iOS, BB10, Multi-Tasking

[Lawney]

So I returned to iOS with the iPhone 6s recently (just under two weeks ago) from BB10, which I've been using for the past few years.

I love the 6s's design. It's beautiful in the honey-brown leather oem case I bought. Understated, modern, but feels like a well-worn friend already (the case, not the screen). The darker camera module on the back, and the blue front camera module on the front is really beautiful compared to the iPhone 6. Little details make the device special. And of course the build quality is the best I've seen.

But then it comes to operations, and I find myself lost. BB10 was very simple and clean. Multi-tasking is BB10's strongest quality, I think. And Apple's iOS just makes me confused by the way it handles multi-tasking. The 3D Card system on a double tap of the home button takes longer than just going to the home screen and finding the app you want again. It's almost only useful for closing a malfunctioning app. And yes, I've discovered the force-touch app switching (from the left side).

The thing I miss most is the ability to be playing a YouTube video in the browser or in FastTube (my YouTube app that allows me to preload videos for later) and having the video continue playing if I want to check my email, check my calendar, or even just adjust my brightness. The other thing I miss is the ability to tell iOS where I want to open a link. I found an iOS YouTube app that allows me to switch the video to just audio so that it will play in the background, but I'm not able to open links directly into that app (in BB10, this is simple and easy to do). Very frustrating.

Similarly, uploading photos to DropBox requires that I continuously reopen the app because it will enter a save state after a minute or so.

Another small thing is the speakerphone. Not great on my 6s, but my Passport feels like a conference phone.

The things I love about iOS are there too. iMessage and FaceTime are Apple's greatest assets, though I'd love it if they produced third party iMessage apps. The new NightShift feature is the one reason why I'm actually considering keeping the iPhone. It's become that important for me. I use F.lux on my Mac as well. Live Photos are really well implemented (not a new idea, but an okay idea done really well), I love these. And the fingerprint reader is instantaneous and amazing.

There is a lot that I love about iOS and iPhone, and a lot of that is human relationship-centric. But the underlying operating system has major limitations and issues that lead to a really awkward user experience.

People always talk about how simple iOS is, but it can get really convoluted the way you have to contort yourself around those limitations. To share a photo from OneDrive to WhatsApp, I had to first download it to my Photos app, then open Photos, find the photo I just downloaded, then shared it from there. Whereas in BB10, I can easily find the photo in my File Manager and share directly from that location. BB10 is simple but powerful.

Maybe this is the best analogy I can give: you know how the Apple Watch is meant to be a satellite for the iPhone? Well the iPhone feels like a satellite for my MacBook Pro/Workstation PC. And well, my BlackBerry Passport feels like a satellite to nothing but my information/email accounts/cloud storage services, like a laptop alternative.

-----

So this is probably the wrong crowd to be preaching to, but I've been an iOS user since the iPhone 2G. I've been a Mac user since Tiger (and I actually had an OS 9 computer as a kid).

But there are a few things I feel iOS really needs to do better in the future.

-File management is convoluted. A simple file manager won't complicate iOS, it will simplify it.

-Second is a better window manager: the flat, WebOS-style card system was better than this weird Windows 7-style manager, but really, something more like Expose would be ideal. Expose is amazing on OS X, no reason why Apple can't come up with something that allows the user to see everything that is open even on a small screen...BB10 did it (though it also only allowed a limited number of apps to be open, and it offered true multi-tasking due to this)

-Third, true multi-tasking. Why can't I bounce between apps at will in order to get things done more efficiently (all while I have a youtube or internet video playing in the background, or while files are transferring to dropbox, or copying between my internal storage and SD card)? Look up a BB10 videos, the ability to move between messages and apps is unbelievably simple and efficient. I'm aware of everything going on in BB10, whereas in iOS, everything is a little messy and obscured. Why not just add a window management page to the home screen? Or left of the home screen, or from the top of the home screen when you pull down (kind of like Spaces). There are so many ways to do it better.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

 

[Aston441]

Yes. All of it. Android can do most of what you miss. If the next Nexus is made by HTC and is SOLID hardware and camera I think I'll switch back to Android after three years of iOS. I'm weary of the locked down ecosystem.

 

[Michael Goff]

So I returned to iOS with the iPhone 6s recently (just under two weeks ago) from BB10, which I've been using for the past few years.

