I like iOS 7.. but this is just beyond atrocious!

[Hephaestus]

As the title says, I do like iOS 7 and the subtle transparency effects. The implementation of this in the video app however is SO ridiculous it is beyond words. I will let the images do the talking.

Here I am watching a video..

Now, I tap the screen to see the time or how long is left of the film..

I mean, how can anyone consider that good design?! SO much of the video is obstructed by these new effects, at least a third of the video is distorted and unwatchable. It is absolutely ridiculous.

Moving on, here I am watching some more of my video and film..

Now, I wish to increase or lower the volume, which is something pretty darn common. It's mere common sense to assume that people do this action quite a lot when viewing a film or TV show.

... and I am greeted with this. Again, the stupid thing distorts SO much of the video. A large chunk of the video is unwatchable for several seconds, and if you do this a lot, it adds up to a lot of time! It is SO darn annoying.

Meanwhile, here is how Google decide to implement showing the user the remaining time or other status during a video.

See the difference? You can actually SEE the video! My goodness I am literally stunned at how stupid Apple designers are at times, I'd love to meet the guy responsible for this and throw something at him. I have tried to ignore this for several weeks since the OS launched but I cannot bear it any longer.

I watch a lot of movies and shows on my phone and it really is SO frustrating.

 

[RebornProphet]

The Wire should not be watched on a phone!

But yes I agree that the UI for video is intrusive. Same applies to the volume up/down indicator box which appears on screen if you use the side buttons. It stay too long, is too big, and isn't transparent enough.

For what it's worth, I use VLC on my iPad which is far less intrusive and doesn't use Apple's stock UI.

 

[Reason077]

I mean, how can anyone consider that good design?! SO much of the video is obstructed by these new effects, at least a third of the video is distorted and unwatchable. It is absolutely ridiculous.

Someone at Apple worked very hard on that Smoked-glass transparency effect for iOS 7. And they damn well want to show it off as much as they can, wherever they can. Usability and common sense be damned!

 

[Brady KEITH]

tap screen > pause > adjust volume / look at video duration / etc. > play

OP, i understand your viewpoint. i just disagree. with a small amount of real estate to work with (i.e., a 4" (or smaller) screen on an iphone) and the necessity of functional controls, i think that the proportions--which is what i think your post is really about--are acceptable.

re: android, the last 4" screen device running android that i used was manuf. around late-2010. generally, android devs have more real estate to work with.

 

[Hephaestus]

tap screen > pause > adjust volume / look at video duration / etc. > play

OP, i understand your viewpoint. i just disagree. with a small amount of real estate to work with (i.e., a 4" (or smaller) screen on an iphone) and the necessity of functional controls, i think that the proportions--which is what i think your post is really about--are acceptable.

You disagree? You said there is a small amount of real estate, which is true. That's exactly why they shouldn't be distorting a third of the damn screen! How can you disagree?

So you're saying every time a person wants to change the volume they should..

Tap the screen and wait a second for the bars to appear, press pause, change the volume and wait several seconds for the indicator to go away, tap play, tap the screen again for the bars to disappear.

Do you have any idea how time consuming that is when you are watching a film and you want to do this throughout? You are absolutely clueless if you think this is acceptable.

 

[Brady KEITH]

You disagree? You said there is a small amount of real estate, which is true. That's exactly why they shouldn't be distorting a third of the damn screen! How can you disagree?

So you're saying every time a person wants to change the volume they should..

Tap the screen and wait a second for the bars to appear, press pause, change the volume and wait several seconds for the indicator to go away, tap play, tap the screen again for the bars to disappear.

Do you have any idea how time consuming that is when you are watching a film and you want to do this throughout? You are absolutely clueless if you think this is acceptable.

wow...you need to chill. my reply was directed to you. it's clear what i "said"...you quoted it; so, i'm not sure why you're asking what i "said".

anyway, draw your own conclusions.

re: "clueless"...nice post.

 

[Tubamajuba]

You disagree? You said there is a small amount of real estate, which is true. That's exactly why they shouldn't be distorting a third of the damn screen! How can you disagree?

So you're saying every time a person wants to change the volume they should..

Tap the screen and wait a second for the bars to appear, press pause, change the volume and wait several seconds for the indicator to go away, tap play, tap the screen again for the bars to disappear.

Do you have any idea how time consuming that is when you are watching a film and you want to do this throughout? You are absolutely clueless if you think this is acceptable.

It's annoying... but is it really worth expending so much energy to get upset about it? What percentage of the movie do you really miss due to those items appearing on the screen? Not very much at all.

I would suggest you find another video app that suits your needs better. Certainly seems like it would be a better use of your time than belittling people who don't see this issue exactly the same way that you do.

