¶ What I'd Like Apple to Take Away in iOS 6

In a few days Apple will give its keynote address at WWDC, where it will more likely than not show off OS X Mountain Lion in final detail and offer a glimpse of what is to come in iOS 6 this fall.

In years past, I have led up to WWDC with my predictions and/or wish list of features I want added.

I’ve decided to try something different this year. While there are many things I would like to see added to iOS, there’s a few things I’d actually like to see taken away.

Cover Flow

I remember when I got the first iPod touch, I loved rotating it sideways and flipping through album covers to select songs. There’s a problem with Cover Flow, though: it’s more beautiful than it is functional. Quite frankly, it just isn’t that easy to use. I invoke it accidentally far more than purposely these days.

The novelty is gone. Maybe it is just because I have grown out of Cover Flow’s eye candy, but I have to wonder if new users to the iPhone and iPod touch find any usefulness in Cover Flow.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Cover Flow find its way to retirement in iOS 6. It makes for a neat demo to a new user, but more often than not it just introduces friction and lag when it pops up at the slight tilt of your hand.

Ping

Speaking of lag, the Ping integration in the Music app is a constant source of frustration for me. I find that I cannot act on the play/pause or track forward/backward buttons until Ping has polled Apple’s servers for whether I have previously “liked” or commented on a song.

This is one more thing that I think could be pruned from an overcrowded Music app, let alone the entire iTunes ecosystem.

Google’s Maps Data

There have been plenty of rumors going around that Apple will ditch Google’s map data from the Maps app in favor of its own data in iOS 6. I hope they come true.

Don’t get me wrong, Google’s maps are a fantastic service that I use nearly every day, and the data is very comprehensive.

But I just don’t think Apple can afford to rely on Google for such an important part of iOS when they are each other’s top competitors.

YouTube

The YouTube app seems slightly irrelevant these days, given that is somewhat out of date with YouTube’s current feature set, and YouTube’s mobile site is more than functional. Heck, let Google roll their own YouTube app onto the App Store.

I just don’t see much advantage to having a built-in YouTube app anymore. And let’s face it, the icon is hideous.

Newsstand

And speaking of icons, it seems Newsstand is reviled by nearly everyone I know with an iPhone or iPad. I would like a way to at least hide the Newsstand icon when it is empty. I do not subscribe to any Newsstand apps, and I don’t foresee myself doing so any time soon.

So, instead, I have Newsstand shoved off onto the very last page of my home screen. I’d rather be able to toggle it off and keep it out of sight.

---

I have a much larger mental list running of things I’d like to see improved or added to iOS. The fact there are so few things I’d like to see removed is a testament to how well Apple has done in making an overall appealing system.

Instapaper is the Free App of the Week at Starbucks

More Instapaper news from The Verge today:

For the next week, Instapaper for iOS is available for free as a part of Starbucks’ “Free App of the Week” campaign. To get your free copy of the app (which normally costs $4.99), you have to physically go to a Starbucks shop and get a promo card, then enter the code into iTunes.

If you don’t have Instapaper already, shame on you. Now get over to Starbucks this week and get it. Or skip the burned coffee and buy it on the App Store.

Instapaper Gets an Awesome Feature for iOS and an Android Version

Instapaper is one of my most used apps on my iPhone and iPad, and it continually gets better and better.

A couple days ago, it was updated with a really great new feature, background update locations. The feature only works on iPhones and 3G/4G equipped iPads (because of those devices enhanced geolocation abilities). What it does is allow you to set up several geofences — say, home and work — and Instapaper will download any new articles when arriving and leaving those areas.

It’s useful for just about anyone, as your article list is pretty much always ready. I imagine train or bus commuters will really love this feature.

Already it makes me wish I had gone with the 3G/4G enabled iPad this last time (something I likely would have gotten had the carriers been seriously talking about shared data plans at the time).

But this isn’t the only news for Instapaper.

Instapaper for Android

Last night, The Verge published their exclusive on Instapaper for Android. Instapaper for Android is blessed by Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper, but is developed by Mobelux. The two had a working relationship when Marco was at Tumblr, and with Marco focusing most of his time on iOS, I think it makes sense to contract out Instapaper for Android.

It looks like a solid 1.0 release, with a few shortcomings from the iOS version. I’d expect a lot of those will be resolved with time.

The Verge also has a little interview with Marco about the Android version. What I liked from that is that even though Instapaper’s roots are on the iPhone, Marco says his main focus is first on tablets, then smartphones. It’s also worth noting that Instapaper for Android does have separate UI’s for smartphones and tablets.

