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IPhone Needs a New Home

teehanlax.com

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Re: IPhone Needs a New Home

#41

Post by Tyrannosaurs »

mbreese wrote: post #35
Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #30

Why are people obsessed with weather widgets? In that small an amount of space you can basically get today's weather which I can see by looking out of the window which generally makes it a bit useless really. Not saying that I wouldn't like a better notification screen on the iPhone - I really would - just that all weather widgets do to my mind is add a bit of graphical sugar but with no great purpose. Or am I missin…

> Does everyone else live in a bunker Or work in an office without a window? Or live somewhere where it can be sunny outside, but still need to know if you need to take a jacket to lunch?

I guess you just have more faith in the data the weather app on the iPhone throws up.

I find the single day temperature / image to be too much of an average (so 12 degrees and sunny means that it's between 6 degrees and 18 degrees which basically doesn't help me for that sort of decision making).

Maybe that's just where I live and that for others it does provide useful information.

Re: IPhone Needs a New Home

#42

Post by tmgrhm »

NickPollard wrote: post #5

For anyone on Android, SlideScreen is a brilliant implementation of this concept already available in the market. Highly recommended. http://slidescreenhome.com/

I bought this a while ago (a year?) and, although it's a great application, the developer seemingly abandoned it not long after.

Re: IPhone Needs a New Home

#43

Post by kingsley_20 »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #30

Why are people obsessed with weather widgets? In that small an amount of space you can basically get today's weather which I can see by looking out of the window which generally makes it a bit useless really. Not saying that I wouldn't like a better notification screen on the iPhone - I really would - just that all weather widgets do to my mind is add a bit of graphical sugar but with no great purpose. Or am I missin…

"where it can be sunny outside, but still need to know if you need to take a jacket to lunch?" - mbreese

I never understood this till I lived in India. I understand your confusion. I do agree with you that weather widgets waste pixels and can be done in a better, more compact way.

Re: IPhone Needs a New Home

#44

Post by khafra »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #30

Why are people obsessed with weather widgets? In that small an amount of space you can basically get today's weather which I can see by looking out of the window which generally makes it a bit useless really. Not saying that I wouldn't like a better notification screen on the iPhone - I really would - just that all weather widgets do to my mind is add a bit of graphical sugar but with no great purpose. Or am I missin…

As a fair-weather motorcycle commuter, I'd prefer a 36-hour forecast focusing on rain chance as a default widget.

Re: IPhone Needs a New Home

#45

Post by kingsley_20 »

"@teehanlax In an update, you mention that you're building a product. Did that come to completion?" - @bradleyland

"@bradleyland It did briefly exist in the Cydia store. But working in the Jailbreak Community proved too difficult" - @teehanlax

Pity. Also, I just blogged about something similar, and was surprised to find this on HN: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2275922

Re: IPhone Needs a New Home

#46

Post by xsmasher »

pacifika wrote: post #20

You might gain information but you also gain 'information stress', with the current homescreen you feel the phone submits to you in letting you do what you want. With homescreens like this and the notification systems in competing platforms the phone is the one that tells you that 'you really should be looking at these other things as well, nag nag'. This is useful for certain types of users, that lead busy lives. Th…

Apple doesn't put new email notifications and such on the lock screen or the status bar, and I don't think that's an oversight. It would be the equivalent to a blinking red "back to work! message* and make people hate to look at their phone.

*Doesn't blackberry have one of those?

Re: IPhone Needs a New Home

#47

Post by CamperBob »

rayboyd wrote: post #29
gmac wrote: post #2

This would be excellent. Especially on the lock screen, which is currently almost nothing but wasted space.

When the phone is locked do you really want it to expose information? My personal preference is no.

Point being, that should be your call, and his, and not Apple's.

Re: IPhone Needs a New Home

#48

Post by there »

Tyrannosaurs wrote: post #37
jasongullickson wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Current temp is the key one, which can vary widely throughout the day, is hard to tell by looking out the window and has the most impact on what you put on before you head out the door :)

Which would be great if it were something resembling the current temp but on all the weather apps I've seen the best you'll get is a weather forecaster's prediction (nothing actual) and the best accuracy is three hours. Maybe that's just the UK and the US is getting something more accurate but I'm guessing not.

all i care about (in chicago) is whether it's going to rain or snow. the temperature or cloud cover don't really matter to me as much. http://goingtorain.com/

Re: IPhone Needs a New Home

#49

Post by glhaynes »

gmac wrote: post #2

This would be excellent. Especially on the lock screen, which is currently almost nothing but wasted space.

I guess I just don't personally see it as wasted space.

One doesn't want anything being touch-sensitive on the device when it's locked other than the unlock mechanism. So if there was more information shown, there'd be no way to do anything about that information (reply to it, clear it, delay it until later, etc) without unlocking the phone and then navigating back to the information that triggered the information in the notification through whatever app was doing the alerting.

Maybe I'd feel differently if I had a passcode/password on my phone; but, since I don't, unlocking is just a button-push-then-swipe that happens unconsciously during the transition from my pocket to in front of my face. So I might as well use the 'real' app by the time I'm ready to do anything on the device.

The exception of course is the time/date which are already shown - that's information that is strictly received by the user, who doesn't have to do anything (in the device) in response. So maybe adding things like the weather as an option makes good sense... but I don't personally think I want actionable things like emails/tweets/etc on the lock screen.

Of course, there is on iPhone the "alternate lock screen" that appears when you double-click Home and music is playing. Maybe there is room for an expanded not-quite-unlocked mode when you double-click Home to unlock?

I personally expect there to be changes to the notification system in iOS 5, but I won't be surprised if the lock screen stays approximately as-is. Wouldn't necessarily mind being surprised though!

Re: IPhone Needs a New Home

#50

Post by endlessvoid94 »

That home screen reminds me of Android. While there's nothing wrong with that, the point of Apple products is that they're aesthetically pleasing.

The lock screen just displays your wallpaper, and is actually one of the only places you can see your wallpaper without clutter. It's clean, simple, minimalist. Adding widgets and text and shit all over it is the exact opposite of that.

And frankly, that's a big selling point for the iPhone (and apple products in general). That's actually the point.

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