Why is it always said that iOS is boring?

Black Magic said:

Please explain this to me. I see it as a launcher to get me to what I need at the time. I'm not expecting fireworks when I unlock my screen. Android and WP8 and pretty much the same concept launcher wise IMHO. Why would anyone think Android or WP8 as non-boring but IOS boring?

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Its not about special effects. I actually turn off almost all of the animations. Its about the lack of organization that the ios launcher has. Finding an app you don't use often can be a major pain. Its even worse if your using some one elses phone or ipad. In android and windows phone theres a list you can get to in alphabetical order which makes it easy to find. Add widgets/quick settings and live tiles and you can see where iOS can make simple task cumbersome. The other big thing thats a pain with iOS is the lack of a dedicated back button. Its a pretty huge omission and one you don't truely appreciate until you've used one and then no longer have it.

Black Magic said:

Finding an app isn't hard. Just use spotlight or Siri.

Quick settings to toggle on and off? Why would IOS need that? Battery life is amazing even when leaving everything on. Android needs that to save battery.

Name a worth while widget. Just one. IOS you can get the weather quick via notification bar or Siri. Sports scores and schedules. What widget is out there that is must have on the Android that makes it so much better than IOS?

Back button? I had android and the back button is just one more button I had to worry about. I don't even see it as an issue with IOS but to each there own. I guess you go back a lot?

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I am not even going to argue with you as its pretty obvious that no matter what I say you'll never be convinced.

With the exception of the obvious (like phone, camera, etc), iOS is basically equivalent to mainly being an app drawer. Nothing wrong with that, but many find it boring from a functional and visual standpoint.

Black Magic said:

Finding an app isn't hard. Just use spotlight or Siri.

Quick settings to toggle on and off? Why would IOS need that? Battery life is amazing even when leaving everything on. Android needs that to save battery.

Name a worth while widget. Just one. IOS you can get the weather quick via notification bar or Siri. Sports scores and schedules. What widget is out there that is must have on the Android that makes it so much better than IOS?

Back button? I had android and the back button is just one more button I had to worry about. I don't even see it as an issue with IOS but to each there own. I guess you go back a lot?

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I turn off Bluetooth to converse battery every weekend and at night on my iphone. I notice a difference but I only use Bluetooth when I'm work. Apple put it at the top of the setting page for a reason.

A podcast player widget and bookmark widget I find very useful. On a tablet I also use email widgets.

Back button is one of my favorite features. It goes back one step in anything you do. In a game it goes back to previous screens, on webpages it goes back a page, email, messaging. I use it constantly. You are constantly going back you just might not realize it. IOS apps generally have a back button at the top left of the screen.....almost out of my thumbs reach BTW...

iOS then.



iOS now.

FYI it's iOS not IOS. Sorry it just bothers me a lot

cynics said:

I turn off Bluetooth to converse battery every weekend and at night on my iphone. I notice a difference but I only use Bluetooth when I'm work. Apple put it at the top of the setting page for a reason.

A podcast player widget and bookmark widget I find very useful. On a tablet I also use email widgets.

Back button is one of my favorite features. It goes back one step in anything you do. In a game it goes back to previous screens, on webpages it goes back a page, email, messaging. I use it constantly. You are constantly going back you just might not realize it. IOS apps generally have a back button at the top left of the screen.....almost out of my thumbs reach BTW...

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Exactly the back button is a very great feature. Windows phone, android, classic bbos, and web os all had a back button or gesture area in the case of webOS.

FYI it's iOS not IOS. Sorry it just bothers me a lot

LIVEFRMNYC said:

With the exception of the obvious (like phone, camera, etc), iOS is basically equivalent to mainly being an app drawer. Nothing wrong with that, but many find it boring from a functional and visual standpoint.

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This is a simple way to put it but yes I agree.

Black Magic said:

Finding an app isn't hard. Just use spotlight or Siri.

Quick settings to toggle on and off? Why would IOS need that? Battery life is amazing even when leaving everything on. Android needs that to save battery.

Name a worth while widget. Just one. IOS you can get the weather quick via notification bar or Siri. Sports scores and schedules. What widget is out there that is must have on the Android that makes it so much better than IOS?

