Windows Phone 8 is second generation windows phone unveiled on June, 2012. The thing that you will love about a Windows Phone is its metro style UI. Almost all smartphones available today in the market have similar look but the Windows Phone is little different. The Windows smartphone looks more alive with live tiles and out-of-box UI design. Though it has a lot of cool things, Windows Phone still lacks few features that most of Windows Phone users miss. Here are the 8 most requested Missing Features in Windows Phone 8.
1. File Manager
Currently there is no file manager provided for Windows Phone 8 (WP8) from Microsoft. The only way you can see your files is by connecting the phone to your PC. Though there are some apps that allows (tries) you to manage your data/files on WP8 but it would be more beneficial for the end users if the file manager is provided officially. On WP each app sees and manages its own data. Apps cannot access your data and you cannot see app’s data unless you open the app.
Most of the time the Windows OS are criticized for the lack of security they provide to the user. Now in case of WP the developers want to make the OS highly secure and this way (by not allowing apps and user to temper with files) the phone is kept secure. Still, I and thousands of windows phone fans are still waiting for an ‘official’ file manager.
2. Notification Centre
If you have used any Android or iOS phone then probably you may have seen a notification centre. Notification Centre is the menu that opens when you swipe downward from top of the screen. It is way aggregate all your phone, email, calendar and other alerts. Windows Phone 8 doesn’t have any central notification system. It is rumored that Window Phone 8 GDR3 update may bring the notification centre for users.
3. App Close using Multi task screen
To close an app in WP8 you have to tap the back button (several times). There is no close button of closing an app with single click. Even the multi task screen (task manager) cannot kill any app. When you are browsing internet using IE and visited several pages then in order to close the browser you have go through all browsed pages by tapping back button. It becomes very irritating sometime.
Windows Phone update GDR3 may include this feature where users can close the running app using task manager.
4. Store apps on external storage
Storing Windows apps on external storage is not supported by WP8. All apps are stored and installed on phone memory. External storage is only for storing music and video etc. Windows phone with small storage size soon gets out of memory and there is nothing you can about it, even if you have 64 GB of storage external card empty. You have to uninstall apps and other data in order to install bigger apps.
And here lies one more problem, you don’t have any tool to clean up your phone memory. The ‘Other’ section of storage setting keeps growing and there are some files you cannot delete without a clean-up tool.
5. Connectivity Manager
There should be some basic connection setting like Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, Internet Sharing etc. available to user under status bar for quicker access. Like on Andriod, Windows Phone should also have this feature because this saves a lot of clicks. Users have to go to the settings to change connection settings (Turning Wi-Fi on/off, changing 3G settings etc).
6. Native Video Calls
This is the feature which I miss most in WP8. Almost all phones supports video calling feature over 3G/4G network. Even my aunt’s phone supports native video calling (that’s embarrassing!). Microsoft allows video calling through Skype only. You must have Skype account and Skype app installed on both side devices in order to make a video call. I understand that Microsoft has spent billions buying Skype but I still miss native method.
7. Disable Auto Rotation
There is no option available to disable auto rotation on WP8. It’s very frustrating when screen rotates at the time I don’t want it to rotate.
8. No Instagram for Windows Phone
The most popular photo-video sharing social network : Instagram, doesn’t have an app for Windows Phone users. WP users really miss Instagram. Though it is Instagram’s fault. Luckily, there are several other excellent apps available.