iOS 5 to Bring Revamped Notification System and Widgets?

[kerr]

I'm not sure what the big deal about widgets is.

I don't use widgets on the desktop and don't plan on using them on the iPhone either.

I'm not sure of the value of such widgets

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?

 

[fabianjj]

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One thing I want :

In the keyboard, the button that let us "change" our keyboard language (also changing auto-correct at the same time) to change from english to french (example) should also serve to remove auto-correct.

I mean, as much as I want to use auto correct, there is always some situation where its a pain in the ass. I get so angry when the iPhone auto-correct a nickname or an e-mail address.

Wifi, GPS, Syncing, Bluetooth. Is it really worth the RAM and battery drain? I mean, how many times per week are you changing your Wifi or GPS settings? As for Brightness, on the iPad it's in the drawer, but how often are you changing that, either? Enough where you'll sacrifice battery and RAM?

A lot more than you obviously.

Brightness is a pain to change in iOS on the iPhone, and the automatic "adjustment" isn't really useful. Sometime you are in a dark environment, sometime you are outside, you want to be able to ajust it easily with a slider.

About Wi-Fi, the problem is that lots of public wi-fi need some kind of "browser activation" for the device to access internet, and sometime it can take several seconds for the Wi-Fi to set-up. And since the iPhone is set up to use Wi-Fi when it can instead of 3G, i find myself in a lot of situation where i want to check my email, but everything is just "jammed" since the Phone, instead of using 3G is waiting for one Wi-Fi to answer back and activate, sometime this particular Wi-Fi is far and the phone get weak signal, but it still wait for it. So i have to go in the settings to deactivate Wi-Fi because i don't want to waste my time waiting for the public wi-fi to answer and just use the damn 3G.

So yes, I happen to use these a lot.

About the keyboard thing, iOS already does that, just change the keyboard language to the one you want to use, and then there will be a little globe next to the space button that allows you to change it. It changes both the keyboard layout and the spell-checking language.

 

[Tha Professor]

If there is one thing that turns me away from android, it is the widgets.. Keep 'em off my iPhone!!

Notification system doesn't really bother me as it is.. Only problem is Skype popping up when I am at my computer! I hate that - but thats Skype's problem...

 

[petvas]

If there is one thing that turns me away from android, it is the widgets.. Keep 'em off my iPhone!!

Notification system doesn't really bother me as it is.. Only problem is Skype popping up when I am at my computer! I hate that - but thats Skype's problem...

Notifications on iOS are badly implemented. They should be so much better. Just wait and you will hopefully see...

 

[kerr]

Power control widget- (turn on/off wifi, GPS, Syncing, Bluetooth, Brightness control) Lot easier than going threw a menu system to get to it.

An absolute must.

Wifi, GPS, Syncing, Bluetooth. Is it really worth the RAM and battery drain? I mean, how many times per week are you changing your Wifi or GPS settings?

Wifi - at least 3 times a day on and off
Bluetooth - twice a day on and off

I still don't get the obsession with weather in the smartphone age. Everyone seems to want to know the weather, have it on their lockscreen, etc. Call me old fashioned, but if I want to know the weather I look out the window. And here in Glasgow, the answer is usually, "It's pishin' it doon".

Well, I work in a basement and I usually like to know what it's like out, so I can take or leave my jumper, hat, umbrella etc.

 

[unlinked]

If there is one thing that turns me away from android, it is the widgets.. Keep 'em off my iPhone!!

Notification system doesn't really bother me as it is.. Only problem is Skype popping up when I am at my computer! I hate that - but thats Skype's problem...

Why would a feature that is completely optional put you off Android?

 

[lilo777]

If there is one thing that turns me away from android, it is the widgets.. Keep 'em off my iPhone!!

Notification system doesn't really bother me as it is.. Only problem is Skype popping up when I am at my computer! I hate that - but thats Skype's problem...

This just shows your fanboyism. You do not have to use widgets if you do not want to.

 

[reubs]

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

You're right; I had forgotten about Konfabulator. I tried to run that while I had an ill-equipped Dell one time, and I've tried to forget about it since then.

 

[Saturn1217]

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Maybe this has already been mentioned but wouldn't Widgets be useful as a quick way to change setting like brightness 3g, wifi, etc. When I had my ipod touch 4 having to go into the settings all the time was very annoying.

I have a myouch 4g now and being able to quickly adjust the phone settings really improves its usefulness as a phone. If apple could bring this and reflow of text to safari I would consider an iPhone. (Although android suites me fine too)

 

[DeathChill]

Just curious why you guys are always toggling your settings? I rock my iPhone 4 with EVERYTHING on and 100% brightness and still get a very usable amount out of it. I imagine lesser settings would do even better.

Not that I am arguing against it, but I just thought that battery life and the need to not toggle settings constantly is an advantage of the iOS platform.

Regardless, I'm excited to see any changes iOS 5 might bring.