Back button? I had android and the back button is just one more button I had to worry about. I don't even see it as an issue with IOS but to each there own. I guess you go back a lot?

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Battery life might be amazing for you but for some like who is out at 8am till 3am, I need my toggles. Just because you don't need, it does not mean nobody else does.

I don't want to ask Siri for info when it's already there on my screen with widgets.

Black Magic said:

Finding an app isn't hard. Just use spotlight or Siri.

Quick settings to toggle on and off? Why would IOS need that? Battery life is amazing even when leaving everything on. Android needs that to save battery.

Name a worth while widget. Just one. IOS you can get the weather quick via notification bar or Siri. Sports scores and schedules. What widget is out there that is must have on the Android that makes it so much better than IOS?

Back button? I had android and the back button is just one more button I had to worry about. I don't even see it as an issue with IOS but to each there own. I guess you go back a lot?

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Worthwhile widgets:

1. The days schedule with meeting locations, times, people, which updates throughout the day. This is now added to the notification center via Google Now, so this widget isn't as neccessary as it used to be. Unlike with iOS, no tapping for a calendar or asking Sign via additional taps.

2. TV Favs widget, which lists the days upcoming TV shows that you like with times and description. Widget updates automatically as show times occur and allows for both LED notification reminder and custom sound alarm. Which means you can have the TV shows theme come on 15 or 10 or 5 minutes before the show to remind you what is coming on.

3. My Data Manager - shows you how much data you have used and updated hourly or daily. Can show you how much data you have used via wifi, roaming and data. Nice to see how much data you have used without having to call or text your carrier or drill through iOS settings to find the info.

4. Social app widgets - twitter, Facebook, foursquare, linkedin, etc updates via live feeds. If you use these apps, its nice.

5. Scrolling news feeds a la CNN ticker. Customizable for tech, local news, entertainment news and so on. Also gives breaking news alerts. No need to open an app.

Can you live without live tiles, Widgets, custom icon layouts, live feeds, etc and just have a grid of dead icons? Sure. That is iOS. And it is going on 6 years without change. Boring and stale are two very accurate adjectives.

Black Magic said:

Please explain this to me. I see it as a launcher to get me to what I need at the time.

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That is actually the problem... since that's all it does, people have a hard time imagining that it could and should be far more capable and feature rich than it is. Anyone who switched to Android knows what I mean, there are numerous ways to improve iOS home pages and lock screen with Android features like widgets, quick settings, better notifications, and greater customizability.

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F123D said:

iOS then.

Image

iOS now.

Image

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Case in point ... these app icons don't even display meaningful data with the exception of the Calendar app. Very outdated to require apps for everything when widgets are superior. Apple even uses widgets in OS X since Tiger, why not on iOS?

Here's one meaningful widget: "Traffic". It's a 1x1 icon of a traffic light that automatically displays the time it takes to drive home from wherever I am. It shows green if there's little to no congestion, yellow is medium, red if there's a lot with a time display such as '35m' or '1h10m'. I don't have to tell it where I am, all it does is calculate the time it takes to drive to a preprogrammed location like home or work. Genius.

If you can't see why iOS is boring, you're not being imaginative enough.



And I'd argue iOS doesn't even get you to where you need to be all the time in the easiest way. In fact, in some cases, it's downright cumbersome and long. Try converting to Private browsing and back. Count how many steps it takes.

It's gotten to a point where the competition has figured out better and faster ways to get most of the same things done. I can literally turn WiFi on or off with one touch.

A static grid of icons. How fascinating...

Also widgets are much more useful than just looking nice. Why would I want to go into apps to see some information (calendar, weather, sports scores) or change settings when i can access it from the home screen?

And off topic, I hate how Apple forces its ways on you. Maybe I want to delete/hide some of the crappy Apple stock apps. I can't, the best I can do is put them in a folder. Hell, Apple won't even let me put that useless Newstand app in a folder for no apparent reason

dkersten said:

A static grid of icons. How fascinating...

