Mobile Safari Interface Tweaked in iPhone 2.2

[Rybold]

I hope they tweak the software so that when I open the browser it doesn't
automatically refresh the page ... it only refreshes the page if I click on the refresh icon.

 

[hankvaccaro]

Better The Way It Is

I think I prefer it the way it currently is. The new version looks crammed and either way the user still has to click in the top bar to access it.

If it must be changed, I would like to see just the magnifying glass changed to the Google g icon.

 

[macduke]

I hope they tweak the software so that when I open the browser it doesn't
automatically refresh the page ... it only refreshes the page if I click on the refresh icon.

Can't really fix that. It refreshes because the page is gone. The iPhone doesn't have enough RAM and when you leave Safari, it sometimes needs that extra RAM that is being used by that web page, and it has to load it back into memory. I wish the iPhone would use a section of its flash drive for a cache, but perhaps this would make the OS lag too much.

I believe the iPhone only has 128mb of RAM. The next version better have at least 512mb.

 

[macduke]

Umm, I was surprised to read through the thread and not see anyone mention refresh and stop. (when I began this comment, sorry, I'm at work)

They've added a search bar that saves 0 time (since you could already tap the magnifying glass), and removed features that were actually useful?

Am I just not seeing these somewhere?

Seriously? Yeah, you're not seeing them. Look IN the address bar. That's where the refresh/stop button is now.

Open your eyes people. I swear, this forum gets hysterical sometimes. NO FEATURES WERE REMOVED!!!

 

[Compile 'em all]

I think I prefer it the way it currently is. The new version looks crammed and either way the user still has to click in the top bar to access it.

why does it matter? the space in occupied either ways by the URL or in 2.2 by the URL bar and the search field. Think about it, to search now it will take you just one tap. Before it took you two taps. IMHO they did the right thing now, makes sense and faster.

 

[Rybold]

Can't really fix that. It refreshes because the page is gone. The iPhone doesn't have enough RAM and when you leave Safari, it sometimes needs that extra RAM that is being used by that web page, and it has to load it back into memory. I wish the iPhone would use a section of its flash drive for a cache, but perhaps this would make the OS lag too much.

I believe the iPhone only has 128mb of RAM. The next version better have at least 512mb.

THANK YOU big time for explaining that to me. Makes sense.
I agree that there should be a way to use the storage memory (flash memory in this case) for cache, like we can use part of our hard drive in Windows XP settings.

 

[mavis]

I believe the iPhone only has 128mb of RAM. The next version better have at least 512mb.

Seriously, the iPhone needed 256MB with the 2.0 software update - 128MB may have been adequate running a handful of Apple apps, but with people now running all kinds of memory-hungry apps while at the same time listening to music, running push/fetch mail in the background, not to mention the SMS and phone apps - 128MB is just not enough any more. I really hope they address this shortcoming in the next iPhone!!

 

[btnnaz]

I Like It!!!!!

I just installed the beta and i really like it

 

[kobefan234]

some flash support maybe

 

[hellomoto4]

Looks like crap, too much happening in such a small space.
Prefer the current version much more.

 

[mixel]

I like the new look bar thingy. Makes sense!

Seriously, the iPhone needed 256MB with the 2.0 software update - 128MB may have been adequate running a handful of Apple apps, but with people now running all kinds of memory-hungry apps while at the same time listening to music, running push/fetch mail in the background, not to mention the SMS and phone apps - 128MB is just not enough any more. I really hope they address this shortcoming in the next iPhone!!

Picking up mail is hardly a ram hog, you can do it fine on a 2MB Amiga.. Not sure why push would be any worse than POP/imap in that regard.
I thought the ipod/phone had dedicated chips for mp3 playback so i doubt they're interfering with the apps and using up much ram. The apps aren't even multitasking other those two things, 128 should easily be enough!

I really don't think ram's the issue here, i think it's more likely they just need to bugfix and optimize. That's the 3rd party devs as well as apple, case in point - teleport/jaadu used to complain about resources and require you to quit safari et al.. now it seems absolutely solid..

I mean they could throw ram at the problem, but that's the lazy route and imo optimization sounds better, the beefier the hardware the lazier and less efficient all the programmers could be. They'll still sprawl to use it all up probably. Also it'd cause confusion in the appstore when they have to specify games that work on some handsets but not others... blech, I hope they keep the platform unchanged for at least a year.