 

[dolph0291]

Widgets schmidgets

Better notification sounds good to me - widgets not so much.

Widgets will only suck memory, processing time and battery time. I have no need for them. I don't use them on my Mac and I don't want them on my iPhone.

Oh well, as long as I have the option to not enable them its fine - as long as no one whines about reduced battery time and other related issues. But then - Apple did a really smart thing for the multitasking avoiding most problems, maybe they have some genius idea for widgets (still - I have no use from them, but maybe others do)

It seems to me Apple has always shied away from things that would suck up battery power. Hence lack of widgets.

The video looks a lot like the way Lion is set up. Swipe to the left and there's your dashboard widgets. It's better in Lion because it doesn't layer over the other screen. But I still don't use a lot of widgets on my computer because they do suck up processing power - some of the poorly designed ones a lot.

Therefore I doubt I would care much about widgets on my iPhone. But new notifications would be welcome - also on Lion. Those dialogue boxes get the way and Lion continues to use them. I'm no fan.

Speaking of battery -- remember when the iPhone came out and all the critics doomed it to failure and oblivion and failure because it didn't have a removable battery? No one mentions a lack of removable battery any longer.

 

[fattire357]

Some might say, because they're always running.

The amount of misunderstanding in this forum is alarming. Widgets aren't always running.

Most of my widgets on my Android run as a background service. You can configure it to run every X hours, or under a certain condition (device wake up, load app, etc.).

Obviously, the developer tweaks this # based on the use. Calender widgets are okay updating every 12 hours, if that, whereas weather widgets might be better suited updating on every wake, or maybe every 3 hours. Loading the app would force an update for each widget.

Having a widget wake up and send a few packets every 12 hours will probably impact battery by 0.0000001% To say it impacts battery life is a gross misunderstanding.

 

[LoganT]

The amount of misunderstanding in this forum is alarming. Widgets aren't always running.

Most of my widgets on my Android run as a background service. You can configure it to run every X hours, or under a certain condition (device wake up, load app, etc.).

Obviously, the developer tweaks this # based on the use. Calender widgets are okay updating every 12 hours, if that, whereas weather widgets might be better suited updating on every wake, or maybe every 3 hours. Loading the app would force an update for each widget.

Having a widget wake up and send a few packets every 12 hours will probably impact battery by 0.0000001% To say it impacts battery life is a gross misunderstanding.

I know. That's why I said "some".

 

[Oletros]

(By the way, most are already using a "widget" on iOS: the Calendar app. How? It shows the current date *live* on the icon itself. It's technically functioning as a widget. Yeah, seeing the "date" on the icon itself is SOOO useless

And icon badges

 

[MacAddict1978]

Id rather have updatable App icons vs widgets, but thats just me.

You mean like the ones that are already there? The icons already do this/can. Mail tells you you're unread, calendar tells you the date, Facebook tells you how many new items... weather doesn't work but should...

If they improved notifications, I think more developers would bother with the dynamic app icons. The info pushed to them is always late or lacks accuracy. It really is the battle for the battery life with these things. Pushing doesn't have the drain of apps ever updating... but it's SLOW.

And the notification bubbles are annoying. How hard was it out the gate to just have a populated list view the stayed put and let you tap each item and launch it's app? Notifications now just go poof and you have to remember what all was there in the bubbles. Irritating. I'd also like drop down access to WiFi controls and the like from the top bar.

Widgets on my desktop are dumb and I NEVER use them. (Most of them don't even work right and no one develops them anymore.) Now that Android phones have been in the hands of friends for awhile, I am jealous a bit at how easy they can see info right on the lock screen or home screen. Quick snap shots would be useful: see the last few Facebook posts, email, weather, etc. Things you currently have to open separate apps for just for a 5 second look that is a minute or 2 at a clip now 10 seconds. Sure it's lazy, but it's easy. And if you don't like/want them, just don't use them.

 

[g-boac]

One thing I miss from my Blackberry is the ability to know at the top of the screen how many different unread things I had. This included unread:

• e-mail
• text messages
• google voice text messages
• BBM messages, and
• calendar reminders

These were all at the top of the screen with icons, in the location where iOS puts the clock, the battery meter and the network connectivity information.

Honestly, the lack of clutter and noise is what I love most about the iPhone and the entire Apple Experience. Which includes my Mac. I see a battery status indicator, Bluetooth connectivity status of Bluetooth is on, and time.

I can see #unread emails, SMS, phone calls, voicemails when looking at my home screen. Too much clutter is confusing - has anybody been to Best Buy and looked at the System Tray of ANY pc running Windows out there?? Can anybody tell me what the heck ANYTHING in that system tray means?

Apple has always stood apart with a clean, uncluttered experience of essentials only, and I hope it stays true to that. The Lock Screen is just that - a lock screen confirming only that your phone is locked, powered on, and standing by.