Also widgets are much more useful than just looking nice. Why would I want to go into apps to see some information (calendar, weather, sports scores) or change settings when i can access it from the home screen?

And off topic, I hate how Apple forces its ways on you. Maybe I want to delete/hide some of the crappy Apple stock apps. I can't, the best I can do is put them in a folder. Hell, Apple won't even let me put that useless Newstand app in a folder for no apparent reason

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Don't forget about lock screen widgets. Ever been somewhere and hear a song you dont know but its near the end and you know you won't have the time to pull out your phone, unlock it, find your sound identifying app, start it up and let it do it thing? Just set the "what's this song" lock screen widget up. Turn the phone on, swipe (not required if you have it as the main widget) and press it, literally takes 2 seconds. Now that's a good idea IMO!

It's because the design is dated. Plain and simple. It looks old, overdone, and the UI is flat out inferior to other alternatives (Chrome, Fantastical, Maps). It's stale and is in need of a refresh.

I like dancing monkeys.

Where are the dancing monkeys?

Cause iPhones all look the same. Go compare an iOS homescreen thread vs an Android thread.

Ericcc said:

Cause iPhones all look the same. Go compare an iOS homescreen thread vs an Android thread.

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I recently saw a 'Post your iOS homescreen' thread. It should have been titled 'Post you favorite wallpapers'

zbarvian said:

It's because the design is dated. Plain and simple. It looks old, overdone, and the UI is flat out inferior to other alternatives (Chrome, Fantastical, Maps). It's stale and is in need of a refresh.

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I really agree. It almost seems like Apple is in denial that iOS is looking old and needs to be updated.

Do we really need an app to check the clock? To check the weather? To check SMS? To check missed calls? Check stocks (if you find that useful)? These things could be more easily integrated into the launcher screen so you could be more efficient with the phones use.

iOS isn't surprising anyone anymore, I'm not excited about iOS 7 in the least bit (nor was I for iOS 5 or 6) because we ALL know that nothing drastic or new is coming our way. It'll look just like the day that Steve introduced it back in 2007.

dalbir4444 said:

I recently saw a 'Post your iOS homescreen' thread. It should have been titled 'Post you favorite wallpapers'

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And unless you jailbreak, the wallpaper's covered by the icons anyways...

Black Magic said:

Please explain this to me. I see it as a launcher to get me to what I need at the time. I'm not expecting fireworks when I unlock my screen. Android and WP8 and pretty much the same concept launcher wise IMHO. Why would anyone think Android or WP8 as non-boring but IOS boring?

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Because most device users are just attracted to shiny different things and don't care about having a mature platform that will actually give them decent apps.

Or rather, they don't see the correlation betweens apps and platform maturity.

PS
finding app = home button back to search type first few letters of app...

Just talking about software here because I hate it when people compare an OS that is only available on one phone vs an OS that is available on hundreds of different phones.....

I am not huge on widgets, but I think they are great in some scenarios.

As far as toggles, I gotta have them. It's the number 1 reason I jailbreak my iPhone, and it's the first thing I set up on other non-apple devices.

Right now, I think WP8 is the nicest OS on a phone. It needs to mature, and the app selection needs to improve, but if we are just talking about the OS alone, I think it's the nicest looking and most functional for my own needs.

Android is slaying iOS at practically every turn. I won't compare phones, but the latest versions of each OS- Android wins. There are so few things missing on android now that the seesaw has officially tipped in my opinion. Android isn't as pretty, it doesn't play as nice with computers, and it doesn't have a coulpe little nuances (tap to top), but to just compare it against iOS in their most basic form I think it's definitely surpassed iOS.

The thing is, each phone OS is missing something the other has. None of the big 4 have everything I want, but if I could take pieces from each I'd be in heaven. If I could get WP8 with the app selection of iOS and the customization and notifications from Android.... for me personally that would be the perfect storm.

b166er said:

but to just compare it against iOS in their most basic form I think it's definitely surpassed iOS.
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Critical thing for the enterprise that will keep it out is running unsigned code from anywhere, and plenty of malware making it into the google app store.

Google's automated malware scanning only picks up 25% of malware apparently.