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What Features Does iOS 7 Need?
Nerval's Lobster writes "Apple's iOS 7, which is heavily rumored to make its debut at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, will almost certainly feature a totally redesigned interface. According to recent rumors (including a few key postings on the Apple-centric blog 9 to 5 Mac), the OS will stand as a shining example of "flat" design, which eliminates "real world" elements such as texture and shading in favor of stripped-down, basic shapes. That means certain iOS environments such as Game Center (with its casino-like green felt) and Newsstand (with its wooden shelving) could soon look completely different. But what about iOS 7's actual features? What could Apple change that would improve the operating system's chances against the increasingly sophisticated Google Android, not to mention the new-and-improved BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone 8? What would you do to iOS with Apple's full resources at your disposal?"
the OS will stand as a shining example of "flat" design, which eliminates "real world" elements such as texture and shading in favor of stripped-down, basic shapes
I want to be able to choose Chrome as my browser instead of Safari.
I want 1password to be able to hook in to it.
I want apps to open new links in Chrome instead of their own embedded browser.
WebRTC support
Save MP3s in to iTunes
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
OS:
- real push notifications (no connection) a la BB
- real bluetooth support
- sound multiplexing
- multi-user support a la Nexus 7
Shell:
- themes
- screensaver
- background download/upload without 'location services':o
- exif info in gallery
- realtime-thumbs task manager
Politics:
- JS JIT in apps
- support for other browsers
are not the features, but the idea that Apple wants to control everything.
If they change that, i will reconsider. However, since i bough quite some Apps for Android, and Android emulation would be nice
I might be a terrorist, after all.
Something different instead of the simple outdated icon grid on the home pages. Whether it be a form of widget or something completely different is up to Apple.
This is double as strong when it comes to the iPad. I remember when they launched the device they were encouraging developers to use then larger canvas instead of just making big iPhone apps. They have still not done this themselves.
I think that would be a huge mistake. If you change the look of features, people can still navigate by memory of layout. If you change the layout of features, people can still navigate by look. If you change both, everyone's completely lost, and you anger 100% of your customer base.
I would go so far as to say that Apple should change practically nothing in terms of functionality. Bug fixes, improved compatibility, speed enhancements, but don't "change" anything.
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
Freedom
It's not going to happen, but a single checkbox in the settings would do:
[ ] Allow installation of apps from unknown sources
Sounds like he's saying iOS should look a whole lot more like Android. Well, sounds like they already copied Android's and Windows' flat themes.
other stuff: start adding resolution and density independent ui elements. you know, so that you wouldn't be so fucked as apple is with osx.
I beg to disagree: in theory resolution independent user interface elements should be a lot better than Apple's approach of only allowing double densities. Practice however shows, that if you have a resolution independent UI API, a lot of developers are lazy and do not adapt their layout to different screen sizes, or do not correctly use the APIs.
As an example, the windows experience on high-res displays is significantly worse than the Mac OS X experience: the majority of Windows applications simply do not work correctly on a Mac Book Pro Retina display, since only parts of the UI elements scale correctly, resulting in a complete mess.
Android fares somewhat better due to a better API, but the fine-tuned user interfaces for different resolutions on iOS (tablet/phone) usually make for a better user experience. On Android there is too little incentive (return on investment) for developers to fine-tune their user interfaces to different resolutions.
We have a big mix of Wintels, iDevices and Androids at home & work.
They're all pretty good at doing what we need.
The iDevices, however, stand out for being harder to get things onto and off.
And don't get me started on iTunes, especially when running on a non-Mac.
Sure there are alternatives, and apps like SugarSync and Evernote ease the pain, but why make it hard when a USP of Apple is supposed to be the user-friendliness?
Still, as I said, never going to happen...looks like they're going to focus on the cosmetics, rather than listening to their customers. Shades of Windows 8?
Final thought: Why don't they just take the top-selling and/or free apps, for both 'geek/power user' and 'normal consumer' and bake 'em into the OS? They've got the cash...
Apple didn't become the largest company by playing catch up to the competitors. I wouldn't change "features" in iOS. I'd change the paradigm in which iOS runs.
Select from tblFriends where interesting >= 4;
Or at least a "guest" mode, so that an iPad can be shared among parents and kids.
Central filesystem so apps can share data in a simple manner.
That would break simplicity.