Instapaper for Android is $2.99 and is available on Google Play, and will be available soon on the Amazon Android Appstore and the NOOK market.

Facebook Camera

Just saw on Twitter (insert irony here) that Facebook just launched Facebook Camera on the iPhone. It features filters and such like this other little app called Instagram — which Facebook recently acquired for $1 billion.

Incredibly bizarre.

Rethinking the iPhone's App Switcher

Shortly before going to bed last night, I saw that *The Verge had featured something from one of their forum posters. Brent Caswell, aka brentcas, had a pretty neat concept of how the iOS multitask tray could be improved. He focuses mainly on the iPhone, and I really like what he came up with.

By adding another row of apps, I think the multitask tray would gain much more utility in easily switching between several apps. I also really like how he keeps the status bar visible and adds Spotlight search.

I love iOS’s Spotlight search, when I remember it is there. I think it would become much more notorious for use in Brent’s mockup.

I’m also loving his idea for dedicated music and settings sections. As far as his settings mockup goes, I applaud his toggles for Airplane Mode, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 3G (or 4G/LTE, depending).

What I don’t like about his settings mockup is the Clear All button for killing every app. I know many of my friends swear their iPhone performs better when they tediously kill off every app int he multitask tray, but I still subscribe to it being unnecessary. Sure, there is the occasional errant app, but that is the exception, not the rule. In my experience, iOS is very good at managing itself.

In the comments to the post, user ThomasEvans makes the suggestion that instead of Clear All the button should be for activating Personal Hotspot. I’m much more on board with that idea.

I’m sure if someone important at Apple saw this mockup and was inspired to add it to iOS, it would be a little late in the game to include it in iOS 6. Maybe for iOS 7. Or maybe Apple has something better up its sleeve.

Notes and Reminders Coming to iCloud.com

Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac is on a roll today with iOS 6 related news, as he noted that Apple (briefly) had a beta site for iCloud up that showed the Notes and Reminders icons. He also updated with a reader tip that the beta is likely tied to iOS 6, and that there are references to an iCloud developer site.

It’s plain to see that iCloud is one of the biggest things going on at Apple right now. I’d even venture to say that it is and will continue to be bigger than OS X and iOS. And that’s why we’re going to see leaps and bounds of improvements to it, especially if Apple launches a developer program for iCloud.

iOS 6 Maps

I suppose it is close enough to WWDC for the rumor mill to start swirling with iOS 6 leaks and rumors. Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac reports that Apple will be dropping Google Maps as their backend for the Maps app in iOS 6, in favor of an in-house backend.

This doesn’t surprise me, and I pointed out a couple months ago that it makes sense for Apple to sever ties with Google regarding the iOS Maps app.

iOS 5.1.1 Released for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch

An update to iOS is now available via iTunes or, more preferably, the Software Update feature on your device, found within the Settings app.

Here’s the changelog:

This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including:

• Improves reliability of using HDR option for photos taken using the Lock Screen shortcut
• Addresses bugs that could prevent the new iPad from switching between 2G and 3G networks
• Fixes bugs that affected AirPlay video playback in some circumstances
• Improved reliability for syncing Safari bookmarks and Reading List
• Fixes an issue where ‘Unable to purchase’ alert could be displayed after successful purchase

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

I know I experienced the camera locking up with HDR on when using the lock screen shortcut, and I’ve had run-ins with AirPlay video and the ‘Unable to Purchase’ dialog. So I am pretty pleased with this update. It weighs in around 43-55 MB, depending on your device.

¶ The 7-inch Apple "Tablet"

There has been a lot of buzz lately about a 7-inch Apple tablet — specifically a 7.85-inch tablet — supposedly in the works in Cupertino.

I’ve been thinking about such a tablet for a while now, and wondered whether such a thing, if brought to market, would be labeled as part of the iPad family. To me, it makes far more sense to move the iPod touch product line up to this mid-range screen size.

Odi Kosmatos crunched some numbers and discovered that the difference between 7-inches and 7.85-inches is everything:

Perhaps you’ve read these Steve Jobs quotes before, they go something like this:

“The 7-inch form factor is not a good size for tablet applications” and “7-inch tablets should come with sandpaper, so that users can file down their fingers so they can use them.“

Note the words in bold.

