Windows 10 for phones may include Flashlight and 'Quick Note' in its Action Center

A new Windows 10 developer video uploaded by Microsoft showed a slide where the phone version of the OS displayed both a flashlight and a quick note selection feature in its Action Center.

The video, with the glamorous title "Developer's Guide to Windows 10 Preview: (13) Action Center", was posted Monday alongside many other Windows 10 app developer tutorials on Microsoft's Channel 9 website. The video shows a slide starting at the 1:27-minute mark where the new Windows 10 for phones action center is displayed.

As you can see from the screenshot taken from the video, the action center's third line shows both a flashlight and a quick note button. Both of these features will be highly useful for Windows 10 smartphone owners. Hopefully, both will appear in the next public phone preview for the OS, which could be available any day now.

We should caution until Microsoft confirms these additions, they should be understood as being probable but not definite.

Source: Channel 9; Via: WMPU, Faisal (Twitter)

187 Comments

Much needed.
Agreed.
Agreed.
Agree too. Though cool light does an amazing job atm, nothing beats native function.
Especially when you can activate the light without signing into your phone.
Yup
Indeed. Its good to see the little things that WP8 should have had possibly included in W10. Now all they have to do is release some decent phones that have specs in line with the competition.
Nice. It's a simple option (FLASHLIGHT) but very good to have :)
Dammm, my 1020 is poised for that "any day now" release.
Mine as well, the little 635 is just not cutting it
I have an Ativ S so the "any day now" release anticipation is hitting me hard as well.
Where is the video
It's Channel 9, so it's not on YouTube. Video is embedded in our article, but you cannot see it using our app.
Press "View Links" then scroll down to "external" and there's the links :).
slightly off topic question but i wanna know why above video is so slow in buffering with respect to youtube videos??
Nit sure, its Microsoft's Channel9. Its always been like that really.
They should add timelyt also but this is very needed. Windows 10 will be awesome
When is w10 preview going to come for 1520
Never the cancelled w10 for high-end didn't you get the message?
I got it...
What? That's terrible, and I've been waiting for windows 10 preview forever... :-(
LOLOL You're going to give someone a geek heart attach.
Hahaha yea maybe.
Dude are u kidding...i ain't heard such ...isn't it coming in next build
Fuck.. I thought TP released
The icons in the action center have reached a weird amount. To the point I now think it should be redesigned. I know it collapses, but still...
I actually agree with you
It's just when expands it. In Android 5.0 it takes the hole screen...
Long press the windows button to bring up notifications or action center, separate the two would be best I think.
I think you will be able to manually adjust the number of quick actions in action centre.
I think our action centre needs a redesign.
I agree. W10 looks almost exactly like wp8.1. If w10 is supposed to be a revolution, we need a full redesign of the OS.
Was thinking this Action Center looks a little busy with so many icons.
Needs a swipe-able pivot
^This ...although i could see it being less efficient then having it directly there at first glance
So they'll put an hamburger menu in the action centre? Ugh...
No need for flashlight apps for then....
Ofc there is. Apps with more light options etc colours and the likes
Set two dozen box tiles on start screen.
Pull down acting centre for another dozen box tiles as options.
Swipe right for more boxes :D
We have got guys who complained about three lines (hamburger), and other set of guys who complained about rounded toggles because they seemed to be Androidish, then we have you who has problem with squares.
Hexagon?
Nope . Rhombic would do.
What about triangles???? Everybody lives and breaths triangles!!! /s. Seriously, some people just complain about anything.... Lol.
Song Arc have all of this lol
Triangular tiles would look amazing though
Rhombic would be nice, bring back the 3d touch haha.
Android and IOS has boxes on the start screen. They are smaller. So, there are more of them. Pull down the notification center and you have more icons. Oh, now I see. Having some circles makes android and IOS so much better. /s
i can have a hell of a lot more boxes(apps) on my windows phone start screen than ios and android could ever dream of.
So you like round cluster of balls, eh?..the phone screen is rectangle, the square fits perfectly inside.. But then there's some who like round balls..
Or rather let ANY app integrate into the quick toggles- so I can get say a quick toggle for a barcode reader or document scanner or record audio, etc
That would be the best
Quicky by HanSwinkels probably your best alternative for now, it lets any app persistently hook into notification centre.
i actuall have a better idea for this. i will post it on wc forums too. action center shoudl stay as it is. actualy camera should be removed because it says ACTION center not app center. my idea will solve a point for APPS. just wait for the concept, i really think some people will love it.
Err.. Not sure if serious...
If so, critical flaw with that idea.
What do you suggest people with no hardware camera buttons do?
And don't say gestures on the lock screen, that would be just too flaky in reality to use lol.
nope. no gestures on lock screen lol. its something which in some ways operate as action center(few taps, available everywhere even on lockscreen), is customizable too, and also not a swipe.
Wouldn't that just be the start screen?? And then after they add option to allow any app in the quick toggles, they should create something that allows the toggles to have live information, they can call them live tiles! [/sarcasm]
