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iOS 5 to Bring Revamped Notification System and Widgets?

Notifications are key

Right now one of the main things keeping me from switching back to the iPhone (besides the brittle glass) is notifications. They are so much better on WebOS than iOS, and it reminds me that the phone, although it can do a host of other things, is at heart a communications device. If Apple can get iOS notifications up to par with WebOS, I will have little reason to stay away.
 
Speaking without the "burden" of experience: I know people have been complaining about the iOS notification system forever. From what I've seen, Android's solution is pretty damn elegant. iOS' is comparatively simplistic and too intrusive. So, great that they're working on it.

Widgets are of particular interest to me, though. That's one of my main points of indecision when it comes to choosing between iOS and Android. If used properly, I think they'd be extremely useful. I'd personally use them for the following things:

- Big digital date and time
- Weather
- Calendar events
- Random notes
- Individual contact icons for my most frequently contacted... contacts.

Widgets should be treated mainly as a source of glance-able information, and maybe for some frequently used items that don't warrant opening the full app (like sending a text to a specific contact). If iOS added something along these lines, that would make my indecision a lot less... indecisive. I use widgets quite a lot in OS X. I usually have a few weather ones going, a few clocks for different times zones, the unit converter (SOOOO useful), iStat for a quick glance at system resources, calculator, stock ticker, and a few post-it notes. Some of this stuff would be even more useful on a phone.
 
Better late than never. Although the way Apple can be, these may be neutered. You never know about Apple. So full of themselves, it's more fun to think of them as bizarre entertainment. iToys in the truest sense, as in toys for kids. Adults may play with them, as long as they remember how to share...ha...ha...ha.
 
floobie said:
Speaking without the "burden" of experience: I know people have been complaining about the iOS notification system forever. From what I've seen, Android's solution is pretty damn elegant. iOS' is comparatively simplistic and too intrusive. So, great that they're working on it.

Widgets are of particular interest to me, though. That's one of my main points of indecision when it comes to choosing between iOS and Android. If used properly, I think they'd be extremely useful. I'd personally use them for the following things:

- Big digital date and time
- Weather
- Calendar events
- Random notes
- Individual contact icons for my most frequently contacted... contacts.

Widgets should be treated mainly as a source of glance-able information, and maybe for some frequently used items that don't warrant opening the full app (like sending a text to a specific contact). If iOS added something along these lines, that would make my indecision a lot less... indecisive. I use widgets quite a lot in OS X. I usually have a few weather ones going, a few clocks for different times zones, the unit converter (SOOOO useful), iStat for a quick glance at system resources, calculator, stock ticker, and a few post-it notes. Some of this stuff would be even more useful on a phone.
Click to expand...

iOS can't do individual contact icons...?
 
kerr said:
Are you guys serious? I absolutely need a quicker way to toggle Airplane Mode, WiFi and Bluetooth on and off. The current need to navigate through settings is tedious and tiresome. I want an icon/widget that I can press to toggle these things on and off.

Or is what I want not what you would consider widgets?
Click to expand...

This has little to nothing to do with widgets.
 
LoganT said:
I could see myself using widgets on a phone more than I could on a computer.
Click to expand...

Same here. I see these widgets being expansions of iPhone apps and spanking the WM7 "tiles" idea. Bet good money the API for these will be shown at WWDC next month.
 
MacsAre1 said:
Right now one of the main things keeping me from switching back to the iPhone (besides the brittle glass) is notifications. They are so much better on WebOS than iOS, and it reminds me that the phone, although it can do a host of other things, is at heart a communications device. If Apple can get iOS notifications up to par with WebOS, I will have little reason to stay away.
Click to expand...

In glorious IBM-speak, "I dis-concur." Widgets are good for a "quick look" toward a data group that an app addresses. This does not necessarily mean a notification.

The user may want to only look at the data when they make a query and not want their iPhone doing a "pop-up orgasm" like some Andriod, WM7 and WebOS installs have become -- this is really interesting when you have your smart-phone on vibrate notify only and is carried near an erogenous zone. ;)

Actually, I hope it is mandatory that users can turn off widget pop-up / notifications as needed.
 
Lennholm said:
And Dashboard Widgets was a rip-off from Konfabulator.
I think it's far more likely that Apple didn't think widgets would be useful on the phone, and are now working on it after Android proved differently. If they had worked on it from the beginning they would've been able to implement it when they implemented multi-tasking. Simply put; it was an afterthought and they're trying to catch up
Click to expand...

And Konfabulator is a rip off of Desk Accessories from the classic Mac OS. And desk accessories are a rip off of calculators and notepads in the real world. And those are a rip off of an abacus and a stone tablet.
 
CFreymarc said:
In glorious IBM-speak, "I dis-concur." Widgets are good for a "quick look" toward a data group that an app addresses. This does not necessarily mean a notification.

The user may want to only look at the data when they make a query and not want their iPhone doing a "pop-up orgasm" like some Andriod, WM7 and WebOS installs have become -- this is really interesting when you have your smart-phone on vibrate notify only and is carried near an erogenous zone. ;)

Actually, I hope it is mandatory that users can turn off widget pop-up / notifications as needed.
Click to expand...

My Android phone jingles once when I get a text and then lets the LED do the reminding after that. Contrast that with the iPhone which keeps jingling until I read the text. I always think I'm getting more than one text.

If a bunch of apps in a drawer have new notifications, the drawer has to show the total, can't show for each individual app.

Notification settings are user definable. Fanboys are blinkered. Apple make compromises for simplicity's sake and the fanboy will call this an advantage. A compromise is just a compromise.

