Pushing iOS(jaymachalani.com)
jaymachalani.com
Pushing iOS
http://jaymachalani.com/blog/2014/5/29/pushing-ios
89 comments
>'I'm sure there are some exceptions among HN readers, but among the very few people in my circles on Android, all cite screen size as their main reason.'
I do some work with an org that offers a choice among iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry for thousands of company phones.
I find that 'normal' people are barely aware of any difference between iOS and Android. They care about screen size as you note and really practical things like battery life and reception. The only time OS becomes relevant is when someone wants to switch and worries about losing stuff in the transition.
Personally, what locks me into Android is the keyboard. Having used Swype for years now means that I can't even consider iOS until it has an equivalent.
I do some work with an org that offers a choice among iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry for thousands of company phones.
I find that 'normal' people are barely aware of any difference between iOS and Android. They care about screen size as you note and really practical things like battery life and reception. The only time OS becomes relevant is when someone wants to switch and worries about losing stuff in the transition.
Personally, what locks me into Android is the keyboard. Having used Swype for years now means that I can't even consider iOS until it has an equivalent.
all cite screen size as their main reason.
Just one data point, but it was "keyboard" by far for me. The iOS keyboard is horrible and very difficult to customize so I took a risk and switched at my last update (and FWIW, I'm finding Android streets ahead in terms of functionality). Digging the larger screen size is something that came later for me but would definitely be another reason not to go back for me now.
Just one data point, but it was "keyboard" by far for me. The iOS keyboard is horrible and very difficult to customize so I took a risk and switched at my last update (and FWIW, I'm finding Android streets ahead in terms of functionality). Digging the larger screen size is something that came later for me but would definitely be another reason not to go back for me now.
I agree. I really appreciate the richer inter-app sharing on Android but the absolute deal-breaker for me is the keyboard. Android keyboards like TouchPal or Swiftkey are so much more efficient and user friendly than the 2007-vintage iOS keyboard I just get irritated every time I have to use an iPhone for more than five minutes. And that's just for English. For other languages with a lot of accented characters it's not even a contest. I've been living in Vietnam for a few years now and people often mistake me for a native when SMSing because I write properly accented Vietnamese, which is easy with Swiftkey, whereas most locals write a crippled shorthand because typing all the accents on an iPhone is such a chore.
I think Apple's not used to having competition as agile as Google. Maybe their slow-and-steady approach was enough for them to power past Microsoft but much more rapid evolution on the hardware and software front is going to be necessary if they want to beat the entire Android ecosystem. Let's see what they come up with next week.
I think Apple's not used to having competition as agile as Google. Maybe their slow-and-steady approach was enough for them to power past Microsoft but much more rapid evolution on the hardware and software front is going to be necessary if they want to beat the entire Android ecosystem. Let's see what they come up with next week.
People leaving for keyboard reasons are generally, and I hate the term, 'power users'. For 90% of the iOS customer base the keyboard works perfectly well, I'm not the biggest lover of it but I think it's reasonably solid for what it is and what it does.
I really liked the Swype keyboard on my Galaxy S, but I got over it. With any of these keyboards, I still naturally delay anything longer than a status text/email/tweet for when I'm back at my computer, or even iPad (part of it's having enough screen to see the email I'm replying to, or the other sections I've written).
I don't think this is necessarily true. Yes, people leaving for keyboard-feature reasons are power users. But there are other keyboard reasons.
For example, iOS7 totally broke the keyboard so that fast touch-typists just can't type on it any more. This doesn't matter on something small like a phone, but on an iPad it is super-frustrating. Apple fixed it somewhat in recent updates but it's still broken in a few basic ways, all having to do with the fact that the person who programmed the new keyboard doesn't know how typing works.
It is confusing enough that a non-power-user probably doesn't have a clear idea why typing sucks now, they just know that letters don't come out with the right capitals any more, sometimes extra spaces show up, and damn that shift key is confusing. etc. It is not so much "Android is better" as it is "iOS is not a nice experience any more".
There are similar things to do with web browsing. Web browsing is supposed to be one of the few things these devices specialize in, but on my iPad Air it is terrible. If I go to a web site with images on it and scroll down, most of the images don't load for a LONG time, leaving me with mainly a blank page. When iOS7 came out the browser crashed all the damn time. Now that is mostly fixed but it still crashes sometimes.
Meanwhile there are all these timing-based gestures that are thrown off by browser performance problems, leading to bad user experiences. For example, I want to scroll down a page, so I press on the screen, drag, and release. Well oops, some piece of JavaScript ran right then or something, causing the browser's timing to get confused (maybe it counts frames and only a couple of frames went by), so instead of a drag it interprets this as a tap, which for some reason causes me to select some garbage on the page that I don't care about. Well now I am in select mode and things get only more confusing from there (especially if more performance hitches are happening). This happens all the time.
When you can't even scroll down a web page reliably, and yet that is one of the main use cases you are selling your product for, you can't claim it is a luxury product. You aren't delivering a luxury experience so you can't charge a premium.
