iOS 5: The Missing Features
Low End mac’s Dan Knight says that even at version 5, Apple’s iOS lacks some basics we take for granted on traditional desktop and notebook PCs – and most competing tablets. Dan maintains that with Apple iOS-ifiying the Mac with OS X Lion, it’s time for Apple add some standard Mac features to iOS, noting:
I’m a writer. Although I can get by using the onscreen keyboard on my iPhone, it’s not a fast way to work, it’s too easy to hit the wrong key, and autocorrect comes up with some interesting results. Editing is also a pain, as there’s no mouse to quickly grab a work, phrase, or paragraph. You have to use the magnifying glass to pick the position of your cursor, and there’s a backspace key but no forward delete.
There are a host of iPad keyboards available, and also a fair number of Bluetooth ‘boards for the iPhone and iPod touch. But to really be able to use your iDevice for text input, it should have both a keyboard and a precise pointing device, such as a mouse, trackball, or trackpad. Touchscreens are not made for editing.
I couldn’t agree more. Apple could have mitigated a lot of my disenchantedness with the iPad and iOS by including a proper USB port and mouse driver support, but they didn’t, and even if they had there would still be the lack of real multi-tasking, a desktop file directory, and support for simultaneous display of multiple Windows. With IOS 5, text selection and editing, cutting and pasting are is still just as lame as they were in IOS 4.3.
The new gesture controls for switching between applications in IOS 5, are a major advance. One of my main beefs with IOS is the lack of multitasking,
Having to double pump the home button to toggle the ersatz “multitasking” feature so-called has seemed to me glaringly inelegant solution on what is otherwise an elegant machine. and an electromechanical analogue switch, however a quality feel it had seemed egregiously inconsistent, as well as inevitable mechanical wear and tear on moving parts analog hardware. Completely solid-state gesture-based application switching is much more consistent and desirable on a device like the iPad or other IOS gadgets, Even though in general I’m not a fan of gesture–based computer input.
Siri is interesting, and I’m a user of voice technology, but it’s currently beta and is only available on the iPhone 4S
New camera features – some don’t support the iPad 2, whose camera isn’t up to much anyway.
I do really like what they’ve done with mobile Safari in this version, adding real page tabs, and the Reader distraction-clearing function from the desktop edition. I’m generally fairly indifferent about the desktop version of Safari, and rarely use it, but I would have already rated mobile Safari as the class of the field in IOS browsers, and with this upgrade its opened upan even wider lead over its competitors.
Ditto for Improved full content mail search, and Draggable addresses between TO CC and BCC fields are also a nice addition.
iCloud? Right now I’m happy with DropBox. I’ll keep an open mind, but unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to try iCloud out for a while, because I have no intention of cutting the cord to Snow Leopard and upgrading my Core 2 Duo MacBook to OS X 10.7 Lion, and I haven’t room left on the hard drive to do a reasonable parallel install of Lion on the second partition. Since iCloud doesn’t support Snow Leopard, it’s a moot point for me for now. And DropBox enlightenedly supports OS X 10.4, which I’m still using on my Pismo PowerBooks – a HUGE point in its favor.
A full thumbs-up for text macros toggled by keyboard shortcuts
Unfortunately, that’s about it from my perspective. None of my beefs about the many shortcomings of iOS as a platform for content creators have been addressed in version 5.
Particularly multitasking. I am a consummate multitasker and miss it grievously on the iPad. The lack of productive efficiency in the iOS is a constant irritant. Even with the new gesture switching, being able to bring up recent app. icons is emphatically NOT multitasking.
Those who continue blithely insisting that media tablets and smartphone are going to push personal computers to the back burner, ro even eventually off the stove altogether, are inhabiting a different digital universe from mine.