Mark

 

[Hueyfreeman]

Honestly, the lack of clutter and noise is what I love most about the iPhone and the entire Apple Experience. Which includes my Mac. I see a battery status indicator, Bluetooth connectivity status of Bluetooth is on, and time.

I can see #unread emails, SMS, phone calls, voicemails when looking at my home screen. Too much clutter is confusing - has anybody been to Best Buy and looked at the System Tray of ANY pc running Windows out there?? Can anybody tell me what the heck ANYTHING in that system tray means

Mark

By system tray do you mean taskbar? If so their is no confusion on my computer. I kow what is going on when I am usingy computer. Maybe you should use a friends computer rather then display unit. It also comes to what you are use too. habeen a windows person since 98 I made a brief switch to mac os but I wanted to play games so I went back to windows. Point is just because windows does something differently then mac os does not mean it is bad or better. Believe it or not most people don't find that confusing.

 

[AidenShaw]

By system tray do you mean taskbar? If so their is no confusion on my computer. I kow what is going on when I am using my computer. Maybe you should use a friends computer rather then display unit. It also comes to what you are use too. I have been a windows person since 98 I made a,swutch

The "System Tray" is the cluster of icons that are anchored on the right side of the Task Bar.

The original post, though, was silly because all of the icons have balloon tips that pop up if you hover over them. Don't recognize an icon - just place the cursor over it to find out what it is.

 

[Oletros]

The "System Tray" is the cluster of icons that are anchored on the right side of the Task Bar.

And they also can be hidden

 

[tonjik]

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But then - Apple did a really smart thing for the multitasking avoiding most problems, maybe they have some genius idea for widgets (still - I have no use from them, but maybe others do)

Apple's not going to implement anything if it impacts battery life. They are quite obsessed with it (which is a good thing.)

Except the 4.3.3 update - battery life of my iPhone 4 reduced by 20 %.

 

[GS17]

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I for one, can't wait for iOS 5 Lemmings Edition !!!

 

[tonjik]

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Caching up with Android does not sound like very revolutionary to me

So revolutionary that Android users have had these features since Day 1?

You are both making the same potentially incorrect assumption. Sure you can interpret that "revolutionary" in this context is a comparison to competing handsets, but it can also be a comparison against Apple's current offering. So someone could argue that adding these features would be a revolutionary step for iOS 5 over iOS 4. I can't speak for those making these statements, but it is not necessarily a comparison to android.

For me it doesn't matter what Android or Blackberry or anyone else is doing, because none of them understand user interface and product design like Apple does, so none of these companies are even part of the discussion for me.

As for having certain features from day 1, it doesn't really matter so much how soon a feature arrives. It matters if it is well executed. I waited for Apple to deliver their vision of cut and paste and multi-tasking, and it was well worth the wait.

So after 3 years waiting for number of missed calls and new messages on lockscreen this is gonna be really revolutionary implementation. /sarcasm
Hope its worthy waiting...

 

[tonjik]

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The Iphone 5 will be announced too...when has apple not released a new iphone\ipad or itouch within 12 months of the last one? ATT\Verizon might get it first in July...and Sprint\T-mobile in September...

Just saying..

Good point, but how many times has apple added a new carrier? Once. This changes everything. Verizon iPhone users only got theirs about 4-5 months ago. Anyway they want to delay all their releases closer to the holidays. They could possibly announce it but it won't release until September for sure. Maybe they will announce sprint and tmobile at wwdc to be released in September with the iphone 5. That makes sense because then all the carriers would be on the same page.

and their sales between wwdc and september would fall to zero... do not think they will announce ip5 release date

 

[asdfx3]

Just curious why you guys are always toggling your settings? I rock my iPhone 4 with EVERYTHING on and 100% brightness and still get a very usable amount out of it. I imagine lesser settings would do even better.

Not that I am arguing against it, but I just thought that battery life and the need to not toggle settings constantly is an advantage of the iOS platform.

Regardless, I'm excited to see any changes iOS 5 might bring.

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.

On the topic widgets, one that I love more than all the weather, email, feed, and agenda widgets is the "Contact quick tasks" widget that Motorola phones have (you can probably find similar ones on the market, I haven't looked). Basically you have a widget that's any size from one block to the entire screen, which displays one of your contacts names and picture (if you set a picture) and one task (text, email, call, view history, etc) for each block. So for example for my parents they just get one block and it's used to call them since they don't use email or text messaging. For friends and coworkers I have call, text, and email. This way within a screen or two I have the people and modes of contact I use most without having to jump around to different apps or look through the contact list.
For a pic of what it looks like here's a pic from a Motorola Defy review: http://mos.futurenet.com/techradar/...a Defy contact quick tasks widget-210-100.jpg

The normal setup for Android/iOS is probably fine for most, but I just hate going through menus or selecting options instead of having a feature I use all the time right there with no thinking or waiting required. Probably one of the reasons I love widgets on Android so much.

 

[ob81]

I actually really like that mockup. Looks very sleek. A big change to the iOS is long overdue also. I would welcome it.