Apple has gotten away with this in the past, in similar situations, though, because of newness and shininess. As Marc Andreesen pointed out recently, for the first few years you could barely even make a call on an iPhone, and when you did it was super-frustrating. But still it caught on. I think this is just because it was so new and exciting and there weren't real competitors yet. Once the bloom is off that rose, in order to be perceived as a premium brand, you have to actually deliver quality. But Apple is not delivering quality with the OS, they are just delivering some kind of skin-deep attempt of an appearance of quality.
I consider iOS7 to be a huge misstep and a giant missed opportunity, much bigger even than Siri or Maps. I am not sure if fixing iOS7 would solve all Apple's problems, but it is where I would start.
However, I don't think the thesis of this article -- lack of UI features -- would be my first step. Because I don't agree with the article that iOS 7 is simple. In reality it's a mess, it just tries to appear simple. So the first step is making it really, actually simple, and make it deliver a solid, quality experience. Then you can think about adding UI features, which I would claim people don't care about as much.
For example, iOS7 totally broke the keyboard so that fast touch-typists just can't type on it any more. This doesn't matter on something small like a phone, but on an iPad it is super-frustrating. Apple fixed it somewhat in recent updates but it's still broken in a few basic ways, all having to do with the fact that the person who programmed the new keyboard doesn't know how typing works.
It is confusing enough that a non-power-user probably doesn't have a clear idea why typing sucks now, they just know that letters don't come out with the right capitals any more, sometimes extra spaces show up, and damn that shift key is confusing. etc. It is not so much "Android is better" as it is "iOS is not a nice experience any more".
There are similar things to do with web browsing. Web browsing is supposed to be one of the few things these devices specialize in, but on my iPad Air it is terrible. If I go to a web site with images on it and scroll down, most of the images don't load for a LONG time, leaving me with mainly a blank page. When iOS7 came out the browser crashed all the damn time. Now that is mostly fixed but it still crashes sometimes.
Meanwhile there are all these timing-based gestures that are thrown off by browser performance problems, leading to bad user experiences. For example, I want to scroll down a page, so I press on the screen, drag, and release. Well oops, some piece of JavaScript ran right then or something, causing the browser's timing to get confused (maybe it counts frames and only a couple of frames went by), so instead of a drag it interprets this as a tap, which for some reason causes me to select some garbage on the page that I don't care about. Well now I am in select mode and things get only more confusing from there (especially if more performance hitches are happening). This happens all the time.
When you can't even scroll down a web page reliably, and yet that is one of the main use cases you are selling your product for, you can't claim it is a luxury product. You aren't delivering a luxury experience so you can't charge a premium.
Apple has gotten away with this in the past, in similar situations, though, because of newness and shininess. As Marc Andreesen pointed out recently, for the first few years you could barely even make a call on an iPhone, and when you did it was super-frustrating. But still it caught on. I think this is just because it was so new and exciting and there weren't real competitors yet. Once the bloom is off that rose, in order to be perceived as a premium brand, you have to actually deliver quality. But Apple is not delivering quality with the OS, they are just delivering some kind of skin-deep attempt of an appearance of quality.
I consider iOS7 to be a huge misstep and a giant missed opportunity, much bigger even than Siri or Maps. I am not sure if fixing iOS7 would solve all Apple's problems, but it is where I would start.
However, I don't think the thesis of this article -- lack of UI features -- would be my first step. Because I don't agree with the article that iOS 7 is simple. In reality it's a mess, it just tries to appear simple. So the first step is making it really, actually simple, and make it deliver a solid, quality experience. Then you can think about adding UI features, which I would claim people don't care about as much.
This is pretty heavily anecdotal but my parents (late 50s) haven't had any issues with the iOS 7 keyboard. As they say, it Just Works. I think it's heavily dependent on user expectations.
Different strokes, I guess - I dread using my work Android phone's keyboard (or any of the 3rd party ones I've tried) whereas iOS's hit detection/autocorrection mostly feels like an extension of my brain/fingers.
As someone who switched recently, I find both the Samsung Keyboard on the Note 3 and the Google keyboard are light years ahead of the iOS keyboard even before considering the ability to use handwriting recognition in place of typing.
Like I said, though, "different strokes" ;) I've used an Android Phone with Google Keyboard and Swype as my daily driver for months at a time this year and was insanely relieved to use the iOS keyboard again. I found its predictions and the accuracy of the keyboard itself far more accurate, and the screen responsiveness in another league...
The day I find a device with handwriting recognition that works with my chicken scratch I will jump for joy.
I have no anecdotal experience as to why people do or don't switch, but I think we should keep in mind that people often have difficult understanding and articulating why they like one product over another. Especially if they're unfamiliar with the formal language domain experts use.
To speculate, what could we get from "screen size?" Maybe they mean number of icons / elements on screen. Maybe they mean larger media viewing. Maybe they mean ease of physical manipulation. Maybe they mean a different DPI point. There are lots of factors that screen size affect, some of them would apply to any device with a larger screen, some of them apply to qualities that differ across mobile operating systems (iOS' handling of resolution, for instance).
To speculate, what could we get from "screen size?" Maybe they mean number of icons / elements on screen. Maybe they mean larger media viewing. Maybe they mean ease of physical manipulation. Maybe they mean a different DPI point. There are lots of factors that screen size affect, some of them would apply to any device with a larger screen, some of them apply to qualities that differ across mobile operating systems (iOS' handling of resolution, for instance).
