So, do you use W8 Modern UI apps?

Do you use W8 Modern UI apps?


  • Total voters
    34

kmint

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I am reading everywhere that Windows 8 is not being very successful by now, but the big thing with Windows 8 is Modern UI and the whole new ecosystem of apps, market and interface.

And I still don't know how much are Windows 8 users using all of it.

For instance, I never use Modern UI at all. I never check the app market, never install apps, never use them...

What about you?

*NOTE: NEVER also means RARELY, too little use to being called occasional use.

I wanted to change the survey but the system won't allow it. So please take it for NEVER or RARELY.
 

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I never use 'em, and I'm not likely to.
 

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I use them a lot. The best way to use them which I highly recommend is not to focus on them but rethink what you currently think about the metro environment.

Get apps that will make your life easier, pin steam, mail app, im+ client for examples. Organize them into different groups where you can easily focus on certain apps at a time.

I've gotten so efficient with the metro system that now I just press the windows button, see my updates and what I need right there on one screen. I can view the weather if I'm about to head out and traffic and then bam. I'm done with the computer for a few hours while I head out and have a real life.

I try and think of the metro interface as an enhanced start menu bar. It acts exactly like how I use my start menu in 7 where I click start and on the left I have the available programs and shortcuts to the ones i use the most. If I want to go to control panel or anything else its as simple as pressing Ctrl-f and typing control enter. I highly recommend you try and and don't bash the ui until given a fair and substantial chance. It really is beneficial and can save you tons of time from sitting in the middle of a room on a computer when you could have a real life.
 

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Well apart from calendar and occasionally the mail app I don't use any! I would use more but there is really nothing I want to use, I have plenty of apps on my Android phone and tablet to keep me happy so I don't see the point in investing in more apps that I can only use on my PC. If I had a surface or a W8 phone then it would be a different story.
I do however like the simplistic look and design of the metro apps, and I think it's quite cool but there is nothing I really want to use extensively.
 

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The Apps are a waste of my time period. :ditto:
 

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Well the only apps I find useful are Xbox Music, Netflix, Shazam and Mail. I do admit Xbox Music is good because you can pretty much find and listen to any song you like. Then create Smart Dj's out of them. I heard its free for only 6 months though. :mad: Netflix is nice because I don't have to use a browser to watch movies. Mail tells me when new email has arrived which is a nice feature so I don't have to constantly login to Gmail or something. Shazam is well useful to find the name of a song.
 

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Well, I looked at them initially, but became completely uninterested almost immediately. If I want to use those sorts of apps, then I'll use my phone or tablet. I can't say that if I looked hard enough I couldn't find some Metro-type apps that would provide me with some value. But, it's just not worth my time to fool with them on a computer. I think that invariably I have better ways to do what I want on a computer than to use Metro-type apps.
 

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I use it because I love how it sync's across multiple computers, you guys don't know how nice this feature is until you have multiple laptops, desktops, and soon to be phone by windows. My settings out of the box everywhere, no extra software, no extra maintance, no setting up extra accounts it's.... magically convenient. Weather, NFL, News 360, a few games. I don't hang out much in the store.
 

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I have mostly Macs. Everything also is synced across everything.
 

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I use it because I love how it sync's across multiple computers, you guys don't know how nice this feature is until you have multiple laptops, desktops, and soon to be phone by windows. My settings out of the box everywhere, no extra software, no extra maintance, no setting up extra accounts it's.... magically convenient. Weather, NFL, News 360, a few games. I don't hang out much in the store.

Indeed synchronization is the main point of W8, more than anything else.

The problem to me is that I don't like how Metro/Modern and the apps are designed. I don't like full screen with little text and much empty space, I don't like needing to scroll and scroll miles and miles horizontally to find something or read something, I don't like losing multitasking and not having 30 tabs opened in my browser while I have many other programs opened at the same time at the reach of a click, which is the usual state of my computer (multiuse)

I tried in fact. I thought that Microsoft couldn't be making this mistake and it had to be mine not knowing how to find the advantages. And Metro apps have a cool modern clean big design in full screen. But it is not any practical to me. Nothing of it. Just synchronization, but I'd need to have more than one computer or mobile devices with Windows Phone, which isn't the case excatly for this reason, because I don't like it and stick with Android in the phone.