 

[twoodcc]

not bad i guess. a very minor change though

 

[MacOldTimer!]

Apple the New China Dictatorship, My way or we'll Shut You Down!

Seriously, the iPhone needed 256MB with the 2.0 software update - 128MB may have been adequate running a handful of Apple apps, but with people now running all kinds of memory-hungry apps while at the same time listening to music, running push/fetch mail in the background, not to mention the SMS and phone apps - 128MB is just not enough any more. I really hope they address this shortcoming in the next iPhone!!

I didn't buy the next iPhone. I purchased the first and the second iPhone.

If Apple is writing code for their next phone then keep it and test it with BETA TESTERS!

I want my iPhone to work as advertised and quit the BS app crashing, quit Safari randomly shutting down and quit suppressing their developers.

Apple isn't a Forum for "Think Different" anymore. It's Apple saying my way or the highway.

Apple Think Different or GOOGLE will eat your lunch and what was supposed to be a rise to the top will crumble like it did last time for the same reasons.

I'm old. I remember.

 

[rockosmodurnlif]

3.
Fix all the crashes. Had to add this one.

4.
Speed up JavaScript and make it more robust.

5.
Come up with a solution to the Flash video problem. No Flash from Adobe isn't the answer as I've had enough crashes. Just add the code required to decode and play the content.

6.
Like it or not I want to be able to save content locally from Safari. Especially web pages/sites and PDF documents. Of course I also want to be able to view such of line. That is really the whole point because sometimes all comma are down.

Well, you make it all sound so easy. Fix the crashes, make javascript faster, give me Flash and I want to save stuff whether you like it or not, you here me Apple. I've got some to add. Improve battery life, stop dropping calls, make the phone read my mind so don't have to touch the screen. Geez.

I like the new look bar thingy. Makes sense!

Picking up mail is hardly a ram hog, you can do it fine on a 2MB Amiga.. Not sure why push would be any worse than POP/imap in that regard.
I thought the ipod/phone had dedicated chips for mp3 playback so i doubt they're interfering with the apps and using up much ram. The apps aren't even multitasking other those two things, 128 should easily be enough!

I really don't think ram's the issue here, i think it's more likely they just need to bugfix and optimize. That's the 3rd party devs as well as apple, case in point - teleport/jaadu used to complain about resources and require you to quit safari et al.. now it seems absolutely solid..

I mean they could throw ram at the problem, but that's the lazy route and imo optimization sounds better, the beefier the hardware the lazier and less efficient all the programmers could be. They'll still sprawl to use it all up probably. Also it'd cause confusion in the appstore when they have to specify games that work on some handsets but not others... blech, I hope they keep the platform unchanged for at least a year.

The first two sentences are junk but the rest is brilliance!

 

[winterspan]

I 100% agree, this is stupid!
Focus on the stuff that matters Apple!! Google in the search bar but no copy & paste!?!?!? C'mon!

No kidding! I know it's a simple change that probably didn't require much debugging or validation, but what are they doing working on trivial crap like that???

Apple, focus on stuff like:
- Safari performance and stability
- Cut and Paste
- Notification framework
- MMS
- Video recording
- iChat
- iWork productivity apps of some form
- A2DP Bluetooth
- Official Tethering application (with AT&T cooperation and corresponding additional monthly fee of course)
- Adobe Flash
- WiFi synching

 

[Catfish_Man]

Basically what I'm hearing a lot of here is "no small changes until all the big changes are done". Y'know what guys? That means the small changes will never get done. All software, everywhere, has bugs. Major ones even. As a result, development teams work on small improvements, small bug fixes, large improvements, and large bug fixes all at the same time.

If Apple developed software the way you're asking them to, it would be closer to free of major bugs, but ugly, hard to use, and full of small bugs.

Also, whoever made this particular change is on entirely the wrong team to be working on copy-paste. Why on earth would a MobileSafari person be doing iPhone-wide stuff?

winterspan: have you read the WebKit commit timeline lately? Apple guys are working 7 days a week on performance. There's people still awake in the middle of the night on weekends hanging out in #squirrelfish working on speedups. It's kinda ridiculous, and frankly rather insulting, to suggest they're not trying.

Heck, I'm not even employed by Apple and I'm focusing on performance. Check out http://native.khan.mozilla.org in tomorrow's webkit nightly vs one from a month ago.

