Taking the idea from windows

Related - A new deck of cards
https://together.jolla.com/question/27510/idea-customizable-active-app-covers/?answer=27583#post-id-27583

IMO, Sailfish OS does things much better UI-wise than Windows Phone.

The size of every app cover in Sailfish OS is approximately the size of a broad tile in Windows Phone. So pixel hunting is necessary much more in Windows Phone than in Sailfish OS. If you tap an app cover, you'll get straight to the main UI of that app. Plus, there are cover buttons in Sailfish OS, which let you perform actions inside the app without having to switch to it first (a feature that Windows Phone is entirely missing AFAIR).

As for pinning icons on the home screen to launch specific apps: That's what the app grid in Sailfish OS is for. You can access it at anytime by swiping up from the bottom edge of the screen, even when you are currently inside an app. In Windows Phone, you always need to go to the home screen first. In addition, how can you tell at a glance in Windows Phone, if an app is actually running or if you just see its icon on the home screen? Sailfish OS tells you immediately via the app covers. In Windows Phone, you need to go to a separate screen first.

Being able to have different sizes for app covers is a mixed bag IMO. How shall the UI rearrange them when you close an app or start a new one? Not exactly an easy task if you want to keep things consistent. Anyway, I can imagine having separate areas on the home screen for differently sized app covers (2 or 3 fixed sizes). The app cover size to use for a certain app could then be tied to the currently used ambiance. But as you mentioned yourself: This IS a huge undertaking and it requires profound considerations regarding brand identity, UX, usability, feasibility, and so on.

Cover resizing, like on the N9(50), would be great though. There is a separate issue somewhere for that, AFAIRC.

so, in my surrounding 3 people got talked into buying a windows phone. one gave it back a few days later, because the gui was unusable. the other 2 (a couple) used their phones for 2 years while saying, besides the bad app support its so nice. but after that when they both got their new android phone, they both admitted that the gui and overall ux was a disaster. as was the majority opinion by techies ans casuals.

i think learning from windows phone means learning to fail - through bad design and ux. i really hope jolla will never take a clue from that disaster.

@Tanghus: And of course: If you resize an app cover, don't just upscale or downscale its contents. Instead, adjust the amount of contents accordingly. A good example IMO, even though it's from Windows Phone and Windows 10, is the weather app of these systems. Depending on which size you assign to the tile of this app, more or less information is displayed in different ways. This is basically a good thing. However, app developers would then have to design and take care of several app cover layouts, which is prone to bugs and lousy designs for specific app cover sizes. So it's a mixed bag, as I mentioned earlier.