The blocks are a neat idea, and possibly not far-fetched. Apple already has at least one "live" icon - the clock app tells the correct time down to the second.
My personal wish list:
My personal wish list:
- customizable url scheme handlers (e.g. set Google Maps the default map app)
- API for communication between apps
- API for Siri
- API for live icons
- User profiles for iPad
- Fingerprint reader for iPad (this plus profiles would be awesome!)
- Biometric API - fingerprint and/or facial features
- split-screen multitasking[deleted](1)
>Seriously, for a device so thin in features and actual stuff to do, performance is disappointing.
Really? Have you checked well written apps and what they can do?
>The Google Chrome browser scrolling is horrific at times with a HUGE delay.
How is that an iOS's "performance problem"? Use Safari. It's not like iOS doesn't offer the best scrolling experience compared to Android/Chrome.
Really? Have you checked well written apps and what they can do?
>The Google Chrome browser scrolling is horrific at times with a HUGE delay.
How is that an iOS's "performance problem"? Use Safari. It's not like iOS doesn't offer the best scrolling experience compared to Android/Chrome.
It's iOS' performance problem because Chrome is forced to use a UIWebView instead of the Nitro engine: https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/ios/overview.
It would be wonderful if Apple virtualized the UIWebView process so it could safely use nitro. Not only would it help Chrome (not that I bet Apple cares :), but also a huge number of applications. And, if apps were fully virtualized, it could possibly open up new, interesting possibilities that have been heretofore deemed unsafe.
It does indeed help a large number of apps (though more and more are going full native since the Facebook app drama).
Jailbreakers have had this for a while now with Nitrous, a tweak which unlocks the Nitro engine to all apps.
Jailbreakers have had this for a while now with Nitrous, a tweak which unlocks the Nitro engine to all apps.
But virtualized would be slower for everybody, right?
This idea is cool, except for the gesture. There needs to be a way to summon a block with one finger so that one-handed use is still possible.
I'm assuming that the drive to stay as close to the current experience as possible influenced that - there's currently no "free" one-finger gesture/action on the home screen. I don't know how to pull it off, but needing to use two hands seems like it kills off the notion of doing things quickly.
edit: Although it's worth pointing out that while it's a cool party trick, it's not something I'd use day-to-day. Changing the Control Centre to let me keep applets open within it for things like 1Password or composing a message? That would get used every day.
I'm assuming that the drive to stay as close to the current experience as possible influenced that - there's currently no "free" one-finger gesture/action on the home screen. I don't know how to pull it off, but needing to use two hands seems like it kills off the notion of doing things quickly.
edit: Although it's worth pointing out that while it's a cool party trick, it's not something I'd use day-to-day. Changing the Control Centre to let me keep applets open within it for things like 1Password or composing a message? That would get used every day.
+1 for control center applets. Android apps often do this by overloading the notifications pull down, but I always found this annoying since it got in the way of the actual notifications. A swipe left on the notifications tab or an extension of the control center for a "quick access" area would be great.
I have yet to see a situation where widgets are actually useful.
I find them useful. Here's how:
- Weather info. Before heading out for the day I can see instantly if I might need a jacket or umbrella later.
- Tube status. I can see at a glance if there are any problems on any underground lines. If there are, I can click on the problem line to get more detailed information with a single touch.
- Calendar. Shows me my schedule for the day.
- Music. Control playback without having to launch an app.
I also have widgets I tend to only use when I'm travelling, showing currency and timezone information.
- Weather info. Before heading out for the day I can see instantly if I might need a jacket or umbrella later.
- Tube status. I can see at a glance if there are any problems on any underground lines. If there are, I can click on the problem line to get more detailed information with a single touch.
- Calendar. Shows me my schedule for the day.
- Music. Control playback without having to launch an app.
I also have widgets I tend to only use when I'm travelling, showing currency and timezone information.
How is that useful? To glance at that information you have to:
1. Unlock your phone
2. Press home to go to the homescreen
3. Swipe to the screen that contains the widget
4. Possibly scroll the widget itself
Android itself has several better alternatives for such glanceable information that are quicker to access:
- Google Now / other search plugin
- Lock screen widgets / lock screen "now playing" info
- Lock screen app quick links (available using Play Store lock screens or some vendor software)
- Persistent notifications in the notification bar
- The recent apps menu (to actually go to the app you want!)
Don't get me wrong, I love Android. I've used it for the last 5 years. It's just that I've never understood why people use widgets. They're too clunky to be useful even for the most basic of things.
I guess that's the beauty of Android, you can use the phone whichever way you think is best. This particular feature is not something that Apple should be envious of however. It really isn't universally popular or considered useful on Android. Windows Phone's live tiles are much better, but wouldn't work on Apple home screens either, because you would still have to fiddle about swiping through your home screens.
1. Unlock your phone
2. Press home to go to the homescreen
3. Swipe to the screen that contains the widget
4. Possibly scroll the widget itself
Android itself has several better alternatives for such glanceable information that are quicker to access:
- Google Now / other search plugin
- Lock screen widgets / lock screen "now playing" info
- Lock screen app quick links (available using Play Store lock screens or some vendor software)
- Persistent notifications in the notification bar
- The recent apps menu (to actually go to the app you want!)
