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Pushing iOS

jaymachalani.com

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Re: Pushing iOS

#71

Post by sosborn »

dragonwriter wrote: post #48
saturdaysaint wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The day I find a device with handwriting recognition that works with my chicken scratch I will jump for joy.

Re: Pushing iOS

#73

Post by dmur »

Greenisus wrote: post #66

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/usere…

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.

Re: Pushing iOS

#74

Post by Greenisus »

dmur wrote: post #73
Greenisus wrote: post #66

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/usere…

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 :)

Re: Pushing iOS

#75

Post by aeturnum »

saturdaysaint wrote: post #29

Nice mock-ups, but I disagree with most of the premises here. As far as I can tell, iOS doesn't have much problem with people leaving due to some quibble with the UI's supposed lack of sophistication. 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. Japan, a country that's been at the cutting edge of the mobile mark…

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).

Re: Pushing iOS

#76

Post by jobu »

saturdaysaint wrote: post #29

Nice mock-ups, but I disagree with most of the premises here. As far as I can tell, iOS doesn't have much problem with people leaving due to some quibble with the UI's supposed lack of sophistication. 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. Japan, a country that's been at the cutting edge of the mobile mark…

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:

  - 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

Re: Pushing iOS

#77

Post by spader725 »

Touche wrote: post #19
czr80 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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.

Re: Pushing iOS

#79

Post by renata »

coldtea wrote: post #36

> 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.

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.

Re: Pushing iOS

#80

Post by geon »

Greenisus wrote: post #74
dmur wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 gestu…

> 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.

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