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The Ultimate iPad and iOS Wishlist Thread - 50 Fixes The iPad Still Needs
- Thread starter wikoogle
- Start date
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Steve Jobs, from the presentation:
"A lot of us have been working for 10 years to get rid of the file system so the user doesn't have to learn about it."
Thats too bad. Im sure Apple would be smart enough to give people the option to people who can understand filesystems and not enable it by default but I guess they're unwilling.
It's not like there's a switch to 'enable it by default' and a little manila folder will pop up. It's a huge UI undertaking to put the kind of file system you want in iOS and there's no good reason to move in that direction, since the current and projected iOS changes mean that most people can get done what they want to get done without a filesystem, as traditionally-conceived. Apple also doesn't let people run punch cards either, the fools.
Because clearly there are punch cards in an iPad.
There is however a filesystem and I personally wish Apple gave Users access to it.
You mean you want a GUI for the filesystem. It's not like myfavouritesong.mp3 is sitting there, behind the wallpaper, locked away from you, and all they have to do is lift the curtain.
Anyway, I know you want it, I just don't know why.
well for starters, access to the file system would make it easier to organize a lot of things such as my ibooks, movies, and pictures.
Photos is now a solved problem, I believe; movies can be organized through iTunes; and I'm not familiar with the iBooks interface. If I am wrong please correct me. But the major point is that there are several ways for people to organize and enjoy their media; a file system is only one solution. To re-state what I said earlier, asking for 'access' to the file system presumes that there is some electronic veil over little tiny files inside a device that Apple could just open up and let people get at, but it's not so simple to implement and brings with it negative side-effects. Filesystem rummaging is for electronic bums, not tech wizards.
Agreed. If you look in the hacks subforums, every so often, you'll see posts that say, "HELP! I was messing about with the files on my jailbroken iPad, and accidentally deleted a system file. Now I have a bricked iPad, what can I do???"
There are people who need to know and be able to manipulate file systems. Those would be app developers, and maybe website designers. But most end users who say they need a file system don't need one. They have just learned to use a file system to organize their media and documents, so they think they won't be able to do that unless there is a file system.
The way iOS works is that each app has its own data folder, and it's up to each app to present the data to users in a way that makes sense for that app. So we have apps like Goodreader, which is like a mini-file system, and we have games app where the game state is saved automatically and the user never encounters anything remotely resembling a file system, and everything inbetween.
Not that the iOS way doesn't have its drawbacks. For instance, in Photos, file folders are called "albums" and in iBooks, they are called "collections." Different apps have different ways of moving files from a folder to another folder, and in some apps you can't move files at all. This kind of inconsistency can be maddening, as with each new app you have to figure out anew how to manipulate files in that app.
But Apple is committed to not having a system-wide file system in iOS, and they are trying to wean people away from that way of doing things in Mac OS. That was very clear from the keynote today, so if you don't like that... consider Android and Windows?
in itunes, all the movies are dumped in one filespace. i can't create subfolders to separate by genre or show title.
ibooks allows two collections - epub books and pdfs. again, no way to separate my tech PDFs from one another (Exchange, Office, Windows OS, scripting, etc) and no way to separate my ebooks by genre (mystery, sci-fi, suspense) or by author.
maybe i'm missing something here as i've only had my ipad for a couple of months.
do you have any idea how disorganized and what a PITA it is find anything easily when you have a large and growing collection of ibooks or movies dumped in their own collective space?! if you're going to isolate the user from the file-system, at least allow the user to easily create folders or organize in some fashion.
i've got a 32gb ipad so that that's a lot of files to account for with that much storage space and no way to create subfolders.
why not give users the choice? your basic user who's happy accessing files by app can continue to do that and power-users who want to do more can get access to the file system.
a user accidentally deleting critical files? if they're that stupid or careless to do that, they can always do a restore from itunes.
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Movies -- I agree that's a pain in the ass. A workaround is to make playlists in iTunes. I believe you can use the Smart Playlist feature to, for example, automatically separate your movies by genre.
iBooks used to have only two collections, but if you update to the latest version, you can make more collections, and organize your PDFs and books the way you want. And if you go into list view instead of the default bookshelf view, you can sort your books by title, author, or genre. (This was always possible with iBooks, I guess it's just not obvious that there is a list view avaiable.)
I get non-techy people asking me all the time why when they press the upload file button on websites on their iPad why nothing happens. They assume something is broken.