Don't get me wrong, I love Android. I've used it for the last 5 years. It's just that I've never understood why people use widgets. They're too clunky to be useful even for the most basic of things.
I guess that's the beauty of Android, you can use the phone whichever way you think is best. This particular feature is not something that Apple should be envious of however. It really isn't universally popular or considered useful on Android. Windows Phone's live tiles are much better, but wouldn't work on Apple home screens either, because you would still have to fiddle about swiping through your home screens.
> Don't get me wrong, I love Android. I've used it for the last 5 years. It's just that I've never understood why people use widgets. They're too clunky to be useful even for the most basic of things.
I use widgets consistently on my phone. My to-do list, calendar, notes, and weather are all shown as widgets to the left and right screens of my primary homescreen. I don't necessarily have these apps running in app history all the time, so it is much easier to do 1 tap on the home button for the home screen followed by a left or right swipe to view the content I'm after.
They also are really useful if the app you have a widget for is slow to load or you have a slower device. Since you can view the partial information faster than loading the entire app, you can avoid the delay in getting information.
I use widgets consistently on my phone. My to-do list, calendar, notes, and weather are all shown as widgets to the left and right screens of my primary homescreen. I don't necessarily have these apps running in app history all the time, so it is much easier to do 1 tap on the home button for the home screen followed by a left or right swipe to view the content I'm after.
They also are really useful if the app you have a widget for is slow to load or you have a slower device. Since you can view the partial information faster than loading the entire app, you can avoid the delay in getting information.
If you have your most important widget(s) on your homescreen along with your most useful apps, you're probably doing 1-3 anyway most times you use your phone.
For me, it's very similar to the badges on iOS (which is something I miss when I use my Android work phone). I'm often not actively looking for the info, but it's a nice little prompt about it being there.
As for your alternatives
- Google Now is (at least for me) only useful when it's displayed as a widget
- the lock screen is fine for some things but less good for sensitive stuff - and with the fingerprint scanner on the 5S I rarely see my iPhone's lock screen these days
-persistent notifications on the notification bar quickly get cluttered and tell you nothing more than there is a notification of some description for that app
- the recent app menu still involves you going to a separate screen
Clearly they work for you, but also clearly they don't work as well for many others.
For me, it's very similar to the badges on iOS (which is something I miss when I use my Android work phone). I'm often not actively looking for the info, but it's a nice little prompt about it being there.
As for your alternatives
- Google Now is (at least for me) only useful when it's displayed as a widget
- the lock screen is fine for some things but less good for sensitive stuff - and with the fingerprint scanner on the 5S I rarely see my iPhone's lock screen these days
-persistent notifications on the notification bar quickly get cluttered and tell you nothing more than there is a notification of some description for that app
- the recent app menu still involves you going to a separate screen
Clearly they work for you, but also clearly they don't work as well for many others.
On iOS you can do 3 out of the 4 without even unlocking the phone.
For weather and calendar, swipe down from the top to show the notification center.
For music control, swipe up from the bottom to show control center.
Tube status... sorry, you'll need to open an app.
For weather and calendar, swipe down from the top to show the notification center.
For music control, swipe up from the bottom to show control center.
Tube status... sorry, you'll need to open an app.
Tube Status: Push notification or Text/SMS alerts (http://alerts.tfl.gov.uk/)
>Music. Control playback without having to launch an app.
Well I don't really think that's a good use. iOS has the music controls on the lock screen
Well I don't really think that's a good use. iOS has the music controls on the lock screen
So does Android. Of course, when you are using the phone, you aren't always at the lock screen. iOS has the swipe-up on the homescreen to get music controls, which, while its a different access method than widgets, is a clear indication that someone at Apple thinks that something besides "lock screen" and "launch the app" is useful.
Widgets are a more general solution, and suit the fact that users have different things that they want that kind of quick access to.
Widgets are a more general solution, and suit the fact that users have different things that they want that kind of quick access to.
Weather and Calender you can check from notification center and Music from control center. It's just a swipe down or a swipe up. If there are any problems on the subway, you get a push notification. You find all your notification in notification center, also your last messages and so on.
When I used an Android device, I did not like widgets cluttering up my desktop. However, I did have a calendar widget on the lock screen. I am a forgetful person, so I appreciate having reminders about upcoming events so visible. I am forced to look at it. Even with with the red badge on Clear, I don't open the app enough to see what tasks I have to do. Opening and closing apps to get a small amount of useful information seems so inefficient to me.
Sure, and the lockscreen is another place to put information like this.
> It's just a swipe down or a swipe up.
That's why I prefer a widget (or lockscreen), there's no swiping required at all. As for getting push notifications for the subway... No thanks, I don't want a notification every time some subway line is running a little slow. I only want notifications for events I care about, with few or no false-positives.
> It's just a swipe down or a swipe up.
That's why I prefer a widget (or lockscreen), there's no swiping required at all. As for getting push notifications for the subway... No thanks, I don't want a notification every time some subway line is running a little slow. I only want notifications for events I care about, with few or no false-positives.
To have those push notifications work properly, you would need something like Google Now. You don't want notifications for the nearest tube station, you only want those for the stations you use on a regular basis. So Apple would have to know your daily routine for this to work properly. Apple is not keen on tracking copious amounts of its users data, so they may be opposed to this from the beginning. Then they have to have a web service to properly handle all of this. Poor web services is the biggest flaw of the Apple ecosystem.
