Presentation

MSDN Local Database Overview and Examples

1. The contact filtering (all/online) is not intuitive. There is a small text notice underneath the contacts pivot item that you have to tap in order to change it. This should be an application bar icon in my opinion.
2. The contact list does not show the current status of a user (online/offline/away) … it should.
3. There is an icon in the upper right corner that seems to just take you to the recent pivot item … seems strange to me when you can just swipe for that. I must be missing something as to its funtionality … but that’s kind of the point. It’s not very clear what it does.
4. Why can’t I pin individual people to my start screen?!?! That is very simple functionality to include and seems like a big miss to me.

I will say that Skype for Windows Phone looks very nice and is very smooth when navigating the interface. It is a beta, so hopefully we’ll see some of the things I’ve mentioned above cleared up in the final release.

I’ll update this post after I’ve had an opportunity to test the video calling and IMing features.

Songhurst told attendees that Windows 8 was the topic he could say the least about “because we’re very careful in what we say about Windows 8.”

“(W)e really don’t talk about Windows 8,” Songhurst repeated when asked another question which touched on the topic.

It instantly brought to mind the 1999 Film Fight Club and its rules and generated an instant chuckle.

For more information on what’s included in this update, see this post.

Version 2.1 brings the following changes:

• NOTE: To properly support multiple locales, we have changed how reminder times are stored. This may have caused your reminders to become disabled. Please check your settings.
• NEW: Added new language support. This release contains English, French, Italian and Spanish. You will need to launch Network Dashboard to make any pinned tiles update their language.
• NEW: Added a new Live Tile style called “Text” … it is a scaled down live tile with the status in the upper right corner in text.
• NEW: Added an “Other Tiles” settings option to give users the ability to change the Bluetooth and Airplane Mode tile styles.
• NEW: Added a toggle to the live tiles pivot item in the settings screen to allow users to configure whether the background sync task runs or not.
• FIXED: If the background agent was disabled Network Dashboard would not start properly.
• FIXED: Network Dashboard was not properly reading in the current setting of Live Tile style, so if the user accessed the setting screen it would not show the current setting properly.

Network Dashboard 2.0 brings the following changes:

• Network Dashboard has changed from being a free app to a paid app with a free trial. The free trial contains all the features of previous versions, so is essentially the same as the previous free version. The trial never expires and does not contain nag screens. The paid version includes new features not included in the previous free releases. My understanding is that anyone who downloaded the free version will get the full, paid version when they upgrade. If that’s the case, please accept it with my thanks for being an early adopter!
• NEW: Added the ability to select between three different live tile styles. Additional live tile styles will likely be added in future versions. Ideas are welcome. (Paid Only)
• NEW: Added optional reminders for Wi-Fi and Mobile Data. If the specified service is turned off at the time the reminder is set for Network Dashboard will remind you to turn it back on. (Paid Only)
• NEW: Added a background task to periodically keep the Live Tile status in sync.
• FIXED: A bug that would cause the Live Tile to not be updated if it was previously pinned before turning on the Live Tile option without removing and repinning.

Network Dashboard – More Information

First, Network Dashboard has been hidden from the Marketplace for the time being.  I submitted a version 1.2 update to the Marketplace for certification a few days ago. After doing so, I realized there was a fairly major bug in the configuration of some of the new features that it brought. I opened a support ticket with Microsoft, hoping to have them “reject” the submission so I could fix the bug and resubmit. Unfortunately, they don’t have the ability to stop a submission once it’s been put in, which meant that the version 1.2 (bug and all) made it through certification (which is interesting in and of itself … why didn’t the tester catch the bug? It causes a full application crash).

Rather than have a bunch of people with Network Dashboard breaking on them, I hid the application from the Marketplace. I’ve submitted version 2.0 for certification and am just waiting on it to complete testing. This will hopefully happen in the next day or two. I’ll post here once it’s available!

Switching to a paid app with a trial allows me to offer a few extra features and get paid for the work I’ve put into the app. Additionally, it means I can keep the app ad-free, which is something I’d like to do as I don’t feel ads fit in Network Dashboard.

So, I’m looking for some feedback on this decision before I release the next version. Anyone have any thoughts?