Apple could easily fix this. It doesn't have to grant access to the entire file system, but the notion that even granting access to the photos folder at this point wouldn't be immeasurably better for users of all levels is crazy.
Phazer
Okay. Not sure how that's relevant to someone complaining about 'no core, accessible filesystem'. When did streamlining access to photos equal 'a filesystem for all files on the device which can be edited just as on a desktop OS'?
I don't require an official filesystem on my iPad, just a documents folder that applications can hook into. The only time I use the full filesystem is after jailbreaking, and I have iFile for that.
Arrow Keys
Of all the things listed here, the one I woud like to see the most are arrow keys on the keypad. I type a fair amount, and it drives me insane that I can't quickly move back one or two letters to correct them. It would make such a difference in day to day operations.
Of all the things listed here, the one I woud like to see the most are arrow keys on the keypad. I type a fair amount, and it drives me insane that I can't quickly move back one or two letters to correct them. It would make such a difference in day to day operations.
I would also love arrow keys. They would fit perfectly on that little bar with the "previous" and "next" buttons.
Put my name on this list as well. One of the things that I know Android did right was putting arrow keys on their keyboards.
Along the lines of a file system, I want to be able to use the USB camera adapter to plug in a USB drive and import pics to an album or a pdf to iBooks or something like that.
They don't have to expose the file system on the device. Just show us the files on the USB drive, let us select the ones we want, and then present a list of installed applications and we could copy the files to the selected app's file space.
They don't have to expose the file system on the device. Just show us the files on the USB drive, let us select the ones we want, and then present a list of installed applications and we could copy the files to the selected app's file space.
Flash
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Seriously...
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Seriously...
Sure, you could add all of the fixes (changes), but those changes can create problems, too. Apple started simple for a reason. Sure, they could have added more with each year goes by, but the price would have to go up. Some would not mind the cost, but others do. Apple is aiming to attract a hugh percentage of the population. It would cost too much to have multiple iterations to provide for everyone. So, I don't think iPad 3 will come out this year, unless Apple can get a better deal on components. If apple did too much on the os, it may not run as smooth as it is now. Programming is not as simple as one may think. Sure, apple is a little slow on os updates as compare to google, but google's os is not smooth. Apple is not looking to replace its macbook or imac with iPad. If nothing else, it is an addition.
Apple won't even consider Flash, until it runs efficiently, flawlessly and smooth - without fail. Even then, Apple won't bother, because video on the Internet, should not have to wait for one company, to pull it's finger out of it's ass.
If you need OMGzQuad-CoreCPU just to get 480p video running smoothly(when I say smooth, I mean 25-30+ fps), then it ain't gonna happen.
Flawless HTML5 video has been possible on the iPhone since 2007. It runs smooth, whether in the browser or full-screen.
I tried the iSwifter and SkyFire browsers on the iPad, and every time, the video ran, yes, but it was a totally frustrating and sub-par framerate experience.
A lot of top sites have already seen the light, just a stubborn few remain(looking at you, BBC).
I always ensure that my videos are HTML5 compatible, for mobile devices, with a Flash fallback for desktop browsers, that don't fully support it yet. It's a simple thing, and you don't need to have multiple copies of a video on your server, either.
Just make sure the videos are in h.264(m4v) and the browsers should do the rest.
How about the ability to select multiple photos from an album & send in one email
Maybe I've missed the memo but for the life of me I can figure out how to select multiple photos taken by my iPhone or iPad and send all of them in the same email message. I'm a Realtor and sometimes I am in the field taking multiple photos of a house a buyer is not there to tour with me. So it would be nice to take a series of photos and be able to email all of them to that client in one email. Right now I have to send each photo in its own email message. What a waste of time and effort and it doesn't please my clients that they have to read through 10 emails to see all of the photos I took.
Like I said, maybe the solution is staring me in the face but I don't see it.
So if this feature is indeed not on either device it sure would be nice to have it on the new ones coming out soon.
Maybe I've missed the memo but for the life of me I can figure out how to select multiple photos taken by my iPhone or iPad and send all of them in the same email message. I'm a Realtor and sometimes I am in the field taking multiple photos of a house a buyer is not there to tour with me. So it would be nice to take a series of photos and be able to email all of them to that client in one email. Right now I have to send each photo in its own email message. What a waste of time and effort and it doesn't please my clients that they have to read through 10 emails to see all of the photos I took.
Like I said, maybe the solution is staring me in the face but I don't see it.
So if this feature is indeed not on either device it sure would be nice to have it on the new ones coming out soon.