Calendar in the notification center ain't no substitute. I'm looking at my iPhone right now.
Swipe down: the screen is full of today's date, the weather, a note telling me that it would take me about 4 minutes to drive somewhere (why? I'm not going anywhere today? And why is it telling me it'd take 4 minutes to drive to the local Urban Outfitters store? Oh wait that's also a bus stop I walk to a lot, GOOD JOB APPLE), and telling me the next thing up on my calendar. At the very bottom of the screen is an icon and the very top of my calendar.
And this calendar only shows me a couple things for today, because it insists on showing me the hour grid around them. In the future? It just says "It looks busy tomorrow. There are 7 events scheduled."
Back on the Android, I would have seen something like this floating on my home screen the moment I unlocked the thing:
Today: 9:00am refresh con signs 11:30am change patch! 6:30pm Jason's game night 8:59pm Sunset
Saturday: 5:13am Sunrise 9:00am Market day! 3:00pm Yoga 8:00pm Sunset
Sunday: 5:13am Sunrise 5:45pm Intermediate pole
etc, etc, etc. There's my next few days, constantly there for me to glance at and have a chance to think "oh I have this thing coming up, I should prepare for it today". Doesn't tell me how long an event is but that's not a thing I actually care about most of the time.
Swipe down: the screen is full of today's date, the weather, a note telling me that it would take me about 4 minutes to drive somewhere (why? I'm not going anywhere today? And why is it telling me it'd take 4 minutes to drive to the local Urban Outfitters store? Oh wait that's also a bus stop I walk to a lot, GOOD JOB APPLE), and telling me the next thing up on my calendar. At the very bottom of the screen is an icon and the very top of my calendar.
And this calendar only shows me a couple things for today, because it insists on showing me the hour grid around them. In the future? It just says "It looks busy tomorrow. There are 7 events scheduled."
Back on the Android, I would have seen something like this floating on my home screen the moment I unlocked the thing:
Today: 9:00am refresh con signs 11:30am change patch! 6:30pm Jason's game night 8:59pm Sunset
Saturday: 5:13am Sunrise 9:00am Market day! 3:00pm Yoga 8:00pm Sunset
Sunday: 5:13am Sunrise 5:45pm Intermediate pole
etc, etc, etc. There's my next few days, constantly there for me to glance at and have a chance to think "oh I have this thing coming up, I should prepare for it today". Doesn't tell me how long an event is but that's not a thing I actually care about most of the time.
The difference is that you don't need to swipe down to see them. You just look at your phone and the information you want is there.
[deleted]
>- Weather info. Before heading out for the day I can see instantly if I might need a jacket or umbrella later.
Yes, otherwise it takes all 2 secs to do that.
Yes, otherwise it takes all 2 secs to do that.
So where you live, the weather never changes during the day?
I don't use weather widgets, but "looking outside" is hardly an effective way of seeing if you need an umbrella, especially now in the Spring.
I don't use weather widgets, but "looking outside" is hardly an effective way of seeing if you need an umbrella, especially now in the Spring.
>So where you live, the weather never changes during the day?
No, I mean it takes all 2 seconds to open the weather app and check.
No, I mean it takes all 2 seconds to open the weather app and check.
I constantly miss having my upcoming calendar items floating there on most of my home screen. It was a quiet little ambient reminder of things coming up in my life every time I took my Android phone out and poked at it.
I like nearly every other aspect of the iOS experience more than my old Nexus One, but this keeps on bugging me.
I like nearly every other aspect of the iOS experience more than my old Nexus One, but this keeps on bugging me.
I wrote a real-time transit app for my city and the second-most requested feature is a widget for a favorite stop that will display ETA automatically. As a frequent bus rider myself, I would make a lot of use out of something like that.
This guy needs a windows phone, can we get him a windows phone?
I think he forgot the most important rule of all in the Kingdom of Apple, which is that Apple makes the rules. Apple isn't interested in hearing advice, so if you have your own ideas and want to make them happen, the Kingdom of Apple is not for you.
I agree, his whole iOS blocks, is simply windows live tiles.
Live Tiles doesn't have interaction with them, and they're on a diffrrent ecosystem. This is the equivalent of "You want a notification on iOS? Get an Android"
Couldn't all that he wants be provided by implementing a "native" Apple UI/UX on top of Android? It feels like all his points have been solved by Android for quite some time.
Still, I like this block concept... it's a good compromise between widgets & actually starting the app.
Still, I like this block concept... it's a good compromise between widgets & actually starting the app.
Yes, a custom Android launcher would be able to implement this (though it might be a little tricky to figure out how to make the transition between app icon and widget since some apps don't have widgets, some have multiple widgets).
Given the way the Android community has picked up on these sorts of things in the past, I wouldn't be too surprised if someone creates a launcher that implements this relatively soon.
Given the way the Android community has picked up on these sorts of things in the past, I wouldn't be too surprised if someone creates a launcher that implements this relatively soon.
Try Action Launcher for android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.actionlaun...)