Happy Christmas Day.
 

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Hi there
KISS (Keep it Short and Simple)

NO

Cheers
jimbo
 

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I use them quite regularly for mainly my multimedia and such, although there are many limitations in Metro UI that Desktop programs push past.

I think Metro UI is good, but honestly, Windows 8 should have been just a tablet release, and a new Windows OS made for computers.
 

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Never and occasionally together are way ahead. Never is making a run for the crown. Good poll. Getting some real user experience with the apps.
 
Last edited:

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The bottom line is that most of the apps I care about don't exist as Metro apps. So it's not a matter of choice at this time.
 

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I hate how Microsoft says that there are so many apps available to download but reality is only a few of them are actually useful. I guess they're trying to not look bad? :sarc:
 

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Nope, don't use them. I barely use Windows 8. Much prefer 7. Don't plan to upgrade anything to 8.
 

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I do. I like the TuneIn app (even though it's really really slow at starting the stream) and the IHeartRadio app. the Yahoo app is good. the ESPN and SportsIllustrated apps are great (especially the ESPN one with a great notifications system). Netflix is nice. pradio for Pandora stuff. Youtube+ is great (though it does have some flaws). I just discovered PrimeTube which seems to be a great youtube app as well. Wikipedia is awesome (much better than the browser version except for formatting of some tables). the Tom and Jerry app is great. VideoSnacker is pretty good. I like GiantBomb. check out News Bento! very customizable and easy to add your favorite RSS feeds. MetroTwit is a pretty slick Twitter app.

I love Perfect365. a great easy to use photo editing app. definitely a nice companion to Photoshop. Skitch is easy to use and a lot of fun. Picazoid too. pictro is a good one.

too many games to list.

i like skyscanner and flightaware.

the amazon app is nice.

been busy with end of the year and the holidays but I'll check out the store more after the start of the new year. I do like how many of the apps are pretty feature complete even in trial mode.
 
Last edited:

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  • OS
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I do. I like the TuneIn app (even though it's really really slow at starting the stream) and the IHeartRadio app. the Yahoo app is good. the ESPN and SportsIllustrated apps are great (especially the ESPN one with a great notifications system). Netflix is nice. pradio for Pandora stuff. Youtube+ is great (though it does have some flaws). I just discovered PrimeTube which seems to be a great youtube app as well. Wikipedia is awesome (much better than the browser version except for formatting of some tables). the Tom and Jerry app is great. VideoSnacker is pretty good. I like GiantBomb. check out News Bento! very customizable and easy to add your favorite RSS feeds. MetroTwit is a pretty slick Twitter app.

I love Perfect365. a great easy to use photo editing app. definitely a nice companion to Photoshop. Skitch is easy to use and a lot of fun. Picazoid too. pictro is a good one.

too many games to list.

i like skyscanner and flightaware.

the amazon app is nice.

been busy with end of the year and the holidays but I'll check out the store more after the start of the new year. I do like how many of the apps are pretty feature complete even in trial mode.

Thanks for the tips. I will check out some of those you mention. But to me that is one more annoying problem with Metro, I find it uncomfortable to go through the market and test the apps. First, this horizontal layout and horizontal scrolling feels uncomfortable to me. Second, and most important, when I see the tiles of the apps I don't know what they are about, so I have to click on each of them to see what they do, and in my case they don't load fast, it takes enough time to make me quit. I miss being able to see the apps in a vertical list with a one-line brief description of what they do, and a faster loading if you click on them to read more.

There are too many things that I don't like or even perhaps that are simply designed wrong. All together, it is a quite unpleasant experience to me to go into the apps market and into Metro in general.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Asus X501A
    CPU
    Pentium 2020M 2.4GHz Ivy Bridge
    Motherboard
    ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. X501A1 (SOCKET 0)
    Memory
    4 GB RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1366x768 Generic PnP Monitor on Intel HD Graphics
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    298GB Western Digital WDC WD3200BPVT-80JJ5T0 (SATA)
    Mouse
    Always touchpad with Asus' Smart Gestures
    Browser
    7star
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
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