BlackBerry CEO calls Apple's iPhone user interface outdated - Page 3

This.

An overhaul would be a huge mistake, but they've been sitting still for too long.

Everyone keeps asking what Apple could improve:

1. Home screen. It works fine for <50 apps, but when you're up to 200+ it gets really clumsy. You either put in constant effort to keep it rationally sorted (folder size limit and lack of nested folders means re-categorizing as apps get added and deleted), or end up with 8+ unorganized screens like my wife.
2. Multi-tasking. Which apps are still running? What if there's an app I want to keep running, and others I want killed immediately? Automatic management is great, but the ability to give manual hints would be fantastic. Yes you can manually kill an app but its SLOW to get to. What about a fast way to flick back and forth between a pair of apps rapidly? Currently the double-press on home is really cumbersome. Gestures on the iPad are great but the iPhone needs a parallel.
3. Rapid access to settings. Ie toggles for bluetooth, wifi, tethering, airplane mode, airplay etc... This has been something people have wanted forever.
4. Document management. The current system works for now, but it's already starting to get unwieldly. You have to go into the app that "owns" the document, and count on that app to give you a (sometimes very long) list of other apps to open it in. Then each app has its own copy, and you have to remember which is newest. There is no way of picking a default app to handle a document type.

How could these things be improved? (not all ideas are compatible with each other)

Home screen

• Add a section (ie half a page, or even a full page) that gets automatically populated with the most used apps, not the most recent apps.
• Make the far-right page be all your apps in an automatically-categorized list. Make it so that apps no longer have to live on other pages, this can be the only page they exist on for lesser-utilized apps.

Multi-tasking

• Swipe up from the bottom to show the multi-tasking tray. Only show apps that are still running. Add a check to each app icon that means "try to keep me running at the expense of other apps". Change double-press home to "immediately quit the foreground app".
• Allow interacting with the foreground app while the multi-tasking tray is still open on "tall" devices. All apps already support the shorter aspect ratio for legacy devices anyways.

Settings

• Add a notification center widget for the main toggles.
• Make a new splash-page for the main settings app that puts these settings front and center right away
• Add a screen that can be popped up at any time without interrupting the current app with access to these toggles, perhaps launched from the multitasking tray or notification center.

Documents

• Obviously security is a huge concern here, but you could implement an implied-consent system based on a system-controlled "open file" screen that only grants an app access to a document when a user picks it. Automatic versioning would limit the damage an app could do, since the user could always roll back the document. "Recent documents" for each app could be built into the open file screen, adding convenience while maintaining the consent system.
• To keep user friendliness,  make it a document library sortable based on document type, name, date saved, saved by app etc... similar to the "Music" interface. No direct filesystem exposure to the user. Only documents openable by the app show up in that app's open dialog. Obviously there would be a master "Documents" app that allows the user to see them all, manage them and perform a "Open With..." and "Share" functions. Apps like Mail could use the same interface to pick attachments.

So don't say there's nothing Apple could improve.

The problem is the fanboys of all stripes that insist there's only one best phone.  That everything else is dreck.   This all or nothing mentality is exhausting.   The need to insult others that don't hold the same opinion as you.   And you're all idiots if you don't agree with me.  !!!

The general interface is good in the general working of the device, but the App launcher is visually dull, uninformative, lacks functionality and customisation options. Even when it was introduced it was hardly innovative: the resemblance to Palm OS launchers would make even a Samsung lawyer blush. And one of the most popular App types on the Palm platform was alternative launchers.

The importance of this shouldn't be underestimated - when people try out smartphones in the shop they won't get into the individual Apps in any great depth, but they see and interact a lot with the launcher to see what's on it.

Also the OS should also be smart enough to recognise when Twitter, FaceBook data is not set up. I dislike being presented with these options when I want to 'send' something. 

First, what the hell is the "App launcher"?  I wasn't aware iOS had one.  

This statement alone shows how completely out of touch you are with the average iOS user in that if you asked a hundred people to tell you what the "App launcher" in iOS was, I would think the only answer you would get is "my finger."

Secondly, the resemblance to Palm is superficial at best, as is the resemblance of Palm's home screen to Newton's (which is where they got the idea from in the first place).  

... The changes that need to come to the iPhone (to name just a few) are true multitasking (double clicking on the home screen and flipping between apps is not considered 'true' multitasking), a better native email experience (there is a reason why iPhone users were jumping over each other in order to get a third party email app - Mailbox), a more intelligent predictive keyboard experience, and find an alternative to constantly having to use the home button - this is probably my biggest gripe.   

Lets stop beating around the bush. The primary reason why Apple does not want to re-write iOS is because the app catalog will reset to zero.  From my limited knowledge of phone technology, I dont believe you can just add multitasking capabilities to the current OS. 