 

[dannyyankou]

Simple solution - Tap on the screen again and the controls magically disappear.

 

[John T]

Do you have any idea how time consuming that is when you are watching a film and you want to do this throughout? You are absolutely clueless if you think this is acceptable.

Methinks the Forum rules are the best response.....

"Insults. Direct personal insult of another forum member (e.g., "You are an idiot.") and other name-calling. Why? Because this isn't grade school. People should be able to discuss or even dispute other's posts without insulting people. You may dispute somebody's opinion but not attack/flame the person who stated it."

 

[PNutts]

Simple solution - Tap on the screen again and the controls magically disappear.

On 7.0.4 the volume icon could not be dismissed with another tap.

However, I loaded up 7.1 b1 late last night. I just played an iTunes purchased video (Aquabats) with the stock video app and adjusting the volume doesn't cause the volume icon to appear. It does cause the top / bottom bars to appear and that's a huge step in the right direction.

 

[Hephaestus]

It's annoying... but is it really worth expending so much energy to get upset about it? What percentage of the movie do you really miss due to those items appearing on the screen? Not very much at all.

I would suggest you find another video app that suits your needs better. Certainly seems like it would be a better use of your time than belittling people who don't see this issue exactly the same way that you do.

It's more irritating than it is upsetting, I'm assuming you don't watch too much video on your iPhone, because if you did you would probably be annoyed too. How can you say that not much is missed on the screen?

I just illustrated two examples where critical points of the video are distorted. The horizontal bars probably blur our around 30-40% of the screen, do you really think that is not much at all?

If you witness this countless times every day, it is annoying. To the commenter below you... you completely missed the point because tapping the screen does NOT remove the volume indicator.

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Methinks the Forum rules are the best response.....

"Insults. Direct personal insult of another forum member (e.g., "You are an idiot.") and other name-calling. Why? Because this isn't grade school. People should be able to discuss or even dispute other's posts without insulting people. You may dispute somebody's opinion but not attack/flame the person who stated it."

I apologise if my comments insult anyone, that is not my intention. I did not call anybody an idiot, clueless suggests he doesn't have a clue on user interface design. I stand by that if he thinks those steps are a viable solution when you wish to do that numerous times.

I apologise though if it was offensive, sorry Brady.

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On 7.0.4 the volume icon could not be dismissed with another tap.

However, I loaded up 7.1 b1 late last night. I just played an iTunes purchased video (Aquabats) with the stock video app and adjusting the volume doesn't cause the volume icon to appear. It does cause the top / bottom bars to appear and that's a huge step in the right direction.

So in 7.1, adjusting the volume brings up the time status? I'd probably chalk that down to a mistake because that also makes no sense. Why would pressing volume bring those bars up? That makes very little sense.

 

[Tubamajuba]

It's more irritating than it is upsetting, I'm assuming you don't watch too much video on your iPhone, because if you did you would probably be annoyed too. How can you say that not much is missed on the screen?

I just illustrated two examples where critical points of the video are distorted. The horizontal bars probably blur our around 30-40% of the screen, do you really think that is not much at all?

If you witness this countless times every day, it is annoying. To the commenter below you... you completely missed the point because tapping the screen does NOT remove the volume indicator.

Whenever I watch a video or a movie on my iPhone, I tend to keep the volume in one place most of the time, maybe adjusting it once or twice throughout. 30-40% of the screen for 10 seconds of a 90+ minute long movie is negligible to me. Still though, I agree that a better solution would be nice. And kudos to you for apologizing to the poster that you called clueless- I wish I saw more of that on the internet!

 

[Small White Car]

I'm not saying this isn't bad, but I'm confused as to why you're pinning this on iOS 7. The previous versions of iOS blocked pretty much the same areas of the screen.

Yes, they used to be grey instead of frosted glass, but come on, you're not really watching the video through the grey controls any more than you will through the frosted white ones.

In other words, yes this is a problem, but it's been the same problem ever since 2007.

 

[C DM]

If Google can do it way better in iOS it's shameful that Apple can't (or is unwilling). Scrificing usability for some sort of distorted sense of "coolness"/"aesthetics" is a rather horrible way to approach UX, especially on a smaller mobile device that is essentially part of daily life for those who own one.

Someone at Apple worked very hard on that Smoked-glass transparency effect for iOS 7. And they damn well want to show it off as much as they can, wherever they can. Usability and common sense be damned!

Bingo.

 

[MasterHowl]

I must say, the obstructing with the "time left" on a video doesn't bother me because a simple single-tap will get rid of it.

But that great big ugly volume icon when watching a video? Jesus that thing bugs me no end!