I love the 6s's design. It's beautiful in the honey-brown leather oem case I bought. Understated, modern, but feels like a well-worn friend already (the case, not the screen). The darker camera module on the back, and the blue front camera module on the front is really beautiful compared to the iPhone 6. Little details make the device special. And of course the build quality is the best I've seen.

But then it comes to operations, and I find myself lost. BB10 was very simple and clean. Multi-tasking is BB10's strongest quality, I think. And Apple's iOS just makes me confused by the way it handles multi-tasking. The 3D Card system on a double tap of the home button takes longer than just going to the home screen and finding the app you want again. It's almost only useful for closing a malfunctioning app. And yes, I've discovered the force-touch app switching (from the left side).

The thing I miss most is the ability to be playing a YouTube video in the browser or in FastTube (my YouTube app that allows me to preload videos for later) and having the video continue playing if I want to check my email, check my calendar, or even just adjust my brightness. The other thing I miss is the ability to tell iOS where I want to open a link. I found an iOS YouTube app that allows me to switch the video to just audio so that it will play in the background, but I'm not able to open links directly into that app (in BB10, this is simple and easy to do). Very frustrating.

Similarly, uploading photos to DropBox requires that I continuously reopen the app because it will enter a save state after a minute or so.

Another small thing is the speakerphone. Not great on my 6s, but my Passport feels like a conference phone.

The things I love about iOS are there too. iMessage and FaceTime are Apple's greatest assets, though I'd love it if they produced third party iMessage apps. The new NightShift feature is the one reason why I'm actually considering keeping the iPhone. It's become that important for me. I use F.lux on my Mac as well. Live Photos are really well implemented (not a new idea, but an okay idea done really well), I love these. And the fingerprint reader is instantaneous and amazing.

There is a lot that I love about iOS and iPhone, and a lot of that is human relationship-centric. But the underlying operating system has major limitations and issues that lead to a really awkward user experience.

People always talk about how simple iOS is, but it can get really convoluted the way you have to contort yourself around those limitations. To share a photo from OneDrive to WhatsApp, I had to first download it to my Photos app, then open Photos, find the photo I just downloaded, then shared it from there. Whereas in BB10, I can easily find the photo in my File Manager and share directly from that location. BB10 is simple but powerful.

Maybe this is the best analogy I can give: you know how the Apple Watch is meant to be a satellite for the iPhone? Well the iPhone feels like a satellite for my MacBook Pro/Workstation PC. And well, my BlackBerry Passport feels like a satellite to nothing but my information/email accounts/cloud storage services, like a laptop alternative.

-----

So this is probably the wrong crowd to be preaching to, but I've been an iOS user since the iPhone 2G. I've been a Mac user since Tiger (and I actually had an OS 9 computer as a kid).

But there are a few things I feel iOS really needs to do better in the future.

-File management is convoluted. A simple file manager won't complicate iOS, it will simplify it.

-Second is a better window manager: the flat, WebOS-style card system was better than this weird Windows 7-style manager, but really, something more like Expose would be ideal. Expose is amazing on OS X, no reason why Apple can't come up with something that allows the user to see everything that is open even on a small screen...BB10 did it (though it also only allowed a limited number of apps to be open, and it offered true multi-tasking due to this)

-Third, true multi-tasking. Why can't I bounce between apps at will in order to get things done more efficiently (all while I have a youtube or internet video playing in the background, or while files are transferring to dropbox, or copying between my internal storage and SD card)? Look up a BB10 videos, the ability to move between messages and apps is unbelievably simple and efficient. I'm aware of everything going on in BB10, whereas in iOS, everything is a little messy and obscured. Why not just add a window management page to the home screen? Or left of the home screen, or from the top of the home screen when you pull down (kind of like Spaces). There are so many ways to do it better.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

I really don't see what's so convoluted about opening a file with the app you're going to use it with. I would even argue that's the default way most people use their desktop/laptop.

 

[LovingTeddy]

I really don't see what's so convoluted about opening a file with the app you're going to use it with. I would even argue that's the default way most people use their desktop/laptop.

It takes so many steps to do one simple things.

Also open up one file with one app can make you have several duplicated files in different apps.

For example: I download one picture from Internet. The picture will be stored inside photo app. Then I need use photoshop app to edit the picture. I need import it to photoshop app. That is 2nd copy of same file. After I edited, I need expert to photo again, that is same file 3 different copies stored inside your storage by different app. Then I want share this picture via WeChat, I have to import it again from Photo app.

