Should Apple Gut it's iPhone OS and start over?

[thuchu1]

No need to start over from scratch but frankly, Android/Jelly Bean has finally surpassed iOS in form and function. Apple needs to include a more significant refresh than it has been accustomed to. Adding a few minor features and some useless apps like passbook isn't going to cut it anymore. Apple still has the best hardware and "ecosystem" but the boring grid of static icons is starting to look downright primitive.

I really don't understand how much time people spend on their home screens. Is it typical use to stare at icons and wish they'd move when someone has run out of other things to do?

 

[zin]

I don't think that iOS is stale, but rather the UI is. IMO Compared to iOS, the UIs' of Android and Windows Phone are really neat and sleek.

 

[TacticalDesire]

The fact that device makers have to spend time and resources in order to figure out how to make their devices compatible with the newest Android upgrade is exactly what I was referring to. Asus spend tones of cash trying to make their Transformers upgradable to JB, and they still haven't successfully made the transition. Sure the Prime and Infinity technically support JB, but it still runs poorly.

That's the device manufacturers fault for modding and skinning Android so heavily. Not Google's. When companies such as HTC have 50 different versions of essentially the same phone with heavily skinned software, that makes it much harder, time consuming, and costly to support. Many times it's not worth it.

 

[moonman239]

We'll see what VP Ive brings to the table.

There is a guy who managed to create settings toggles for iOS. His "app" would give you small configuration files for your iOS device, which you could then install on your device. All you had to do to access a setting was tap on an icon, which would then take you to that setting. Apple broke that ability in a later update. The least Apple can do is bring it back.

 

[barkomatic]

I really don't understand how much time people spend on their home screens. Is it typical use to stare at icons and wish they'd move when someone has run out of other things to do?

It may not seem important to you -- but people are starting to choose other smartphones because they are bored with static icons. Again, I think iOS is solid and I enjoy my iPhone 5 but the UI desperately needs a refresh. I don't think they should copy Android or Windows 8, but the titans at Apple are surely capable of something new.

 

[bonskovsky]

Seems most people here agree that the iPhone's OS is stale and needs an update. What do you choose?

It's not "stale", its an American standard. iOS will never get old, it's just so ubiquitous at this point.