I really doubt that you've used many phones apart from Apple's. If you had, you wouldn't be describing pop up orgasms. Unless you have a gift for exaggeration when looking at anything that isn't Apple.
 
asdfx3 said:
You don't necessarily toggle things just for battery savings. Someone else brought up the example of iOS and Android both preferring wifi connections, which can be a pain when you're in an area with a lot of networks that you don't want/need connection to and would rather just use 3g. You might also want to lower the brightness if you're in a dark room. I like to turn off the GPS just out of paranoia at the idea of being followed every step I take, though I'll probably regret it if I ever get kidnapped.
Click to expand...

Doesn't turning "Ask to join networks..." off mostly solve this problem? At least, you'll not be asked to join every open WiFi network you pass.
 
Yankee617 said:
I'd like to have folders for playlists in the iPod app in iOS 5.

Under Mac OS X, I've created numerous playlists and I have them organized in a hierarchy of playlist folders within the iTunes application. This organization was carefully thought out and really helps me use these playlists. The first disappointment I had when I got my new iPad was to learn that it doesn't support playlist folders, just one long flat list of playlists.

Apple: Please bring playlist folders to iOS 5.
Click to expand...

On my iPod Touch iOS 4.3.3 I can have one layer of folders under playlists. I was happy to get them. Nested folders... I haven't thought about. Here's hoping for you.
 
I never really took to Widgets on my Droid.....I had a few, and they were ok...but it didnt make or break the phone experience for me......so I'm not super excited about the iPHone widgets. Many droid widgets suck the battery down, so hopefully Apple doesnt force them upon us or at least manages them well.

Notifications though, please fix!! Even if it's just a clone of Android, I'd love it. Although my iPhone 4 I dont think has any little light that can blink like the droid did. I loved the little green dot that would blink when I had a message, email, etc.
 
The main OS pages scroll horizontally.. So maybe something vertical? Or, just mash the spotlight screen with widgets?

What I would like to see most is an efficient way to quit (cmd+q) apps, not leave them in the multitask tray to properly quit them later. That is the biggest problem I have with iOS. Notifications are an annoying second.

Hope iOS 5 is awesome.
 
Finch7 said:
Herm, really don't like dashboards, widgets gadgets ect. Boils down to weather apps and things that run in the background.. Plus droid has a similar swipe feature.
Click to expand...

I guess they'll make it so that if you don't like it, you won't be forced to use it.

I like widgets personally, they are a glancing data providers, really quick.
 
KingCrimson said:
Notifications are bad because they drain battery. Same thing with widgets, don't need 'em.
Click to expand...

3G is bad because it drains battery. Don't need it.

Kidding aside, widgets are useful. Maybe YOU don't need them, but being able to see the weather without opening an app is nice.

And I'm unsure how notifications kill the battery any faster than a giant pop up box in the middle of the screen.
 
CQd44 said:
3G is bad because it drains battery. Don't need it.

Kidding aside, widgets are useful. Maybe YOU don't need them, but being able to see the weather without opening an app is nice.

And I'm unsure how notifications kill the battery any faster than a giant pop up box in the middle of the screen.
Click to expand...

I think you missed his sarcasm. That is the argumetn people like 425 are making on why widgets are so bad.
 
I'd like to hear from people who DON'T think Apple takes cues from jailbroken apps. Quite amusing to see all these "new revamped features" that are almost identical to many utilities on Cydia". All the haters who talk crap about jailbreakers should be thanking them because many of these features wouldn't end up on the iP5 if it weren't for the devs who get their apps rejected by Apple. I'm a huge Apple fan. Been using only Apple stuff since the 90's. Still, it's not difficult to see what's going on here. JBing was the best thing I ever did to any type of computer I've owned and I'll continue to do it. Right now it's a computer in the form of a phone with a nice touch UI, but I don't believe it's a "smart" phone. It has an average IQ. That goes for ALL the phones out there.
 
CQd44 said:
3G is bad because it drains battery. Don't need it.
Click to expand...

You know what's the worse battery drain of them all ? The GSM chip. If the phone didn't have to keep a persistent connection to the towers and didn't have to scan at all times, the battery would last forever. And the weaker the signal, the stronger the power draw because the phone has to transmit a much stronger signal.

They should do away with the voice portion of the iPhone. Anyway, we're in 2011, it's high time they merged Data and Voice unto 1 service : Data.
 
Benjamins said:
kerr said:
Are you guys serious? I absolutely need a quicker way to toggle Airplane Mode, WiFi and Bluetooth on and off. The current need to navigate through settings is tedious and tiresome. I want an icon/widget that I can press to toggle these things on and off.

Or is what I want not what you would consider widgets?
Click to expand...
This has little to nothing to do with widgets.
Click to expand...

On the contrary, he gave a good example of useful widgets that require almost no battery to run, since they're mostly waiting for user input.

Widgets are useful, entertaining, popular, and most important of all to naysayers, they're optional.

There are many hints that Apple will eventually add widgets, from the original iPhone patent showing a widget-maker icon, to Jobs talking about often he uses them on his Mac.

Arguments against widgets are like the old (and just as vain) arguments against the addition of MMS or multitasking or whatever else the iPhone was missing at the time... and yet later added.
 
pkson said:
The main OS pages scroll horizontally.. So maybe something vertical? Or, just mash the spotlight screen with widgets?
Click to expand...

I think vertical movement could be part of it.

Or the app screens on the iOS might actually be called up like the launchpad on Lion.
ie: The widgets could be the default screen, and the home button (or a 5 finger pinch?) brings up the launchpad full of apps.
 
KingCrimson said:
Notifications are bad because they drain battery. Same thing with widgets, don't need 'em.
Click to expand...

Lightweight notifications and widgets might well drain the battery less than users frequently switching apps to do the same things (read those messages that they had to dismiss before reading, etc.)

Bringing up a Desk Accessory was certainly faster and used a ton less memory than launching on application on an old Mac.
 
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