Will live tiles power the future?

[salmanahmad]

For the immediate future Android has no threat from Windows Phone. But what if that changes?

I've always been the kind of guy that prefers icons and widgets on Android above anything else. But as Microsoft is desperately trying to make it's mobile OS relevant they are adding tons of improvements, maybe enough to make Google worry.

More live tiles can be displayed on a page than widgets, and live tiles are often active giving more relevant information. Oh and all apps have live tiles, when all apps do not have widgets.

For some the live tiles are enough to convince them over to Windows Phone, and I've recently been seeing a lot of people that are switching over for this particular reason.

My own understanding is that live tiles often only refresh every 30 minutes(unless push notifications are enabled for some IM apps) and given the lackluster Windows Phone notification center, live tiles are necessary! Also with tons of live tiles your screen can become a bit confusing to navigate around.

I find icons and widgets more arranged, and the notification system of Android flat out beats Windows Phone.

But then again what are your thoughts about Windows Phone and it's live tiles? Are they better than icons and widgets or not?

I think Google should do more to improve on widgets, when was the last time something exciting about widgets was announced?

 

[Almeuit]

I would say no ... Windows is trying hard right now but it isn't working. Widgets come in all shapes and sizes so that helps.

 

[A895]

Nope. Live tiles are still not intractable making them functionality inferior to widgets.

 

[Golfdriver97]

Its thinking outside the box, I just doubt its enough.

From an AOSP M8.

 

[Carrtman]

Wp looks cluttered and very busy all the time, add to that all the animations and navigation becomes very cluttered.

 

[Norbex]

When I bought my first WP I loved the live tiles. Then I realised that some of them are not working properly. Refresh time was 1-2 days or not refreshed at all! That was disappointing. I'm gonna go that Live Tiles are better for providing relevant information, widgets are better doing something (turning on/off something, refreshing the widget to get new information).

 

[Carrtman]

When I bought my first WP I loved the live tiles. Then I realised that some of them are not working properly. Refresh time was 1-2 days or not refreshed at all! That was disappointing. I'm gonna go that Live Tiles are better for providing relevant information, widgets are better doing something (turning on/off something, refreshing the widget to get new information).

Are live tiles instead of static icons or just an option? Because when I've played with it I couldn't figure out hua to change live tiles to normal icons and then quickly knew why wp isn't me popular, the system is extremely restricted and Ui cluttered with information.

Personally I prefer a clean static gimme screen with two rows of my favourite apps

 

[salmanahmad]

Personally ever since I posted this I have done quite a bit of research on this, and no it is highly unlikely that live tiles could beat widgets, especially in their current form.

The live tiles were originally introduced to Windows Phone because of no central notification system, the live tiles can only update once in 30 minutes which means battery monitoring and breaking news live tiles are much behind than widgets.

Windows Phone 8.1 did add the ability to have a 1 minute refresh live tile time, but again I am not so sure about it and it also added a notification centre.

Nonetheless widgets can be interacted with while live tiles can't, widgets come in all shapes and sizes(like someone above said) and can show more content, oh and Android has a way more robust notification system than Windows Phone.

I would love to hear thoughts from more of you guys.

 

[MDMcAtee]

Live Tiles are nice in some regards, and you can fill up even the largest screens with them, but for many Android users you are limited to the positioning of them .... you have limited transparency , and are stuck with non transparent borders with set margins.

If they ever tweak the OS to allow development and user control of the UI they might become a great alternative to widgets.

Many people like myself prefer a clean screen with a movable dock as with Nova Prime or other launchers. I don't need to have my whole screen occupied for my notifications or from various applications

I enjoyed a lot about my Lumina 1520 but tired quickly of the lack of control of the home screen. They can improve on it and maybe they will at some point.

 

[sherri]

Won't they shorten/kill battery life?

 

[kg4icg]

Myth busting time, no live tiles do not shorten battery life. No the OS isn't slowed down any also, comparison, HTC One M8 android version and Windows Version. Yes you can control what your tiles are doing or just shut them down. And some people go to Windows Phone is because it's one of 2 phone OS's that are hard to hack.

 

[A895]

And some people go to Windows Phone is because it's one of 2 phone OS's that are hard to hack.

I disagree with this statement. Have you seen the latest numbers by duplex? You think some of those 520/530/630/625 owners went with Windows Phone because of worries of hacking? No. Windows Phone is comprising of mostly low end devices and I doubt those people care much about security and more about affordable devices.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[salmanahmad]

Myth busting time, no live tiles do not shorten battery life. No the OS isn't slowed down any also, comparison, HTC One M8 android version and Windows Version. Yes you can control what your tiles are doing or just shut them down. And some people go to Windows Phone is because it's one of 2 phone OS's that are hard to hack.

Considering that Windows Phone doesn't allow more than eight apps to be in the recents, nor more than 20 apps that can refresh in the background battery life will obviously be higher on the HTC One M8 for Windows than the much more functional Android variant.

Also hacking Android isn't child's play, the reason it gets targeted more often however is because of how popular it is, and how apps can escape the sandbox.

Windows Phone is essentially a crippled iOS with a different UI, maybe a few features here and there but a lot of the same limitations as iOS with none of the app support.

 

[kg4icg]

Considering that Windows Phone doesn't allow more than eight apps to be in the recents, nor more than 20 apps that can refresh in the background battery life will obviously be higher on the HTC One M8 for Windows than the much more functional Android variant.

Also hacking Android isn't child's play, the reason it gets targeted more often however is because of how popular it is, and how apps can escape the sandbox.

Windows Phone is essentially a crippled iOS with a different UI, maybe a few features here and there but a lot of the same limitations as iOS with none of the app support.

Actually, Android and iOS are similar since the are both light versions off a NIX version OS. Windows Phone is based off a light version of NT kernel, and BB OS10 is derived from QNX. So reality points to Android and iOS being the same.

 

[A895]

Actually, Android and iOS are similar since the are both light versions off a NIX version OS. Windows Phone is based off a light version of NT kernel, and BB OS10 is derived from QNX. So reality points to Android and iOS being the same.

He is talking about the structure of their OS and not the kernel. WP is a sandboxed OS which cause issues of its own. I mean the recently released The Chive app on WP crippled peoples phones. Or how the lock screen app caused the phone to act up, etc.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Geodude074]

The only market share Windows Phone is stealing from is Blackberry OS. Android has nothing to worry about.

 

[A895]

The only market share Windows Phone is stealing from is Blackberry OS. Android has nothing to worry about.

If BlackBerry had released BB10 in 2012, WP would not be where it is.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[tk7x]

There's a reasonable selection of Android Launchers that give the live-tiles thing a go. Even Google's Now launcher takes cues from live tiles with its cards.

Even if it is the future Android has little to worry about. The groundwork is there.

 

[salmanahmad]

There's a reasonable selection of Android Launchers that give the live-tiles thing a go. Even Google's Now launcher takes cues from live tiles with its cards.

Even if it is the future Android has little to worry about. The groundwork is there.

While you are right, I highly doubt the cards in Google Now were inspired from Windows Phone.