Every rumor and theory about a smaller iPad I have seen seems to claim it will be 7.85″ with a 1024×768 screen. If that were the case, Steve Jobs would be right on the money with the above quotes. A 7.85″ 1024×768 display would be appropriate if the smaller tablet were designed to run iPad applications, because these applications could run unscaled on the device, at a 1:1 pixel ratio. However, the PPI of that 7.85″ screen would be 163. But the size of the user interface elements on iPad applications are tailored for a 132 PPI screen. If squeezed into 163 PPI, every button and control would become smaller, harder to accurately touch. Hence the need for sandpaper.

The same argument applies if the 7.85″ tablet had a retina display with the same resolution as the new iPad’s 2048×1536. It would have 326 PPI, but the UI elements of retina iPad applications are designed for 264 PPI. Sandpaper required.

But consider if the new tablet had a 7″ screen. What’s so special about 7″? A couple of very interesting things.

A 7″ diagonal screen (7.08″ to be exact) just happens to be the exact size of two by two iPod touch retina displays. That’s a 4″ x 6″ display surface. An iPod touch screen has 326 PPI. The 7″ screen would also have 326 PPI just like iPhones and iPods. This would yield a resolution of 1920 x 1280. This resolution would be able to run current retina iPhone applications pixel perfect using the traditional 4:1 pixel scaling, like retina displays do with non-retina apps.

What’s so special about that? By running iPhone applications on a larger screen, as opposed to running iPad applications on a smaller screen, you don’t need the sandpaper anymore. Heck, if you have fat fingers, you’ll rejoice. Larger touch targets are just easier to hit, but still look amazing, especially text, which will be drawn using the full 1920 x 1280 resolution. Anyone that finds the iPod touch or iPhone screen slightly cramped would love it, and could continue to enjoy amazing apps like iMovie, iPhoto, and other apps designed for iPhone.

I have no doubt a 7.85-inch tablet-like device exists in Apple’s labs. I also have no doubt a 7.08-inch device exists. Of course Apple plays around with different approaches to products. I’m sure Apple has both a larger iPod and a smaller iPad, and they are testing which is best.

Everyone has focused on the smaller iPad because the iPad is the new hotness. I am much more interested in what a larger iPod would bring to the mid-range.

Here’s how I see it:

• The iPhone needs to fit in your hand and your pocket comfortably, hence its 3.5-inch screen.
• The iPod touch, to date, has been modeled after the iPhone. This is mainly due to transitioning from the old iPod classic size and to simplify software design. Apps made for the iPhone work on the iPod touch. Simple.
• The iPad is great, and its large screen, while not as portable as some would like, is comparable to a glossy magazine in both size and quality. Its keyboard is very comfortable in landscape, and in portrait, if you split the keyboard.
• There seems to be plenty of people that want something larger than an iPhone but not as large as an iPad.

That last bullet point is where I see the opportunity for the iPod to move to. I think iPad apps would feel cramped. But if iPhone/iPod interfaces could be scaled up at retina resolution to a 7-inch screen, I think that would satisfy most people desiring a mid-range screen. Thumb-typing would still be comfortable. Text and pictures would be sharp. Developers wouldn’t need to rewrite the book again. And, most of all, the iPod line would be given new life.

When the first iPad was announced, it was derided by many as being “just a big iPod touch”. That clearly has not been the case, because software differentiated it. But does that mean there isn’t a market for an actual “big iPod touch”? I think a 7-inch retina display iPod would grab the corner of the market that Amazon is currently aiming at with the Kindle Fire. It isn’t a full-featured tablet, like an iPad. It isn’t a full telecommunication device, like an iPhone. But it is the best of both worlds for certain people — the people who want a little more screen than an iPhone but want more pocketability than an iPad.

For instance, my three-year-old son uses a second-generation iPod touch filled with kid games, educational apps, children’s books, and Pixar movies. He usually uses it for an hour or two after his nap, and he loves it. But, boy, does he look at my iPad with envious eyes. He loves the larger screen. I do not love him toting around an iPad that is as big as his entire torso.

A 7-inch iPod would be fantastic for him. It’s the perfect size for a young child. I imagine there are many adults who would enjoy it as well.

All-in-all, if Apple is planning to bring a device with a screen in the 7-inch ballpark to market, I think I’d rather see the iPod touch grow up a little, rather than the iPad get squeezed into a smaller screen.

The Other Side of the Coin

Shawn Blanc:

It strikes me that the Retina display is the other side of the coin to iOS. Meaning, iOS is the software and the screen is the hardware and that’s it. Those are the two sides to this coin. On a laptop or desktop computer you have three user interface components: the keyboard, the mouse, and the screen where you watch the user interface. On the iPad you have one user interface: the screen. And you touch and manipulate what is on the screen.