14 DAY TRIAL // We already knew that Windows 9 was very likely to come with a Windows Phone-like notification center, but thanks to a new report, we finally have more details regarding its features and looks.
Windows 9 will tackle both the desktop and the Modern UI, and a notification center inspired by Windows Phone 8.1 is going to be one of the most important additions, allowing users to stay up to date with everything that’s happening with their systems, including app notifications and other warnings.
Neowin writes that this notification center is already there in existing testing builds of Windows 9 and can be easily accessed from the system tray. Notifications are sorted by the app that triggers the event, which is pretty much the same behavior that we’re getting on Windows Phone right now.
Of course, there are options to quickly clear all notifications, but most users would prefer to manually remove them one by one after checking them out.
What’s more important is that Microsoft is tweaking this notification center to better fit the desktop or tablet version of Windows 9.
While on Windows Phone you need to swipe down from the top of the screen to launch the notification center, on Windows 9 you’ll be able to simply click it on the system tray icon to access its options. It’s not yet clear whether Microsoft is planning any shortcut for those sticking to the Modern UI, but such an option is very likely given the fact that the desktop might go away in some builds of Windows 9.
In the current builds of Windows 9, the notification center doesn’t eat up your entire screen, but runs in a limited-size window in the bottom-right corner of the screen, just above the clock. You cannot resize the window, but in the case of too many notifications, you are allowed to quickly scroll up or down to read all of them.
The background at this point is white, the aforementioned source notes, but this could change before the final version of the operating system is launched.
Although it currently runs on the desktop, the notification center might actually be one of the key features of the upcoming Windows 9 operating system, especially for the revised Metro environment. With the desktop going away in some builds, especially on those running the RT SKU of the operating system for tablets, the notification center could help users stay up to date with app updates, received messages, or any other warnings they might receive.
The notification center could come in an early form in the preview build of Windows 9 expected this month, but more features might actually be implemented at a later time.