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IOS Low-Hanging Fruit

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Re: IOS Low-Hanging Fruit

#41

Post by dgreensp »

The expression "low-hanging fruit" usually means small things that are easy to pick off, for just as much benefit as harder things. It's a useful term for potential development work that might have outsized gains for the efforts.

Gruber seems to be using it instead to mean things that are easy to think of, regardless of their size or worth, which strikes me as a journalism-centric worldview.

Why hasn't humankind cured cancer? It's such an obvious next step. And when we do, I can write an article about how there are fewer things to have walkathons for.

Re: IOS Low-Hanging Fruit

#42

Post by falling »

swift wrote: post #23
blinkingled wrote: post #22

While Google & co were still sorting out the Honeycomb mess I got an iPad and here are my day to day gripes about iOS, most of which apply to both iPhone and iPad : 1) Turn by Turn Navigation - can't really think of living without it or paying for it. I've used it on Android quite extensively and it really is a solid product. For mere 29Mb and even with spotty rural data connectivity I got through 750 miles of naviga…

I totally agree with most of this list but I just wanted to let you know that the iPhone does indeed include an alarm clock, and many other time-related utilities, as part of the Clock app. I don't have my iPad here with me, but if I recall correctly this and a couple of other useful apps are inexplicably absent on the iPad.

I fail to understand why people ask for these simple utilities to be included. I find it interesting that on one side you see people complaining about apps they cannot remove and on the other saying that they are sorely missing.

(to be clear: the two sides are not iOS and Android, just different people)

Re: IOS Low-Hanging Fruit

#43

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

dgreensp wrote: post #41

The expression "low-hanging fruit" usually means small things that are easy to pick off, for just as much benefit as harder things. It's a useful term for potential development work that might have outsized gains for the efforts. Gruber seems to be using it instead to mean things that are easy to think of, regardless of their size or worth, which strikes me as a journalism-centric worldview. Why hasn't humankind cure…

Yeah, I was thinking about the same thing. Weird article name. A lot of things people brought up in this thread are nice to have, but not fundamental things that Apple needs to work on.

It would be nice to fix some of the UI issues though.

Re: IOS Low-Hanging Fruit

#44

Post by matthew-wegner »

falling wrote: post #42
swift wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree with most of this list but I just wanted to let you know that the iPhone does indeed include an alarm clock, and many other time-related utilities, as part of the Clock app. I don't have my iPad here with me, but if I recall correctly this and a couple of other useful apps are inexplicably absent on the iPad.

I fail to understand why people ask for these simple utilities to be included. I find it interesting that on one side you see people complaining about apps they cannot remove and on the other saying that they are sorely missing. (to be clear: the two sides are not iOS and Android, just different people)

A lot of people cook with recipes displayed on their iPads; a timer is super useful there.

I guess the clock app is out because it demands another background process? Who knows with Apple.

Re: IOS Low-Hanging Fruit

#45

Post by gte910h »

rglover wrote: post #5

Something I thought about earlier that would be nice: automatic geofencing based on my interests. So if I'm on vacation and I mark "burgers" as an interest, I get pinged when I'm close to a popular burger spot. May already exist but didn't take the time to look.

That's completely doable as a app (I'm a professional 3rd party app developer).

Re: IOS Low-Hanging Fruit

#46

Post by glenra »

jinushaun wrote: post #32

Really? That's the best he can come up with? I've got a long list of low hanging fruit for Apple. I'd write them all out if I wasn't on my phone right now. - Quick access to brightness. Add to notification center - Quick access to airplane mode. Add to notification center - Timestamps on Messages all the time - Show current date without having to see calendar app. Put it in the notification center - Real-time suggest…

> Show current date without having to see calendar app. Put it in the notification center

If your phone is on, hit the power button twice (power off, then power on) - the current date appears in the slide-to-unlock screen.

Re: IOS Low-Hanging Fruit

#47

Post by falling »

matthew-wegner wrote: post #44
falling wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fail to understand why people ask for these simple utilities to be included. I find it interesting that on one side you see people complaining about apps they cannot remove and on the other saying that they are sorely missing. (to be clear: the two sides are not iOS and Android, just different people)

A lot of people cook with recipes displayed on their iPads; a timer is super useful there. I guess the clock app is out because it demands another background process? Who knows with Apple.

there is plenty of clock apps with timers in the store.

Re: IOS Low-Hanging Fruit

#48

Post by jaredsohn »

I'd greatly appreciate it if Apple improved their dialog system. It isn't uncommon (or at least it was in the past, maybe this has already been fixed) when performing an update in iTunes to get a large number of dialogs in a row.

Also, while it may be difficult, it would be nice if there was a way to improve the experience when running games that use Game Center. (They often force you to put up with the game running slowly as it tries to connect and it annoys you by showing you two dialogs; I think the typical OpenFeint experience is a little better.)

And mobile browsers should allow extensions.

Re: IOS Low-Hanging Fruit

#50

Post by fpgeek »

Steko wrote: post #39

One of my most used third party apps has become Firefox Home, flawed and feature poor as it is. Browser sync is a can't live without it once you've tasted it feature and seems like a no brainer to add now that everyone is on icloud. Most people think of navigation as Android's biggest advantage over iOS but Chrome sync in ICS seems bigger to me. Inverting desktop to phone sync, remote desktop seems like an even bigge…

> but Chrome sync in ICS seems bigger to me.

Not to mention full-fledged Firefox and Firefox Sync on most devices 2.1+

The problem for Apple is that adding browser sync to iCloud isn't enough. Most people aren't browsing with Safari on the desktop. That means unless Apple

(a) loosens up on third-party browsers (unlikely based on past behavior) and/or

(b) opens up sync APIs for third-party desktop browsers, including third-party browsers on Windows (possible, but at least somewhat uncharacteristic and potentially tricky technically),

Android is likely to maintain its edge in browser sync.

Of course the same logic suggests that browser sync to desktop IE is potentially an under-appreciated advantage for Microsoft and Windows Phone. That's blunted a bit because, based on Microsoft's previous announcements, new versions of IE (including, presumably, whatever version adds browser sync) aren't going to make it to XP, but that's still a significant universe of potential sync targets.

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