The current solutions for importing/exporting files from Apple applications don't really qualify as "simple". Ever tried to share a file via iTunes or WebDAV? Having a filesystem that didn't raise its head until you chose 'share' wouldn't break simplicity - or maybe providing a standard API that let apps share through DropBox, Google Drive etc. (Flap, oink!)
I tried iCloud but it insists on moving everything off your iOS device into the cloud. If I wanted to do that I'd use Google Docs so I could share things with non-Mac users!
Allow printing to any fucking printer.
It can do printing, but only with printers that follow the spec. Printers that don't work requires extra drivers, that we shouldn't need in the first place anyway.
No, but there's no reason why Airprint can't work with any shared printer on your Mac. When AirPrint was first announced Apple were going to support this - then they signed an exclusive with HP and disappeared the feature. There's third-party software to do this (e.g. Printopia). At one point, I found instructions for adding the appropriate zeroconf and CUPS settings to my Linux box so I could print to it (but a later iOS update borked that).
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
Perhaps what it really needs is a "NSA Prism" icon
Apple made their mark controlling and simplifying the user experience to achieve broad market appeal. /.ers will inevitably want them to go the other direction and load up the feature set, as all engineers will. Without Jobs, the engineers will get the upper hand and the feature set will expand, thus losing their broad appeal. Unless someone else comes along who can stand up to the engineers, Apple is toast.
I hate being bipolar; it's awesome!
You realize that your TV is still only 1080p, whether its 55" or 155", its resolution is only 1920x1080. The issue at hand here is that when running windows on a higher resolution, such as the Retina display MBPs, the pixel density quadruples, and windows just cant handle that. We're talking resolution, not screen size
All your 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 are belong to us
PAH-LEEZE ... doing the flat look is more like changing the skin, not a total redesign.
As for any features add, changed, or modified ... well that is anyone's guess until Apple says so. Anything else is speculation and a blatant attempt to boost advertising revenue by driving clicks/impressions.
Keep the Classic Slashdot.
Makes sense that a program called "iTunes" would deal with sharing files and getting apps.
Citizen, thank you for your input, USTASI welcomes feedback like yours for double plus good safety.
Feel safe citizen.
Yours observantly,
Senator Dianne Feinstein
USTASI, the "United States, True American, Surveillance Initiative"
We value your privacy.
I want to be able to select which app opens things by default. If I want a new mail app, then I want all mail links to open in it. If I want a new browser, then I want all hyperlinks to open in it. If I want to change the default maps app to Google, then I want all directions opened in that. Etc.
Thanks for pointing that out. I had not yet discovered it myself. (My GF has an ipad provided from her work.)
That is a really non-intuitive processes designed to prevent users from actually doing what they want. Why can't we just drag and drop from a folder like every other GUI? (including OSX)
I totally agree with GP. If Apple wants to improve the IOS experience they should get rid of the propriety crap and provide easy ways for people to use their devices as they want.
I think it is very important that they provide a way to allow some background processing to any app, it is plain stupid that you receive notifications and the content is not there after opening the app, that messages don't get sent because you minimized the app or that you can't minimize a web page / app while something is being loaded. Mainly because of this my iphone 5 feels like crap compared to my old Galaxy SII. Also: - Let people decide the snooze time... the fixed 9 minutes is weird. Turning off the vibration of the alarm would be good also. - How about providing a decent way to share photos between devices, and apple fans please... email or whatsapp is not a decent way. With decent I mean not having to use a cable and without a third party app. - Save files to your phone and download them later. - Share needs to be extended as in android, twitter + facebook is too limited, I would like to see whatsapp there or even better let the apps ask for permission to appear in the share menu.
No, but there's no reason why Airprint can't work with any shared printer on your Mac. When AirPrint was first announced Apple were going to support this - then they signed an exclusive with HP and disappeared the feature. There's third-party software to do this (e.g. Printopia). At one point, I found instructions for adding the appropriate zeroconf and CUPS settings to my Linux box so I could print to it (but a later iOS update borked that).
On a Mac, handyPrint works wonderfully. I have a networked HP laserjet that predates AirPrint. It's set up as a shared printer on my Mac, and then handyPrint adds the appropriate Bonjour advertising and any other necessary tidbits. Printing from my and my wife's iPhones and iPads works great. I have no connection to the company, just a very satisifed user.
Michael J.
Root, God, what is difference?