4 copies of same file setting at different apps. Where as I downloaded one file to download folder and all app can access from download folder.

I really find iOS way of handling file make no sense

 

[Michael Goff]

It takes so many steps to do one simple things.

Also open up one file with one app can make you have several duplicated files in different apps.

For example: I download one picture from Internet. The picture will be stored inside photo app. Then I need use photoshop app to edit the picture. I need import it to photoshop app. That is 2nd copy of same file. After I edited, I need expert to photo again, that is same file 3 different copies stored inside your storage by different app. Then I want share this picture via WeChat, I have to import it again from Photo app.

4 copies of same file setting at different apps. Where as I downloaded one file to download folder and all app can access from download folder.

I really find iOS way of handling file make no sense

That is a problem that I feel doesn't need a user facing file system to solve. All it needs is for the file system, and API, to allow apps to open local files based on what the file extension is. You download a picture, any app that can use that type of image can edit that specific file. No need for duplicates. It could be as a simple as having the files be sorted by the system into different folders based on the file extension. It could be other things, but that's the first thing that comes to mind at 1am.

 

[bushido]

I really don't see what's so convoluted about opening a file with the app you're going to use it with. I would even argue that's the default way most people use their desktop/laptop.

right? i never open Word on my computer and then pick a file. always the other way around

 

[KALLT]

right? i never open Word on my computer and then pick a file. always the other way around

Because there is no good equivalent on OS X or Windows for the app-based model that Apple promotes on iOS. This mental shift is what confuses people. Apple also keeps the document picker so simple that you cannot use it for any meaningful organisation of your files, beyond just dumping stuff. It is also the fault of people being conditioned into thinking that the file system has to be the starting point.

It takes so many steps to do one simple things.

Also open up one file with one app can make you have several duplicated files in different apps.

For example: I download one picture from Internet. The picture will be stored inside photo app. Then I need use photoshop app to edit the picture. I need import it to photoshop app. That is 2nd copy of same file. After I edited, I need expert to photo again, that is same file 3 different copies stored inside your storage by different app. Then I want share this picture via WeChat, I have to import it again from Photo app.

4 copies of same file setting at different apps. Where as I downloaded one file to download folder and all app can access from download folder.

I really find iOS way of handling file make no sense

Apple’s solution to this is iCloud Drive. It does offer a central location for apps to put their documents, but this functionality is unfortunately unavailable unless you enable iCloud Drive.

Third, true multi-tasking. Why can't I bounce between apps at will in order to get things done more efficiently (all while I have a youtube or internet video playing in the background, or while files are transferring to dropbox, or copying between my internal storage and SD card)? Look up a BB10 videos, the ability to move between messages and apps is unbelievably simple and efficient. I'm aware of everything going on in BB10, whereas in iOS, everything is a little messy and obscured. Why not just add a window management page to the home screen? Or left of the home screen, or from the top of the home screen when you pull down (kind of like Spaces). There are so many ways to do it better.

For one thing, iOS already has true multitasking, and for another, no smartphone has true multitasking. What you seem to be considering as multitasking really means either (1) extending specific functionality to the background while you are doing something else or (2) that you can use apps side by side. iOS offers both, although the latter only on the iPad (BlackBerry 10 does not do this at all, last time I checked, beyond some third-party apps that hacked something together for the Priv). BlackBerry 10 has no true multitasking either, all it does is continue to execute apps in the background. iOS does that too, but in a more controlled fashion. Apple forces developers to focus on specific functionality, whereas BlackBerry gave them blanket permission. The downside of this I experienced myself. You become the caretaker of your apps and constantly have to close everything. Some third-party apps were enormous energy drainers, specifically also the browser.

You can bounce between apps. Double-click on the home button or use the 3D Touch action to switch between apps. You can continue to listen to music or audio in the background, provided that the developer supports it. On the newer iPad models you can also see a miniature video at the side. Google does not support this in their apps and they do this intentionally. You can use Dropbox or any other app too, they will continue to download and upload stuff in the background for extended periods, whereas iCloud Drive can probably do it more thoroughly. I have used BlackBerry 10 for well over a year (10.2–10.3.2) and I honestly do not see where it is better at multitasking. The app switcher was just as fast to me. Maybe iOS could have a better app switcher, but what BlackBerry had was not that ideal either (and limited to 8 apps anyway).