http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/11/56052 ... nteractive
But isn't it really just widgets?
A Live Tile is an information feed provided by the app which is presented by the OS. A widget is a design surface which is handled by the app.
To the layperson they are going to look like they provide the same functionality, but in reality they are very different.
So that's the difference.WP’s strength is experience out of the box. Android users often underestimate that. Most smartphone users don’t have neither the information, the will or the time to be constantly tinkering with their phone to do everything. And you’ve touched on a critical point which is about design: uncoordinated 3rd parties producing a variety of widgets will never approach the consistency and performance of OS-integrated features.