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Why Do Incoming Calls HAVE To Be Obtrusive?!

newyorksole

newyorksole

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 2, 2008
5,278
6,600
New York.
I'm really surprised this isn't a feature. When my iPhone rings I rather the bar at the top just turn green and my ringtone play so I can continue whatever it was I was doing on my phone. Sometimes if you're typing away and the phone rings you accidentally press answer/decline, which isn't good either.

With this whole Notification Center update it seems like a no brainer.

Also it would be easier to give people an excuse as to why I didn't answer their calls.

http://youtu.be/psjpvQMgyAU
 
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Because its the Apple way, and you have no choice!

Seriously though, Apple should be more innovative than this.
 
Because it's an iPhone? Last I checked, the telephone was invented primarily for phone calls.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Jailbreak and use callbar, does what you are describing
 
Ivan P said:
Because it's an iPhone? Last I checked, the telephone was invented primarily for phone calls.
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That is correct for the telephone, but not the iPhone (Or any smart phone)

We use phones to organise and plan our daily lives, we use them to watch video, read articles and books, play games, take pictures, edit video, check social sites, upload to Facebook etc. And make phone calls.

Currently an unwanted phone call prevents us doing all those other things, so the notion that somebody would like an unobtrusive way to be notified of a phone call is not unreasonable.
 
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Ivan P said:
Because it's an iPhone? Last I checked, the telephone was invented primarily for phone calls.
Click to expand...

this isn't just a telephone. it's a cellphone/smartphone. meaning it can do A LOT more than just make phone calls. it's actually an iPod, Phone and Internet Telecommunications Device all in one.

when the "telephone" was first invented it wasn't 'primarily' for phone calls, it was ONLY for phone calls.
 
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I understand the idea behind the minimalist look of the iPhone but if there was ever a reason to add more buttons, this would be it.

Just have one extra button always dedicated to answering the phone. Maybe let Viber and Skype use it too but only for answering incoming calls.

That way the idea of being notified at the top of the screen about an oncoming call would work well I think.
 
Can't you just end the call so that it goes straight to voicemail? Haven't tried this yet with my 4S. I know my prior dumb phone was able to do this. It also allowed me to screen the call, while caller was leaving a message. I could, then choose to answer or not.
 
All smartPHONES do this...because at the heart of it all. It is a phone
 
daneoni said:
All smartPHONES do this...because at the heart of it all. It is a phone
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Notice that the word "smart" came before "phone" yet you only place importance on the phone part.

The iPhone is more than a phone. It checks email, it browses the web, it plays games, etc. Since you can DO all those things with your so called "phone" it should be designed so that even calls can be made to be unobtrusive since you will be likely to be doing one of those extra things on your "phone" rather than just waiting for a call.

Anybody who thinks the OP is wrong simply has no imagination, no desire for innovation and probably also blindly loves Apple.
 
The most important feature is calls (for me anyway) and is therefore the priority app.
 
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daneoni said:
lol...love this. Anyone who disagrees has to be an Apple fanboy. Of course. The most important feature is calls and is therefore the priority app.
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Following your logic, the Phone feature should be made the most powerful and that would involve making the calls as unobtrusive as any other feature's notifications, which all follow the new iOS 5 notification system.

However, according to the Apple Way, which you so ardently follow, the phone feature is made the least powerful of all the major features since the user has no option to make the phone unobtrusive when using their iPhone. :rolleyes:
 
moka said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Jailbreak and use callbar, does what you are describing
Click to expand...

Exactly what moka said, if you're using an iPhone4, you can jailbreak it now and install Callbar, does exactly what you want.

Another win for jailbreaking... ;)
 
I really like the banner notification for calls used in JB. I'll definitely utilize that when Apple introduces it, which probably won't be too far away. I very rarely use my iPhone for phone calls. Maybe once every two days? Which means I don't need the current intrusive notification. But at the same time it happens rarely enough that it's not a deal breaker, just really distracting.
 
I always love how when someone asks "why can't I have a switch between A & B?" the usual answer here is "I wouldn't change that switch, so you shouldn't have it."

I understand wanting to keep the phone simple, and sometimes these kind of requests really would make the phone more complicated and worse overall. So I'm not saying they're all good ideas. But in this case, the question is "Why does Skype have more features than the Phone app?"

Fairly straightforward. And yeah, I don't have a good answer. Why shouldn't the iPhone's phone have the same features that Skype does? Can anyone answer that question?
 
Smartphones have become multi-purpose and multimedia devices. I don't see why Apple couldn't offer the same notification options to the phone app as they do the other apps. This is yet another call for Apple to allow a smidge more freedom to their users. Let them choose between the full phone notification or the tile drop from the top for incoming calls. Problem solved?

Not sure why anyone would criticize someone else who's advocating for more features that benefit users. Especially in this case, it's a reasonable request.
 
Really? This is a real topic? Sorry, but this request is picky on so many levels. If you don't want to answer a call, either refuse it or send it to voicemail. That way you're "locked out" of your phone for a few seconds max. I'm sure whatever you were doing can wait the 2 seconds that it takes to press a button. What's the problem?
 
Burton8219 said:
I'm sure whatever you were doing can wait the 2 seconds that it takes to press a button. What's the problem?
Click to expand...

Online multiplayer games are a big one. With many games, getting interrupted by a call will kick you out of the game instantly. No coming back. Even if the developers plan for calls and let you return it's likely those few seconds will throw the game for you as your opponent wins.

What's your solution there? The OP's idea would solve it wonderfully. Do you have a better method in mind?
 
newyorksole said:
I'm really surprised this isn't a feature.
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...and so are countless other people with very niche features that they think should be standard. Dismiss the call or jailbreak are your current solutions. If you want the feature incorporated in a future version then let Apple know.

Calidude said:
Anybody who thinks the OP is wrong simply has no imagination, no desire for innovation and probably also blindly loves Apple.
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Or simply doesn't see the point of this particular feature and there's nothing wrong with that. It's simply a matter of subjective preference. Calling people that you don't agree with Apple fanboys was tired way before you started using it as a counter argument. Just as in the other thread you were commenting on, if the OP wants a feature added then the OP should do something productive to get it added.
 
Menotiko, that doesn't work.

To the OP show me just one phone that does this like you said you want it to. Without any jailbreaks.

BTW, smartphone, phone, iPhone... The main function is a phone. Maybe calling is just the most important feature. Wanna play uninterrupted? Turn airplane mode on....
 
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