Implementation here is , when you swipe up on an app icon it opens the widget related to that app
Implementation here is , when you swipe up on an app icon it opens the widget related to that app
He's just "invented" live tiles for iOS. T
Doesn't the notification center and control center basically take care of this? Notification center could be a lot better, but requiring a two-finger pinch is a non-starter.
Also, what's with this made-up title?
>UX/UI & Branding Architect
You're a designer.
Also, what's with this made-up title?
>UX/UI & Branding Architect
You're a designer.
No offence, but a designer posts a drawing on Dribble. A UX Architect, explains every step in the process and how and why it works that way. Notification Center gives you information that happened, but not that you might need and the two finger pinch is to limit the number of buttons required for the action. It is also a natural action to make something bigger to see more, like a picture. The beauty with this concept, is that if you don't like it, you don't have to use it, everybody's happy!
Do you also tell people who describe themselves as "Python/Django hacker" to drop the "made-up title" and label themselves as "developer"?
Seriously, what does it matter to you how the guy labels himself?
Seriously, what does it matter to you how the guy labels himself?
Nicely done, I am impressed.
Because everyone is mentioning that's like Android's Widget-Concept, and Android already solved this - that's not the case in my opinion. I think it's too complex for users to know what a "widget" excatly is. This is more the concept of: Show me a little bit more than the app-icon - and that's it. Imho the user would understand the concept immediately and don't have to know what actually a "widget" is, or how to remove it.
Because everyone is mentioning that's like Android's Widget-Concept, and Android already solved this - that's not the case in my opinion. I think it's too complex for users to know what a "widget" excatly is. This is more the concept of: Show me a little bit more than the app-icon - and that's it. Imho the user would understand the concept immediately and don't have to know what actually a "widget" is, or how to remove it.
To be honest, it's exactly the same as Windows Phone tiles, if you haven't tried it already.
I could be wrong, but I thought WinPhone tiles aren't interactive? Tapping on them only leads to the application, they are otherwise read-only.
The designer here is suggesting that the tile contain specific interactive elements (quick reply, play/pause, next song, etc).
The designer here is suggesting that the tile contain specific interactive elements (quick reply, play/pause, next song, etc).
That's a clever approach to widget-izing apps, but I suspect that using the pinch gesture on such a small touch target could be problematic.
In the iOS Human Interface Guidelines, Apple suggests that your touch targets have a minimum size of 44x44 points. (https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/userex...)
If you look at the icon size list at https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/userex..., you'll see that iPhone 5 icons are only 60x60 points (divide the pixel sizes by two to get the point size). I imagine that 60x60 is simply too small for a two finger gesture to work well.
Maybe this would work better with a one finger touch and drag gesture where the drag direction dictates how the icon will grow into a widget (but with icons on the top and bottom rows only able to grow in one direction). It would need to be a quick gesture, though, since tap and hold triggers that app reorganization mode of Springboard.
In the iOS Human Interface Guidelines, Apple suggests that your touch targets have a minimum size of 44x44 points. (https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/userex...)
If you look at the icon size list at https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/userex..., you'll see that iPhone 5 icons are only 60x60 points (divide the pixel sizes by two to get the point size). I imagine that 60x60 is simply too small for a two finger gesture to work well.
Maybe this would work better with a one finger touch and drag gesture where the drag direction dictates how the icon will grow into a widget (but with icons on the top and bottom rows only able to grow in one direction). It would need to be a quick gesture, though, since tap and hold triggers that app reorganization mode of Springboard.
A well-articulated point, but I disagree with ruling out the concept on this basis. Affordances could be made to make this sort of concept more usable. For example, the pinch could work when the user is approximately within the icon dimensions (e.g. only one finger is actually on the icon, the other is close to it) rather than the "strict" implementation requiring both fingers to be within the icon's dimensions.
Good point, but I'd worry about overlap, since you'd likely be touching two icons at once with an approximate touch. I suppose you could take the center point between the two touches and expand on whichever icon that lands on (with boundaries of course; it would be strange if you pinched the edges of the screen and it expanded an icon in the center).
Another thing that's bothering me about it being a two finger gesture is that the entire point of this feature idea is to be able to see things quickly at a glance. I would imagine, then, that in these scenarios most people would be holding their iPhones with one hand and only touching the screen with one thumb. This wouldn't be such a big deal on iPad, but I think it would be on iPhone. That makes me feel more strongly that some kind of one finger gesture may be a better way to do this.
Other people in this thread have pointed out some good points too about discoverability: which apps support the feature? How would the API be designed in a way that's performance and power efficient?
This is definitely fun stuff to think about :)
Another thing that's bothering me about it being a two finger gesture is that the entire point of this feature idea is to be able to see things quickly at a glance. I would imagine, then, that in these scenarios most people would be holding their iPhones with one hand and only touching the screen with one thumb. This wouldn't be such a big deal on iPad, but I think it would be on iPhone. That makes me feel more strongly that some kind of one finger gesture may be a better way to do this.
Other people in this thread have pointed out some good points too about discoverability: which apps support the feature? How would the API be designed in a way that's performance and power efficient?
This is definitely fun stuff to think about :)
> I would imagine, then, that in these scenarios most people would be holding their iPhones with one hand and only touching the screen with one thumb.