Good start. Reminds me of Symbian, where I could open my N95 in my pocket and press the quick select button for the note taking app and instantly start typing without even needing to look at my phone. Now add BING VISION. I use that feature far more often than the Cortana gimmick, yet Cortana doesn't have a Bing Vision shortcut for some reason. This is the time to add it back into the OS. Selecting it in the camera app is atrociously uncomfortable. And fuck, we can't even pin lenses to the start screen.
+830
There are apps which can pin a tile to quickly access all "lenses" and an app which can even pin a tile for Bing Vision Lens.
Do you know their names?
"QR For Cortana" is one I've been using. Better than nothing...
"QR For Cortana" is one I've been using. Better than nothing...
I think this is coming.in wp10 for PC on the app permission you can enable Cortana for using camera
Yes, one is Tile for Bing® Vision.
"Good start. Reminds me of Symbian, where I could open my N95 in my pocket and press the quick select button for the note taking app and instantly start typing without even needing to look at my phone." Didn't think of trying that feat. Taking a note while in the pocket without looking. You have my up vote.
I think it might be released this week... *dreaming*
I also think (more like hoping) it'll be released this week. Been too long since the initial release
Hope so
Our action center is turning into what's on Samsung's Sense. Lol.
Samsung's touchwizz, HTC's Sense
I guess he means a mixture of both.
That's what i was saying in the user voice for years !
Notice the new battery icon in the status bar.
Nice icon.
I bet we would have seen it earlier if not for the hounding tweets for wp10 on Gabe Aul's twitter page
Death to flashlight apps.
Check out the battery icon! #Whoa
Everything is becoming "round" lol.
I wouldn't mind MSFT to "reuse" the control panel that iOS has. I really like that idea.
I tend believe MS is innovative but sometimes, unfortunately, it doesn't always work out. The thing I wish MS would do is follow the path of android and ios on things that clearly work. Adding flashlight app and such is something MS should've done a long time ago. Then they could focus on something else that will take windows to a whole another level. Basic functionality should be top priority imo.
I think they rationalize to much, I think at one point they said lack of a flashlight app was because something to do with the light sensor on windows phones and the sound recorder was to be left up to devs
Nadella seems to do things more quickly and smarter, With Balmer MS was slow and closed.
About time! these simple things make a big difference, especially when other os's have had them for years.
Actually native android didn't have a flashlight some OEMs like HTC added that feature in, so we in a sense are getting it before the mobile king
Yes that would be a welcome feature
MS should focus on improving its ui , the action centre looks ugly.
I agree.
Yep. Those new icons don't look too good on a small screen.
But when will come window phone 10. Plz tell me
Will the baked in flashlight app include S.O.S. functionality? It's great for hailing cabs.
So to not scare off devs making similar apps I bet its going to be extremely basic
Very cool
When? I cant wait.....
Everyone going on about the Flashlight app (fair enough) but about time they added a notes app. I mean Windows has had Notepad since forever, sure we have OneNote and Word and powerful note taking apps, but there's always a need for a quick note app so it's great they're finally doing that.
Well, it would most likely launch a blank onenote page and add it automatically to your personal one note or give you a choice which one to add to.
That would be my hope. Really don't need a 'notepad' app whe I have OneNote.
Maybe you guys are right, but I just thought a really lightweight note app would be better for the simpler interface that a phone has to a PC. But I guess it could be a simpler Onenote window for a "quick note" and keep all your quick notes synced to Onenote for the best of both worlds.
Lumi app is nice lightweight flash light app for the time being
Sweet, hope that option for the flashlight has a way to turn up the brightness and for the quick note option I could see some OneNote integration there or even a stickies note feature making its way to windows mobile
Im living the dream
Off topic, the start screen looks ugly :( ..
Also new there would be battery sense and cellular data.
Indeed. Especially the Cellular Data toggle will be a great addition for many of us that have limited data bundles.
They are already available in Denim Update.
But not in Current W10 for phones TP .. ;)
Can't have a flashlight with xenon flash though.
I know it's probably just my OCD, but it really bothers me that throughout the OS every tile is either perfectly square, or a multiple thereof... Except for action centre. Ah well!
maybe they could separate "actions" from "notifications". on android you can swipe from bottom up to bring up actions. or you can swipe top down to bring up notifications. MS could copy that ;)
You know that you don't need to bring the action centre at the bottom to see the toggles, right?
I've always wondered what possessed Microsoft to make you download a third party app just to use the flashlight.
Google's Android doesn't have this. Pure Android.
So that makes it ok? Weird logic.
True only IOS has it native.
That only showed up fairly recently. If MS waited as long as Apple to put it in, it would be in Win 12.
Need a 2g, 3g, 4g toggle!
Lol...
That's what I'm waiting for also.
The only reason I ever use my iPhone over my Windows phone when it is not work related is for the flashlight. This will change that.
What?! Didn't know only the iphone had flash light apps! /S :P.
It's in the quick actions when you slide up from the bottom. Fairly new.