May sound silly, but if it supported a bluetooth mouse (I do not jailbreak but know I could and get this) I could use it much more effectively in two ways - easier to select text for copy/paste type operations, and when connected via RDP or VNC to another box I could have the full experience of that box. I would still use my iPad 90% of the time for browsing, email, etc. But if it had this and I added a BT keyboard it would get a lot more use.
no comment
How? I've got a Mac mini plugged into a 40" TV and changing font sizes doesn't fix the size of non textual buttons, default image sizes, hit-zone size around window borders, scroll bars or any of the other UI elements that are not tied to the font size.
Slashdot: where don knuth is an idiot because he cant grasp the awesome power of php
On iPhone, go to Settings->Music and you'll see the Volume Limit option.
sooner or later apple is already getting fucked on the devices they can make because if they make another device with another pixel density then it adds up directly as manual work for every developer.
Apple just abandons the older versions of their hardware. They'e abandoned two of my iPod Touches now. The third one I bought about a year ago but it's due to be abandoned shortly.
I agree, workflow on the iPad is tough because of the security model where apps can't get into each others files. While this keeps down malware, it makes uploading files, creating digital portfolios, and sharing between apps nearly impossible without the use of computer or cloud service. Hopefully Apple has a plan for it's new shiny giant green data centers other than serving iTunes apps and running flaky near useless iCloud service.
Improving workflow on the iPad would be on the top of my list, I can live with the UI as-is.
Some other interesting features might be allowing wireless devices communicate with each other to share and collaborate. The 8 iPad - Jam session for Garageband is a good start but we need more than just "more cowbell".
I know the marketing Apple marketing droids don't want the iPad to be a laptop since it would cannibalize MacBook Air sales, but I say forget it and let the iPad morph into a better platform.
if i want to muck up my phone with crap thats on me. I dont want apple pretending to be my dad and im 4 years old "now hold my hand as we cross the road."
I don't know any logical reason why you would want to "muck up" your phone with crap. Apple's policies have nothing to do with you specifically. They're in place because the vast majority (well into the 90% range) of people who use an iPhone (or Android for that matter) are very ill equipped to keep their phones free of malware. Most people really just want their phone to work and don't want to deal with a repeat of the malware removal software (ala Norton Antivirus) on their phones as well as their PCs.
If you want a phone with less hand holding, there are some options out there. No one will be offended if you choose something other than an iPhone.
Last year's phones had 720p (1280x720) screens and this year's all have 1080p (1920x1080) screens. The iPhone 5 isn't even HD at a mere 1136x640.
The problem for Apple is to bump up the iPhone resolution to HD (the current one is still SD) by doubling they will end up with 2270x1280. That's going to be expensive, and 1080p content will be scaled awkwardly. The alternative is to pick a new resolution and make developers re-work their apps to support it yet again.
As for Windows I guess you haven't tried it. It works fine 99% of the time with exact 2x scaling and pretty well with arbitrary scaling. Apps which don't support scaling natively are just zoomed at the pixel level, exactly the same as Mac OS. Interestingly the most high profile app that doesn't scale well is the Adobe CS suite, which didn't scale properly on Mac OS when the first retina displays were released either.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Keep in mind the Apple screens are smaller than all of the devices with supposed HD screens, and thus still have very competitive pixel densities. This is especially true when you look into the fact that pentile displays used on many devices do not accurately represent their supposed pixel densities with their RGBG subpixel scheme.
hey!
And a pony!
You couldn't be more wrong. They do not use the legacy file system as you know it. They use a task specific file system. It's evident in every aspect of iCloud, and iTunes. When you want to work with files relating to your gym app, you select the gym app on your iDevice, and you will see all files related to that app. iCloud is the same way.
Apple's method doesn't need 'directories' or anything of the sort. The underlying structure is irrelevant in a task oriented file system. You see the files specific to the task you are working on. It doesn't require knowledge of the underlying file system, or a knowledge of how folder structures work or are layed out. You seem to think that Apple is targeting a geek. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It's probably one of the primary reasons that geeks hate Apple so much. They don't market to geeks, they don't sell the features you think are important, and it's also the reason that geeks just don't get why average Joe and Jane like Apple's approach. It doesn't require computing knowledge. It's intuitive to a regular person. They can spend more time using their device to do the things they want it for, rather than worrying about applying the latest shell.