I don't think it was meant to be used frequently. More comparable to press-and-hold to enter the app removal/dragging state.
I don't think it was meant to be used frequently. More comparable to press-and-hold to enter the app removal/dragging state.
Good process leading to this, even if I disagree with some of the conclusions. It's nice to see speculative designers actually considering (and then documenting) the environment their concepts would have to work and compete in, rather than just pushing out a cool-looking set of Dribbble mockups with no context.
I don't think Apple is going to add functionality to the home screen. It's always done one thing, and I imagine UX leads at Apple would probably consider anything else to be overloading its scope.
That said, there is absolutely a good use case for widgets on iOS. The old iOS 5-6 weather widget was great, and the text-adventure version they replaced it with in iOS 7 is an inferior experience. Notification Center is almost certainly the best place for widgets: The iOS 7 calendar widget is a great example of the potential, and I really hope they finally open up the NC widget APIs in iOS 8.
I don't think Apple is going to add functionality to the home screen. It's always done one thing, and I imagine UX leads at Apple would probably consider anything else to be overloading its scope.
That said, there is absolutely a good use case for widgets on iOS. The old iOS 5-6 weather widget was great, and the text-adventure version they replaced it with in iOS 7 is an inferior experience. Notification Center is almost certainly the best place for widgets: The iOS 7 calendar widget is a great example of the potential, and I really hope they finally open up the NC widget APIs in iOS 8.
I can't stand the notification center. Even in its current form it always seems overcrowded with stuff I don't care about. Opening up the API for any app to eat up even more real estate would, in my opinion, be extremely misguided. If anything it needs to be dumbed down even further.
There are two separate concerns here:
1. Notifications. Telling me that things have happened, when they happen. The notification center could (nay, should) excel at this, but currently it's only doing okay. I wish I didn't have to keep micromanaging my preferences to prevent apps from spamming me with useless stuff, but at least it works.
2. Persistent info. Stocks, weather, headlines, deadlines, etc. I don't want this stuff in the notification center. It gets in the way of everything coming at me from concern #1. I want to be able to find this elsewhere, without having to dig down into each app. And I definitely don't want apps trying to tell me persistent info in the form of a notification. I don't need to be notified that it's sunny out, or that something interesting (but not directly related to me, or actionable on my part) happened inside of one of my apps. But having to drill down into each individual app for this info is also a pain.
This is where I love Microsoft's live tiles. The ability to peek inside of an app from the homescreen is awesome (way better than having to add separate widgets, a la Android, each with their own design patterns and set of controls). I'd use Windows Phone for this reason if it had the same app ecosystem as iOS, but of course I wouldn't expect it to. Currently my primary device is running Android, which, for me, is a nice trade-off between app availability and base OS experience. But if iOS were to add that ability to "peek" into any existing app to see what's happening, I'd definitely consider switching back.
There are two separate concerns here:
1. Notifications. Telling me that things have happened, when they happen. The notification center could (nay, should) excel at this, but currently it's only doing okay. I wish I didn't have to keep micromanaging my preferences to prevent apps from spamming me with useless stuff, but at least it works.
2. Persistent info. Stocks, weather, headlines, deadlines, etc. I don't want this stuff in the notification center. It gets in the way of everything coming at me from concern #1. I want to be able to find this elsewhere, without having to dig down into each app. And I definitely don't want apps trying to tell me persistent info in the form of a notification. I don't need to be notified that it's sunny out, or that something interesting (but not directly related to me, or actionable on my part) happened inside of one of my apps. But having to drill down into each individual app for this info is also a pain.
This is where I love Microsoft's live tiles. The ability to peek inside of an app from the homescreen is awesome (way better than having to add separate widgets, a la Android, each with their own design patterns and set of controls). I'd use Windows Phone for this reason if it had the same app ecosystem as iOS, but of course I wouldn't expect it to. Currently my primary device is running Android, which, for me, is a nice trade-off between app availability and base OS experience. But if iOS were to add that ability to "peek" into any existing app to see what's happening, I'd definitely consider switching back.
Some weird comments in there, but I do like the blocks concept, but removing the text for just app icons isn't going to be really helpful if an app updates and changes the icon and the user doesn't know where the search pull down is.
Why not just have a scroll-over function?
To reveal the text? I'm not sure how workable that is, as the tap and hold is for movement and would show text below your finger anyway.
I love the general concept and agree that iOS is sorely in need of more customisation, and that Windows Phone probably has the right balance already.
"But, if you want more information about an app, you can simply pinch the app icon bigger and it will now become an iOS Block."
I physically tried this and it just feels awkward. The 'pinch to zoom out gesture' on iOS (e.g. maps, photos) generally has your fingertips about 1-2cm apart in my experience. To pinch an app icon seems quite clumsy and difficult for my medium size fingers... if I had big beefy sausage fingers I can imagine it would be quite a challenge!
"But, if you want more information about an app, you can simply pinch the app icon bigger and it will now become an iOS Block."
I physically tried this and it just feels awkward. The 'pinch to zoom out gesture' on iOS (e.g. maps, photos) generally has your fingertips about 1-2cm apart in my experience. To pinch an app icon seems quite clumsy and difficult for my medium size fingers... if I had big beefy sausage fingers I can imagine it would be quite a challenge!
