Windows Phone 8 is shaping up well - the features are there that makes it able to play with the big boys, and the handsets' hardware are top notch. However, Windows Phone 8 is missing one main feature, and that is a notification center where users can keep up with what their apps are doing.

During the build conference, someone from the audience asked about the feature's absence. Thomas Fennel, a program manager at Microsoft, answered with the following:

"Because we ran out of time. It's very very important to me... we get tons of feedback from developers that they want something like that as well. I promise we're thinking very very hard on that one."

But does Windows Phone 8 needs a notification center? One can see where this would be useful. However, if the user pins his/her favorite apps to the start screen, a notification feature could be invalid since the Live Tiles show the notification of the application. Then again, a user might use a particular application but choose not to place it on the start screen. In such a case, without the notification center, this user would have no idea what the app is up to.

There is a neat way Microsoft could make the notification center work on Windows Phone 8. Fans already know that swiping to the right brings up the apps list. So how about swiping to the left to bring up the notification center? That could definitely work, unless Microsoft has other plans for swiping left. The company could also try swiping from the bottom or the top as it is customary with Android and iOS.