Same here. Supposedly there is a big overhaul on apps like Mail. I'm definitely hoping for some sort of live widget functionality and a new home screen
Sure, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but Apple's design choices also create trends that are echoed both on and offline by designers everywhere.
Edit: I think what makes iOS 7 particularly interesting is that, IMHO, many of us have seen Apple falling behind in the area of software design. I personally would love to see Apple regain its reputation here.
I would argue that in the past couple years, both Microsoft and Google—and not Apple—have been setting the trend in software design, notably in the growing rejection of skeuomorphism and the embrace of flat design.
You can tell that was done by designers going for "ooh pretty" with usability somewhere down the priority list.
"Fold to unlock"? What does that mean? Apple has spent years teaching users about the "Slide to unlock" metaphor and now you want to change the wording? I need to fold my phone? wha?
The contacts list with only pictures of contact's faces, because in the real world I have pictures of EVERYONE on my contact list, my lawyer, the plumber, that guy I met at the conference who quickly swapped numbers with...
The app icons with no names was already dealt with in the post.
Agreed, most of these only work due to the contrived examples.
The first one only looks good because of the background, uniform nature of the icons and omission of app titles.
Think it's going to be a stretch to have all apps adapt the same icon style and users restricted from changing the background.
Nothing wrong with looking to apply a few fresh coats of paint,but unfortunately Apple actually have to think about how it works in the real world, not just how it looks.
People just randomly pointing to things that look half good and saying iOS should be like that is not being helpful.
If anything, I think "fold to unlock" better expresses Apple's current visual style, which is that every element of the OS must exist in physical space somewhere—i.e., the multitasking tray exists "below" the home screen, the notification center exists "above" it. The current lock screen doesn't really "exist" anywhere relative to the rest of the OS.
I would argue that the lock screen is a special case since it is totally divorced from the rest of the OS in terms of usage, it may be common to go from app to multi-tasking tray and back etc but I would argue that locking and unlocking a device is a special scenario.
There is also that part of me that naturally thinks "If I can fold it using action then I can unfold it using the opposite action" which would not work in this case.
Although seeing as how someone else commented that this is available on jailbroken iphones I think I am on shaky ground on this one.
> Although seeing as how someone else commented that this is available on jailbroken iphones I think I am on shaky ground on this one.
Just because some people like it, and even choose it, doesn't mean that it makes much sense. One minor issue is that if it were to fold in a way that felt physically realistic it would require going slightly above and below the screen, which it can't do (due to it being a screen), so there's something slightly unrealistic about watching it fold: some people don't notice, but some people will; the people who do notice may never be able to get past it.
However, we actually can ignore the whole problem of squishy design arguments: how do you deal with the PIN code lock? If you have a PIN set, the actual implementation of Unfold seriously unfolds the lock screen to show... another lock screen (?!)... that has the PIN keypad (ok, I guess)... and when you type in your PIN it disappears using the original animation. That's just... weird, and almost looks like a bug it is such a kludge when you see it.
You're going to find this crazy (and honestly, after having tried it I agree with you: it didn't quite make sense), but the "Fold to Unlock" is not just concept art from a designer: that's a popular modification you can download for free and install on a jailbroken iPhone, and tons of people really like the concrete implementation.
There's a big difference between intentionally installing a modification on your device and having it installed by default, though. iOS's popularity is largely due to its intuitive UI.
I can only imagine you missed my parenthetical? Like, reading your comment, one would presume that rather than saying "that's not just the design of some crazy designer, that's actually a concrete implementation that people like, but yeah: it doesn't make sense" I had said "no, you are wrong: Apple should do this, because you are totally wrong and a vast majority of people actually like it"... it isn't even "the most popular thing in the world of jailbreaking" or anything (although it is somewhat unreasonably popular for what it is ;P).
Rereading your comment, I did kind of skim past that bit, sorry. I was mostly referring to the little bit at the end in regards to 'lots of people really liking' it.
> iOS's popularity is largely due to its intuitive UI.
I think that's true, which is why I'm so interested in iOS 7. IMHO, iOS has become much less intuitive—where I once found that ordinary users could understand and use most of the functions of the device, I find that no longer the case. For example, I find it unintuitive that the Home button does different things depending on how many times it's tapped, or for how long. The notification center gives no indication that it exists at all. The multitasking tray must be swiped left—twice—to reveal a volume control. Etc, etc.