Could you please provide some specific examples over the last 10 years of a Microsoft OS that has been reskinned every year so that Microsoft can justify its outrageous upgrade cost?  Windows Phone upgrades have come for free (but who cares), XBox upgrades have come for free, and Microsoft Windows has only had three releases over the last 10 years ("Windows Vista" in 2006, "Windows 7" in 2009, and "Windows 8" in 2012). 

... the resemblance to Palm OS launchers would make even a Samsung lawyer blush. 

People are always throwing out this idea that the iOS interface is "dated" or "stale" but they all have two things in common.

1) They can never actually say what specifically about it is "outdated" or what they would change.

2) Those that say it are almost always competitors.  

...

For example, is it truly categorically better to have one physical button that performs multiple roles, or to have separate buttons for each role?   The simplicity of Apple's single button is certainly attractive at first glance, but if you watch new users many get to Settings easily enough when setting up their device for the first time, but have difficulty understanding that they need to use that one button to return to the Home screen.   And while that one button sometimes takes you Home, at other times it works more like a Back button, and sometimes does something else. 

This ambiguity is avoided by having multiple buttons, each with its own distinct purpose.  I don't know of any formal usability studies that have been doing which might "prove" one is better than the other, but personally I think it's fine that users can choose whichever they're more comfortable with.

...

The big UI upgrade was supposed to be Siri, but that is still in alpha, as far as I can tell. Anyway, tacking on features is not a UI update, but notice that Apple has claimed (with some justification) that they are not making bigger displays because that would be incompatible with the current UI. Since people WANT bigger displays, the UI should be updated to make using them fluid.

Maybe they have a history, but they're not repeating history right now. I have yet to see anything within the past couple of years. Before, it was one after another and now its nothing. Hardware bumps don't keep you in front. 

I have to call you on this one.  This is completely made-up BS on your part and you know it.  

This is your opinion, being phrased as if it were some kind of fact complete with fake references to "studies" and situations that simply aren't true.  

Yes, the single home button is actually better than multiple buttons. Both general UI theory and multiple studies prove it without a doubt.  The whole point of the home button is that users do not "get lost" and do not have difficulty understanding that pressing it will return them to the Home screen.  That's the reason why it's superior.  

The Home button also does not do different things in different contexts, that is actually the main criticism of the multiple buttons in Android, specifically Android's "back" button. 

You can still refresh the interface without making changes, or making it hard to use. I didn't say just make it look completely different. Of course that would be stupid. My OS X example was what I was going for. The interface looks the same, but it UI has been updated a few times to keep it current. You can do both without losing people. 

BTW...I like how you immediately went for the iOS vs Android thing. Very nice...

I would like to see widgets....

I would also like to see the ability to block caller's numbers

that just off the top of my head.....

... The simplicity of Apple's single button is certainly attractive at first glance, but if you watch new users many get to Settings easily enough when setting up their device for the first time, but have difficulty understanding that they need to use that one button to return to the Home screen.   And while that one button sometimes takes you Home, at other times it works more like a Back button ...

What? The Android back button goes back one screen. The home button goes home. That's not hard.

I've seen first hand confusion with the home button. My mom could never figure out why Siri would open or the recent apps screen would open sometimes when she wanted to go to the home. She also had a lot of trouble finding the back button on iOS and usually ended up going home and starting over. That part of iOS can be inconsistent. Sometimes you really can't go back to the previous screen.

The one button is a legacy of Jef Raskin's original Mac vision (a toaster, basically), which led to three decades of one-button mac mice, and a thriving after-market mac three-button-mouse industry.

I would love to be able to block numbers but that's the carrier that's stopping you from doing that, not Apple.  

My biggest wish (besides more user control over settings) would be that Apple actually tried to do something about the carriers and their immoral anti-customer ways. When the first iPhone came out (and for a long period before when we were hoping), there was this belief that Apple was going to change everything and put the carriers in the "back seat" sort of speak in favour of the customer and giving the customer control over their communications and a fair market deal.  

This has not only not happened, Apple has fallen back to a degree and seems to have no intention of upsetting any carrier anywhere on earth.  

I'd like to see a phone app in the iPad for instance, which would be the beginning of the end for the carriers and one thing they could do that would truly deserve the "innovative" moniker, but it will never happen until Apple gets some balls.   

Considering Apple is led almost exclusively by ageing white dudes who probably don't even have sex anymore I think this unlikely.  

The home button always has the same function (assuming that the user is simply pressing it in a normal way). 

He is a self serving d-bag with a valid point. The iOS interface is dated. I still have hope Apple has been working on something for the past few years and will surprise us this year. Letting another year goes by with a largely static iOS would be very damaging.

Don't want to get in an argument over it but ... no.  

The Android back button is notorious for doing different things in different situations, there are lots of articles about it. Google it.   

The home button always has the same function (assuming that the user is simply pressing it in a normal way). 

Your mum is having problems because: 

- there is no "back button" in iOS for her to find, so either you or she is kind of "thinking wrong" on that one.  