You wouldn't need to touch the icons directly. I imagine it would pick up the icon in the middle of a spread or pinch gesture as long as the touches started within like N pixels (based on the size of the app/icon) of each other.
I really think it's a really great idea.
I really think it's a really great idea.
Maybe replacing the pinch with a swipe down or a pull down on the icon will make it easier for users with sausage fingers. The icon could then fold out from both sides like a card instead of just growing with the stretch out.
The production of this concept is nicely done, but I don't think the concept is particularly good or original at all. As someone has already mentioned, Action Launcher [1] on Android has a very similar feature. You can access widgets with the flick of a finger, not by pinching, which makes them a lot easier to access.
[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.actionlaun...
[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.actionlaun...
For those not familiar with WP8, this is exactly how Windows Phone tiles work with a few minor interaction details. It does introduce a cool peek concept not available in tiles.
Tighten up your writing style son. Extremely flabby.
BlackBerry 10 has had this for the last year or two, but who cares right?
http://developer.blackberry.com/design/bb10/active_frames.ht...
http://developer.blackberry.com/design/bb10/active_frames.ht...
As users become more proficient with interfaces, it's nice to see functionality evolve from a simple "off | on" to a gradient between "less and more".
So these proposed blocks are non-overlapping app windows, neatly tiled within the icon grid.
Isn't that basically what Xerox Star did in 1981? http://www.digibarn.com/collections/screenshots/xerox-star-8...
Or -- the horror -- MS Windows 1.0 in 1985: http://fulupik.chez.com/perso4/Images/infor_win101tile2.gif
Isn't that basically what Xerox Star did in 1981? http://www.digibarn.com/collections/screenshots/xerox-star-8...
Or -- the horror -- MS Windows 1.0 in 1985: http://fulupik.chez.com/perso4/Images/infor_win101tile2.gif
I stopped reading after the venn diagram showed that the windows phone was good for experience and customisation, are you joking?
Android widgets..unless I'm missing something here.
They're widgets without:
- the need to install something explicitly (separate from the app)
- the need to name them "widgets" (to the user they're just a fancier icon), which reduces the apparent complexity to the user
- they are completely invisible unless invoked by the user, thus preserving the simplicity iOS
- they have a natural and fixed size that helps preserve the visual aesthetic of the grid layout, without special efforts by the user
...and probably more - that's just off the top of my head.
I don't know if they're a good idea, by the way. But it's not good to just dismiss them as "android widgets".
- the need to install something explicitly (separate from the app)
- the need to name them "widgets" (to the user they're just a fancier icon), which reduces the apparent complexity to the user
- they are completely invisible unless invoked by the user, thus preserving the simplicity iOS
- they have a natural and fixed size that helps preserve the visual aesthetic of the grid layout, without special efforts by the user
...and probably more - that's just off the top of my head.
I don't know if they're a good idea, by the way. But it's not good to just dismiss them as "android widgets".
- the need to install something explicitly (separate from the app)
As widgets, apps provide them, you don't have to install them separately.
- they are completely invisible unless invoked by the user, thus preserving the simplicity iOS
As with widgets. You don't see them, until you start using them.
they have a natural and fixed size that helps preserve the visual aesthetic of the grid layout, without special efforts by the user
Actually, different sizes are nice, as widgets and Windows tiles have shown. Some like their calendar widget to be short, to just show the top 1 or 2 items. Others like their calendar widget to take up a complete screen, so that they can swipe to it.
I think the nice addition here is more how you create/invoke a widget and that it is restricted to one widget per app. But it's not all that different from Android widgets, WP tiles, or Blackberry's widgets.
As widgets, apps provide them, you don't have to install them separately.
- they are completely invisible unless invoked by the user, thus preserving the simplicity iOS
As with widgets. You don't see them, until you start using them.
they have a natural and fixed size that helps preserve the visual aesthetic of the grid layout, without special efforts by the user
Actually, different sizes are nice, as widgets and Windows tiles have shown. Some like their calendar widget to be short, to just show the top 1 or 2 items. Others like their calendar widget to take up a complete screen, so that they can swipe to it.
I think the nice addition here is more how you create/invoke a widget and that it is restricted to one widget per app. But it's not all that different from Android widgets, WP tiles, or Blackberry's widgets.
It reminds me of Action Launcher's "shutters". You have an icon on your homescreen, and swipe on it to show the relative widget.
Not the same concept, but still closer than normal widgets.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.actionlaun...
Not the same concept, but still closer than normal widgets.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.actionlaun...
They are Android widgets, but less discoverable. Actually they are not discoverable at all. I don't see how this preserves "iOS simplicity" to introduce a feature that is not simple and can only be known by word of mouth.
I would argue that iOS users also don't know that they can double tap the iphone home button twice to pull up the ability to kill an app without someone telling them that functionality exist or they accidentally find out. This widget concept would be no different.
Thank you!
Microsoft called. They want their Live Tiles back.
Isn't WWDC next week?
The only thing I definitively agree with is that I hope Apple supports multiple profiles for iPad. As someone that uses both Android and iOS pretty regularly, I don't think widgets add much that the Notification shade and Action Center don't handle capably. I mostly hope that iOS 8 is invisible - add some APIs for Siri and hooks into home automation, improve performance.