Latest iPhone OS 4 Beta Gains Orientation Lock and iPod Controls in Multitasking Interface

[bluedog3401]

I live in Miami to rid myself of this issue. I didn't know people had to do that! Haha...

Yeah and when the weather gets sticky in Miami, you lose your warranty for being in too humid an environ and the water detectors get tripped. Oh, and not to mention the "your ipad is too hot, shutting down" warnings you will be having this summer.

Honestly, I'm not sure how places in the hot south will be able to use these tablets on the go. I'd rather the processor slow down and warn you rather than shutdown. Anyone yet have experience with the heat? At what air temp are you experiencing it, whether its the direct sun causing the shutdown or not.

 

[Berio]

haha, people take things too far. How about halving the need for key combos by adding 1 button? No need for exaggeration

true, but then we'll have 100% more buttons than we have now,
and then when OS 5 comes around with more software options people will say "we need 4 buttons, we just can't remember any more key-combos"

i seriously doubt apple will add buttons, they are (imo rightly) proud of the one button design. instead we'll probably (one day) see more voice controls, possibly eye control over front camera, maybe sensitive case sides. lots of options for the future.
and maybe i'm wrong and apple will add buttons all over the device

 

[BaldiMac]

true, but then we'll have 100% more buttons than we have now,
and then when OS 5 comes around with more software options people will say "we need 4 buttons, we just can't remember any more key-combos"

i seriously doubt apple will add buttons, they are (imo rightly) proud of the one button design. instead we'll probably (one day) see more voice controls, possibly eye control over front camera, maybe sensitive case sides. lots of options for the future.
and maybe i'm wrong and apple will add buttons all over the device

Aren't we already up to 4 or 5 buttons?

Two volume, power, home, and the vibrate slider. Plus the orientation lock on the iPad.

 

[Berio]

88 strings

It's also a button combination... It doesn't rely on timing or patters. You just have to remember a single letter of the alphabet because the common rule is to hold Ctrl and press that letter.

i see your point, though not quite true, eg after effects -> single-tap "M", double-tap "M", , single-tap "U". triple tap "U", and much besides
secondly my point is that your fingers hover over ctrl, alt, shift, command and space and these buttons are used in multiple combinations and in conjunction with mouse or tablet -> all without thinking! in the same way button tap-combos are automatic after a day or two.

Remembering, single-double-tripple-etc... tapping with pauses and holds in there would get tedious. Granted, currently there are only a few thing and it's not so bad. It's just becoming evident that the device could benefit from additional physical buttons.

no matter, i am not arguing with you or anybody's preferences, i'm just surprised that so many are against getting the most out of a very elegant design, and would prefer to add bits, instead of removing bits. which is one reason people like Ive's design

don't any of you play an instrument? asking for more buttons because single/double tapping is difficult and tedious is a little like asking for a guitar to have 88 strings instead of 6 - cause it's such a nightmare to move your fingers into new chord positions granted: the analogy is a little farfetched, and luckily chords don't get changed with each OS update

have a nice day
-B

 

[ghostlines]

All the shortcomings will be addressed with the next jailbreak for iphone os 4.
Let polish up things add new api's(try their best, copy jailbreak features). And the geeks will fix/tweak all the shortcomings just be patient

P.S.
for the guys and girls not jailbreaking hope for the best and give feedback where you can and hope Apple listens.

 

[daveyostcom]

screen orientation lock is not the real solution.

When we use an iPhone: we get into a position (sitting up, lying on our left side or right side, hanging upside-down ;-), then we stay that way for a while and use the device for various apps. Then we change position and use apps again, and so on.

iPhone OS should take note of the device's orientation when you're at the home screen, then it should use this orientation as the basis for everything you do in apps until the next time you're at the home screen in a different orientation. (In other words, it should memorize a 2D transform to apply in the apps.)

So, if you're lying on your left side when you're at the home screen, and you're holding the iPhone on its left side to see it correctly, then you will see portrait mode content correctly in the apps until the next time you're at the home screen and hold the iPhone in a different orientation, after which you will again see portrait mode content correctly (though the content will be in a different orientation relative to the iPhone). Then, while you're in an app such as Safari, if you rotate the iPhone 90 degrees, you will see the content in landscape orientation relative to your position on your left side.

An orientation lock is a good thing, but it is a solution to a different problem: it is useful when you're looking at something in portrait mode, and you want to see it like that but turned on its side without having to turn your head relative to the device, like turning a sheet of paper. For example, you're looking at a photo of someone lying on their side, and you want to rotate the photo to see their face right-side up.

 

[Arnel]

its cool, isnt it?

I like that idea of stacking the audio controls and the app switcher. Right now the way the options are amongst the scrolling list of apps it looks like a bunch of leftover options hidden away at the side.

If they can somehow find somewhere else for the orientation lock toggle, then a strip dedicated to audio controls makes sense... Track name, Artist, shortcut to the full player app, and the basic playback controls. If Apple are smart, they could make the audio strip appear only when something is providing audio playback. The iPod icon should also be a whatever-app-is-providing-the-audio button, so it changes to Pandora, Spotify, iPod, or whatever you're listening to (it may already be the case, but as we don't have any background-aware audio apps to test yet, we can't tell).

Edit: Added a quick mockup...

The only thing then is finding a new home for the orientation lock toggle. Settings? Icon on the Springboard?

 

[Fugabutacus]

DUDE, I'M USING IT.

If you double-home in landscape, the multitasking panel slides up from right above the home button... in a portrait orientation.

When you click the lock button, it rotates the phone to Portrait and then locks it.

DUDE, SHUT UP.

I'm sick of seeing your cocky, condescending posts. Stop snapping at people for not being quite psychic enough to know what you forget to leave in your posts.


In other news, I thought it was silly not to have landscape lock at first too,m but when you think about it, why would we need that?

Once you have an app in landscape, if you turn the phone entirely upside down, 99% of apps don't turn with it.

So if you use landscape mode and lie in bed, it just sticks to landscape mode perfectly fine. It's only portrait I have trouble with in bed.

 

[aardwolf]

Get over yourself... I mentioned several times that I was using it. The problem here is that people were making authoritative statements that weren't even using it. And people here don't tend to read the previous posts before commenting.

DUDE, SHUT UP.

I'm sick of seeing your cocky, condescending posts. Stop snapping at people for not being quite psychic enough to know what you forget to leave in your posts.


In other news, I thought it was silly not to have landscape lock at first too,m but when you think about it, why would we need that?

Once you have an app in landscape, if you turn the phone entirely upside down, 99% of apps don't turn with it.

So if you use landscape mode and lie in bed, it just sticks to landscape mode perfectly fine. It's only portrait I have trouble with in bed.