Best idea in a long time!
About time cause i hate looking for an app to use flash light
Release the 2nd preview already :'(
About time!
Shouldn't be a Flashlight (I mean torch) it should be a flashlight API. Shouldn't be Notes, should be a Notes API. That way you put in your favorite app that conforms to these APIs instead. What is the live tile and lock screen integration in the phone? That's right...APIs that allow any app to show a live tile or lock screen content. You'll soon get bored of baked in behavior...
MS seems to have this over some slides.
Just give us the damn preview.
why they removed the app icon frm notification categor in action center? is so annoying to read when you could just simply look for its icon. also, they added icons for notifications themselves so the simplifaction argument is not valid . (also i love how icons look for each notification. is a nice addition)
All Settings shouldn't be a toggle. You can't "turn it off"
Guess its becoming a quick access bar too...
It should be on same place as it is now on 8.1 and expand option should be removed.. swiping down to expand feature should be added..
THATS A LOT OF NEW FEATURES! :(
Who else noticed battery sense?
Has been there since Denim, I'm using right now on L930 8.1.1
Any day......need it now!
While MS is at it, how about adding a STOP or KILL music feature. I hate it when when I stop my music or remove my headphones and the player keeps showing up when I adjust the volume for another app.
The o/s supports that functionality just not added by design... Hence why you need a app to stop the music / clear the now playing bar. This design is fine on a pc. But on phones... Serious oversight imo.
I've already sent them a feedback regarding that last month. Kinda annoying everytime we must press the volume rocker just to access the music. "Now playing" should be available in the action center.
You can remove that. Go to Xbox Music, tap on the Now Playing (⋮≡) Playlist icon, Remove all songs from the list. :)
That action centre really need alot of improvement & major overhaul in this windows 10. Currently it just like a windows phone 8.1 with an extra toggle button... Not all toggle button will be useful , that just wasting action centre space...
Which is why you can customise them...lol.
Not really sure about that since I can't turn it off in the preview build. Hope they'll improve that..
Bring back transparent tiles
Transparent is still an option.
It's not on W10
I'm just hoping that wifi will now be a toggle instead of a shortcut to the settings.
This
It is a toggle when turning on.
Waiting to light up the room with my Lumia 630......
You don't have a flash.
@Wam1q LOL
Im hoping that this screenshot doesn't show two new built in apps, but rather the ability to pin any app to the action center... That said, if the did create two new apps, thats great, but I still hope they allow anything to be pinned to the action center
I don't like the inverted icons. They should be white.
Really looks cool, I believe Windows 10 will be the Operating System #1 in the world for Smartphones & computer (laptop). I can't wait anymore to see Microsoft Windows 10 Smartphone
Flashlight is so nice. Idiotic that this isn't standard on all phones, glad to see it on W10. The quick note is also great, but I'm curious if this is a integration into OneNote or a separate local note of some kind. With OneDrive being baked in, I wonder if this signals the same for OneNote.
Mostly for one note.. MS does not let the third party apps to use as default app..
This would be awesome
Nice, I've always wanted this (I think I left iOS right before they implemented this). It's a small thing but very welcomed
Both are good ideas.
I hope that quick access centre is configurable. This particular action centre looks so... very... cluttered...!
I'd like to set apps by default... More useful in my opinion...
Omg! yes. Cool cool. Cool cool cool.
Good stuff. I hope they resize the icons and action tiles sizes, as they look unbalanced.
Great news
Also need smart screen shot edit like note 3
Please tell me, we will finally get a Bluetooth Equalizer for Music?????????
Another thing that's common sense. Nothing ground breaking. I do itch for a better way to take quick notes though. Hope they do
Dying for the next build
It coming at the end week or early next week
This proves that they actually do listen to user feedback. I've put in the feedback app that they should use the notification center instead of the charms menu (which they did), and to put a flashlight as a quick action, which hopefully they're now doing according to this article.
I am having a hard time understanding the function of 'connect' quick setting. I see wi-fi and cellular data quick settings indivitually. Can anybody please explain?
That's for connecting two devices not by Bluetooth but by detecting the same network that the devices are in.
Thanks. :)
This is confirmed then, I think.
So needed..
"any day now"
Windows central is very late.I've read this news yesterday on WMPU.
I like Avery step Microsoft taking on windows 10 development.
Finally.
Flashlight must be included in every phone
I'm happy just by seeing that there will be a toggle for "cellular data". That's one much needed!
Just hope we would be able to play games better without it bugging and crashing out.
Great they're adding a flashlight - now how about openvpn support?!
Should have been included long ago. Awesome that they realize the little things are what makes an os
What a flipping joke. This "Action Center" or "Notification Center" or whatever is just anought ridiculous, bloated method to mimic the stupidity of other platforms. We HAVE the All Apps jumplist, and we HAVE the Start Screen. Microsoft has lost it.
For any Microsoft people reading through this, here's another vote of 'yes' for these!
Vibration profile ????

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