Did anyone here notice that SVG support was turned on in MobileSafari 2.1?

 

[Saladinos]

Everybody here seems to mis the point. This means that Mobile Safari is getting an overhaul. Since it is quite prone to crashing, this can only be an improvement I welcome.

It seems to me Apple has to be able to improve multiple things in one firmware. Push notifications will surely be one of them and we'll just have to wait and see what more is in store for us

Not at all. I agree that Safari does crash a lot, but interface code has almost nothing to do with the actual 'work' code. A change to the interface doesn't necessarily indicate any progress towards stability.

That said, we don't know where the crashes come from, as we don't have the crash log analysis tools Apple do. Bugs in interface code could potentially cause crashes - this is typically unlikely because interface design code is usually automated and fairly simple. However, if the number of mobile WebKit-based browsers is a testament to the engine's stability, it could well be interface code bugs that cause the crashes.

Stability is what MobileSafari needs.

 

[MacFly123]

I guess I'm the only one who likes this. One less tap to search.

I agree with you It takes it from two taps to one. It does look a little cluttered, maybe they could make the search box a little smaller and have the boxes expand when you tap them like in landscape mode. But overall I think its a fine subtle improvement.

P.S. Isn't there anyone that wants the global landscape keyboard option anymore??? I still think they should add that among other things of course!

 

[0098386]

Well I like it.

 

[DavePurz]

That looks fugly.

I agree!

But, will THIS update stop it from crashing back to the Home Screen when reading http://PerezHilton.com ?

 

[Tom B.]

I agree with you It takes it from two taps to one. It does look a little cluttered, maybe they could make the search box a little smaller and have the boxes expand when you tap them like in landscape mode. But overall I think
its a fine subtle improvement.

P.S. Isn't there anyone that wants the global landscape keyboard option anymore??? I still think they should add that among other things of course!

please tell me you are being sarcastic about the number of taps being reduced!

And to be honest, I hope that they never let the horizontal keyboard leave safari because it would annoy me. I can type much faster with the vertical keyboard because I don't have to move my fingers as far.

 

[Evangelion]

I 100% agree, this is stupid!
Focus on the stuff that matters Apple!! Google in the search bar but no copy & paste!?!?!? C'mon!

So Apple can't work on any other new feature, if C&P is not implemented? They should have a legion of engineers twiddling their thumbs while the engineers responsible for C&P work on that particular feature?

And why is everyone whining about C&P? Why aren't you whining about opening links in new tabs in the background? Unlike C&P, that's actually easy to implement in the UI.

 

[zacharytombley]

Before you read the next part, think what is the biggest difference between the version of safari mobile. It's space and apple doesn't do anything without a reason.

Well here's a idea, what if they made it smaller for copy and paste? Read closely because this will be hard to explain. Ok, in the current version of 2.x when you tap on the URL bar it becomes twice the size( remember this, it's going to play a big part in this theory). Now this version looks like they made it more streamline, so(this is a guess) when you tap on the URL bar it doesn't grow anymore. Now if you think[about this] with that extra room there could easily be enough room to put(this is where it get confusing) a copy & paste button on the bottom of the keybroad. Now think about it, if you cut the top off you would have plenty of room to put"Copy--Paste--Cut" right below the space bar( maybe the same size as the space bar).


It could also be for copy and paste where the google search is right now( who knows). Or they are going to put something else in the place of the google bar.

 

[dasikes]

I just ask one question: "Why?"

 

[dasikes]

Before you read the next part, think what is the biggest difference between the version of safari mobile. It's space and apple doesn't do anything without a reason.

Well here's a idea, what if they made it smaller for copy and paste? Read closely because this will be hard to explain. Ok, in the current version of 2.x when you tap on the URL bar it becomes twice the size( remember this, it's going to play a big part in this theory). Now this version looks like they made it more streamline, so(this is a guess) when you tap on the URL bar it doesn't grow anymore. Now if you think[about this] with that extra room there could easily be enough room to put(this is where it get confusing) a copy & paste button on the bottom of the keybroad. Now think about it, if you cut the top off you would have plenty of room to put"Copy--Paste--Cut" right below the space bar( maybe the same size as the space bar).


It could also be for copy and paste where the google search is right now( who knows). Or they are going to put something else in the place of the google bar.

A decent theory. Was it necessary to assume that we'd all be confused by that, though?