I usually find myself responding to comments mostly here, but with the recent "leak" of an early Windows Phone 8.1 build supposedly, and with all the other comments about Notification centres, and UI tweaks for Windows Phone. I have decided to put some of my own ideas together for changes and additions I would be happy to see come to Windows Phone 8.1 at the end of the year.

Themes and Personalisation

When Windows 8 first launched, I was not too happy with the idea of all my tiles being different colours, and coloured backgrounds. But as time went on, I actually do like these changes from the classy and stark monotone of Windows Phone. So I would like to see some of the personalisation options that Windows 8.1 has, come to the phone

Here are some additional examples...

Notification Centre

As nice as Live tiles are, I don't like to pin everything to my Start Screen. So for those notifications I miss, or forget about, a Notification Centre makes sense. Thinking about the best way to implement it however is tricky.

It should be accessible from anywhere in the OS, so swiping on the Start Screen is not good enough, because it means leaving the app you are in. Also swiping from the top does not make sense with the Windows Phone approach of allowing a developer to hide the status bar, and it's Tap to Show functionality.

I decided in the end to build it into the task switcher when you press and hold the back key.

This approach ensures the currently running app is not closed when viewing notifications, and allows you a simple press of the back button to return to what you were doing. On the task switching screen you just tap, or swipe up to view the notifications.

This image shows some of the interactions on this screen.

More to come soon - Updated

I plan to make some more concept images soon with ideas I have for expanding the People Hub for more third party integrations, as well as other little ideas. I will either update this post, or make a second one. Either way I look forward for these ideas to be torn apart with some constructive criticism by you all.

I have made a second post containing some of my ideas for the People hub.

More People Hub Integration - Concept Ideas