tiles, nearly every app implements good tile practices, and with tiles there is no issue of things taking up too much space or being ugly.
It seems to me that for the most part, android and android devs have left widgets behind. WP7 will embrace the tiles for... always probably.
My number one issue with Live Tiles is that developers can't change the police size on them (confirmed by a few devs I asked). So many tiles who flip to show you information are just as useless as non live tiles because they show incomplete information.
Just now I'm looking at my phone and all my pinned news feeds show cut off titles which is pretty stupid.
Peew971 said:
My number one issue with Live Tiles is that developers can't change the police size on them (confirmed by a few devs I asked). So many tiles who flip to show you information are just as useless as non live tiles because they show incomplete information.
Just now I'm looking at my phone and all my pinned news feeds show cut off titles which is pretty stupid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By 'police' I wasn't sure if you meant font size? Or Tile width?
As a developer you're limited by Microsoft to hardly any text on the front of a tile (and only in one specific position), and only the option of a large-ish font on the back of a tile (often too big as you say to display say a full news headline).
You can see what a developer is allowed to change on a tile here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh202948(v=vs.92).aspx
i.e. a single number, a small bit of text on the front, some text on the back, and a background image. I think it's too limiting at the moment.
You can get round these limitations a bit by dynamically generating the tile background (for front or back) as an image (e.g. of some smaller font text). That's not easy to code though, especially if you're trying to dynamically generate the image on the phone through say a wp7 background agent. It's a bit easier doing it on a server - but that means it won't work when there's no mobile signal. Having to generate the whole thing as an image (especially just to display smaller font text) also feels a little bit like using a sledgehammer to knock in a nail.
Similarly I think Microsoft should let developers create double width tiles - they could even make it a marketplace certification requirement that the user should have an option of specifying single/double width tile in the app. As long as the user has the option of choosing I can't see the harm.
Microsoft should be giving developers full and easy access to what happens in those 173 by 173 squares of tile pixels. Perhaps even give the user the option in-app as to whether the developer is allowed to make the Tile animate or not - I think then Tiles would become a lot more interesting.
Yeah I meant font size, sorry I'm French
On your app (loving it by the way) the text on the back is usually fine because it displays scores but on BBC News or WPCentral for instance you only get half a headline or something like that which is totally useless as you then need to open the app to know what's going on. It goes against the concept of Live Tiles, I don't get it. On the other hand, on the Me tile the font size adapts to the text there is to display so it is possible, it's just Microsoft not giving access to devs, totally stupid.
link68759 said:
I cannot disagree more. WP7 metro is about simplicity and information. It looks good because it's no flare, all business. Leave themeing to the modding community (whenever we get past the rooting stage that is). The best thing for microsoft to do is increase tile functionality without jeopardizing the 'ease of use'.
My one idea is; implement the option, per app, to have a new pinned tile go either to the top, or to the bottom. For example, notes and to-do could auto pin to the top, everything else to the bottom. That way if I want something on top, I don't have to scroll down to find it, then drag it up.
Or maybe 'pin tile' should bring up a zoomed out edit screen, you tap twice where you want the tile.
Another thing; that black empty space on the right. Make it into a scroll bar, so you can navigate faster.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
hmm HTC sense for android is fat and not that good. (Interesting that Sense for WinMo had more functionality and was much better... but I digress.) What's more, android's widgets aren't that great either. The whole point of android initially was widgets, but now I have an app that I use and a separate dedicated widget, for the same function and purpose, for nearly everything. I had a newsreader app, and since the author never bothered to make a widget, I had to go find a widget. Or I did that, until I realized that widgets were useless. None of them mesh together, a lot of them take up a lot of space and offer very little functionality, they slow down your phone and eat your ram.
Now with wp7 and tiles, nearly every app implements good tile practices, and with tiles there is no issue of things taking up too much space or being ugly.
It seems to me that for the most part, android and android devs have left widgets behind. WP7 will embrace the tiles for... always probably.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lie much? For every tile on WP7 I have a widget. Left Widgets behind? What planet are you on?
Tiles offer absolutely no function, only partial information.
Mesh together? Nearly every app implements good tile practices? Sure they do, sure...
Sense is fat and not that good? However your other post perfectly describes Sense.
But yeah
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
link68759 said:
I cannot disagree more. WP7 metro is about simplicity and information. It looks good because it's no flare, all business. Leave themeing to the modding community (whenever we get past the rooting stage that is). The best thing for microsoft to do is increase tile functionality without jeopardizing the 'ease of use'.
My one idea is; implement the option, per app, to have a new pinned tile go either to the top, or to the bottom. For example, notes and to-do could auto pin to the top, everything else to the bottom. That way if I want something on top, I don't have to scroll down to find it, then drag it up.
Or maybe 'pin tile' should bring up a zoomed out edit screen, you tap twice where you want the tile.
Another thing; that black empty space on the right. Make it into a scroll bar, so you can navigate faster.
---------- Post added at 01:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 AM ----------
hmm HTC sense for android is fat and not that good. (Interesting that Sense for WinMo had more functionality and was much better... but I digress.) What's more, android's widgets aren't that great either. The whole point of android initially was widgets, but now I have an app that I use and a separate dedicated widget, for the same function and purpose, for nearly everything. I had a newsreader app, and since the author never bothered to make a widget, I had to go find a widget. Or I did that, until I realized that widgets were useless. None of them mesh together, a lot of them take up a lot of space and offer very little functionality, they slow down your phone and eat your ram.
Now with wp7 and tiles, nearly every app implements good tile practices, and with tiles there is no issue of things taking up too much space or being ugly.
It seems to me that for the most part, android and android devs have left widgets behind. WP7 will embrace the tiles for... always probably.
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Flare sells phones though. I'm not talking about a super flashy animation that doesn't do anything but I think most of the default tiles can be pretty static and boring compared to the useful stuff. My favorite tile on WP7 is the people hub because it's constantly moving and changing even if it doesn't do anything. If every tile was like that, Windows Phone would stand out to the average consumer more than it already does.
LexusFman said:
Flare sells phones though. I'm not talking about a super flashy animation that doesn't do anything but I think most of the default tiles can be pretty static and boring compared to the useful stuff. My favorite tile on WP7 is the people hub because it's constantly moving and changing even if it doesn't do anything. If every tile was like that, Windows Phone would stand out to the average consumer more than it already does.
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For me, the animation of the People tile has seemed pretty useless. There doesn't seem to be any meaning behind what people are displayed and why. If there is, I haven't seen it. I love the People Hub, but the Tile just doesn't provide much value to me.
To me, I would much rather have settings to determine which people would show on the tile. Then disappear once acknowledged, like the email indicators. So, if a contact updates Facebook, I may want to see it. But, I don't care if most of my contacts update things. So, in an ideal world a persons picture would only appear if they had updated something. Then it would be hidden and remain hidden once I acknowledged it. Then if something else would be updated, it would appear. And the users this would apply to would be set by me.
Effectively the animation of the People Tile just seems like noise.
Animation for the sake of animation is just distracting and consumes additional power.
I want the ability to control the app from the tile itself. Kind of like toggle switches.
Hardware limitations
Hi all
I think that some of the limitations on Live tiles are due to hardware considerations. Regular live tiles are limited to one background update per 30 minutes. This is because MS is keen to maintain performance and battery life. I think that as hardware improves, particularly mobile processors, we will see live tile functionality expand.
Cheers
andrew-in-woking