- she seems to have difficulty pushing buttons (the difference between press and press and hold).  

Funny how these posts criticize iOS and demand changes yet fail to offer any concrete suggestions. "No sweeping changes... refresh the interface... new features" the poster laments. So bottom line, just change it for change's sake so we can say it's innovative? Well, we've now seen how this attitude works out with the Galaxy S4 loaded with features only a few geeks will use. But hey, it's 'change' so it must be good, right? To me the S4 has become the Microsoft Office of the smartphone market, bloated with features the average user doesn't even know about much less ever use. 

The continuing war rages between the tech types and the common user with Apple on the common user's side. Just take a peek at Andy Ihnatko's 6000 word geek manifesto on why he switched to Android and you'll see the contrasting ideologies. Meanwhile even the enterprise is opting for ease of use with iOS.

I'd like to see a phone app in the iPad for instance, which would be the beginning of the end for the carriers and one thing they could do that would truly deserve the "innovative" moniker, but it will never happen until Apple gets some balls.   

I have to call you on this one.  This is completely made-up BS on your part and you know it.  

This is your opinion, being phrased as if it were some kind of fact complete with fake references to "studies" and situations that simply aren't true. 

What is the difference between Swype and gesture typing, for the unenglightened among us?

Retina was quite a big advance in user interface.

This.

An overhaul would be a huge mistake, but they've been sitting still for too long.

Everyone keeps asking what Apple could improve:

1. Home screen. It works fine for <50 apps, but when you're up to 200+ it gets really clumsy. You either put in constant effort to keep it rationally sorted (folder size limit and lack of nested folders means re-categorizing as apps get added and deleted), or end up with 8+ unorganized screens like my wife.
2. Multi-tasking. Which apps are still running? What if there's an app I want to keep running, and others I want killed immediately? Automatic management is great, but the ability to give manual hints would be fantastic. Yes you can manually kill an app but its SLOW to get to. What about a fast way to flick back and forth between a pair of apps rapidly? Currently the double-press on home is really cumbersome. Gestures on the iPad are great but the iPhone needs a parallel.
3. Rapid access to settings. Ie toggles for bluetooth, wifi, tethering, airplane mode, airplay etc... This has been something people have wanted forever.
4. Document management. The current system works for now, but it's already starting to get unwieldly. You have to go into the app that "owns" the document, and count on that app to give you a (sometimes very long) list of other apps to open it in. Then each app has its own copy, and you have to remember which is newest. There is no way of picking a default app to handle a document type.

How could these things be improved? (not all ideas are compatible with each other)

Home screen

• Add a section (ie half a page, or even a full page) that gets automatically populated with the most used apps, not the most recent apps.
• Make the far-right page be all your apps in an automatically-categorized list. Make it so that apps no longer have to live on other pages, this can be the only page they exist on for lesser-utilized apps.

Multi-tasking

• Swipe up from the bottom to show the multi-tasking tray. Only show apps that are still running. Add a check to each app icon that means "try to keep me running at the expense of other apps". Change double-press home to "immediately quit the foreground app".
• Allow interacting with the foreground app while the multi-tasking tray is still open on "tall" devices. All apps already support the shorter aspect ratio for legacy devices anyways.

Settings

• Add a notification center widget for the main toggles.
• Make a new splash-page for the main settings app that puts these settings front and center right away
• Add a screen that can be popped up at any time without interrupting the current app with access to these toggles, perhaps launched from the multitasking tray or notification center.

Documents

• Obviously security is a huge concern here, but you could implement an implied-consent system based on a system-controlled "open file" screen that only grants an app access to a document when a user picks it. Automatic versioning would limit the damage an app could do, since the user could always roll back the document. "Recent documents" for each app could be built into the open file screen, adding convenience while maintaining the consent system.
• To keep user friendliness,  make it a document library sortable based on document type, name, date saved, saved by app etc... similar to the "Music" interface. No direct filesystem exposure to the user. Only documents openable by the app show up in that app's open dialog. Obviously there would be a master "Documents" app that allows the user to see them all, manage them and perform a "Open With..." and "Share" functions. Apps like Mail could use the same interface to pick attachments.

So don't say there's nothing Apple could improve.

1) They can never actually say what specifically about it is "outdated" or what they would change.

2) Those that say it are almost always competitors.  

Originally Posted by MacRulez 

I know many here aren't fans of Widgets,  and its true that some Widgets can be written in unoptimized ways that can reduce battery life, which may be critically important for those who live in areas without ready access to electricity.

And I wouldn't say that supporting Widgets is necessarily better, but neither is disallowing them.

On Android, Widgets are a choice.  Currently, those who find them useful are required to choose something other than iOS, but I'd wager Apple will add support for something very much like Widgets by iOS 7, so those who don't want them can continue to not have them, but those who do will no longer be required to choose a non-Apple device.