The list of faces bugs me too. It's also heavily used in Facebook demos. But in real life people are either ugly or don't have a sensical profile picture from which you could recognise them.
Ya, they are just different. But Cannot conclude that they are all better. Now that people got bored with old apple designs, these might look better. But I liked - "Fold to unlock and Contacts with Photos".
These are all pretty and nice, but the majority of them are UX regressions.
1. App icons without app names.
2. A keyboard where the button edges are less clearly identifiable.
3. An app switcher that takes you completely out of your current app (this one is a little more debatable because there are advantages to showing views of other apps)
4. A fold to unlock that ignores the reason that slide to unlock exists, preventing unintentional unlock (fold to unlock would be sensitive to touch across the entire screen)
The messages and contacts designs look slightly more promising. I think it would be interesting and possibly more usable to have a contacts list with faces in it, but in a list view, not necessarily in a 2d grid.
I like the slide-out menu visual metaphor; it seems to give the side-out pattern some of the affordance that is lacking in the current way that slide-outs are animated.
3. An app switcher that takes you completely out of your current app (this one is a little more debatable because there are advantages to showing views of other apps)
What are the advantages to showing view of other apps ? Other than it looking attractive in mockups.
When I'm switching to an app, I almost always know what app I'm trying to get to, it's contents is rarely useful to know when switching to it.
So personally I've never found the stack switching thing useful in say Windows 7, it actually makes it more confusing because there's more data to take in.
OSX still just keeps it simple with the icons and that seems to work great.
Technically it's a very easy thing for Apple to implement (previews that is) but I suspect they have it like they do because it's actually the better solution.
I would argue that Mission Control—not the Dock—is the equivalent of the iOS multitasking tray. The Dock can show applications that are not running, while the multitasking tray cannot (at least, from the user's POV).
When using Mission Control, I personally do find value in seeing what my open applications are doing. Often that's a factor in whether I keep them running.
EDIT: I was assuming when you said "...keeps it simple with the icons..." that you were referring to the Dock.
Yeah was just referring to the ? + Tab app switching which in my mind was the equivalent of the iOS multitasing tray.
Sure, there is mission control, which I originally was really excited by but in the end dont use cause it's all overload.
But yeah, if your someone that values mission control then the app previews would be a good addition, guess was just asking if anyone actually did find it useful to switch apps that way.
For quickly multitasking, I find that I can more quickly recognize the last screenshot of an app I was just using than its app icon. I vastly prefer the multitasking design of the jailbreak tweak Auxo. http://www.cultofmac.com/214983/here-are-the-very-best-jailb...
These are taken out of context. They're just mock-ups posted to Dribbble to play with new ideas, the designers who came up with them are not seriously suggesting they should be implemented as is.
Saying that these concepts show bad UX is like saying that a paper sketch lacks polish. It's completely missing the point.
Some of these look nice, and I really liked the keyboard. However I definitely don't agree with the author that somehow fold to unlock was "more intuitive". Also a few of them looked too similar to windows phone and Facebook Home. It should also be noted that a few of those have already been implemented on jailbroken devices in Cydia so I'm not sure how many are actually original ideas.
I am very excited to see what iOS 7 will bring us and it's good to see people creating their own mockups. Might give Apple even better ideas :)
All very interesting concepts, very nicely implemented. But, I guarantee you Apple has built dozens of designs like this internally, tested them and rejected them because they didn't work as well as what they actually went with.
Sorry, but I really have to disagree. Didn't see anything better than the current design.. And if you mean in regards to new design, you don't know hoe that's going to be. A complete rehaul from what I hear, there's nothing innovating in those mockups. Not saying that they look ugly.
Personally and as a user of nothing but iPhones since 1st gen I am less concerned about aesthetics and considerably more concerned about functionality.
iOS handling of the hand off between apps is nothing short of an embarrassment. The constant ->into this app->out to homescreen->into that app->out to homescreen is a joke at this stage of the game and something needs to be done about it - desperately. there are other issues here and there too but this is a daily embuggerance.
Squawking about stitching and torn pages, etc. frankly makes little sense when the actual affordances of the UI are shamefully out of date.
I pray that Ive is focusing on UX and not just on flat vs skeumorphic design.
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