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iOS 11 turns the iPad into a different machine

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141–150 of 167 posts

Re: iOS 11 turns the iPad into a different machine

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just not intuitive though is the point. You've already double clicked the app icon, now a window appears with the same icon that you have to double click again to launch it? I moved from Windows to Mac after a long time hearing about how great Apple usability was and I could never understand the logic behind the app install workflow.

So, I guess you also hate zip files too? You didn't double click the app icon - you double clicked the container that contains the app you are about to open or move/install to your apps folder. I think the drag and drop approach to installing apps is as easy as it gets.

And this awkwardness is why windows apps have installers instead of being distributed in zip files. Double click -> click install, way easier than dragging anything anywhere

Re: iOS 11 turns the iPad into a different machine

#143
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the company that has you dragging disks into the trash for about three decades now?

I've always found installing apps on desktop completely unintuitive as well. You double-click a downloaded package, see a window containing the app icon (...why?), drag and drop the icon into your app folder usually with no feedback after then you have to manually launch the app e.g. using cmd+space. Why not just have a "do you want to install this app?" dialog when you click on the app file the app launches after?

This surely depends on how the author has packaged the app - I've installed 3 apps recently which came as `.pkg` files that popped up a "Installing this app" dialog (and then offered to put the `.pkg` in the trash when they was done.)

Other apps come as a DMG which launches an installer; some are just DMGs with files to drag to Applications.

Re: iOS 11 turns the iPad into a different machine

#144
post #66
post #4

I didn't read the whole thing. Does it do anything better than other operating systems, or just bring desktop features to the iPad? I'm not saying bringing desktop features to a tablet is a problem, just curious.

Just for fun I'll summarize 1. tweaked notification layout. confusing 2. tweaked messages app. ugly 3. tweaked siri voice 4. can play gifs (not kidding.. 2017 that's a feature) 5. on a different newer device, new codecs 6. indoor maps, in apple maps 7. no airplay2 yet. 8. tweaked App store layout (for the record, new website design is not a feature. A new _store_ website design is even less than that) 9. All your SMS…

> All your SMS's are automatically copied to Apple computers for surveillance or safe keeping, one or the other

Although since iMessages are encrypted client-to-client and Apple can't read them, it doesn't really help surveillance here, does it?

Re: iOS 11 turns the iPad into a different machine

#145
post #66
post #4

I didn't read the whole thing. Does it do anything better than other operating systems, or just bring desktop features to the iPad? I'm not saying bringing desktop features to a tablet is a problem, just curious.

Just for fun I'll summarize 1. tweaked notification layout. confusing 2. tweaked messages app. ugly 3. tweaked siri voice 4. can play gifs (not kidding.. 2017 that's a feature) 5. on a different newer device, new codecs 6. indoor maps, in apple maps 7. no airplay2 yet. 8. tweaked App store layout (for the record, new website design is not a feature. A new _store_ website design is even less than that) 9. All your SMS…

> The phone will now be able to delete apps for you without your permissions. Purge.

Not accurate - purging unused apps requires a specific toggle to be enabled in Settings > iTunes & App Stores.

Re: iOS 11 turns the iPad into a different machine

#146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Might not be entirely obvious and intuitive, but it's not required as well. I mean, iOS did without it for 10 years. People complain about iOS not being for 'power users', but when they add features in like a secondary click or more fine-grained control, people complain about it not being obvious. How obvious is right clicking on a computer to bring up special features?

> How obvious is right clicking on a computer to bring up special features? Well considering that most mice have 2 or 3 obvious physical buttons I would say the right-click on a mouse is pretty obvious. It has also be deeply ingrained in every Windows user since Windows 3.11 (maybe earlier?)

I would try spending time with an "average user". They do not use right click, nor keyboard shortcuts (which have also been around for ages). The average user is a basic user.

Re: iOS 11 turns the iPad into a different machine

#147
post #24

I tried iOS 11 on the latest version of the iPad Pro 9.7" and iPhone 6S. I've actually downgraded back to iOS 10 because the beta was still too buggy for day-to-day use. The existing 'multi-tasking' on the iPad Pro is fiddly, and this was no easier. Apps were locking themselves to the Dock and I couldn't work out how to remove them. Switching between apps was far from "Cmd + Tab" of the desktop. A lot of apps that I…

> A lot of apps that I still use but haven't been updated in years broke because they're not 64 bit. While your other points are valid for a beta OS, this one can't really be used as criticism towards Apple. You can't blame them for developers that abandone their apps.

Apple has more resources to build a 32-bit emulator, compared to the resources of a developer who released a small but useful app 8 years ago but now needs it to be 64 bit.

Re: iOS 11 turns the iPad into a different machine

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't say the desktop experience was 'compromised'. 'Depreciated' (i.e. made legacy) or 'encapsulated' would be the description I'd use. Consider how the transition from command-line interfaces to GUI was made. Even today you can open up the Command Prompt in Windows (or Terminal in OSX) and run legacy MS Dos apps. Well Balmer saw Jobs heralding the iPad as the future of computing, the launch lines, and the earl…

It absolutely was compromised. The start screen was a horrible UI on desktops.

Agree. "Deprecated" implies that they ignored it, didn't improve it, that it remained essentially unchanged. That was not the case in Win8, which offered a markedly inferior desktop UX when compared to Win7.

Re: iOS 11 turns the iPad into a different machine

#149
post #58
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3D touch on the keyboard to move the cursor around makes up for every grievance I ever had about it to begin with.

I like that too, but how many users know about that? 0.5%? Is it obvious and intuitive?

I don't know anyone who hasn't discovered that one

Re: iOS 11 turns the iPad into a different machine

#150
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't completely agree there. Contextual menus by right-click (or ctrl-click) have been core since OS X came out in 2000. (I would distinguish between "core" meaning extremely useful and effective, as opposed to "essential" meaning the only possible way to accomplish a task. Right click is still not "essential," just very useful.) And back in the pre OS X days, tons of functionality was "hidden" with the option key.…

Lots of magical things are still hidden behind modifier keys. Option-click the wifi icon: special diagnostics info Option-click the bluetooth icon: diagnostics info Shift-Option-click the bluetooth icon: debug menu Hold option while resizing a window: resize from both sides at once (see gif: https://twitter.com/dceddia/status/859518600931143680 )

TBF, these are useless to the average user, but it would be awesome if there was a visual cue that option was useful.

One I find useful is option-right-click dock icon that force reveals the force quit menu item.

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