 

[sflomenb]

When I want to adjust the volume, I just quickly tap the screen, (making the controls appear), quickly adjust the volume with the buttons, and then tap the screen again making the controls go away.

 

[C DM]

Simple solution - Tap on the screen again and the controls magically disappear.

When I want to adjust the volume, I just quickly tap the screen, (making the controls appear), quickly adjust the volume with the buttons, and then tap the screen again making the controls go away.

When I want to change the volume on my TV I walk over to the TV change the volume and then walk back to watch it. Why would anyone ever want to think up of something more straightforward and convenient like a remote control. ;-)

 

[II BISTRO II]

are u forgetting how much screen real estate ios6 took up?? it was more obtrusive than ios7 IMO

 

[PNutts]

So in 7.1, adjusting the volume brings up the time status? I'd probably chalk that down to a mistake because that also makes no sense. Why would pressing volume bring those bars up? That makes very little sense.

I'm not disagreeing with you when I say those controls also have a volume slider. I prefer that nothing appears on the screen for volume adjustments.

Whenever I watch a video or a movie on my iPhone, I tend to keep the volume in one place most of the time, maybe adjusting it once or twice throughout. 30-40% of the screen for 10 seconds of a 90+ minute long movie is negligible to me.

I would love that. Between the kids and dogs and life I'm lucky to watch more than 15 minutes of a movie at a time, and even that is interrupted with noise. I introduced both kids to Minecraft and that has bought me some extended periods of peace.

 

[C DM]

are u forgetting how much screen real estate ios6 took up?? it was more obtrusive than ios7 IMO

Image

To be fair the transparency there makes a big enough of a difference over smaller but barely translucent (rather than transparent) iOS 7 approach.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

If I really wanted the "best" video watching experience, I wouldn't use my iPhone. Or Android. Or any phone for that matter. I'd use my laptop or TV. Maybe a tablet.

And secondly, if this bugs you THAT much then get another video playback app (there are THOUSANDS if not more) or get another phone running a different OS.

Personally, I understand that Apple wants the entire iOS GUI to be consistent. Overall, this is amazing and light years ahead of the smorgasbord of random inconsistent GUIs in Android (even with 4.4 KitKat). But some little things (like this) aren't as great.

 

[Hephaestus]

If I really wanted the "best" video watching experience, I wouldn't use my iPhone. Or Android. Or any phone for that matter. I'd use my laptop or TV. Maybe a tablet.

And secondly, if this bugs you THAT much then get another video playback app (there are THOUSANDS if not more) or get another phone running a different OS.

Personally, I understand that Apple wants the entire iOS GUI to be consistent. Overall, this is amazing and light years ahead of the smorgasbord of random inconsistent GUIs in Android (even with 4.4 KitKat). But some little things (like this) aren't as great.

Well of course watching video on a laptop or TV is better than a phone, thanks for that revelation. People use their phones when they're on the road or travelling though and that's when I use it. Buying a tablet is irrelevant, I'm talking about the iPhone which is a separate device. It plays video so it should do it well, it is very unhelpful and lazy to say "go buy a tablet".

It is also extremely pointless to say get another phone with another OS, I am merely pointing out flaws in the current design which I feel exist. Is that not allowed anymore? Sure I can download another video app from the app store, almost all of which lack stability and are glitchy.

The point is, the built in video app should be obtrusive to the content, which it is.

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are u forgetting how much screen real estate ios6 took up?? it was more obtrusive than ios7 IMO

Image

I personally think the bottom one is far better. The control pane is clearly transparent and does not affect the clarity that much. You're also forgetting that the volume indicator was A LOT better than it is in iOS 7.

 

[kolax]

I completely agree. The video controls are so clunky, take up too much screen space and the volume indicator has always annoyed me.

This has been something that's always annoyed me, and iOS 7 hasn't made things better. It's a bit ridiculous to have the video controls obscuring both top and bottom chunks of the screen.

They need to improve this, and should just have the controls along the bottom with transparency, like YouTube. That way, you can watch a video with the controls visible and still see 90% of what's going on.

 

[docal97]

I agree. You should forward your comments to Apple as a suggestion for a future update/ios 8. No one knows whether they monitor any other boards besides their own support site.

 

[sandwicher]

I'll have to side with.... Thread Starter.

Look at iOS 6 and before. Their volume change was not obstructive.
4" real estate is certainly not a valid excuse for Apple to not tweak their software to make the best out of it. Its Apple, they're darn good at combining their software and hardware production.

If any, i agree that it's obstructive and a step BACK from iOS 6. How many seconds does this bothers me? 0.5 seconds. Will I die from it? No. But do I get frustrated and affects my user experience with the iDevice? Hell yeah.

I hope they'll increase the transparency.