Need a tile for your app?

I am a Graphic Designer in love with Metro and WP7 altough once in a while I get to download an awesome app but the look is not always metro-ish and the icon sometime is not metro-ish at all.
I must admit that it sometimes bugs me and I won't pin the app only because of that.
Basically I am offering to design some tiles/icons for developpers out there if they are in need of those, for free.
Just PM me if you are in need and I will see what I can do for you!
awesome. I agree as well, I refuse to pin a tile if it breaks the Metro theme, well, except for weather apps.
sent from my HTC HD7 using intrinsicROM
sh4d0w86 said:
awesome. I agree as well, I refuse to pin a tile if it breaks the Metro theme, well, except for weather apps.
sent from my HTC HD7 using intrinsicROM
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especially weather apps have to have a good looking tile in my opinion, thats why i still wait for a live-tile for the microsoft one...
roqstr said:
especially weather apps have to have a good looking tile in my opinion, thats why i still wait for a live-tile for the microsoft one...
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The official Microsoft weather app has a live tile already...
Open the weather app, tap a city, then tap the pushpin icon at the bottom of the screen. A live tile will be pinned to your start screen for that city.
I emailed the developer of PC Remote/Pro about a metro looking icon and after I asked about one, a couple of updates poof one was there. Either they figured it made sense and or they had a number of people requesting the same thing.
I won't pin an app to the start unless it looks metro.
Leapo said:
The official Microsoft weather app has a live tile already...
Open the weather app, tap a city, then tap the pushpin icon at the bottom of the screen. A live tile will be pinned to your start screen for that city.
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ah, sry, i meant a flip-tile, vieather dealt good with one, displaying the forecast on the backgrond e.g

[Request][MOD] quick toggles from bottom

I want to see notifications alone in the notification shade and I want to drag my quick settings from the bottom. Both having blur screen effect.
This makes the phone more simpler and easy to use. I know that there are various apps to provide this functionality in the play store, but none of them are perfect nor good. Many of them close and cause some or other problems. So, I want this feature to be embedded in the system.
Can any developer provide this feature, this would be awesome. This is a great feature in the old Hydrogen OS, but recently they dropped it. I wish there is a generous friend out there to help..

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