iOS 9 / wOS 2 Discussion

[Grall]

Updated my iThings to iOS 9. Don't notice much of a difference off-hand. Maps in 3D flyover mode might be slightly smoother on the iPad Air 2 due to Metal?

The keyboard changes case depending on the status of the shift key. Goddamn, that only took them eight years to implement!

Not too terribly impressed by the new app switcher. Frankly I think it's shit, and I don't understand what the need was to change the old one, other than some compulsive need to "jazz things up"; things that didn't need changing in the first place - and besides, didn't they toss out just about all of that skeumorphism shit when Scott Forstall got canned?

Those app playing cards not only block each other as they flip, making it hard to see what app it is (most of them are just a blank, solid-white rectangle), they also continue sliding long after you release your thumb off the screen, and are difficult to interact with while they're moving. It's really hard - if not entirely impossible - to swipe apps up off the screen while they're in motion.

Maybe this new switcher makes sense on the 6S series with "3D touch", but I doubt it. I believe it will still feel awkward.

 

[milk]

Not too terribly impressed by the new app switcher. Frankly I think it's shit, and I don't understand what the need was to change the old one, other than some compulsive need to "jazz things up"; things that didn't need changing in the first place - and besides, didn't they toss out just about all of that skeumorphism shit when Scott Forstall got canned?

I'm always impressed with how willing they are to use up these universal System wide gesture-based controls with every major update. I wonder, new features keep being created, what will they do when they run out of sides to slide new menus from? Home button already has different behaviours for single pres, double press and hold. And it got all those functions on the very erlier updates. Force touch gave them some breathing room, but still, I think the interface of these mobile devices is getting convoluted again. The great thing about iphone was it started from a clean slate. I thought they'd use that oportunity and try to be very cautious about the implementation of new stuff from a UI perspective, but the marketing thirst for flashy new stuff made them throw that foward thinking out the window. At least, that's how it seams to me. Teaching granny to use the newer iphones - if she never had a smartphone - is now as cumbersome as teaching her to use a laptop.

 

[Lazy8s]

Tapping, swiping, and pinching are natural actions to take when trying to touch information content on a screen in front of oneself. Swiping in from the left or right to turn back or forward a "page" are also intuitive gestures. All the other gestures they've tacked on beyond that do convolute the interface a bit.

I think 3D Touch actually has the potential to fix that convolution, though. Pressing harder on the screen to affect some greater result is an action I see people try on their phones and tablets all the time (to no avail currently, of course). If the device now gives them an expected and reliable response and result from that, it'll become an essential part of the multitouch gesture UI.

And, if common sense prevails, it would replace and eliminate an ill-conceived gesture like long press, which fails at being a good shortcut for performing an action since it's very nature requires you to wait an extended amount of time for it to activate.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Updated my iThings to iOS 9. Don't notice much of a difference off-hand. Maps in 3D flyover mode might be slightly smoother on the iPad Air 2 due to Metal?.

Ditto, I updated my iPhone 6 and iPad Mini 2 Retina last night and there are very few changes that matter to me.

Siri and search are both a metric ton better and faster but the real change, as somebody who uses Safari on 4G a lot, is installing an ad/content blocker makes a huge difference. I'm using Crystal but others with varying degrees of customization are also available - The Loop has a good list.

I use Notes a huge amount too but since I need these synced between iOS and OSX I can't upgrade my Notes until OSX 10.11 El Capitan releases in a couple of weeks. A colleagues 4S bricked and O2 ( a UK operator) were usless so he's heading for an Apple store have tried and failed to restore it in DFU mode.

I also do not like the app switcher.

 

[milk]

Swiping in from the left or right to turn back or forward a "page" are also intuitive gestures. All the other gestures they've tacked on beyond that do convolute the interface a bit.

Swiping sideways to flip between pages is indeed intuitive. But how do I tell lil'ol'granny that if i swipe like "this" I flip between apps, but if I do it like "that" I flip between content within the app (pages of ibooks/photos in the galery) or drag content (maps/zoomed in website) or to dismiss stuff (mail/missed calls)
It introduces ambiguity. UI is hard.

 

[Simon F]

and besides, didn't they toss out just about all of that skeumorphism

I rather liked the skeumorphism <shrug>

 

[Arwin]

It's there still in the new Notes app. Not only does it have a working ruler that you can drag a pencil along (which I really like!) but if you zoom in while drawing you see the paper has real paper texture.